Boy, you're all over the place with the questions today! Is it a buyer's market in Western New York? I don't think so and I do a lot of business in the area. I think the number of existing homes currently for sale is in line with the number of qualified buyers out there. If anything, the buyers are the ones having the problem lately with closing or getting a mortgage commitment. Banks that are still in the mortgage business are re-evaluating the qualifications of buyers that have not closed yet and are either changing their minds and denying people a mortgage or are re-configuring a loan prior to closing, mainly due to a borrower's credit score. The threshold for acceptable credit has increased in the past few months, weeks in some cases. If you don't have a 720 credit rating, you may not get a loan, may not be eligible for PMI (private mortgage insurance) anymore or, may pay a higher interest rate than you were told previously. It ain't over yet.
Have a loan officer sit down with you, run your credit, review your debts and source of cash and then make a determination to buy or wait at that point. Doing things on-line is not going to get you where you need
to go.

If Realtors are not allowed to comment on neighborhoods they seriously diminish their value. I would guess that you are referring to Fair Housing legislation, but I certainly don't think that prohibits examining DOM, list to sales price, occupancy rate and trends in appreciation or depreciation as the case may be, that's just plain good business.

First of all, Realtors are not allowed to comment on neighborhoods or schools...this is law.

Secondly, real estate is local. I see pockets (developments, neighborhoods) that are still appreciating while next door to them the prices are still adjusting.

Now is the best time to purchase. If interest starts going up, you will end up paying more for a property, even if the price of the property goes down.

Get a Realtor to represent you and when you find a house that can be a home, have the Realtor comp out the neighborhood for sales within the past 3 months so you will have an idea of what the true value is and can comfortably move forward with a bid.