A few months ago my wife and I made an appointment with a financial planner in Bellevue. The meeting didn't go well. The planner and ourselves were just on two completely different pages. If I was thinking "black" he said "white." When we expected a "no" we got a "yes." It was this way for 1 hour before we excused ourselves and got on with our day.

The biggest point of contention was whether we should invest any of our savings in the real estate market. I see a positive future for it. He didn't. As we left my wife and I were discussing all that we had heard from the planner trying to give him some credit and take something good away from the meeting... but we struggled to find points of agreement in what he said.

Part of what contributed to my frustration in everything negative he had to say about the market was that as we drove out of Bellevue I counted no less than 14 of those huge building construction cranes towering over Bellevue. And those were just the ones that I could see from the highway.

I just can't believe that a city and metropolitan area that is adding that much office space is in for a long term decline in the housing market. Sure, every market (stocks, commodities, etc.) has ups and downs. But, a city growing that much and adding that much office space has to house the people working in those buildings somewhere.

Now, many months later, despite the immediate downturn in prices, I think I will be vindicated.

Why? To the planner's credit, prices in real estate are down slightly.  But, long term I think they will do well. In addition to the above mentioned growth of the Bellevue (and the Eastside as a whole), Bellevue was just rated as the number one place to live and start a new company by FORTUNE Small Business. This market will continue to grow.

Go ahead, check out the news article on all the cities chosen here and the complete article on Bellevue here.

-Chris