Real estate cycle is very predictable. It takes a long time and lot of effort to go up and it has a long leading time before it drops, unlike stocks. Real estate is also more depending on real economic factors which are more trackable and less manipulated by market makers than stocks.
For the last down turn, people had been screaming the housing market was overheated from 2004 to 2006, with graphs after graphs showing it's unsustainable. It's really a matter of whether you listened to them.
For predicting housing bottoming out and rising, check out the rental rate, vacancy rate, interest rate, employment trends, permits issued, housing started, inventory backlog, days on market, etc. If that's too much work, just monitor the long term sales price graph. It's not too late to join the train ride once it starts moving up. The thing about real estate is that once it starts moving up, it's very difficult to stop. There are too many factors to keep pushing it up. Likewise, once it starts falling, it will keep falling for a long time.
Of course, that's only the investment aspect of it. There are many other facets. I would encourage people to study economic, finance, and real estate. Don't dismiss it just because a big burst. It's actually a great opportunity to get in. There's an investment saying, most money are made when blood is running on the street.