I continue to believe that a lot of the blame goes to selling agents. Just this weekend I looked at a home that has been on the market for over a year. They dropped the price by 2% and relisted it after 2 months off the market, but it is still 20% above comps. I know it has gotten 2 offers in the past year at about 90% of asking that the seller turned down.

Yet, when I went to the new open house, the selling agent said that a couple that was there with me and just left was writing an offer immediately at asking. I have heard this well over a dozen times this past year and only once, ONCE, did it turn out to be true. Selling agents themselves are in denial still living and negotiating like it is the boom times. Do they really think they can scare a buyer to “compete” for a home with haste in a market like this? They are also part to blame for the optimistic asking prices. At this point, I think it is 50/50 the fault of sellers and their agents.

After touring so many houses that I have lost count, I have seen it all by now. My Cielo story is still one of my favorite crazy seller stories, but that seller’s agent shares some of that blame too.