The website alexa.com tracks various statistics regarding web traffic across the Internet worldwide. Its methods are sometimes questioned - full disclosure - they use a large sample of people who download their "toolbar" is how I understand they get their sample. Nonetheless it's a commonly referenced source for Internet traffic statistics.

So today I pulled the recent traffic for HAR.com, the Houston Association of Realtors's public version of the Multiple Listing Service for the Houston metro area (and accessible on the homepage http://www.leldawill.com).

Here's the news: Apparently there has been an 11% rise in traffic on HAR.com in the past 30 days. Yes, September! I know! It's weird, but it matches what we and our colleagues are feeling on the ground. Buyers that have been on the sidelines for 12-18 months may be starting to rouse.

I know it's hard to read. But if you regress the line, it actually shows a rise in traffic in Quarter 2 and Quarter 3 (ending September 30th) of 2009, after a noticeable decline in pageview activity for the duration of 2008. (The severe dip to the lowest point in latter 2008 was after the crash of Wall St in September 2008 while Houston was embroiled in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.)

Interest rates, as Featured Writer and Mortgage Broker Clay Bohannan just posted on this blog, are at multi-year lows while prices on quality properties remain moderated (but supported).

Bottom line: any way you cut it, whether you want to sell, or whether you want to buy, or whether you want to sell well and buy better... now may be the time to catch the wave.