I'll bet when you saw the title "Market Turnaround" you thought this was going to be a re-hash of my Monday post - that the market seems to be getting better, at least as far as the National Association of Realtors® is concerned.

Guess again.

Today, Standard & Poor's came out with their latest report, showing that the market was terrible - IN JANUARY.  Here we go again.  Standard & Poor's is still using the lagging, discredited, inaccurate, and geographically limited Case-Shiller Index of home sales. It was the second story on the network news this evening.  They made a big deal out of the fact that of twenty metro areas noted, only one (Charlotte, NC) did not show a decline.  THAT WAS JANUARY, for pity's sake.  Will tomorrow's headline shriek "2007 worst year in history of real estate"?  How far back can the headlines go in dredging up bad news and re-packaging it as the latest?

When will Jim Cramer's recommendation of a couple of weeks ago to hold onto Bear Stearns be trumpeted again soon as news?  Remember, this is the same guru who said three months ago "don't buy a home in 2008."  Such wisdom. If you follow his advice, you won't be able to afford to buy one - ever.

Your local market is the one to watch, and your local Realtor® is the one to listen to.