The Art of the Deal? There's no art, just stick the right price on the sucker and move it. Duh.

642 Lake Avenue is pending at $2.450 million, and that’s ridiculous. Not this current price, but the history of that pricing; it was first listed at $4.995 in November 2015, and expired unsold a year later, still asking $3.499, and despite also being listed as land — a tacit admission that the house wasn’t worth saving. Worse, after a year off the market, it returned in 2018 once again priced at $4.9. WTF? Two more years of lingering and price drops ad it finally reached its current level; I imagine it’s selling for somewhere around $2.250.

I’ve been prowling our GMLS on behalf of a couple of clients recently, one looking in the $2s, one in the $5-and-up range, and I can report that there are few bargains out there, because there are a lot of buyers, and once a house hits a reasonable price it is snapped up. I can also report, however, that our inventory is cluttered with dozens, even hundreds of over-priced homes that won’t sell until their owners see reason. COVID can’t cure everything (including stupid, assuming the comment below about the anti-trust nature of this post was meant seriously).