While prices have not recovered and won't for a long time, sales activity may be going up this spring. Most everyone in my network is reporting increased client activity. I'm busier than I've been in a long time.

Mortgage rates are down and will remain so until the Feds quit buying them. The anounced date to quit is March 31. If they quit buying, rates will go up.

People can take advantage of the extension of the Fedwral tax credit if the home they buy is under contract by April 30.  These two dates--3/31 and 4/30--alighn to make this spring a good time to sell, if you're so inclined. After that, I believe it will be a long slog.

Except for this caveat: I think the Fed will keep buying mortgages past the announced date in order to keep rates low.

Sellers can keep more of the equity in their homes by using my company's services at the Portland Homes Marketplace.

Yesterday, at Terradigm, I wrote how real estate agents, even inadvertently, may help to inflate house values.

And at the Mortgage Rescue Cafe, I posted a note on why people with distressed properties are not alone.