As revelers bring in the new year, the residential real estate scene looks more like the day after, with sellers suffering from a bad case of overindulgence and regrets that usually follow a really good party.
The question is whether that will make 2008 the year of opportunity for buyers, with sellers accepting low-ball offers, just in time for new owners to start feeling richer from the much vaunted arrival of the baby boomers in 2010-11.
Still, inventories of existing homes and condos remain depressingly high. Sellers are begging for traffic and the sign-here mortgages of yesteryear have vanished.
“The peak on our pricing was July 2005,” said Steve DuToit of Keller-Williams Realty. “Everybody was fighting to buy.”