This would be a much different story if it was prefaced with what was left for the reader to discover at the end of the article that Peter Hong & Annette Haddad writes.  Yep, you got it……..a positive note.  He notes that, Economist G.U. Krueger of IHP Capital Partners, suggesting that it looks pretty dismal out there, which is a fact we have long known about, also suggests, “that bargain-hunting speculators appear to be tip-toeing back into the market, which could be a sign that the bottom is near.”  He later refers to them as bottom-feeders and although it may be too early to tell, it could be the silver-lining we have not seen in a long time. 

I would like to point out in this article that the percentage change from a year ago based on DataQuick Info Sys.  for Los Angeles was just -3.8% while the number of home sales a year ago were down -48.3% which appears staggering.  But lets not forget that the number of homes in 2006 were not normal sales figures.  They were staggering numbers simply because it was just the tail end of the real estate boom.  So while this negative change appears to be high, it is relative to the number of homes sold in a not-so-normal market cycle.  Also noted at the end of the article, “a homeowner was quoted saying, “It’s a cycle. It goes up, it goes down.”  Oh how well we all know this.