I remember the early 90's trying to sell our home. It was a buyers market, with the house prices being frozen for some years. However, there never seemed to be any selling pressure from home owners or investors, because dept levels where always sensible. High interest rates and a tough lending criteria ensured that financial pain was minimal if the economy soured. Therefor sellers were happy to leave their houses on the market for along time (many for over a year or 2). They either took their homes off the market or sold at a lower price. Today I see very little room for that kind of luxury to occur. If the economy was to sour today I would expect forced selling to reign supreme. Not just your average blue collar worker who can't pay the bills, but your professional couples who are in dept to their eyeballs trying to outdo their friends. Throw in your investors with a couple of empty rental properties and you can quite easily see the potential for the market to over correct.
