From today’s best of the web column at WSJ, the bottom bit:

There Goes the Neighborhood
Maybe his presence brought down property values, maybe he got hit by the real estate bubble, or maybe he just overpaid. Whatever the case, London’s Guardian reports Osama bin Laden’s house isn’t worth as much as had been advertised:

After Sunday night’s dramatic raid by US Navy Seals, a senior Obama administration official told reporters that the property, an “extraordinarily unique compound” in an “affluent suburb,” was valued at around $1m.

But two property professionals in Abbottabad—a quiet, military-dominated town—said that much of that was incorrect. Based on the size of the plot and the house, which was built in 2005, and using recent property sales as a guide, they estimated that it would fetch no more than $250,000 on the current market.

Assuming bin Laden made the customary 20% down payment and took out a mortgage for $800,000 in 2005, he’s going to be underwater for a long time.