Depends on their formula for purchasing, some are sitting on the sidelines right now because houses arent meeting their criteria and they wont budge.

@David McEwanI would secure financing prior to shopping, however just ran into a deal where I was 'Preapproved" for financing, signed a contract & was sidelined due to a garage apartment & forced to seek cash from another source.

You'll see a lot of people saying you should just jump in to avoid "Analysis paralysis".But I think this should be framed or caveated with the importance of education, which a lot of folks on the forum do.In my opinion, you’re approach is excellent.You’ve created a game plan (thru your business plan) and outlined a timeline.Now you have specific criteria which will prevent sensory overload and limit the effects of the “next shiny object”.In addition, your timeline should ensure that you don’t sit on the sideline indefinitely.You’re well on your way!

If the market drops off that much, its probably a great time to buy.Some of it is how you're structured, I don't have monthly payments on my private money so an extra month or two on the market doesn't hurt me much, but in any case I'd WAY rather have a house out there with 30% equity taking an extra month or three to sell than me sitting on the sidelines waiting for the right weather to buy something.   

The market will have to give at some point, and when it does you are going to want to have some cash on the sidelines.    

And take your time to find a good agent, there are many, but not many great ones.An agent can set you up with an MLS portal, no need to be active at that point, you can be on the sideline for a year and just watch the mls.A great agent will also know the best local lenders.Once you are ready to see properties, tell your agent, pretty simple.

Yes, they can sit on the sideline forever and wait for real estate to be cheaper at some point in the future but even then they don't know if it's the bottom or not, same with the top.  

Read Equity Happens and you'll see how you're sidelining yourself from a lot of growth.

After paying that off in eight years, I started looking again but the market was crazy and then crashed so I sat on the sidelines, saving and kept looking for several years before finally pulling the trigger on a six-family building in Sunnyside - I put $300k down, and used a cash out refinance on two other properties for the other $550k.

Personally I cant make most multi's come out right now, and the "big players" in Multi's are sitting on the sidelines and even selling right now, as institutional investors are coming in for 1% or even 0% returns expecting appreciation.