Asking prices are so all over the place in Baltimore. There are houses across the street from me, fully rehabbed, asking ~$250K (using round numbers). There are other fully rehabbed houses asking $129K. All those rehabbed homes are smaller than my house, which is priced at $139K. Combine this with shells/fixer-uppers, homes that have not been fully rehabbed, and foreclosures/short sales, and the average buyer has no idea what they are getting for the money. Many homes are, in fact, asking what would be a proper evaluation of market value. The problem with seeming overpriced is the fact that buyers don't have money for downpayment and closing costs, and cannot get a loan.

I agree with Faith: prices in Baltimore are absolutely everywhere. We looked for our place for almost a year, and I'd say that on average, 70% of the Baltimore market is WAY overpriced.

In terms of what things are actually selling for in Baltimore right now, I don't think the market has all that much further to fall. But for those people that still have their houses listed at or just a little below 2007 prices - they aren't even close to reality.

A lot of buyers are told not to make low offers, but in many cases that's the only way to get the market moving. We offered 100K LESS than the 300K asking price on our place and eventually closed at just a few thousand dollars above our offer.

Fronesis, that's such an interesting experience that I made your comment its own post. Thanks for sharing it.

It's quite possible for a city to have a higher composite rank than any of its component rankings. In this case, Baltimore makes the top 10 in three of the four rankings, and its lowest is 21 out of 40 (five-year price outlook). Most other cities have at least one relatively low ranking, or a couple closer to the middle. So the study shows that Baltimore is overpriced by almost any measure. And its consistency pays off in a high ranking.

I tend to disagree with Forbes and agree with Faith that current Baltimore selling prices, and even asking prices are actually at a good value for right now, this may not seem so to long time Baltimoreans, but to DC refugees, it's still VERY competitive with DC area prices. DC prices have simply dropped from the astronomical to the unaffordable - with "nice" (but not extraordinary) homes that were selling for over $1million now going for $700k or so. But for the bad market conditions, Baltimore is still a good buy for the area, if it weren't for the inflated property taxes (don't let us get started on that again!).

Hi, Mike! I should have explained that I wasn't questioning the validity of a No. 4 ranking when the individual categories were lower -- I just thought it was amusing. You make a good point about the metro area's consistency (at least on Forbes' measures).

Thanks, all, for your thoughts about prices.

Hello, Ms. Hopkins,

No comment on the housing market. Just wanted to say "hey," to a fellow, temporary, Ames resident. I lived there for 2 years in the late 70's. Do you miss the snow drifts and tornado warnings as much as I do?

Hi, Annis! Always happy to run into an Ames (or former Ames) resident. I don't miss the weather, but I do miss the people, the library and landscape. (I also have very fond memories of one ice storm -- yes, really -- that made the whole town gleam.)