* Deduct a home office. Some people avoid the home office deduction because it requires deducting depreciation, but if the property has lost value, this isn’t an issue.

* Sale-leaseback with a relative. If you're convinced your property is due for a big price correction and you have equity in the home, then sell now. For example, if you have a $1 million home that has been appraised at $1.8 million, you can sell it and take home $500,000 of the $800,000 gain tax free — due to an exemption on profits from the sale of personal residences. Sell the property to a trusted friend or wealthy relative and then become a tenant and pay the buyer rent at market rates — a much more attractive amount than Treasury bonds are paying now. When the housing market corrects, buy the property back.

* Invest in housing futures. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange sells investment instruments that trade based on house price indexes for each of the 10 largest U.S. cities. You can sell futures, buy puts, or sell calls on this market to hedge losses in the value of your home.

Some say both the classes and the investment opportunities are bad deals. One former student said, "What they teach there is dangerous. They're selling you on getting rich fast, and that's a risky game to play."

But enthusiastic alumni groups have popped up all over the country.

Co-founder and CEO Jim Piccolo, who says revenues will top $80 million in 2007, squelches naysayers and critics who suggest that the declining housing market makes this kind of investing particularly risky right now.

"There is no better time to buy, because real estate is on sale. You can never go wrong with real estate in the U.S. of A.," he says.

Source: Fortune Small Business Magazine, Patricia B. Gray (08/08/2007)

Total housing inventory, for single-family homes, condos and co-ops reached 10.5 months in September, which is up 43.5 percent compared to a 7.3-month inventory in September 2006.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of existing single-family, condo and co-op sales dropped to 5.04 million in September, down 19.1 percent compared to September 2006 and down 4 percent compared to Wall Street expectations of a 5.25 million rate. The adjusted annual rate is a projection of a monthly sales total over a 12-month period, adjusted to account for seasonal fluctuations in sales activity.

It was the lowest rate for combined resale single-family and condo/co-op sales since the National Association of Realtors began reporting the property types together in 1999. The September single-family rate of 4.38 million was the lowest since January 1998, when it was 4.18 million.

The median sales price of existing homes dropped 4.2 percent to $211,700 and the average sales price dropped 3.2 percent to $257,800 in September compared to the same month last year, the Realtor group reported. It was the largest year-over-year drop in the monthly median price since October 2006 when the median price fell 4.3 percent.

Mortgage-market problems disrupted sales and prices, the National Association of Realtors reported, though prices rose in the Northeast and Midwest.

Existing-home sales for the third quarter reached an annual rate of 5.42 million, slightly higher than the group's expectations of a 5.38 million annual rate for that quarter.

Housing starts in Florida are projected to fall from 198,900 in 2006 to 103,300 this year, a 48.1 percent drop, the builders group reported. And Florida is home to nine of 10 U.S. metro areas with the sharpest projected drop in housing starts from 2006 to 2007.

The other metro areas on the top 10 list are expected to see a 50 percent or greater slide in housing starts from 2006 to 2007.

The Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich., metro area is the only non-Florida area in the top 10 for housing market declines, with a projected 50.5 percent drop.

Michigan was second among states for its projected 2006-07 decline in housing starts. Starts are expected to drop from 31,200 in 2006 to 17,500 this year, a 43.9 percent decline.

Housing starts are expected to fall 39.4 percent in Nevada, 38.5 percent in Alaska, 36.6 percent in Minnesota, 31.9 percent in Illinois, 28.7 percent in Wisconsin, 27.8 percent in California and Missouri, and 25.8 percent in Ohio this year compared to last year.

New York is the only state that is expected to have a gain in housing starts this year compared to last year. The NAHB Total Housing Starts Forecast anticipates a 5.3 percent rise in starts this year compared to 2006, from 47,200 starts in 2006 to 49,700 starts this year.

Mississippi is expected to have the slightest decline in starts this year compared to last year, with starts falling 2.3 percent -- from 17,700 in 2006 to 17,300 in 2007.

Wyoming is next on the list with a 2.8 percent projected decline this year compared to last; followed by Montana with a projected 4.6 percent decline; Louisiana, down 7.95 percent; Kentucky, down 10.6; Washington, down 10.9 percent; Oklahoma, down 12.6 percent; Hawaii, down 13.5 percent; and Pennsylvania, down 13.9 percent.

The New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, La., metro area, which is slowly rebuilding following devastating hurricanes in 2005, is projected to experience a 22.5 percent gain in housing starts this year compared to last -- from 4,900 starts in 2006 to 6,000 starts this year.

