That is the exact question I was asked in a recent interview, and I answered each question with a qualified "yes." Here’s what I meant:

IT’S TIME TO BUY

Now is the time to buy if:

* you plan on continuing your ownership of the home for at least several years. Buyers can get into trouble when they try to sell too soon after purchasing.

It’s important to remember that real estate tends to have high transaction costs, meaning that it may cost you several thousand dollars in fees just to sell. So it may take a couple of years of appreciation to just allow you to break even.

* you have been sitting on the fence waiting for lower prices or lower interest rates, or both.

While anything can happen in our economy, it is extremely unlikely that prices in the metro Atlanta area will drop significantly in the coming years, and you are much more likely to see prices maintain their slow steady climb.

Likewise, the nomination of Ben Bernanke to the top job at the Federal Reserve signals a continuation of current fiscal policy. This would indicate slightly higher interest rates over the next few years as the Fed moves to control inflation while trying to prevent the economy from going into a recession.

Current projections from the economists at the National Association of Realtors project thirty year fixed rates to be near 7.0% by this time next year. If that turns out to be true, I expect a modest slowdown in real estate sales activity, but no downward pressure on prices in our area.

IT’S TIME TO SELL

Now is the time to sell if:

* you are relocating out of the Atlanta area, and don’t plan to return. Long distance landlording is difficult at best, and this is a relatively good time to cash out of this market.

* you are permanently downsizing. If you are empty-nesters who have lots of profit in the big family house, you can cash out and pocket up to a quarter million dollars per owner totally tax free, provided you have lived there for at least two years.

Why now? Well, even though I see no likelihood of a change in Section 121 of the IRS code dealing with the tax exclusion when you sell your residence, one never knows what Congress may do next. And once your home is sold and the money is in your pocket, they can’t tax it after the fact. At least, we hope they can’t.

All I am suggesting here is that tax rules often change over time, and the recent suggestions of the President’s Tax Reform Commission regarding limiting the interest deduction are disturbing, to say the least.

If you are waiting for a better tax climate to sell your residence, I don’t think you are going to get one. This is it – take the money and run.

IT’S TIME TO RENT

And finally, now is the time to rent if:

* you realistically expect to be leaving this area in less than three years. When you consider the hassle of buying and selling, and the possible risk of losing money in a weak market, you are likely better off trying to negotiate a three year lease now.

While the rental market is starting to tighten and rents are rising, there are still some pretty good deals out there right now, and if you could lock in a good location at a reasonable monthly rent, you would probably come out ahead over a short period of time.

* you need a bargain place to live for a year or so while you get your feet on the ground and learn about Atlanta. If you just arrived and need six months to figure out where Peachtree Street crosses Ponce de Leon, you should rent.

One of the biggest home buying mistakes you can make is to arrive in a town and immediately go out and buy a house. It takes time to learn where you want to live, especially in a huge metro area like Atlanta. And home buying mistakes tend to be costly.

* you’ve found a rental house you really want to buy, but you need time to clean up your credit and save for a down payment. In that situation, ask the owner for an option to buy the house at a future date, perhaps a year or more in the future. Try to get the price of the house fixed today, so you benefit from any appreciation during the term of your occupancy.

* you are making so much money in your career that it doesn’t matter whether or not you build equity in real estate. For example, Bill Gates doesn’t care whether or not he owns his own home. His free time is better spent dreaming up a new operating system than worrying about who’s going to clean the gutters or what to say about the smelly dumpster at the association meeting.

By the way, Bill Gates does, in fact, own his own home, so apparently he has decided real estate is good for even him.