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This is the last post for 2009, as The Real Story takes a break and starts planning the editorial calendar for next year. Count on it—real estate is going to stay in the headlines and in conversation in 2010, as California looks at foreclosures and mortgage resets, assesses the value of its commercial portfolio, starts looking hard at how to meet the new green standards set by SB375, weighs tax incentives, rewrites rules on assessments and looks at the pros and cons of investment opportunities that come from such a long downturn.

In the nine months since we launched The Real Story, we have interviewed fifty (50!) people whose professional lives in planning, research, building, architecture, design, green living, sales, mortgage, finance, interiors, landscape architecture, land development investment, government programs and innovation have made for some interesting conversations, five days a week. We have posted more than double that number of stories that have highlighted lifestyle, technology and how people approach the nature of community.

It is appropriate to end the year with a podcast with Cheryl O’Connor, acting CEO of the Home Builders Association, as she looks at what’s in store for California homeowners in 2010 and beyond. Cheryl’s interview—and all 49 others—are available to you on iTunes.

The best of all good wishes from all of us at The Real Story.