Should I be waiting for a crash?

[Julien Amparan]

The other day I was helping my brother-in-law pick up some furniture and I got to talking with the woman he was buying it from. The woman said she was a property manager and real estate agent so I told her that I had been interested in getting into small multifamily rentals and what she told me surprised me a little. I live in Texas very close to Austin so it was already pretty common knowledge that right now where I am is a "seller's market", houses are being sold for far more than appraisal value  and are even getting offers far surpassing the listing price so home buying is a tough process here right now. But what threw me off was when she suggested that I should wait until the market crashes to even think about buying a property. She even said that any agent that tries to sell to me right now is not looking out for my best interest. Now I understand where she was coming from, but one thing I have had hammered into my brain since I started listening to the BP podcast is that the lights aren't always going to be green and that trying to time the market is a waste of time. I just wanted to hear some other thoughts about this encounter and see whether you guys agree with this advice or have anything to say about it

[Nicole Heasley Beitenman]

You're absolutely right; the lights will not always be green. There will never be a time when prices are low AND interest rates are low AND there's plenty of inventory AND appreciation is shooting up like a rocket AND... 

I think you catch my drift. If you want a deal, start looking for deals. The more you analyze, the better. You'll know what a bad deal looks like, and good deals will become super obvious to you. You may have to be more patient than usual, but if you're analyzing and networking daily, it'll happen.