Have we hit the bottom?

The media is full of reports today that real estate has not hit the bottom and we are in for a few more months of declining prices. Well that may be the case for parts of the country (the coasts) but for the stable Midwest this is the bottom. The irony is this. For the past 5 months the local Realtor community knew of the precipitous slide in prices and we tried to convey that to our sellers. Some listened and preserved their profits, while others insisted that we were 'trading in fear'. That was hardly the case at all. We look for indicators in the market that will give us clues as to what the 'market' will and will not do. A classic example is showing activity. Over the past several months--a usually good time in real estate, the showing activity was slowing quickly. Was it because of interest rates? No, those are still low. How about the oversupply of homes? Yes, that was it. Some sellers are beginning to realize that we were in a price slump. It is better to realize it at some point then not at all. On the other hand many of today's buyers are still under the impression that the prices will fall even further, using national data as their support for this position. What they will realize this spring is that the bottom was indeed in the fall of '06--the best time to buy, and that the spring '07 market will not yield as many great deals as the 4th quarter of 2006. The real winners are those who look ahead, plan and take decisive action. So, have we hit bottom? Yes that happened a few weeks ago. We are now moving forward.