Assuming you are looking for buying or selling a home and knowing if the real estate market is in a recession or not is certainly of high interest to you. This can greatly impact the potential savings as a buyer, and of course have an adverse negative effect to a seller.

We wish we had an easy answer to this very tough question. Part of the reason the question is so difficult to answer is historical data does not seem to apply or transferred so well in the current market. Our ongoing research reveals, that even in a single state, for example, California has market conditions showing prices holding very well, unless they are not. In some areas such as the bay area, prices are holding rather well. Yet in other areas of the state real estate recession is in full swing.

Before coming to a decision about buying or selling a home in the current market requires relying a lot more on the local conditions than they ever have before. If you are looking in an area you're not intimately familiar with, and you have the ability to spend a little time, consider looking at resources in the news or internet and use unusual sources.

For example, go to the grocery store and pick up the free local periodicals. If you see an awful lot of statements such as: "Price reduced!" Or, "Make an Offer!", or perhaps "Highly Motivated Seller!" These are high clues that that particular market is experiencing of real estate downward swing or recession.

Research is an important part of determining if an area is experiencing a recession, is it near the end, or going for a another long, ugly time period? This question might be able to determine by looking at what the local employers are doing. If a large employer or the major industry of the region is closing down nearby, sure the price of houses will be going down. And they may keep going down for considerable time. Without doing your research you may think you're in for a wonderful score, because that areas experiencing a little recession. You may find out by surprise, buying a place and then later only to find out housing prices in the area were nowhere near the bottom as the slide has just started. So a seller, might be anxious to get out, because they suspect things are going to get a lot worse. If you don't check things out carefully, you'd make a score during a recession or you bought a pig in a poke.

Ya know? Doesn't matter how much you yell. We can't hear you. How about you take that energy and direct it to a keyboard.

Siddique is real estate investor for over 22 years and President of Download Free How to sell your Home for Full Price in any market.