Ok, we all know that the media likes to take a subject (like the real estate industry) and beat it to death. Over the last year or so the only stories worth writing about were how the market is so bad, home prices are dropping, etc. Unfortunatley they had good reason to write about this because as we know here in Phoenix, Arizona things have been a little off.

So if the media is now spending their time talking about how the market is getting better, does that mean it is? Are they ahead of the story? Do they know something we don't?

My feeling (tell me what you think) is once the media starts talking about a subject like this, things will change. Is it because of them or are they simply reacting to what the market is doing. Your guess is as good as mine but that seems to be the reality. It's pretty clear that home prices have not started to climb yet but I think we can all agree that things "feel" different. Sales numbers in Arizona are up and it feels like something is about to break lose.

And while we're on the subject of prices. Is it really that bad that some homeowners have not seen an increase in propery values in say...1 year? For a few years the prices of homes were growing by 20, 30 40% and more each year. Wouldn't you expect to see the prices come down as quickly as they went up? How about a person that bought in 2000 and now 7 years later only nets 5-10% increase on their home..is that really all that bad?

Bottom line with this is a lot of people are sitting on the sidelines saying "I'm waiting for the bottom to hit" and my guess is these are the same people that usually wait until it's to late. Don't wait...real estate in Glendale and Peoria have already started to show signs of life. Other areas around Phoenix are also starting to see increased sales so the longer you wait to buy, the better the chances of saying "I should have bought last......".