Last night I took the extraordinary step, at least for me, of bringing on a private builder -- ICI Homes, one of the largest private builders in Florida and a definitive survivor in the worst market since the 1930s -- because a friend tipped me that he has had the best April since 2006. Since 2006! Do you remember what that quarter was like? That was the biggest boom quarter of all, when we saw more transactions than the servicers could handle.

And why not? Prices have come down gigantically. Mortgages are the cheapest in our lifetimes. There's a new tax credit for first-time homebuyers. You combine all of these and you get two things: 1) It is dramatically cheaper to buy than to rent -- by as much as $4,000 a month, and 2) You have to be an idiot not to think about buying a property right now.

Still, nobody believes. I hear such non-refutational nonsense around the clock. People email me, telling me that I have no idea what I am talking about with the "coming bottom" in real estate. Here's the staples; you have probably heard of a lot of them by now:

1. "Your numbers don't include the mass of foreclosed properties that are being kept on bank balance sheets."

2. "There's a new wave of foreclosures coming because of Alt-A defaults, which are skyrocketing."

3. "Spiking unemployment will bring out a whole bunch of new sellers who will swamp the market."

4. "You only have "investors" snapping the stuff up, not real buyers."

5. "Prices have to fall 40% before you get a bottom."

There is no doubt that we will see more foreclosures if unemployment spikes badly from these levels; that always happens. But I am looking at a leveling off of claims, so I am factoring that in. Probably as many as half the Alt-As are not teasers, which means that as we get further and further from the last bad Alt-A quarter -- first quarter of 2007 -- we get some equity built up and we get some psychological reasons mounting that preclude easy walk-away. Yes, housing doesn't bottom until down 40%, but that's what we are getting! That's what is causing the bottom in the hard-hit areas, because that's where the rent/buy equation kicks in and where it is too expensive for homebuilders to build new homes, which dries up inventory faster than it can be created by foreclosures.

All of this is happening before anything substantive kicks in from the federal government, as almost all of the money allocated for these programs to keep people in their homes hasn't even been spent yet!

I know I will have to revisit this important issue, which will make the six banks that are stress-test victims -- and it is probably in the stocks already, because there are some bank stocks down huge since the rally ended in those names-- less victimized and cause banking to have a more terra firma business feel. No, this is not a call to buy Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) (Cramer's Take) or Citigroup (NYSE: C) (Cramer's Take). Their common stocks are in the hands of the feds, and I have enough problems owning stocks of companies that aren't about to be bought by the government!

But maybe I can show you how I feel about this issue beyond the talk of stocks. I am looking at buildings and property all over the New York area, the area that I know isn't done going down. I am not going to wait until it has bottomed. I wouldn't do that for stocks ... why the heck would I do it for real estate? Who the heck is smart enough to catch a bottom? You buy some here, you buy some lower, you get some in just like stocks.

I have a bead on an eight-unit apartment building that needs a little work in the area, and I am patiently waiting for the damaged seller to break price to my levels at which I know what when I turn the lights in the morning, I make money.

This is one of several that I am considering and bidding for, letting the media talk prices down and allowing the scare-tactic stories drive prices down to my levels.

And what are my levels? Those are levels where if you take the rent, the depreciation and the interest charges, you end up with a profit-producing entity that can produce income for years regardless of whether there is price appreciation -- and, yes, naysayers, I get a duplex for about $2,000 a month in interest for free.

So, go talk about how I am dead wrong, that housing is nowhere near bottoming, that I am too optimistic. I am too busy looking for property -- beachfront property in New York and Florida, and residential real estate, typically in distressed price, not distressed merchandise (none of the properties I am looking at need real work; the work was all done at higher prices and each is completely refurbished) -- with an emphasis on buildings with apartments that can be rented by college kids and law school students who are going to school no matter what. I feel a sense of urgency about this that I haven't felt about stocks in a very long time because I am not talking trade, I am talking investment. I wish I had more cash on hand to make all of the purchases I have in mind.

I play with an open hand. I do it not just to shut the mouths of the naysayers, but to make money, too.

Jim Cramer is co-founder and chairman of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO. At the time of publication, Cramer had no positions in the stocks mentioned.