In this market, buy for your lifestyle, not just for an "investment."
A "down market" or a "soft market" is a great time to buy a home...but not for the reason that some 
people think.
Ask yourself: what lifestyle do you want and how can buying a home help you to achieve it? Are you currently renting and eager to buy your first home? Are you expecting your family to grow in the near future? Have you been considering downsizing? It can be a scary time to buy, not only because of the way the media feeds our fears about the economy, but also because of the very real dangers that many face right now with potential job loss, company downsizing, depletion of investments like stocks and 401(k) accounts, etc. Thinking about your home as a way of meeting your lifestyle needs, rather than as a place to stash your cash, may help potential buyers to see the picture more clearly. Real estate is historically one of the best long-term investments one can make -- going back to the way of thinking of a generation or two ago, when homes were bought to serve the needs of shelter and safety, may help today's buyers to make more logical decisions about homebuying and help us emerge from our slumping housing market.
Great buys in the housing market exist for those who want to find them -- and being able to find them also means being realistic about what you can afford. While a down market is a great time to get deals, it doesn't mean to spend outside your means -- after all, that's how we got into this foreclosure mess we're in to begin with. Assess your finances, talk to a reputable lender (preferably one that comes recommended to you by a friend, family member or your REALTOR®) to get a realistic idea of what you can afford now.
It's a great time to find homes that are undervalued for many reasons: perhaps the home is a foreclosure or a short sale (pre-foreclosure); perhaps the neighborhood's values have been negatively affected foreclosures going on in and around it; perhaps the seller has already moved and is anxious to get the home sold. Whatever the reasons, the deals are out there to be had -- but think of this as a great time to buy a home to really live in, not a home to be your piggy bank. An investment -- yes? But a long-term one.
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Maura Neill, ABR, CRS, MA
The Gebhardt Group
RE/MAX Greater Atlanta
10220 Medlock Bridge Road
Johns Creek, GA 30097
(770) 238-0595
email: Maura@GebhardtGroup.com
website: http://www.GebhardtGroup.com/
blog: http://www.GebhardtGroupBlog.com/
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Photo credit: "Piggy savings bank" - Posted to flickr.com by alancleaver_2000
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Maura, good blog, right on target. It is a great time to buy and we need to get back to buying homes as a place to raise our families. It is a good feeling to walk in your own backyard.
The good news is that real estate will always be a good long term investment as it has been for the previous 230 years.