Your Mom is obviously not familiar with the market here in Charlotte.  National forecasts do not apply because the market here is UNDERVALUED and the appreciation it has had in the last 5 years has been slow and steady (about 2-5% a year on average).  The bubble you are talking about is relevant to cities that have had high appreciation with a percentage increase every year.  The majority of these cities are way over the equilibrium price set by Local Market Monitor.   Check this link:

http://money.cnn.com/2006/04/07/real_estate/overvalued_housing_market_Q4/index.htm

 Also considering the amount of loan fraud that occured in Charlotte over the last 5 years, foreclosures are at an all time high right now.  It really is easy to find properties needing only cosmetic fix-up that will leave the buyer with at least 10% real equity once the work is complete.  It's so bad, that the State legislature has started a committe to address the problem.

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/13713753.htm

 I do understand the point your mother makes.  Yes, there are unscrupulous people out there that will say anything to anyone.  Not the case here.  I realize that buying just ANY house on the market here would not necessarily make for a good investment. 

As I stated in a comment, that blog was just a test blog to see how it looked. Had I expanded on the one sentence I wrote, I would have stated I was talking about the plethora of opportunities to "buy right".

 I agree with your statement that noone can know for sure what a market will do, but consdiering the above mentioned factors, I feel it would take something catastrophic for the Charlotte market to depreciate. Therefore I stand behind my statement, "IT'S A GREAT TIME TO BUY IN CHARLOTTE!"