Cherry Picking The Diamonds From The Stock Market

is this the right time to start investing in stocks?

I want to start trading w/ just $500 ( Can't afford to lose more than that) on scottrade.com I'm familiar with the house market. and right now there is a bunch of nice options for investments.. but I don't have 100k, I wonder if the same is happening in the stock market.. are there some stock looking good to comeback say in 2 to 3 years form now? is it a buyer market like in the housing market?

and what stock picking services you will recommend.

It's a good time to invest for short or long term. A lot of the blue chip companies are undervalued.

I started trading a few months ago. I am using Scottrade.

Scottrade.
NO account maintenance, service, or inactivity fees.
$7.00 online trading commission for stock over $1.00 a share.
Tutorial and webcast available to customers.
Excellent trading platforms (very user friendly).
Excellent customer service (398 Branch offices nationwide).
$500.00 minimum to open an account.

If you do end up opening it with Scottrade, use this referral code: EJVR8926
You and I can get 3 FREE trades.