Rumor has it that Hector Ruiz, Chairman of Advanced Micro Devices, was spotted looking at homes for personal purchase on his last visit to Malta, NY.

The rumormill also backs this up by saying that Mr. Ruiz was doing this because he wanted to make his purchase(s) before the positive AMD announcement was made, in order to avoid the inevitable runup in home prices.

This all sounds wonderful to me, but will AMD's arrival really send local home prices skyrocketing?

As far as I can tell, commercial real estate in Malta, NY is already in a major bubble.

There are quite a few uninspiring commercial properties near Luther Forest on the market going for millions (for example, check out this property).

Hopefully there will be a fire sale if AMD decides not to make it for the party. But we don't want that to happen, because tens of millions in taxpayer money has already been spent on party planning (massive new water system, exit 11A, Round Lake bypass, buildings of all shapes and sizes, endless roundabouts, etc, etc).

We shall see what the decision is. I for one hope the rumors are true, though it's pretty clear which IT firm AMD will be using if and when they come.

If anyone knows the AMD truth, I bet it's Joe Bruno, CEO of CMA Consulting, though I doubt he's talking...