Has the Real Estate Market Hit Bottom?

I read a post earlier with this title and have some thoughts on the matter.  This is a question that you can ask on a national level, and on a national level the answer may be no.  But, what does that mean to the individual real estate agent?  Very little. 

All real estate is LOCAL.  What may be true for Dearborn, Michigan is not true for San Antonio, Texas.  I spoke to an agent from San Antonio last week and they have not experienced the same market as agents in Tampa, Florida have.  They did not have 20% appreciation each year for 4 years; they had modest increases each year like a "normal" market.  In San Antonio there are some foreclosures unfortunately and that may be a matter of the types of mortgages that some people took out during the "boom" years; adjustable-rate, interest-only, or balloon loans. 

Here in the Baltimore/Washington real estate market our housing values in most neighborhoods have declined since 2006, however 20% annual appreciation was just not sustainable and prices needed to adjust to get back in line with incomes.  We are at the point now where housing prices are more in line with incomes and our market is getting back to normal. 

From now, mid-November through January/February 2011, we will have the normal slower market as many people do not want to move during the holiday season, but we expect another good spring market, especially with the influx of people moving into the Ft. Meade area. 

With the lower prices that we are seeing in the Ft. Meade area and the historically low interest rates, this area is beginning to recover nicely, while other markets may take longer to recover.

Remember that all real estate is LOCAL, before making sweeping generalizations about the real estate market.

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