[Gone Forever]

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This is actually a really good time to buy. Interest rates are still climbing and LOTS of houses are being foreclosed or have been on the market for a long time. Pretty much anything under 250k is having a really tough time selling in my area. This equates to dropping prices along with the ability to lowball and have the seller pay closing costs.

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I'd agree it's a buyers market and that houses are selling lower than they were at the top a while back. I was simply inquiring as to how much MORE downside there is. If there are more sellers than buyers, and more foreclosures hitting the market, and rates are going up (meaning people can afford less and less), it sounds to me like there is more downside. I'm no expert but simply because they're at a discount doesn't mean to me that real estate is still good in the short term <2 years, thus my question.

Is there something to make you think that we've hit the bottom, that there will be no bubble burst, and that you wouldn't be able to find an even more favorable market for less in 12 months? I'm not trolling - I don't know the anwswer and of course BBV is not the place for such a discussion but whatever. Additional real estate purchases are however possibilities for me, especially in markets hit the worst, (i.e. Florida) however I'm not fond of catching a falling knife. Is there something that makes you think that the trending conditions you stated will not persist or worsen and thereby afford even better deals a year or 2 from now?

Congrats again and gl with you purchase.

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From a broker's stand point the majority of lenders (mainly in sub-prime lending, but, a lot of prime lending too) have totally restricted their guidelines making it way harder for people with poor credit to buy or refi.

Two years ago, I could have gotten a loan done for ANYBODY. ANYBODY. No credit, horrible credit, bankruptcies, judgments, collections like crazy, no money down, no verifiable employment history. It didn't matter. There was a lender somewhere that would finance you.

That's part of the reason the market is as [censored] as it is right now. A ton of people who really had no business even thinking about buying a home were getting qualified and getting into loans and homes they could not afford.

So the wave of forclosures should be slowly coming to an end over the next year as the people that shouldn't have gotten a loan in the first place are replaced by solid homeowners. That's my prediction at least.