is there an echo in here?

"If so, and home sales pick up the pace after early 2011, then the months' supply of shadow inventory will recede in Maryland."

"no if's and's or but's" allowed

There's a whole lot of if's in the housing market these days.

Ill say it again to the " Shadow Lurkers" on this blog. I would bet that you could take 100k off the price of every home in the metro area and you would still have a Ho-Hum market.
Instead of an MLS, we should switch teh tables and list a buyers MLS. It would show well qualified buyers and what they are looking for such that the banks could woo them instead of the other way around.

Look at how many people are asking for half a mil for some ho-hum MCrap shack. LOOK AT IT!. Do you realize that in order to afford a 450k home with a 20% down paymentthat you need to have 100k/year stable income? Oh and regarding that down payment. Twenty percent is 90k not including closing cost, trasfers etc. How many people want to throw down there life savings at the risk of watching it evaporate in a year when the house goes from 450k to 350k? Thnk I am blowing smoke? Ask folks that bought a year ago when the market was at a "discount".

If you want to know what a house is worth, use 2001 as a reference point. In the absence of hocus pocus loans, home improvement get rich quick shows, and easy credit, there was no reason for ANY price increase during the last decade. The economy was much stronger then too.
Course maybe i am wrong, maybe i should sign up for a *sweet* $3000/month x 30years so people can glowing rave about my stainless and granite combo.

Just another reason to sell property at auction. No inspections, no contingencies. Set your reserve and bring the buyers to you.

Or better still, another reason to invest in real estate. There has never been a better time to own. So many former home owners looking for a house to rent.

When the shadows meet the daylight, there is gonna be some serious price drops. As I have said all along, 1999 prices, unless the Federal Reserve is successful at making the dollar worthless

Who would have thought this would happen? What a big surprise. Never saw that one coming...

Where are the pumpers who said you have buy NOW!!!!

Never understood that tax credit...it's only 8000$ and house prices were some 30-50 x greater. 8000 is a value of a comma in realtorspeak.

Darwin has a very real point. My contention has long been that the only way out of this mess was to inflate away the debt. IF the dollar is work half as much, a gallon of milk cost $6 instead of $3. Presuming wages double but, only aificially not in real terms, then we would all make twice as much while our debts would be half as much by comparision. Our debts were made in yesterdays dollars. Sounds great, right? Problem is that China as well as other investors wont tolerate us halving the value of their principle by devaluing our own dollar. Think of it this way. If i borrowed $100 from you in 1980 and paid it back today, it would be the equivalent of iving you back say... $15 the day you lent in to me in 1980. Forget about interest, i am just talking the return of your principle.

My fiance and I just bought a house after 10 months of looking. A brief summary of our experience:
1. First three offers were met with unreasonable counter-offers from the sellers. In each case, we said thanks but no thanks and moved on. In all 3 cases, our agent got calls a few weeks or months later that the sellers were really motivated and had dropped the price. Some admitting getting no other offers (not sure why they'd tell a buyer agent that, but they did). In one case, they held an open house and no one came, then our agent got a call two days later. In all 3 cases, the properties are still on the market, now with reduced prices. They've all been on the market over 6 months.
2. The reasonable, yet motivated, sellers have been able to sell. Not every house was right for us, but there were a few we walked away from knowing that someone else would buy them, because the pricing was reasonable. Over time, each of those houses has sold for pretty close to what the seller was asking to start with. They just weren't right for us (only 2 BR, street parking issues, etc).
3. This brings me to my 3rd point... why bother listing your house unreasonably high to begin with? It means no one will come look at the place. If you won't accept less than 300k and the house should really sell for 250k in this market, why bother at all? Just wait 5 yrs and pray a lot, I guess. In this market, you're just wasting your time and a RE agents' time trying to get anything near peak value for your house.
4. Sellers, take your RE agent's advice or else go look at a lot of houses yourselves. Because then you'll see the competition. Many areas have dozens of houses for sale withina few blocks. If your house is priced significantly higher than similar ones in your area, stop wasting your time.
5. Keep in mind that if your house hasn't been modernized or renovated in 20+ years, it's not worth nearly what the similar-but-renovated house on the next block is worth. And if your house is ugly and old looking, don't bother listing unless you truly realize that you're going to have to discount. Be honest: Are you kitchen cabinets, counters, bathrooms, floors, and windows 20+ years old? If so, sorry but you're going to have to discount.
5. Don't underestimate how much foreclosures and short sales pull down prices on other homes. Many entry-leve/young buyers would rather fix up a foreclosure/short sale and take their time working with banks to get approval for bank-owned properties rather than buy a non-foreclosed house that needs updating anyway and costs much more money.
6. I feel bad for alot of the older folks out there trying to sell their house. It's their biggest asset, but they're facing a harsh market with critical buyers. They could've sold for much more money 3-4 yrs ago, even with old appliance and ugly carpet, but now no one wants their houses unless it's 50k off asking prices. It's not their fault the market is rough, but they're paying the price.
7. Reasonable sellers are rare, so when you find one, work with them! We finally found some sellers who came back with a reasonable counter, we loved their house, and we could tell they really were serious and motivated. They met us most of the way towards our price and even though we could've waited them out and gotten them down some more, we wanted to lock in 3.875% 30 yr fixed rate mortgage, so we ended up accepting their counter at a great price. Meanwhile, the other sellers have still been calling our RE agent trying to get us to come make another offer on their house. All those houses will end up selling for less than we would've paid and they'll be waiting til spring or summer, most likely. All because they were like immovable objects when it came to negotiating.

Where is Greg Northrop? We need him to respond to this report!!!

I referred this topic to my son and his fiance, who are looking to buy. And I agree with Chappy 10's comments.

Sellers have to get real. The days when desperate buyers would pay any price for a house in lousy condition are long since over. I've told my son and his fiance that they should try to drive a hard bargain. Ask for at least a 20% reduction in the asking price. Especially if they see a house that's been on the market for 6 months to a year.

The sooner sellers realize that the market has dramatically changed, and that it's not going back to what it was, the better.