I plan to move as soon as I can find a house that I want to move into that I consider reasonably priced. It turns out that not many places meet both criteria.

We definitely want to move and as we are looking to downsize it should be workable. What holds us back? Aging parents. Plain and simple. We're stuck, until this situation resolves. So, in the meantime, we remodel. As time passes and enough remodeling goes on, what's the sense of moving? We have a feeling we're not the only ones out there like this.

I'm in Michele's situation. I'm ready to buy ASAP but am still not happy with the current prices. I understand there is a gap between what your house is worth and what you need to get but I'm afraid I'm not quite that altruistic.

As someone who sold his home in January and did a bunch of work to get it ready, I can pass along what helped me. I had my agent come out and tell me what to fix long before I sold. I already knew what needed to be fixed because it's obvious when you live there. But, she told me what would directly help sell the house and prepared me for things that needed to be fixed but wouldn't raise the price. For example, I really needed a new furnace but buyers already expect a working furnace so that wouldn't increase my price. Some things she told me not to touch because it wouldn't bother most buyers and I wouldn't get any return on the investment. For example, my metal roof needed to be painted but I didn't have any buyers even mention it when selling. I already had a relationship with an agent but this might also be a good way to evaluate agents if you still need to find one.

And I agree completely with Ruth above, I enjoyed living there much more after I did the work. I didn't really care as much if I couldn't sell because the house was so much more livable. I'm not sure why so many people, myself included, don't take care of these things until they are ready to sell but hopefully I learned my lesson.

I will be moving as soon as us taxpayers have given enough money to the banks so that they can pretend to be solvent. Interest rates are zero, banks are making up quarterly reports and now they are not lending out money. My Mortgage broker says it is only a matter of time before us citizens are brainwashed again into buying bigger and bigger houses that we can't pay for. He says he will give me a loan at that time and he said he really doesn't care if I pay the loan back. He just needs more time. It is a tough situation....everyone needs higher home prices - we just need people who can pay for them. In the meantime - I am just putting stuff I buy on my credit card. When I purchase my home (or I start paying a bank instead of a landlord)..I will take out home equity loan. Is Goldman Sachs buying CDO's? Are they high on the real estate market? The homebuyer credits are expiring. I hear they may offer some more credits. I trust realtors and bankers. If they tell me it is a good time to buy - then it is. They are the ones who make a living off the sales of homes. who would know better?

At this point, we've opted to remodel our house instead of purchasing a new one. The real estate market has a tendency to dip rather than rise nowadays, and we don't want to take that chance.