Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley home sales are stabilizing, says the LA Times

Here's a great article from today's L.A. Times. It states that the market is settling down, there aren't as many price escalations, etc. Here's a quote:

"More and more, the market hinges on regular people buying houses with normal mortgages, and with lending standards still tight and the economy still feeling soft, there's only so much those people will pay.
"We're bumping along a ceiling. I really can't see values going up much more," said Steven Thomas, of ReportsOnHousing.com, which analyzes Southern California housing markets. "Buyers are homing in on trying to pay a fair value. A year ago, everyone was willing to pay extra. Now that bidding up is not happening."
This doesn't mean that multiple offers are over, however -- just that there won't be 20-40 offers for the same property, we hope.