Several readers are looking for home buying strategies for the future. "Weekend Topic suggestion: How can the average Joe or Jane Sixpak maximize their buying power as a bottom approaches in the future? Lowball bidding is one way I have seen discussed here. What about foreclosures? Is that an area where normal folk can tread to get even deeper discounts? Were in the process is the 'best' entry point? Is it Pre-foreclosure, auction, or REO? What are the pitfalls of such an excursion?"

One replied, "I’ve had quite a few friends tell me after looking at repos here in SD during the 1990s that they were no bargain. The discount was very little. They were far too beat up, needed way too much work and the prices did not reflect that. I’m wondering if there will be bargains to be had as the bottom approaches or will it not be worth the trouble?"

Another added, "Bargains don’t have to be repos. There will be plenty of people who will have to sell at the bottom of the market for any number of reasons, including all those who become unable to service their mortgage."

And another said, "As I understand it, one of the safest ways to enter this segment of the market is to consult the lis pendends list maintained by the county, which identifies homeowners who have received notice from their lender that they face pending foreclosure."

"You get the benefit of a more typical buying experience compared to an auction (e.g., you get to fully inspect the property before purchasing and you can take some time to make your decision), but you still have a very highly motivated seller who may be willing to make some significant concessions."

One reader advises patience. "I think the best plan is to simply wait until the media and public is disgusted with housing and everyone is saying RE is a bad investment and then go out and find a nice house, it should be a good price by then. Forget about foreclosures, etc, unless you want to make a business out of it."

"It will probably take at least a year before anyone should be looking, maybe two or three years. We are not planning to try to time the bottom, since we owned our last house outright. I am expecting at least a 30% drop from today’s prices and we will probably buy when prices reach that point unless they are still falling very fast."

The Star Ledger. "Joyce Aponte has spent the past 20 years selling single-family homes and properties repossessed by lenders after their mortgages have gone sour, and she is concerned about what she is seeing these days."

"Families who bought houses with cheap, teaser-rate mortgages a few years ago, when interest rates were at rock bottom, are falling behind on their monthly payments."

"'When I started doing this in 1988, we were in urban areas. We were in Newark. We were in Paterson, Jersey City,' said Aponte. 'Now we are talking $900,000 houses. $700,000 houses. It runs the gamut. We'll go from Newark to Holmdel to Upper Saddle River. People are totally in debt. They don't have two nickels to rub together.'"

"Here in New Jersey, the numbers have been steadily climbing during the past 12 months, as well. During the first quarter of 2005, 6,482 properties entered into some stage of foreclosure. By the end of the fourth quarter, that figure had climbed to 13,487."

"Already, companies are creating foreclosure units and hosting seminars to teach homeowners as well as investors how to navigate the system. 'We're getting calls from nice area such as Princeton,' said Bryndan Moore, a real estate investor who buys homes from homeowners in distress. 'I'm seeing it mainly from people who bought their house or refinanced in the last four years.'"

"'The banks feel like they are going to be having a lot more (distressed) properties down the road, so they are telling me to hire people and to get my staff ready for the properties that are going to be coming down the pike' Aponte said."