Trying to time the bottom perfectly is a difficult game. While there is a national and regional real estate market, the market for certain neighborhoods and streets can very a bit from overall trends. An individual property might be priced to sell to the point it’s still a good value.
Homes also do have some subjective value. If a home is ideal for your family’s needs and you would be really happy living there, AND you can afford it, it might not make sense to hold out hoping for a better deal. No place will be absolutely perfect in all ways.
I guess the other important thing to keep in mind is we’re not going to see another 40-50% drop like from the September ’05 bubble peak. A 5% dip in the next year could be made up a lot faster than homes bought in ’05 that likely won’t break even for a decade.
