Rustico,
I post on this board with the full knowledge of two things. First, no one on this board will ever be a client of mine unless it happens by pure coincidence through contact outside of this forum. Second, my comments toward the folks around here are based upon the assumption that most will not and should not be buying in the next 24 months. Dont think for a second that I am advocating home buying to anyone here. As for Chris’s decision, his was based upon finding something he could afford, loved, could reside in 10+ years and for him the price was reasonable by some metric which he considered relevant.
With that said, I carry with me an understanding of RE purchases that most here (not including you or SD R) cannot appreciate. Having spent thousands of hours looking at properties I see how challenging it is to find a home they like regardless of price. Not matter teh price, it is always alot of money to the buiyer. Spending $1M on a home is alot of money but in my mind spending $100,000 on home is too. How many times do people spend that kind of money on anything in their lives?
I hope that everyone here ultimately ends up living in a home they love and believe that hardworking, honest familes/individuals deserve that. From what I have seen the last year, the quality of the inventory is declining dramatically. When the bottom hits, the quality will likely be worse. The point of my original post is that people need to focus on more than catching the bottom.