According to Zillow.com, one out of every five homeowners in the nation owe more on their mortgage than what their homes are worth, which is to say that they are 'underwater'.

Home value declines are starting to slow down; however, sellers are still apprehensive about putting their homes on the market until they see more certain signs of a recovering real estate market. A majority of the home sales have been foreclosures or short sales, leaving a whole new real estate market that could open up once home values have stabilized; the sellers market.

According to Zillow Vice President of data and analytics, Dr. Stan Humphries, "By our calculations, this could translate into as many as 20 million homes that could seep into the market as prices stabilize, maintaining a constant stream of supply that far outpaces demand, thus keeping prices flat. I'm doubtful that we'll see the bottom until 2010, and thereafter it's increasingly clear that we're likely to have a long bottom before we see meaningful recovery in home values."