Thanks for the various responses.Matt747 - definitely understand...

Thanks for the various responses.

Matt747 - definitely understand what you're saying, plenty of time.

Bassyabbie - yes we thought it was underquoted and thought a price of about $25k under what it went for was market value, it was just a very strong result.

Brabus - yep that would be great, it does seem that there aren't many places in the area we're looking that aren't prepared for sale without some sort of renovation, but yep we'll be looking for something with work to be done to bring it into our price range.

Baddabingy - I'm a bear because i follow the sharemarket closely, have a Post grad in Applied Finance and Investment so feel i have a pretty good understanding of economics and markets. All i know points to a reasonable drop the size of which i don't know (i predict prices in Melb will be about what they are now in 3-4 years time). The time is really right for us, we've lived at home and saved all we could to be able to buy and i'm happy to miss the bottom by 10% as this is a lifestyle decision for us. Plus i can't bet our future on me thinking i'll be right because as much as i don't think I will be I could be wrong.

Thecook - good point, i just need to convince the Mrs, at least after me going on about it for 12 months or so she's starting to read it in the press (unfortunately the heart over powers the head most of the time...).

Redmonki - not sure what the 'MSM sudden change of heart' means or if it is completed unrelated to me.

Anyway, there's my response, we'll continue looking to buy and also to rent, the saving grace is if the market is where it is now in 5 years it'll make an upgrade possible, much better than a 30% rise even if we are in the market already.