I have been having the same conversation with many people almost daily.  The same question comes up over and over again - "Should I buy now or will the prices still keep going down?" Yeah maybe. Who knows? Maybe your crystal ball is more clear than mine is.  All I can say is that the prices are low, so are interest rates (historically); there are many, many deals to be had, seller concessions, etc... and if you want to buy a home - now is a great time to do it.  Period. 

And we all should be screaming it from the rooftops as professionals in this field.  Obviously we can't leave it up to the media scare mongers out there.  They are too busy trying to scare the hell out of the general public by telling them there are 5,000 named hurricanes going to happen so go to Home Depot and spend spend spend, we will all be flooding this year, global warming will kill us all (because we all know there were no ice ages, dinosaur extinctions or other extreme environmental conditions before humans were on the planet - not that we have been helping...) and the 6% commission is etched in stone and Realtors are not worth the money!! (Why not tell lawyers, doctors and other licensed professionals to lower their prices?  I mean a 10 minute doctor visit costs a couple hundred bucks?  I dislocated my should a year ago and literally saw a doctor for all of 3 or 4 minutes at the hospital but the doctor charge was $900!!!!  For a couple minutes!!!  Why can't we negotiate those prices?  He really did nothing anyway for me - the nurses helped a lot but he did nothing. An attorney will charge you $250 - $300 or more for an hour to talk or write up some paperwork.  But Realtors are the major issue!)

I, as a professional working in real estate daily, know that now is a great time to buy and I tell everyone that now is the time.  I use the "Blue Light Special" as an example all the time.  I let people know "Now is the Blue Light Special on real estate."  This helps people relate to "savings" or a "good buy". Get their minds thinking in the right direction.

Then of course there is the "I want to hold off on buying until the market starts to turn!"  This to me is CRAZY!!  I just don't understand why people view real estate purchases differently from other investments.  It simply makes no sense.  Why was this same person willing to buy a place when the market was on fire?  They would have been buying the property at its high point price.  Now they can buy the same one for far less. Far far less with less out of pocket due to willing sellers!  HELLO??????

I always use this example for my buyers / investors who seem reluctant to buy: If I were your stock broker and I called you and told you that a certain company's stock was at an all time high and you should buy buy buy, what would you do?  I would hope you would fire my butt right then and there, ask me why I did not let you know about this company when the stock was at its low point and find a stock broker who actually brings you DEALS!!!  Buy low, hold and sell high, right?  Well, now is the perfect opportunity to buy low, hold and sell high. Same strategy.  Why does this not "click" with people?

I guess the point of this post is that we should all be spreading the word to everyone we know and through every outlet we can find.  I think NAR should be doing major advertising campaigns online, in print, the radio and on television directed at buyers and buyers only right now. Of course they could hit on the facts about Realtors and how we help sellers get better pricing but if they did major efforts to attract buyers and change the mindset out there and let everyone know it is buying time then the sellers would be coming to us to utilize our professional services in droves.  They would want the help and realize that buyers are going to have a professional representing them through negotiations and contracts - and they should have one too.  Seriously, why are there not major major efforts going on right now?  Maybe there are but I have not seen any.  Other than the "clean up" actions they try to do after 60 minutes or 20/20 runs a piece ripping Realtors to shreds.  Why wait?  Why can't they do something on their own to educate the public instead of trying to band aid every negative story that comes out about our profession and the market?

It is not enough to sit around and wait for the market to turn around with the attitude "Oh, this market will change.  Its just a cycle and we are at a low point in the cycle." Man do I hate hearing that.  That is the laziest no action taking response I have ever heard.  Lay down and let the market run you over?  No way.  Let's make it change.  We cannot sit back and wait for the media or anyone else to spread the word for us.  We must start at the grassroots level and work up from there.  Maybe then NAR and the others who are "looking out for Realtors" will start a major, major push to turn things around for the real estate market. 

As always, my 2 cents.....Fire away....