I say he’s desperate because he’s trying to convince people that now is a great time to buy. We haven’t even started the massive foreclosures and bank failures yet… why would anyone be buying now? This is a horrible time to buy. His advice on superior properties is self serving. He’s trying to get people to buy now, because that his how he earns a living. He doesn’t get paid writing a blog; he gets paid when he buys and sells houses. I do respect him immensely for his candor, and his intelligence, but his attempt to say this is a great time to buy is simply false. This is one of the worst times in the history of the U.S. to be buying real estate. Buying a home in San Diego today is like buying AOL in 2000 (or whenever it was that Time Warner grossly overpaid). Sure, they wanted AOL and they got it, but wouldn’t it have been financially wiser to wait few years?

Jim, my post was respectful disagreement. I hope you make lots of sales, I wish you success, and I hope I can still link to your blog from my site. I like your data and candor, but disagree strongly that now is a good time to buy a house.

Your statement that prices won’t matter if you find the right house, or that it’s hard to time the market, is ludicrous. I may not be able to time the market, but I’m fairly confident that after every bank has a large REO department and AFTER $1 trillion of mortgages has reset, prices will be a lot better than they are today. But of course a realtor has to promote selling houses. Would you expect a broker to tell you in 2000, not to buy stocks?