Realtors are certainly becoming popular, at least at gatherings and parties. Not for their entertaining personalities, perhaps, but for what opinion they might venture regarding the direction of the real estate market. Now, man is a gregarious social creature, not a herd animal mind you, but one who is aware of time and therefore timing. Is this the bottom? I dont know. I do know that home prices have come down significantly in the past year or so, while financing rates have been more or less firm. While I embrace time, I prefer to exclude timing, championing Newton over Leibniz. Buyers seeking second homes usually do so for the fundamental desire of establishing a personal alternative to their familiar routine, no matter how interesting and stimulating. Picking the absolute market nadir for a second homebuyer becomes almost antithetical to their true interests. And, the total variables determining a market bottom are so numerous and diverse that picking it becomes more a matter of chance than any realized action. At the same time, sellers have their own time tables and they may be quite different from most buyers. They, if they wish to follow classic market precepts, need to position their property competitively to the general market to attract the buyer. But, waterfront homes in the Lakes Region present unique market conditions; for the buyer pool is large, diverse and can exert unanticipated influence on the actual selling prices on the local market. My advice, therefore, which I offer to one and all, is that if you see something you like and have the means, dont hesitate, but make it your own. After all, time as we experience it proceeds in only one direction. Jim Ferriman Jferriman@spencerhughes.com (603) 267-9866