Have you ever looked back and wished you had taken advantage of some great opportunity?  Anyone out there participate in the IPO of Dell, Cisco, Google?  Looking back it’s easy to see the opportunity you missed if you didn’t participate.  The trick is to know a good investment when you see one.

I believe with all my heart (and my head too for that matter) that just such an opportunity exists right now in the local real estate markets of Raleigh, Cary, Wake Forest, Apex and Holly Springs.  All of these towns are highly desirable places to live right now.  There are some awesome neighborhoods out there that even in the light of today’s slow market continue to out pace other areas.

Today we have an all too rare buyers market for homes in the Triangle area.  Prices are soft.  There are downright basement bargains in some new communities where cash flow is what the builder needs right now.  Inventory is at an all time high.  If you cannot find what you want in today’s real estate market, it probably doesn’t exist.

But be careful and be warned.  This will not last forever. Like the details of what they did, or not, the action taken by Congress yesterday will have a positive, stimulating effect on the housing and lending markets.  This slow, buyer’s market we are in could (and most likely will) end soon.

When markets across the country begin to recover and people can sell their homes and relocate to the Raleigh area there will be a sharp spike in demand. Real estate markets are pure supply and demand models.  When supply is scarce and demand is high, prices go up.  Just ask anyone in Southern California who bought a home about three years ago.

I’ve said it before and it is certainly worth saying again.  If you need to move, there has never been a better time. If you are waiting to time the bottom of the real estate market, don’t wait too long.  When it begins another upward cycle, don’t allow yourself to be looking back and wishing you had taken advantage of the best chance you ever had to buy your dream home.