"The market just came to a screeching halt"

Ah, it's tough to watch after the music stops... And it's sad that Catherine Reagor of the Arizona Republic is incapable of writing an article as good as this one from the Boston Globe. Note to Catherine - move away from the safety of your rolodex full of realtors and builders and talk to real people. That's where the real story is.

Also, on the subject of prices - we're not seeing the rapid drop of the average median home price right now (although definitely declining) because sellers haven't been able to sell at their "deserved" prices - and the new "reality" prices will be on sales that haven't happened yet.. Just hold on though..

A soft real estate market is leaving some buyers with one house too many

The decline in real estate sales, coupled with a surge in the number of available properties, is forcing some sellers into a bind. Already smitten with a new home, they must make tough decisions. Do they slash their asking price in order to unload their property quickly? Do they let their dream home slip through their fingers while they wait for the right buyer? Or, like Pelligrini, do they juggle two mortgages -- indefinitely?

``The market just came to a screeching halt," said Tibbetts, who has been a realtor for 12 years. ``I've gone without a pay check for six months now. It's prompted my husband to start calling what I do `volunteering.' "

The drop in sales is bad news for many of her clients, including Chris and Heidi Schrock, who, like Pelligrini, own two properties: A three-bedroom ranch with vaulted ceilings in Hamilton and a cozy four-room Cape Cod-style home in neighboring Wenham. The Schrocks' Hamilton home has been on the market since last July.

``We've had a string of open houses since February, and multiple private showings," said Heidi. ``It's tiring. People will say they love the house, but then they'll tell me they have 10 or 12 other listings to go to. There's just too much inventory out there right now."

In hopes of attracting the right buyer in an increasingly competitive market, the Schrocks have lowered their asking price by more than $70,000 over the past year, to $422,500. To date, they've had only one offer, of $476,000. But that was last fall, before the market cooled, when the Schrocks thought they could do better.

``The offer came with a lot of contingencies, and at the time our home had only been on the market a few months, so it was a no-go," said Chris, 35, a general manager at Electrolux.

Randy Greenstein isn't convinced. He and his wife bought a home in Lynnfield in December, a month after listing their three-bedroom contemporary in Peabody for $629,000.

To make the deal on the Lynnfield house work, the Greensteins took out a bridge loan to cover the down payment, confident that they would be able to pay off that debt once they sold their Peabody home.

At first, it seemed their wager would pay off. After lowering the asking price to $599,000 in early February, they received and accepted an offer for $560,000. But the deal fell apart in March when the buyer had trouble securing financing. Over the next few months, the couple fielded four more offers, each one lower than the last. The most recent bid came two weeks ago. It was for $425,000.

``It was insulting," said Greenstein, who rejected the offer. ``I mean, look, I'm not going to give the house away. I'm not desperate."