Medford, Oregon real estate may currently offer home buyers the best investment opportunity in fifteen or more years. With hundreds of homeowners unable to stop bank foreclosure, pressure on the market has been significant. Over the last two years homes sales have decreased sharply, real estate values have slid below expected levels, and many listings sit on the market for months without activity. What should a first time home buyer, or someone looking to invest for retirement or kid's college, do? The answer goes against logic.Logic would most likely suggest that Medford, Oregon real estate investors take a sidelines approach to this market, and wait for signs of a housing turn around. That is the safe path, no doubt.

Unfortunately, significant progress in any endeavor seldom follows the safe path. That could be true now for the southern Oregon housing market for the following reasons: The general psychological mood surrounding real estate appears deeply pessimistic. The media paints a dismal picture almost hourly on the bleak prospects boding for home values. On top of that, news pertaining to foreclosures regularly enters the picture as more and more people lose their properties to the bank. Finally, the FED seems almost oblivious to the hostile environment the credit crunch has created for home owners trying to refinance their adjustable rate mortgages. Could things be any bleaker? Well, they could, but perhaps all the negativity overshadows an investment truth.

Contrarian investors will tell you that no better time exists to invest than when the psychological environment appears darkest. With sellers waiting skittishly for an offer, or at least someone to come by and look at their listing, and buyers watching football instead of touring open houses, perhaps it's an incredible time for an astute buyer to wander about and pluck a few cherries. When this market turns around there may not be time to jump aboard without paying some premium, and right now, it does not seem anyone is terribly interested in investing. Maybe that alone warrants a closer look at Medford, Oregon real estate.