$165,400

National median price for an existing home in February, a 15.5 percent drop from a year earlier, when the median price was $195,800, according to the latest data from the National Association of Realtors. The peak for the nationwide median price was $230,100, in July 2006.

With foreclosure vultures moving in, not all recent existing-home-sales news was negative: Sales of existing single-family homes, town houses, condo, and co-ops stood at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.72 million units, up 5.1 percent from January. Still, that was down 4.6 percent from February 2008.

Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the NAR, says a wave of first-time home buyers has caused the decline in housing prices: "Because entry-level buyers are shopping for bargains, distressed sales accounted for 40 to 45 percent of transactions in February," Yun said. "Our analysis shows that distressed homes typically are selling for 20 percent less than the normal market price, and this naturally is drawing down the overall median price."

Essential information: Use our advice to buy a foreclosed property and visit the real-estate section on ConsumerReports.org for more details on buying, selling, and remodeling a home. And for more information on mortgages, visit DefendYourDollars.org, like this blog published Consumers Union.