The forecasts for real estate in 2007 have been rolling in the last couple weeks and it looks like another great market ahead. Keep in mind, I'm always bullish on real estate whether or not it's a buyers or sellers market. Somebody's going to make some good money.

2006 was a great year in real estate, despite all the media reports on the topic. "Existing-home sales, finishing the third-best year on record, are projected for 2006 at 6.47 million, a decline of 8.6 percent. In 2007, they're expected to rise steadily from the current cyclical low and reach an annual total of 6.40 million, which would be 1.0 percent lower than this year's total," according to a press release on the industry watcher's website .

As you look forward to next year's opportunities to make money in real estate investing, be sure to put together a team that's going to help you take advantage of the market conditions.

The first person on your A-List will be a really good agent. Let me explain what kind of person you're looking for:

This is a person who's confident in their own skills and knows how to benefit in this market. S/he trusts you as the consumer and is willing to listen to you regarding your wants and needs. This is a person who's going to get your goals met, not just rake in a commission dollar.

Now, that statement sounds pretty simple, but you have a responsibility in this relationship as well. You need to be willing to sit down with this said agent and walk through what kind of market you're facing in your investment target area; be upfront and truthful about your financial situation so you can determine your buying power; and really let the agent know about your apprehensions in buying in today's market.

You want an agent who's not afraid of writing a low offer and who's willing to go to the mat with market information, third-party statistics, and hard data to substantiate the offer face-to-face with the listing agent and their seller. No faxing contracts in today's market. Ask the agent if s/he's going to present face to face. If they say it's not customary -- find another agent.

Seasoned agents have been having a great year because they've been willing to carry out all the above tasks.

Next, seek out a good lender (many times through your above agent) who is local, has plenty of programs and will get the financing job done.

Let's break this down. I prefer a local lender because if something happens with the financing (and many times it will) they're right down the street and I can get eyeball to eyeball with them to work it out. A local lender has a reputation to protect because he wants referrals from me and he wants repeat business from agents. He's not going to get that over the Internet.

As I'm getting into new properties, I also want a good group of residual service providers: home inspector, termite inspector, contractors (always from a referred source -- not a flier on your mailbox); tradesmen, etc. You want to get in and get out with the fix-ups required on real estate investing. Have these people ready to move on your new investment right after settlement date. In fact, you may want to coordinate settlement dates with your contractor's availability dates. You don't want to be making payments on a house in disrepair and unrentable because your contractor's working on another job.

Finally, you want a good supply of information providers -- websites that give you what you need to make real decisions on markets across the country.

U.S. Economic Development Agency (state directory . Start here to drill down to the local economic development authority where you want to invest in real estate. You're looking for economic growth statistics and projections into the next decade.

National Association of Realtors . Here, you'll get access to economic and sales forecasts, as well as the latest news and comment from its chief economist.

National Association of Homebuilders . The same type of information is available here from the National Association of Homebuilders as from NAR.

Meyers Group/Hanley Wood Market Intelligence This organization is THE real estate media group. It tracks building permits, starts, sales, etc. Some of the reports are free, others are subscription-based.

You also want to be reading from a third-party economic research organization. In my region, it's the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University . Many states and localities have a group that conducts this type of research regularly for business interests in the community.