You have to know when to hold 'em

You have to know when to hold 'em
By Melinda Fulmer, MSN Real Estate

Of course, there are some people who are better off waiting in this market: people who bought their current home in the past couple of years. In this short period of time, the value of the home hasn't gone up enough to compensate for the agent's commission and other selling costs.
These days, Gaines thinks that five is the magic number when it comes to buying and selling: If you've been in your house five years and plan to move to a place where you will stay at least another five, you're probably OK.
However, there are a few notable exceptions. There are some markets around the country where prices are still sliding, jobs are being lost and foreclosures are making it hard for people to sell their homes, such as economically depressed Detroit.
Gaines and Conway say there is still too much uncertainty in boom-and-bust markets such as Phoenix; Las Vegas; San Diego; and Miami and Tampa, Fla. In San Diego, for instance, prices fell 2.6% in October alone, according to Standard & Poor's Case-Schiller Home Price Index. And agents there are saying those price drops have continued to snowball since that survey was done.
In Phoenix, there is a 10-month supply of houses on the market, making it harder for people to sell their homes without taking a price cut. "The people buying right now are really the people who have an urgent need to move," says Mike Mendoza of Keller Williams Realty in Phoenix.
And it probably goes without saying that you shouldn't buy if your job security looks a little uncertain in the near future.