Short Sales are the ticket if you've got the patience

About the market...here's my two cents.  I think that if we do not go into a full blown recession now, the market will start to show signs of recovery in the next 6 months. It's going to take a long time before we see prices go back to their peak, though.  If I'm a buyer, the new option available to some buyers are excellent deals on short sales...and there are plenty of them out there... Trust me!  The problem with short sales is they're pretty frustrating because the banks move very slowly but they are getting better -- and oftentimes there are two banks involved when there are equity loans involved.  The biggest plus for the short sale with only one lien holder is:  there are no tax penalties (1099's) for those people/sellers.  Its no longer regarded as "phantom income".  Those are the deals I would be looking for as a buyer.  Again, the bad side is the banks typically take 4-6 weeks to make a decision. Solution to this problem: Put multiple offers on different properties with a back-out clause. Also, I recommend that a buyer of this sort also needs/should have at least 10% to put down.  Lots of good stuff!