Nobody really knows when the housing market will recover, but most experts say it won't be this year, that's for sure.

What about 2009? Gary Schlossberg, an economist at Wells Fargo, suggested at a recent forecast in Fresno that we might start seeing some recovery by mid-2009 or 2010. Terance Frazier, a Fresno foreclosure expert who monitors auction activity at the courthouse, sets his timeline later. He thinks foreclosures peak this year, with 2009 and 2010 "absorption years" when defaulted houses are bought up.

With that scenario, recovery could be in 2011. He also suggests that families who don't have to sell their houses should just pull them off the market because foreclosures dominate right now. I don't have any great insight on this matter, but will say this: Big money is starting to buy.