You couldn't tell there's a crisis in the housing market by taking a ride on my road.

As a matter of fact, along my relatively deserted stretch, it looks like a downright boom ... at least if you consider two new homes a boom.

I'm not quite sure why people are choosing to build at a time when the market is so tight, but I have an idea. My first thought is that people are finally starting to understand the bargains that exist in Schoharie County, where land has forever been much, much cheaper than in the rest of the Capital Region.

After Interstate 88 was built back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I expected a great buildout like that to the north, south and east of the immediate Capital District. After all, home prices and land values in Clifton Park, East Greenbush and Bethlehem were so much higher, and I expected developers would leap at the opportunity to get their hands on at least some of the prime real estate near I-88.

Indeed, there was some development, but nowhere near what I expected. I pictured apartment complexes and housing developments and Route 7 east of Cobleskill becoming a retail strip similar to Route 146 in Clifton Park.

As a native son, I've been pleased that my vision never came to fruition, but I'm also disappointed that the area has never shared in the relative affluence going in the other directions. I know I enjoy the convenience of being able to drive to work from Central Bridge (about 35 miles each way) in the same amount of time it takes for some of my colleagues to make the 10- to 15-mile drive from Guilderland, Burnt Hills and other much-closer but also much-more-populated communities (it's also nice to know that it's less expensive to live out here, as well).

Maybe those days will finally start coming to an end as cash-strapped people look for a cheaper alternative to $250,000 houses? I can only guess similarly cash-strapped municipal governments and school districts can only drool over the potential tax revenue out there, but how much of a tradeoff will it be for the increasing need for services like larger schools, more teachers, added law enforcement and public works?

And, of course, let's not forget the rural lifestyle that holds the greatest appeal to many of us who have lived most if not all of our lives here. At what price would you be willing to give that up?