When will the housing market recover?!?!?

Well, wouldn't I be a freakin' genius if I could predict that!  Nobody can give an accurate calendar date on a recovery because nobody knows!  Besides, each area of the country is different.  Some pockets are experiencing slow, steady growth right now and other areas have never appreciated at the rate of inflation.  Areas like Florida, DC, NYC, Boston, California, Vegas, Phoenix and Hawaii have severe market mood swings and these are the places everyone seems to be referring to right now when they say, "The market is in the toilet!"  Those markets were in a bubble frenzy that popped, and are now going through a correction.  If your market has seen a severe decrease in volume and a noticeable price drop in home values in the last 12-24 months, you are probably in a cyclic market that will once again strengthen and rise after this correction.  Again, no one can accurately predict a date when the bottom has arrived and prices will again rise but there are some very key indicators that always seem to precede an up-trend in a cyclic market.

• First, interest rates and terms must be favorable for buyers and right now lenders are tightening their purse strings after the nasty losses they have seen recently with loan defaults.  This will take a while to turn around.  The days of easy money are gone but in 2-3 years we should see some great loan programs return for the average buyer.
  

• Available inventory must be absorbed.  If there are a lot of vacant properties for sale in your area and few transactions taking place, it will likely take 3-5 years for this to even out.  It's the law of supply and demand.  Builders have overbuilt and speculators have over-speculated.  There are not enough "real" buyers to purchase homes in most areas of he country.  When the excess inventory gets purchased and actually lived in, the turn-around in prices is imminent.  In most areas this magic trend is easy to determine.  Demand (properties sold) will be more than the new properties listed for several months in a row.  This reduces the inventory and properties will begin to sell in days or weeks, not months.
  

• Rental vacancies must decrease and rental rates must rise.  This motivates renters to look for buying opportunities.  As long as cheap, good places to rent are available, renters have no motivation to take on a mortgage.
  

So, there it is in a nut shell!  3 signs to look for in your market that will indicate that home values have passed the rock bottom phase and will again begin to rise.  If you find yourself in a flat or down market currently, this does not mean that as an investor you should sit on the sidelines.  You simply can't rely on price appreciation to make you rich.  I have made 6 offers in the last month and will continue to hunt for bargains.  Any home, in any kind of market can be a good value - at the right price.  If your neighbor offers to sell you his home for five bucks free and clear, I would bet that you'd jump on the deal!  Well, don't hold your breath, but if there are opportunities to purchase properties at 30-40% below market value and you can assign the contracts for a nice profit, this is a great time to be looking for real estate!  If you can find good properties at good prices that you can rent out for a nice, positive cash flow, then this is a great time to be looking for real estate!  When you hear about those stories of people who bought a home for "x" dollars and sold it 4 years later for double or triple the price, this is the point in the cycle that they probably purchased.  Learn the details of successful real estate investing in my Full Course, available on my products page.