Craig

The accurate answer to that question, IMHO, is one which the pros are headed toward....but maybe not outright saying.

Here is the simple truth:
THE VALUE OF ANY PROPERTY IS THE PRICE YOU CAN 100% SELL IT FOR WITHIN A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME.

I would use 90 days as an example. If the property does not attract a lot of lookers...and offers - or, if it attracts lowball offers, that might be what it is worth. Remember, we have property values falling from 15% to 40% all across the nation...that is, of course, from the very high peak.

Unless your property is something REALLY special or priced really aggressively, it is unlikely to sell easily in this market. Those are the hard facts which many sellers have yet to understand. Until they do, the market will continue to be still - Fri Oct 3 2008, 19:07

Ha, Realtors don't make ethical lapses and Elvis is alive!

Many people do unethical things every day.

But, giving the Realtor the benefit of the doubt, they don't have to lie - just a little misleading is enough to scare most potential buyers. For instance, you might be looking at a place and the Realtor might say "some other serious buyers looked at it and said they were going to make an offer". See the difference?

I have lived on the planet for 55 years, and in that time have seen MANY Realtors BS me. Of course, Realtors have seen MANY buyers and sellers BS them too!

My advice is NOT to react to ANYTHING that you are told.....look at the property, decide whether you want it, then work from there. If you are lucky enough to have a "buyers agent" realtor on your side, that would be a benefit, but never assume that a Realtor is a better business person than you are. Realtors are ALWAYS optimistic....they have to be! It is your "job" to consider your finances and make decisions regarding your future. If you are not capable of doing so with full confidence, maybe you should hire an independent buyers agent, etc - I don't know much about that end of things, but it is a shame to "throw away money" if you don't have to (by paying too much in ANY market).

And always remember that the same Realtors were telling people a property was worth 750K last year, when it is now worth 550. Protect yourself! - Thu May 15 2008, 11:59

Simple answer is 10 to 20% off what the property would be listed for as of the summer of 2007.
However, as the others say many properties have already been adjusted - some adjustments already falling into that percentage range. Your best bet is simply to ask the Realtor about the particular house. Each seller is different and the Realtor can usually get you at least a "feel" for the sellers situation. Example, a property is listed at $750,000, doesn't sell and is now at $599k. Chances are that the buyer is not ready to go down very much!

At the same time, it's YOUR money, and if you have the cash or easy credit in this market, then you carry a big stick. - Thu Feb 14 2008, 12:30

My dad just had a similar problem - here is what happened.

He gave a mortgage through his attorney - the attorney also is a client of a certain title company and therefore had his own forms with the title company letterhead (and title policy numbers!). He provided my dad with the policy and later on my dad found out that he never sent it to the title company! In other words, he goofed! Low and behold, the title was not clear and now neither the attorney nor the title company will make good on it! Sure, he could sue....but that takes a lot of time and money.
Buyer beware. Don't gloss over real estate documents. Double check everything. - Thu Feb 14 2008, 12:23

OK, 2008 has started and you will see extremely few sales in the Newport area in the last 60 days. This is obviously only my opinion, but the market seems to be one of sellers "holding out" and hoping against hope - based on (sometimes) the nice words of their local realtor. However, looking at the data it is safe to say those those who purchased at the top of the market in 2006 have lost equity. Houses are being lowered in price - sometimes drastically - from then. But a big problem is that the seller often has a basis (cost) of higher than what the house is worth. I suspect the next shoe is about to drop as certain sellers either heavily discount or else give their houses up.

Certainly there may be exceptions to the rule, but I predict 2004 prices for most area real estate, with the further danger of depreciation from there. Real Estate is not much different from stocks....speculation drives the market on the way up and on the way down. The last big market downturn (S&L crisis 1990) took 8 years in many places to work itself out - by any measure the current situation is much worse.

Not guessing, but rosy scenarios have less of a chance than do realistic ones. To clearly answer the question - this is a good time to buy IF you are not attached to a certain house and can stomach making offers of 10 to 20% below the listing prices. My opinion...of course. - Thu Feb 14 2008, 12:17