Five new trends in housing.

• Position: REAL ESTATE

The housing market is battered and bruised, depressed and depressing. But at least one long-time observer believes there are five trends that can help in beating the housing blues. According to 20-year real estate veteran Greg Rand, author of Crash Boom, one of the important elements of a free market is "chaos."

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"Chaos is how the markets figure out how to move forward," he writes. "The important thing to realize in the midst of all these people talking about 'the housing market' is that the market isn't some nameless, faceless thing that lumbers around aimlessly as if it has a life of its own. The secret to making sure your real estate doesn't turn into a money pit is to watch the trends so you can predict where the prices will rise and where they won't."

Rand suggest these five trends to watch

* Overdevelopment One of the reasons the market is overcorrecting is overdevelopment and speculation, as is the case in Florida. Another reason is that the job base has eroded (in Detroit, for example). Isolated, explainable, short-term distress is the secret. Find your Florida.

* Jobs, Jobs, Jobs Track employment trends to see where companies are moving, and you will see a harbinger for long-term, housing demand.

* Lifestyle Nothing drives migration patterns long term more that...