James Bednar weighs in:

Yes, there are opportunities in the current market, but they are still pretty rare and require a buyer to be very flexible. If I had to put a figure on it, I’d say that roughly 1 out of every 50 listed homes represented a better value than what we’ve seen in the past. A great deal? Something on the order of 1 out of hundreds. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that every house on the market right now represents a good deal, it just isn’t the case.

I still can’t say that this is a good time to buy.  There’s still a lot of air in the asking prices and real home values are probably going to drop at least another ten percent before we hit bottom.

Still, it’s probably a better time to buy than any time in the last five years. If you have to buy, like I do, you have to be smart about it. There are deals to be had if you look for them.