With all of the media attention on declining home prices and the "sub-prime mortgage meltdown", it may be easy to think it is the end of the real estate market and that we are all doomed. However, based on what I see every day, things aren't quite as bad as the media portrays them to be.
Home sales are slow, but homes are selling. All of the REO homes on my street have sold and are now occupied. When I do an appraisal, all be darned if there aren't comparable sales available. Homes are selling, and as prices continue to decline, people will not be able to resist taking advantage of this once in a generation opportunity. More people can qualify for a home.
As banks and lenders start having fewer losses, credit will loosen up a bit more, thus prompting easier sales.
Some of the same people that got us into this mess will be the same people that will get us out- the investors! Many novice "investors" bought on the growing real estate market hoping to make some easy money, thereby driving up prices. When the bubble burst, many of them walked away from these "investments", leaving a glut of foreclosures and REO properties. Now that prices are at an all-time low, the experienced investors are coming in and buying up many of these distressed properties, helping to alleviate the problem that was caused by the novices.
What I'm trying to point out is that things aren't as bleak as they seem. Things are slow now, but business is not dead. It will get better as inventories get bought up. It will not be like it was a few years ago, but we will be back in a viable sustainable market before we know it.