Great question Rick....I was solely a time in the market investor till about 2-3 years.
Now also work on timing as well as timing in the market as this is the icing on the cake. If you time it well you also make great money going into a deal. With the passing of time you further maximise your CG.
By all means buy.....but ensure that you buy well under the market. There are deals like this in the market but just as many as during late 2008 early 2009. I suspect there will be many shortly.....as people get worried about $A, sharemarket, interest rates, and banks further tighten lending.
Especially when you have major newspapers like SMH reporting:
http://www.smh.com.au/business/property/property-market-cools-as-buyers-stay-home-20100521-w1ts.html
The more negative media coverage the better as it will put things in reverse in the property market. These days I concentrate a lot more on the general psyche.....this does have a huge bearing on the RE market. Further with the share market looking choppy....higher income properties will also cool.
Funnily enought it maybe people in solid public service jobs who are looking for properties in low to mid range properties maybe the ones who move back into the market. Though I can't see prices going up here eiher...
Now that I have D&Ged the positive side is that rents are about to strongly push up...particularly Sydney. I have had a bad run with renting property in Brisbane...so hope this turnsaround and I can ratchet back rents.