Leslie and I were out of town for a couple days last week, and while skimming the few days of back issues of the Los Angeles Times I noticed the main headline for Wednesday proclaimed “Southern California home sales and prices rise in July”. Followers of our blog know that prices of homes in our area bottomed out this spring and have been trending upward. But you also know foreclosures and distressed sales are still keeping rapid increases of values in check. Inventory levels are generally low, and there may be a flurry of last minute first time buyers out there who come to realize the $8,000 credit expires December 1.