I have been watching this market and have come to the same conclusion as I did during the dot-com run-up.
Right idea, wrong timing.
There are significant structural reasons for the real estate market boom. 1) Low long-term real interest rates (and getting lower, if inflation rises); 2) More people able to afford real estate (viz a viz easier credit, ARMS); 3) increased demand caused by people buying second homes and buying homes for 'investment' purposes (flipping, rent for the misguided); & 4) fairly flat real estate prices throughout the country prior to this run-up for years.
BUT, do you really think that it is 100% up room to go after the last 3 years, when interest rates are rising, and when great corporate earnings can't even raise the stock market? Those last two factors indicate to me that some tougher times are just around the corner. Once that happens, credit will dry up, so will consumer interest in real estate, and a lot of people will be sitting with some very illiquid property in their hands. They will be able to hold on to it, for a while, but as the law of averages picks off a few of these folks who are overleveraged and undercapitalized, prices will stop rising, and shudder the thought, might actually fall! How far, how much, how long is anyone's guess, depending on conditions that start the drop.
My best guess is that it takes 18 months at least for the 'real estate boom' to end. 27 months for there to start to be some pain in the market.