Is Now The Best Time To Buy A House?

"There's a bright side to the decline in the U.S. housing market, says the National Association of Realtors. Plenty of choice.

'Right now may actually be one of the best times to buy a home,' the association said in the first full-page ads in its 98-year history. With 'interest rates near record lows,' the 'large inventory won't last.'

The largest U.S. real estate trade association is spending $1.3 million on a two-week campaign that's running in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Washington Post. The ads are designed to entice homebuyers as sales have slid, inventories have risen and builders are offering incentives.

One theme in the campaign is that the 3.75 million unsold homes offer "the greatest choices in decades." For sellers, that means it would take seven months to close deals on all the existing homes for sale if no others came on the market."