Every year around this time, I get the itch to move far away from the cold, gray streets of Baltimore. It's not that I dislike Charm City, but when the mercury falls below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, the lure of warmer climates becomes overwhelming. So to ease the pain of last week's cold snap, I decided to browse the real estate listings in California. What I found blew me away. I ran a search for a few select zip codes in and around the Los Angeles area. About 90 percent of the listings were foreclosures! Here in Baltimore, where folks still believe their $80,000 rowhomes built in the 1920s are worth $250,000, it's easy to forget what's going on in the real world. Though look back at the charts of what were at one time some very profitable REITs, and it'll quickly come rushing back to you.