what i think.

The good thing is that you guys have the cash and those two were bought in cash without borrowing. Real estate market are
much more local than other markets and in any market, it's impossible to time the investment perfectly. The drop you mentioned
does not mean much given the long horizon involved in real estate market. My honest advice is to be patient, especially if you need
borrowing from the bank.
I am keenly aware of the current financial condition and have been following researches in macro economics for almost 10 years.
I am very familiar with the economic history of this country and other western countries as well. Studied classics written by Dams, Keynes, etc.
I think the economy will worsen far more before eventual rebound, and the national market (NOT your local market, because I don't know your
local market) will go lower further until the later part of 2009.
Don't just tell him not to do it, but rather point him to articles written by people who has great mind and who made money because of their great mind.
www.pimco.com is a place you can dig out their published research in the past perhaps 10 years. They made predictions in the past which turns out
to be correct and there were predictions which turns out to be wrong. But the way they did their analysis were very sound and it happened that they made
billions of dollars in al these years.
Bottom line is while finding values locally, be mindful of the overall environment.