Is this the year to buy a home???

A great article from CNN Money about Timing the Real Estate Market:

Question: At some point I plan to buy a house in the $250,000 to $400,000 range. I have generally good credit and plan to make a down payment of 20 percent or more.

But given the instability in the housing sector and generally tightening credit landscape, I'm wondering whether I should buy now or wait several months, maybe even a year, to see where the market settles. What do you think?

Answer: I don't recommend trying to time the housing market any more than I would timing the stock market. So if your aim by holding off is to try to get the best deal by buying just as prices have hit their low, I think that's unrealistic.

After all, even assuming you can figure out the ideal time to buy - that is, when prices have hit not only hit a trough but are on the verge of rebounding - by the time you find the house you want, line up the financing and close the deal, the "best" time may have already passed.

And given the huge inventory of homes already for sale plus the ones likely to come into the market as more homeowners default on their mortgages and go into foreclosure, prices are forecast to tumble another 6 percent or so in 2008.

So... with that said... if prices are expected to "tumble" another 6 to 10%... if you found the house you were looking for, in the neighborhood you always wanted to live in and could offer the seller 10 to 15% off of the asking price... does it really make sense to keep renting??? ;)