First, the housing market will slowly recover, but it won’t feel like a recovery. It will be like suffering from a fever of 102 degrees and now it’s only 100 degrees. You feel a little better, but still feel poorly. Unfortunately, there is a lot of housing inventory still out there to be absorbed. That is going to take a while.

The good news in this is that there are great deals to be had. If you can afford to buy, now is the time. This is especially true in the “bubble” areas, like Florida, Nevada, and Arizona. So jump in and get the deal of the century.

My second prediction is that the construction industry will suffer through the entire year, particularly in residential building. Builders will cut their margins and sharpen their pencils to get the few jobs that are out there. So 2010 is your year to build the dream home you’ve always wanted or remodel or re-purpose your existing home to be your perfect house. You’ll get fabulous pricing and the builders will be extremely responsive.

But you need to build in this new year, because my predition number three is that 2011 will show a big rebound. Why? Because there will be a new Congress. And I think it will bring a new attitude. It’s my belief that the voters will dump the current bunch and say, “No” to more taxes and oppressive regulation. I think the President will see the writing on the wall and want to get re-elected, so he’ll go along with them. Lower taxes will be a business stimulus and I think construction will benefit greatly.

But you don’t want to wait until 2011 for two reasons. First, inflation is a certainty. That’s going to hurt construction costs in a big way. Second, there is a massive thinning of the ranks of construction companies right now. Not many will survive. So when things turn around, the supply will be limited and the incentive for low pricing will be gone.

I could be totally wrong on all of this. I’ve been wrong plenty of times in the past. But one thing is for sure. Rigth now is a great time to get good deals on building projects. Everything is on sale. And we all know that sales don’t last forever.