Well, home sales crept up a bit in December thanks to cheap prices and even cheaper money. Looks like the seasonally adjusted index of pending sales for "used" homes rose 6.3 percent in December from the month before. Yeah, I know that's a LOT of foreclosures being sold but at this point, any positive news is just that--positive! As far as home values, the US average dropped over 18% but the ATL market only dropped around 11%. Again, we didn't truly have that much of a bubble--what hurt ATL is the number of people in over their heads (which led to foreclosures).
For a 'lesson' on value, consider this: I happened to do a refinance in someone's home the other day. It was a beautiful home that turned out to have appraised for around $15,000 LESS than what they bought it for 2 or 3 years ago. One culprit may have been the For Sale sign across the street with "REO" in the title (REO = Bank Owned). They luckily had plenty of equity in their home so they could easily refinance, but it could have been a huge negative for them if they needed a higher loan amount. But that home across the street was just as pretty and could probably be 'stolen' from the seller. That will kill values for surrounding homes, but again, you are seeking a good deal to BUY so what are you waiting for???
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