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I just love a seller who wants to “test the market.” We have a lot of them in my vacation home market area. They do not need to sell, indeed they’ll enjoy the home another year if a buyer doesn’t come along. Our average days on market here for a home have increased from about nine months two years ago to almost a year now. We have homes that have been on the market more than 1000 days!

Now, to be fair, some of them might be yurts, igloos or converted water towers. Here in Taos, NM, we have some really “individual” structures. Notice how delicate I am, as I could have said really strange homes. But, even so, our sellers do not need to sell. Many of them purchased their ski chalet or mountain-top view home for only a few weeks of enjoyment each year. So maybe you don’t have a problem like ours…or do you?

At our local coffee hangout, an appraiser was giving me the scoop this morning on “artificial declines” created by our sellers and promoted by our Realtors. Basically, setting an unrealistic price at the beginning, and reducing multiple times, is creating statistics that look like area prices are declining. They aren’t, as they weren’t real prices to begin with. His statement was that lenders are very aware of this, and loans will get harder to come by if “artificial declines” continue.