Hey everybody pretty much half way into this 2008 year and real estate market how are you feeling?  It is survivial of the fittest in market places right now.  The squeeze is on!  Milk and eggs at highest I have ever seen it.  We all know about Gas prices.  How much of this is effected by the housing market?  In my opinon all of it!  One thing which has fueled our economy the last few years is consumer confidence.  When the real estate prices of your property are appreciating like Magic, everyone is happy!  I mean if you need some money you refinance!  You want a new car?  You refinance?  People used the equity of there homes like ATM machines!  Well now the bank is closed (in some cases literally) and everyone is feeling poor!  Suddenly we are tightening the belt and counting the pennies!

The lending institutions are still being very cautious about lending money.  Previoulsy "just breathing" was the criteria for qualifying for your home loan.  In this enviroment they want your first and second born plus a large downpayment TO CONSIDER qualifying you!  It is crazy!  As my Mom and Grandma used to tell me, this to will pass. 

The real estate market will stablize, and it will probably move sideways for awhile then we will have a gradually climb to record levels again.  This is not an over night process.  Will we probably go lower first?  I believe absolutely we will, but that is not bad thing.  This is a big ship we are on.  It will take time to turn it around, just like the ride up was long before we turned.

If you have a long term time frame for investing.  NOW IS THE TIME TO GET IN!  If you purchase and hold on to the property 5-10 years, who is really going to remember (or complain) that you could have waited and got another 5-10% off when the property will probably be up 2-3 fold by then?  Do you think people that purchased property in 1990 or 1991 at the height of that market remember or care now is 2008 or at the market peak around 2005?  I would bet they dont.

Figure out your plan for purchasing and figure out your "why."  Once you have those things in place the execution of purchasing will be easy.