You aren't smarter than the market. It really is that simple. Remember the adage, "buy low, sell high"? That applies to the real estate market too. This may be obvious to most people, but apparently not to the financial advice industry. Buying a house right now is a very high risk investment. In fact owning a home is a high risk investment, if you think your home is an investment. Of course, most people don't own their home as an investment, they own a home to live in. But the cost of owning one's own home the last couple years has been very high in most markets. And unlike past situations where real estate prices fell, this one preceeded the onset of a broader economic slowdown rather than resulting from it. A weakening economy should push prices even lower in the short term. Long term, the situation could be worse. The market fundamentals such as rents, household income and historic rates of appreciation all indicate the current market is still overpriced ev...