The lighthouse for home value directions, like the stock market, is perpetually dim.

Predicting the rise and fall of stock value is a devilishly difficult, if not impossible, task.   But what moves down, almost certainly will move back up.  By the time most of us are secure enough to return to the market, the most profitable opportunities are somewhere over the horizon, sailing away from us.

The real estate market will rebound.  I know it.  You know it.  We all know it.

The price of the home in Mt Pleasant, Charleston, Isle of Palms or Sullivan’s Island which I help you purchase this week will quite possibly be lower than what you will pay in the not so distant future.

I always advise caution, care and fiscal prudence.

But, don’t you feel in your gut real estate market prices are about as low as they’re likely to go in the Low Country?

Don’t you feel now just may be an excellent time to buy, or invest in real estate?    My mortgage broker friends tell me there is mortgage money available.   My instincts tell me the dark clouds of the past year are beginning to clear away and health will imminently return to the market.

Don’t you have the feeling in the near future we will frequently hear ourselves and others lament, “I wish I had purchased a home, or homes, several months ago?”

The real estate lighthouse is truly dim.   I don’t have special future visionary powers and these are uncertain times.

Did you read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell?  The subtitle is The Power of Thinking Without Thinking.

Do you sense the sky is brightening and 2009 just might be an ideal time to purchase the home of your dreams?

I do.

Rebecca Gooden