[quote=temeculaguy]sduuude’s intuition is probably correct and so is his analytical side. Since the majority of the market is not organic listings, they did not show up when the seasonal demand did, especially in family neighborhoods where people like to buy in spring and move in summer. The repos will list in fall and winter at the same rate as spring but the buyers will be fewer. In past makets, both sellers and buyers had the same seasonal psychology, this is different, wait for fall/winter. In some parts of S.D. it will take till fall/winter of 2010 for the pain train to reach it.

Then there is the painful truth that some parts of s.d. will always cost more than others. In your shopping, if you see houses that are overpriced and you zillow a few model matches to determine the 2001-2003 price and it’s still too much, time to put the kids in the car and find another area. Carlsbad will not reach Santee’s pre bubble price, it will reach Carlsbad’s pre bubble price. If the pad you like needs to revert to it’s 1980’s price, no amount of patience will serve you.[/quote]

True, indeed.

To be 100% straight with the OP, times are never EASY to buy a house. Back in 1993/94, at the bottom, it was NOT easy to buy a house. It felt like things were going to fall even further.

Nor should buying a house even BE easy.

That said, this winter should be the cheapest with low interest rates. If you want to buy in cash, LOL, get in line, there are millions of baby boomers with the same cash/investments (if not more) than you have. If they want the house you have your eye on…well, that’s life.

If you want an affordable place to live, AZ has a bunch of cheap homes. Sure, the job market is worse than even SD, but you can find a place for cash.