Is there enough blood in the streets and failed flipper desperation to begin making insulting 50% off offers on unwanted homes?

When everyone's buying, it's time to be selling.

When everyone's selling, it's time to be buying.

So is it time?

I don't think so (look to Japan) but if I were back in the States I'd be making some crazy low-ball offers to see if any of 'em stuck. As long as the home would be cash-flow positive from day one, with a yield of at least 8%, and the selling price was based on 2001 or prior comp.

Plus it would just be fun to see the reaction as people come to understand that the fundamentals DO matter, that homes DO have a P/E ratio that must be respected, and that incomes DO relate to prices.

So, anyone itching to low-ball? Anyone doing foreclosures?

Or is buying now, even at a low-ball price, still catching a falling knife?

CHICAGO - Home sellers are not automatically turning up their noses at offers that come in far below their asking price these days as prices stagnate and the inventory of homes for sale remains elevated in many markets.

But buyers who do ask for deep discounts still risk offending sellers to the point where they quash any deal. So before making an aggressive offer, some homework is in order, real estate professionals say. Further, buyers need to effectively explain why the price of a home should be lower.

That's what Pat O'Heron did recently when buying a home in Ann Arbor, Mich. He was able to negotiate a steep discount with a seller who relocated for a job, in a neighborhood that had two years' worth of inventory on the market.

Before he even made an offer, the asking price had already dropped by about $80,000, he said. After O'Heron made his case why the cost should be even lower, he eventually bought the home for $270,400, with about $11,000 in other credits. The net price ended up being $115,000 below the initial asking price.