It was only seven weeks ago that I posted Chasing Value: Considering Berkshire Hathaway... again. At the time, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) was trading around $3,850 for the "B" shares.

Well, I think the time for consideration is over and this morning I placed a limit order for the stock. I think the time is right when stories like Berkshire Hathaway at Lowest Close Since Feb. 2007 and my colleague Peter Cohan's Warren Buffett is not perfect are being trumpeted in the media.

For those who have followed "my pal Warren" Buffett for years, or even decades, these cautionary stories of him losing his edge are as silly as trying to predict where the DJIA will be on a given date. As for Peter suggesting that he was early buying into Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) or General Electric (NYSE: GE) three weeks ago, well my gosh, it has only been three weeks!

I understand that the prevailing wisdom seems to be running against the buy and hold approach. But three weeks is kind of short to be passing judgment, don't you think? The DJIA is down 42% while Berkshire is only down 31% from its high of $5059.

Perhaps investors have punished the stock because GS and GE are down. Maybe it is because Berkshire has been buying up railroads and that strategy is less important with oil prices falling 55% since the summer high of $147 a barrel. It could also be because people have lost their minds -- who knows?

There is a lot of bad news affecting the stock market and prices are falling for some very important reasons. These include reduced expectations for earnings, higher unemployment, a lack of liquidity, a housing market that has not bottomed yet, federal spending gone wild, and the collapse of some venerable financial institutions to name a select few.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index: started the year (Dec 28, 2007) at 1,478.49 and as of Friday October 3 it was 1,099.23, down 25.7%.

There are concerns about recession and even a depression and the global market for most commodities has softened.

Given all this how can I believe that the market is becoming irrational to the downside and values abound?

For one reason I know that many people are selling stocks out of fear of the market going lower and they do not want to be the last one out of the pool. That is a legitimate reason to sell but has nothing to do with the intrinsic value of a company or stock. If the index is being sold off then that means the good are being sold along with the bad.

Another factor pressuring the market relates directly to tight liquidity. I recently refinanced my home and the bank wanted me to reduce my home equity line to comply with its much tighter lending requirements. I sold some stock to accommodate them but this had nothing to do with stock valuations. I also sold some stocks and funds to buy down a commercial real estate loan in the past month. I had no pressure to do so because the loan to value is very low, but we are looking to acquire additional property as distress sales turn up and want to keep our powder dry.

Many people have been allowing their credit card debts to increase but facing little hope of growth in the stock market; those that can are selling stocks to buy down their debts where they can. This too has nothing to do with the intrinsic value of the stocks they are selling.

It's that time again! Time to refocus on "my pal Warren's" life's work, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B), which closed yesterday at $4,119.50 and is trading lower, currently at $4,080. That is enough to get my attention after staying on the sidelines for months since I followed it up from our last buy-in around $3,600.

BRK.B shares reached a 52 week high of $5,059 last December and it has been bouncing around ever since with a trend downward.

This is not the time to pounce on the stock. This is the time to prepare yourself to pounce on the stock.

The current Price-to-Earnings (P/E) ratio is 16.4. which is slightly under the current market average, but this is no average company. It actually is rated AAA (for real!) and has been for a long time. Most investors would consider Berkshire a safe haven, unless of course they decided to buy it at the all time high.