Creating Wealth: Timing the Real Estate Market

It's no secret that one way to build wealth is to buy assets at a low price and sell them at a higher price.  Day traders do this with stocks all the time.  The same is true for real estate investment.  There are bargains in any market but there are more opportunities in a buyer's market.  So how much more time do we have before house prices start increasing again? (In other words: How long will this awesome buying opportunity we are in now last?)  Housingwire gives us some insight:

The U.S. housing market hit bottom this year and will remain flat until 2014, when it will start to slowly recover, said Rick Sharga, an executive vice president with Carrington Mortgage Holdings.

 ~snip~

Banks hold about 800,000 REOs, and three-quarters of those are not listed for sale, said Sharga. Another 800,000 homes are in foreclosure and 1.5 million loans are delinquent.

This "shadow inventory" will slow down a housing market recovery, he said, as monthly foreclosure numbers will remain elevated through 2012 and REO inventories will stay high through 2013.

So, according to the crystal ball, it appears the window of opportunity will be open for another 2 years.  Let's make use of it.  Those who have acquired real estate during this period should be well rewarded in the years to come.