Beware Of Nominal Price Drops

These days, when it comes to house-hunting, I really am just humoring my wife.

You see, I can make the argument that homes today in certain price ranges/markets are as overpriced as they've ever been.

Take the house above to which my wife recently dragged me to check out. Today it's listed at $650,000. It's decent-sized - 3,000 square feet; in a desirable town and in a nice neighborhood.

Still, it needs a ton of work. The kitchen, the bathrooms, every single wall and ceiling. The boiler is dated; it has no central air conditioning; probably in need of a new roof; and surely a whole lot more *updating* than visible to my cursory glance. Safely estimate, $100,000 worth of total work, which is probably the average add-on for every home we see!

Now this house may be down in price, perhaps it's down from $725,000 a year ago, but so the bleep what?

Consider the balance sheets of prospective buyers. They're down AT LEAST $75,000 between stock portfolio losses, smaller bonuses, and job prospects in general.

Yeah, I know mortgage rates are a point lower....but bear in mind that lending standards are a whole lot higher and initial downpayment requirements have been bumped up substantially.

There are a whole lot of homes out there that simply haven't gotten any cheaper, yet.

So I'll be homeless and renting for the foreseeable future.

Mrs. C-Nut will remain depressed, and my friends envious.

I just can't win!