The NAHB forecast expects the New Orleans metro area to see an 83.7 percent gain in starts from 2006 to 2009.

Only one other U.S. metro area tracked in the NAHB report, the Louisville, Ky., metro area, is expected to experience a gain in housing starts this year. That market area is projected to rise 3.7 percent, from 5,400 starts in 2006 to 5,600 starts this year.

And El Paso, Texas, is the only metro area besides the New Orleans area that is projected to experience a rise in housing starts in 2009 compared to 2006.

Year-over-year growth is expected in housing starts in five U.S. metro areas in 2008, including: New Orleans; Madison, Wis.; Reno-Sparks, Nev.; Washington, D.C.; San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.; and Fort Collins-Loveland, Colo.

By contrast, only five metro areas tracked in the NAHB report are expected to experience year-over-year declines in housing starts in 2009, including: Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.; Baton Rouge, La.; Provo-Orem, Utah; Lakeland, Fla.; and Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Housing starts in New York are projected to be flat in 2009 compared to 2006, and the NAHB expects that Louisiana starts will drop 2.3 percent in 2009 compared to 2006 -- the slightest decline among states.

Nine of the 10 metro areas with the steepest projected drop in housing starts in 2009 compared to 2006 will be in Florida, according to the report, with the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area experiencing a 79.4 percent decline.

Washington, D.C., is expected to see a 72.2 percent decline in starts in 2009 compared to 2006, after projected year-over-year declines of 22.2 percent this year, 50 percent in 2008 and 28.6 percent in 2009.

Real Estate Agents that focus on listing properties. - Property listings provide the opportunity to earn three sales commission.

A) You earn if you find the home buyer for your property listings. "double commission"
B) Seller can purchase another property once their home is sold. "single commission"

A Buyers Real Estate Agent - Why you work harder.
A) When working with a home buyer, you do most of the work.
B) Your earnings potential is based on the supply and demand of the "Buyers Market".
C) Only "1" Commission.
D) Many buyers can easily cease working with you, despite agreements with clauses.

Listings Real Estate Agent - Buyer Preps and earn Multi-Way.
A) The seller works to prepare the property.
B) You have many agents working for you.
C) You earn a commission whether you sell the property or another real estate agent sells the property.
D) The seller may need you to buy his/her next property.
E) Listing Homes allows you to market yourself.

"Foreclosure Properties" are also known as "real estate owned" or "REO Homes".

But it may be that not everyone will get a chance to take advantage of the new, lower interest rates. Sometimes mortgage rates move in opposition to the federal funds rate. If the federal funds rate goes down, mortgage interest rates may rise.

What you have to decide is this: Is now the right time to refinance your mortgage or should you wait until later in the year when interest rates may drop again?

Previously, applicants could seek a conditional license after taking a single class and passing the state exam, completing course work over 18 months. Under the new law there will be no more conditional licenses.

And the median price per square foot for a single-family home fell 4.3 percent this year to $336 compared with last year's record high of $351 per square foot, the association reported.

August median home prices for all types of homes in the state, including new and existing single-family homes and condos, dropped in about 74 percent of the 326 cities and city areas tracked compared to August 2006, according to statistics provided by DataQuick Information Systems, a real estate data company.

DataQuick also reported that median prices fell in 24 of 31 California counties that it tracked in August compared to August 2006 the state has 58 counties.

The first thing you have to know is that buying new-construction real estate has its pitfalls, and you should only proceed to purchase real estate with quality advice from a real estate attorney. While many people elect to go it alone when buying real estate, some of them find that they could have used legal help early on that could prevent large losses later in a transaction.

The second thing to know is that there are consumer protection statutes at both the state and federal levels. In some cases, state laws and federal laws may give real estate purchasers different protections.

Many states have specific disclosure laws, in particular with the sale of condominiums or large-scale developments. These disclosure laws frequently allow a purchaser to cancel the deal if the purchaser is not given the disclosures required by law. Real Estate Market

African-American home owners were nearly three times as likely to get high-cost loans as their white counterparts. Even when African-American applicants went through prime lenders, they got high-cost loans 37 percent of the time, according to the report.

Latino home owners were twice as likely as white home owners to get high-cost loans. From prime lenders, Latinos got high-cost loans 19 percent of the time compared with just 9 percent of the time for whites.

The top 10 areas for high-cost loans were:

1. Chicago-Naperville-Joliet
2. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale
3. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario
4. Phoenix
5. Washington, D.C.
6. Atlanta
7. Houston
8. New York
9. Miami
10. Tampa, Fla.