Imagine my surprise when I was sitting in a meeting the other day and it was announced that prices in Long Beach from January 2009 to January 2010 has gone up - almost 9%.  We have to keep in mind this is a rise in the median price not an overall increase in value, a little different because median means price in the middle.  That could be that there were less REO's or that short sales actually closed for more than the list price, I know you've all heard and seen that!  But the point is that prices have steadily increased in the past year.  Not by leaps and bounds but by small incremental amounts that create a stable market.  There is a report done by California Association of Realtors called the trough report.  It shows when prices stopped dropping and when they actually started to increase.  The trough in the Long Beach/South Bay area actually occurred almost a year ago.  I hope this helps you understand why it is so hard to purchase a home at the low end today.  We are back into a multiple offer situation and constant overbidding on prices.  So many buyers still think it is last year and finally sellers realize it's not and are pricing more aggressively.  All of this combined makes for an interesting market.  Interesting and frustrating.  If you want to look closer at any of these numbers, give me a call I'm happy to forward the information to you.