>>>What is sooooo bad about a collapse?
>>For me, nothing.
>>I've always avoided benefited financially from them because of my super-conservative strategies.
>>I suspect that the next one is a way off, though. My house has still not reached the value it reached at the peak of the madness - although the houses in NY are now above those levels.
>
>Nosy me
>What was estimated peak of madness value and
>What was estimated bottom after Lehman and
>what do you consider dependable value (= outside crunch/panic selling, worth of ground, labour and material)

I can only speak for NY and NJ.
The swings in CA and FL, as far as I can tell, were more pronounced, while some areas in the Midwest saw much smoother swings.

In Long Island, NY a 4 bedroom two story colonial in Nassau's best school district sold for almost $1 million at the peak of the madness.
Typically houses sold for higher prices than the listed sale price. Bidding wars were common. Days on market were typically fewer than 30 days.
After crash, it sold at about $500K. Days on market might be 180 or more. Prices were discounted from the offering prices.

In Nassau county, there is not a single available building plot, so there is no way to estimate the basic value.
It's not uncommon to see people buying two small houses, knocking them down and putting up one large one.
Here in NJ, you could probably build that house for $300- 400K.