Better than the past, certainly, but by no means a sure deal. And while prices to buy are falling, so are prices to rent.

I suggest the OP use this great NYTimes tool to evaluate the buy vs. rent options: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/10/business/2007_BUYRENT_GRAP...

Keep in mind that the historical rent-to-buy ratio in San Francisco is something around 20x. http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2008/05/housing-price...

Nationwide it's 10-14x http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2008/05/buy-vs-rent-r...

And when you do, try to consider all the value possibilities (appreciation vs. depreciation), not just the rosy ones. Worst case scenario, the Californian government screws up its coming reorganization, and San Francisco could end up like Detroit. A more likely possibility might include more declines due to future mortgage resets and such.

Anyway, no way to know just what's coming, so it's a guess in the end, but a big purchase deserves deep consideration.

Finally, I recommend Redfin (http://www.redfin.com/city/17151/CA/San-Francisco) as a realtor, as they use the web to cut your realtor fees by thousands.

I just blogged about the whole "rent vs buy" thing:

http://messymatters.com/2009/06/01/buyrent/

If you don't believe in timing the market then the rent vs buy decision just doesn't matter nearly as much as people act like it does. The biggest factors are the crazy tax reasons and perhaps the leverage you get with a mortgage.

I think Bay Area housing is still way to expensive as an investment. It's a little different if you're planning on living there for the duration of the mortgage.

noob question: what's a "condo"?

Short for "condominium"

Think of it as an apartment that you own outright ... and have a joint ownership of the common areas