What do you think? We're out there in the trenches and we are seeing a turnaround with more buyers getting more serious every day.

Are home buyers still too scared to invest in buying a home? If low interest rates alone were the only factor driving buying then I'd say, it's not enough because low interest rates have proven not to drive buying during the recession. But there are indicators other than low interest rates making this a great buying moment.

Prices are starting to stabilize, and, in fact, the chief economist of NAR, (National Association of Realtors) is actually predicting a 2% RISE in prices in 2012 and a 4% increase in demand.

On October 24, the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index reported that there was a slight increase in home values month to month between July and August which is one of the signs of a recovering economy.

Add that to the 2.5% economic growth report from the Department of Commerce and we have slow growth, sure, but I'll take any growth over decline any day. Slow growth in spite of a still lurking shadow inventory of foreclosures, in spite of world wide economic troubles, in spite of upheaval in Washington over how to solve the nations economic crisis. What will it be like when some of these problems actually get solved? 

In fact, NAR recently worked with two well-respected policy think tanks – the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) and the Economic Policies for the 21st Century – that organized and conducted a policy meeting on October 4 and came to the table with a 5 point policy agenda to turn our economy around by turning the real estate policies in the direction that would create positive growth.

FNMA and FREDDIE  did accept the policies we talked about last week , giving homeowners the ability to refinance rather than walk away, Add that to NAR's initiative, The Case-Shiller report and the economic growth increase, I think that the majority of the indicators are pointed to a much safer environment for buying than we've seen since 2005.