This is probably one of the most important and frequently asked questions for buyers/investors. Especially now more than ever in our current economic situation. However, the market and/or the economy has not much to do with the answer.

With so many homes on the market, many potential buyers believe into the biggest myth of a shifting market. They think that they can time market. The fixation on finding “the greatest deal ever” causes many to miss out on the deals that are possible.

There are essentiallly two types of buyers/investors. Those who believe they can time the market and those who believe timing will find them. History supports the latter. If you’re always in the market actively paying attention, although you may never sell at the highest peak or buy at the absolute bottom, you can buy right and always do well over time. Logic says that you can’t predictably time the market to be able to buy at the absolute bottom and sell at the absolute top.

The following figure demonstrates this concept:

Timing the Market

You cannot perfectly time a market-no one can. You can look at indicators that will point out the direction in which a market is going and you can absolutely mark how far it has fallen or risen, but after that the only way to know a market has bottomed or topped out is after it has. In other words perfect timing is luck.

One other thing: Headlines will only let you know when the best time to buy has passed.

Some concepts and figure in this article are courtesy of the SHIFT from Millionaire Systems.