When the pandemic surged and the economy tanked, I assumed real estate prices would plummet. We’d been burned in the crash of 2008, but not this time. I convinced my husband Fred to sell our bungalow in Monterey, put our stuff in storage and move into a furnished vacation rental at the beach, where we would kick back until the inevitable real estate collapse.

We rented a house online, sight unseen, in Aptos, a seaside enclave near Santa Cruz where the bakery sold artisanal sourdough for eight bucks a loaf and the local “creamery” served ice cream flavored with rhubarb and pink peppercorns.