[quote=fredo4]I feel your pain. My advice would be to do what we did and find a really great rental house (perhaps in the area where you’d like to eventually buy) and hunker down for the next few months (or years)until things are less weird. The truth is that nobody knows how this is all going to pan out with all of the government intervention. Why fight over the few crummy houses available to buy? Wait until buying conditions are more in your favor. It’s better to keep liquid in these uncertain times anyway.[/quote]

Good advice, fredo4. I think it’s funny that many buyers are willing to accept (or even seek) the crummy house. My only suggestion might be to rent the crummy house and hold out for the nicer place to buy.

I agree that it’s a nice idea to be able to get a sense for your target purchase area, but it might not be worth the money that can be saved. I came to this way of thinking precisely because of the uncertainty factor that you mentioned.

Well, that and because I have been renting the “nicer” place and finding it not quite worth it…