Folks, if you must sell in this market...it's all about price. That's normally true anyway, but especially now. I moved to a fairly transient (military) area, where there is a fair bit of new construction. There wasn't much of a bubble but we feel the slowdown. As a result, the builders are dropping and dropping prices, BUT they're moving houses, while most private sellers sit on high prices unsold. Maybe those sellers can't go any lower, but they're not selling either. Many places have come up for rent. My equity from my down payment has pretty much vanished (shh don't tell my lender, they might insist I pay PMI!). But the market is moving again (ok maybe it's the normal seasonal effect too).

tricia ~ I washed my hands of the house a week ago when we pulled the offer. I posted here to vent and also to show the different things going on in the market here in CT. Me, I'm a total 'fence sitter' waiting for the right home to come up in one of my selected towns. School systems do matter as I just left a town where the School system is failing. I do get frustrated living with the in-laws but only b/c it's hard to be a family in your own home and then having to live with another family....... a bit cramped at times. BUT I am fortunate to have a place to stay. Now my husband on the other hand - he makes spur of the moment decisions and bad ones at that - but that is another story. He also has no patience. That being said..... We have a realtor up in the Enfield area who we've used a couple times now - to buy and to sell. I do appreciate your input on this situation and offer to communicate. I've read your posts and responses on the GW and feel like I know you. Also, I LOVE mystic - before being married I was engaged to a guy who had a boat docked on the Mystic River down there. And I love Angie's Pizza! I also wanted to put my situation out there. We have excellent credit, money to buy a home with 20% down and no home to sell. We made a good/great offer on a home and had checked with the town regarding mortgage currently on the home as well as history. We had a contractor come with us to see the house - We know they have a contract on another house that they already obtained a 3 month extension on back at the beginning of May and the house has been on the market a few months - we did our research. We made a good offer the home and the sellers still wanted more. It's 10 days past our negotiations and the house is still on the market - not my problem. I'm sure they have thier reasons as to why they didn't sell. That is thier right as a seller. If they call me - maybe we'll talk but I have no plans to pursue this home. Meanwhile, another home in the neighborhood sold (it wasn't what we were looking for) and a new one just came on the market - we may go see. We like the neighborhood so it may be that we end up in that area anyway. So with a positive attitude the search goes onward. I'm sure there is a house out there waiting for us. Wendy

I have a question on the supply numbers. Does anybody know what's happening to those defunct loans that ended up in the CDOs? I've been on a mission for my DH trying to track down the answer &, so far, it's eluding me. When a "normal" mortgage is foreclosued...the property goes back on the market, the lender takes their hit, & life goes on. So, the individual houses that have gone belly-up within these CDOs...are they currently on the market & included in our 8.5 month standing inventory number? Or, are they being sat on somewhere to avoid the marking to market issue? Banks have to report their numbers so we know those are included. What we don't know since the hedge funds are not accountable to a public audit system...is what they are doing with their foreclosures? Are they in the numbers? I've not been able to find anybody that knows for certain...everybody has an opinion but no definitive answer. If they are not in the inventory numbers then, "Houston, we've got a problem!" Tricia

This is great advice, BUT...what if you and your spouse aren't on same page or timetable. My husband is all about the nuts and bolts of construction, but I am trying to be proactive and get some other decisions made about what he deems more "decorator/cosmetic" type stuff...i.e., cabinetry and interior trim/casing, etc. I tried to tell him the cabinets could have a lengthy lead time depending on what we pick, and that BEFORE we can decide on cabinetry, we have to make a decision on appliances. In other words, we can't plan cabinetry around the 25 year old refrigerator he doesn't want to get rid of until it croaks... We should "plan" for the refrigerator we "want" rather than what we "have". I also want a 36 inch rangetop instead of a 30 inch gas cooktop, and that too has go into the planning. I know he's thinking we'll take a wait and see approach - meaning what we have left $$$-wise and then make appliance decisions, but in the real world it doesn't work that way. I've just run into the same issue with the siding on the house - the plans were drawn with hardie board & batten siding to give the project a fresher mountain farmhouse look. Our GC assumed that meant we wanted to paint the siding after installation because my husband really didn't listen to me when I talked about using a rustic prefinished hardie siding. He thought the "rustic" could just be painted on afterwards, and now is crazed because the GC is telling him the local company that prefinishes the hardie has a 3 month lead time due to their volumes, and the other company that does that type of prefinishing is in Canada and the Pacific Northwest and we'll have high(er) freight charges. It goes back to thinking that "painting" is just "painting" and is a cosmetic thing...