A buyer wonders if it's time to buy a home in the Northern Virginia, Washington D.C. metro area.

Northern Virginia Buyer writes, "I was wondering what your thoughts are on purchasing a home right now in the Northern VA /DC metro area. We are reluctant to buy and think we should wait and watch for another year. We have already waited a year and have watched prices drop anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 on homes since the summer of 2005. We still see them dropping and see no reason why this trend will stop anytime soon. We are looking in Arlington and found a house we would like to put an offer on but it's going to be low because we are so nervous about the market. We know that more than likely this deal will not go through. Should we wait until the spring or longer? We really are not in a hurry and don't need to be in a home right now. We are renting currently and have a flexible lease."

Realty Times responds:

Dear NVB, I don't blame you for being nervous. Home prices have dropped, and you don't want to catch a falling knife. But the day will come when the knife point makes a solid landing. It all depends on your comfort level for risk and what you choose to believe is happening in the market. Your job is to get realistic about what you can achieve in buying a home.

A lot of things have to be in alignment to make the perfect home purchase -- great house, low price, low mortgage interest rate, desperate seller, and so on. The chances of finding all of those things in one package are slim. You may find a great house, but the seller isn't desperate enough to let you have it for nothing.

So you have to decide what's important to you. Where are you willing to compromise, to negotiate? The most important factor is the house because that is what you'll be living with everyday. Do you want to be in that particular neighborhood? In that particular house? More than where you are right now?

Like you said, you don't have to buy. You can sit tight, but then there's another fear to deal with -- what if the market turns? Just as suddenly as they did five years ago, prices can rise, inventories can disappear and those low interest rates can disappear.

Right now, the only thing working against you is fear. You've got low interest rates, high unemployment, high inventories of houses to choose from, and falling prices. That's the ideal scenario of a buyer's market. And with a market like you live in where there are plenty of people working and being transferred in and out, the market should stay healthy.

Sooner or later, someone else is going to step in and buy that house you say you want. They'll pay more than you're willing to pay, but they're going to get the house. And it's people like that who will turn the market around. When you see enough homes slipping through your fingers, you'll wish you had acted sooner.

It may be happening already. There are many economic indicators that point to a rebound in housing. Just last week, the volume of mortgage applications rose 16.6 percent higher than the week before, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. This is only one number, but it suggests buyers are preparing to buy.

The best protection you can offer yourself when buying in a buyer's market is buy to hold. Don't count on a quick sale because you don't know when the market is going to turn upward again. Sometimes you buy, and prices continue to soften, but if there are jobs, limited inventory and innate desirability in the city, neighborhood and home, prices will pick back up again.

I wish I could promise you that you won't lose money on your house. Sometimes people do, but they also make tremendous money on their homes, too. And you can't do that until you become an owner.

The truth is that no one can predict the housing market. The housing market appears poised for a rebound, but when that happens exactly will be another story.

Published: January 15, 2007

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Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment. Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's. Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. To contact Blanche, email her at . For more articles by Blanche, click here.