Pending Home Sales: Showing Market Bottom?

Okay, people are making fun of me for "The Cramer Countdown" -- where we count down to Jim Cramer's call that the housing market will bottom on June 30.

Cramer Countdown: 28 days left!

The Case-Shiller data that came in earlier this month made it look like we've got a long way to go.

On the other hand, pending home sales data came in this month, and it was astonishingly positive. Analysts were expecting a 0.5 percent increase in the number, which shows signed contracts, and they got 6.7 percent.

As this recap from CNN shows, that makes the third consecutive month of gains in the pending homes sales index, which is put out by the National Association of Realtors.

Rates rose on the good news, so that the available 30-year-fixed rate for my husband and I (we're in New York, and we're buying a co-op) is now 5 5/8ths -- up 3/4 of a point from a week ago.

I think the reality is that there are two markets, and they both screw me: West Coast cheapies (foreclosures and starter homes) probably are truly rebounding from their bottom, which is setting rates afire. The Obama first-time buyer tax credit, which provides $8,000 to qualified buyers, helps. Meanwhile, East Coast and more expensive homes are sitting and sitting, which is making my job as a real esate agent, how do we say, less than fun.

Business Week posited today that the Northeast will get a "big spring bounce" in home sales. I don't think that's true, simply because most homes in the Northeast tend to be more expensive. The things that I sell, you need a healthy six-figure (or even seven-figure) income to be able to buy, and the tax credit disappears around a family income of $150K.

Still, wouldn't it be pretty to think so?