Basketball Watch

• Tweet

• Tweet

Like most real estate professionals, I’ve resisted the “bubble” description that so many people have used to describe the housing market, at least the Washington one. When I’m not in denial about the market slowing down, I’ll concede it’s like a basketball with a slow leak.

Whatever metaphor one chooses, there are signs that even I cannot ignore, and three of them are within a block of my own house and read “Just Reduced!”. So are these houses not selling because they are overpriced for any market? Or is there more to it?

House Number One started off in the $920’s and is now being offered at $849,000. The sellers bought it a few years ago as a total dump and fixed it up — sort of. They did a lot of the work themselves and a lot will have to be redone. I think it is overpriced, but the real issue is an old oil storage tank buried in the back yard – a bit of environmental hell likely to chase away all buyers whatever the price.

House Number Two began at an ambitious $835,000 and is down to $799,900. A good house with good bones, but not that good. Even in last summer’s super hot market, it would have fetched maybe $750,000 on a good day. But it’s just overpriced.

House Number Three is a pretty Tudor on a huge corner lot, reduced from $965,000 to $945,000. This is the one that makes me think that just maybe it’s time for sellers and their agents to rethink selling strategy. This house is typical of homes that inspired many of this year’s bloodiest bidding wars, and it’s been sitting for forty days. I don’t think it’s overpriced, but it could be real estate’s version of the canary in the mine shaft. If this bird keels over, it won’t be from the avian flu.

OK, so I’m still not ready to call it a bubble!

Popularity: 1% [?]