Encouraging Headlines...

Why this may be the ideal time to buy real estate
http://moneyland.time.com/2012/05/21/why-this-may-be-the-ideal-time-to-buy-real-estate/

Home sales surge in April
http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/22/real_estate/home-sales/index.htm?iid=HP_LN

Reports: Sellers boosted prices in April
http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2012/05/16/report-sellers-boosted-prices-in-april/

Foreclosure activity sinks to a five-year low
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/17/news/la-foreclosure-activity-sinks-to-a-five-year-low-20120517

Home prices rose most in two decades in March
http://sfgate.ldc.bloomberg.wallst.com/SFChronicle/Story?docId=1376-M4FZA66VDKIX01-1U3J4A48C72LJOLUO1B6P26SFG

Defaults and Foreclosures Decline...

Foreclosures in California dropped again in the first quarter of 2012 — a good sign of a stabilizing housing market. Notices of default (NODs) and real estate owned (REO) resale volume also declined, suggesting that lenders are finally working through their backlogged foreclosure inventory. As a result, locally, we are experiencing a large drop in inventory creating an artificial increase in property values. Hopefully the trough in the market is behind us and remains there. We shall see....

A Flicker of Hope Appears in the Housing Market

THE boom in housing in the middle of the last decade created a huge oversupply of homes in the United States. But now that oversupply appears to be close to vanishing, at least in most parts of the country. Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/28/business/economy/a-flicker-of-hope-appears-in-the-housing-market.html?_r=2&ref=realestate