While state or national mortgage trends are easy to research, neighborhood-centric trends are both chaotic and more difficult to identify. It's crucial to check your local housing market's pulse before buying or selling a home, but you don't have to be a financial expert to read mortgage trends in your neighborhood. Still, it's important to do your homework! Here are some tips to help you get in sync with the flow of things in your neck of the woods, as recommended by Suze Orman, www.suzeorman.com.

• Read the newspaper. What better way to research local trends than through your real estate section? Financial expert Suze Orman suggests learning what it selling it your area, for how much, and how long it has been on the market.
• Start taking notes. Track how long it takes a piece of real estate to sell in your area. Is it selling above or below the asking price?
• If homes are staying on the market and selling low, the tide has changed! Potential homeowners should keep a close eye on things and buy when the time is right, while current homeowners should either sell before things get worse, or hold on to their properties until things turn around.
• If homes are selling quickly and above the initial asking price, you are in a hot real estate market! Hold off on buying a home. If you want to sell, now might be a good time.

For more information on identifying mortgage trends, visit Suze Orman's page, www.suzeorman.com.