If you speak to one economist, he/she will tell you that the housing market is on the way to recovery. Speak to another, and you’ll hear that we are going to take another dip before we move forward.

There is a lot of information available discussing the ups and downs of the real estate market. While it is important for you to be aware of what’s happening, it is also just as important to process the news and move on. The thought of another dip can be nervewracking, but you can’t spend your life worrying about something that might not happen.

We’ve all heard the jokes made at the expense of the complicated nature of the economy and the difficulties involved in accurately predicting what will happen next. Laurence J. Peter famously said, “An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn’t happen today.”

It’s fun to laugh, but economists have a tough job that I would never be able to do, and these experts provide invaluable information to our industry. If you want an answer to the question, “are we on the road to recovery,” you’ll be disappointed to know that a response won’t be simple.

For our Recovery issue, we’ve taken a look at the signs that point to where the industry is headed. We’ve broken down some of the standard indexes that can help you understand the market, and we’ve spoken to some industry experts to help analyze where the market currently standards. While the economy has forced almost everyone to rethink the way they do business, there are still plenty of agents that are successful, and a number of developers have begun to explore new territory. Each of them weigh in on their views of recovery in Chicagoland in our cover story.

Whether or not the real estate market is on the upswing, we still have a while before the industry returns to normal, if it ever does so at all. Therefore, our new focus should be on adjusting to this new way of life, and making it work.