Why the focus on whether a home sells for less than the last purchase price? Sure, this may be an indication that the buyer is in trouble, but the same could be true if equity loans were taken out right up to the current comp value, like so many people are doing these days. And to prove that the market is falling we need to look at recent comps, and clearly there are huge drops going on right now. I know of a home in San Marcos, 92078, that was for sale for 825-845k, and the most recent comps were 810k and 860k. An offer came in back in September for 805k and they declined out of greed. They listed again after the holidays, and waitied, waited, reduced the price, and waited. In March they closed at 710k, over 100k less than the lower end of their original price! Another home on the same street has been listed for over 1 year…it started at 685k, sat for 6 months, then they tried unsucessfully to rent it for 5 months. They listed it again for 660k and it sat. Then they lowered it and it is finally in escrow for approx 580k, 100k less than their original asking price!
