Wait It Out?

In some neighborhoods, the new "normal" is distress: So many foreclosures dot the landscape that all vales are negatively impacted, no matter how pristine their condition.

"If a seller can, he may decide to monitor the market and wait [to put his home up for sale," notes Ralph DeMartino, president of the Miami Association of Realtors.

Recently, observes DeMartino, president of the Miami Association of Realtors.

Recently, he's seen non-distressed homes fetch prices which wouldn't have been possible a year ago in the Miami neighborhoods he serves.

The reason for the uptick is that ordinary buyers have come back since the market appears to already have bottomed, DeMartino says.

Statistics showing that distressed properties now make up less than half of all sales indicate the corner has turned, he adds.

A foreclosure cycle takes several years, with some markets peaking now, says Daren Blomquist of RealtyTrac, an Irvine, Ca. firm that tracks foreclosures.

Sometimes, "shadow" inventories which lenders haven't yet foreclosed on or put up for sale threaten to prolong the cycle, says Blomquist, whose firm is selling pre-foreclosure information to real estate agents.

Even when homeowners take a count of foreclosures filed but not completed, it's difficult to say that another wave won't occur soon, if unemployment or another adverse event forces more homeowners to default, notes Tinley Park, Il appraiser T.J. McCarthy.

"I have had homeowners decide not to list when they look at the market and see they will face a lot of competition from foreclosures," adds Tim Winfrey of RE/MAX Associates West, Bartlett, Il.

But Winfrey agrees: "It's almost impossible to anticipate what will come onto the market."

Perhaps the best way to "time" the market is to list your home when buying activity is traditionally busiest -- usually the spring or late summer, concludes McCarthy.