[thomas70]

What the original poster is asking is, "should I try to catch a falling knife?"

The problem with catching falling knives, is that often times you get IMPALED by them.

If the market keeps dropping, as all the numbers seem to indicate, it would be foolish to rush in too soon to buy a house.

If you buy real estate now, make sure you're not in a "bubble" market. Some areas (i.e., Texas) were never affected by the bubble -- and you can get a 4 bedroom house for $80K or $100K. That's obviously a good deal.

If you couldn't buy a house and RENT IT OUT at a profit -- then the house is too expensive right now. Don't listen to the Realtors (tm) whatever you do! They have all kinds of sucker lines "You'll get priced out of the market" etc.

Always keep fundamentals in mind -- and you'll never be sorry. Same goes for stocks. Look at the P/E ratio, and don't just do "what everyone else is doing". Remember, MOST people lost their shorts in 1929, and it can happen again.