Is the Bottom Here?

Everyone says that you won't know the bottom of the real estate market until you passed it, which I suppose is true. But a better question to ask is how do you know when it starts to take shape so you can be amongst the first to respond? One might consider that the cheapest proeprties on the market right now are bank owned foreclosed homes. The condition of these properties range from very good to horrible. My personal opinion has been that when we start seeing multiple offers on these homes that it would be a good indicator that inventory is shrinking and these low prices will start to be bid up. That, in my opinion, is a first signal of the bottom. Of course, more foreclosures could go on the market, the economy this, that, and the other, etc. Just for the record, 2 weeks ago our office had 6 bank owned homes sell that had been on the market for several months. Many of them had multiple offers. Oh, and while I was at a title company yesterday (signing documents with one of my investor clients) I learned that the title company was struggling to keep up with the sales of bank owned homes because a convoy of investors from China came this passed week-end buying as many bank owned properties they could. This was after we had already sold 6 in our office. Is this the bottom..... stay tuned.