Wednesday, January 7, 2009

WSJ.com - 2009 Could Be Better Than You Think

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"No, 2008 wasn't just a bad year. It was an awful year. A Johnstown Flood kind of year. The kind that wipes out proud, century-old institutions, decimates entire industries, and leaves everyone decidedly poorer and the world profoundly shaken in its wake.

Enough of that. On to 2009."

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Monday, November 10, 2008

Facts and Trends Reports...

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Facts and Trends^TM
Published Nov. 2008
Location : Eastham , Orleans
Number of Homes For Sale vs. Sold
Price Range: $300,000 - No Limit
SQFT Range: 0 - No Limit
Single Family Homes		Prepared for you by: Lee Wareham, REALTOR

Date	8/07	9/07	10/07	11/07	12/07	1/08	2/08	3/08	4/08	5/08	6/08	7/08	8/08	9/08	10/08
For Sale	248	247	236	218	203	212	201	211	224	234	229	224	216	233	231
Sold	15	20	25	13	15	20	9	16	11	18	17	15	12	18	13
Mon of Inv. on Sold	16.5	12.4	9.4	16.8	13.5	10.6	22.3	13.2	20.4	13.0	13.5	14.9	18.0	12.9	17.8
Mon of Inv. on Pended	10.3	11.2	14.8	12.8	12.7	42.4	11.2	14.1	14.0	16.7	13.5	18.7	11.4	15.5	11.0
Avg. Act Price	947	950	934	958	967	1014	1006	984	947	905	901	895	894	865	870
Avg. Sld Price	836	579	840	720	623	663	597	704	685	681	885	572	880	674	683
Avg. Sq. Ft. Price	423.2	341.87	450.4	342.65	367.49	398.57	338.77	374.74	370.27	326.1	403.19	343.71	471.01	329.48	369.82
Sold/List Diff. %	95	94	92	95	92	92	94	94	93	93	92	96	93	94	93
Days On Market	197	160	170	159	175	147	162	255	234	166	217	137	186	117	84
Median Price	745	473	625	470	568	473	550	565	518	565	492	470	742	502	485

All reports presented are based on data supplied by the Massachussets Real Estate, New Hampshire Real Estate, Boston Real Estate and Cape Cod Real Estate or their MLS. Neither the Associations nor their MLSs guarantee or are in anyway responsible for their accuracy. Data maintained by the Associations or their MLSs may not reflect all real estate activities in the market. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Facts and Trends^TM
Published Nov. 2008
Location : Eastham , Orleans
Average Home Sold Price per SQFT
Price Range: $300,000 - No Limit
SQFT Range: 0 - No Limit
Single Family Homes		Prepared for you by: Lee Wareham, REALTOR

Date	8/07	9/07	10/07	11/07	12/07	1/08	2/08	3/08	4/08	5/08	6/08	7/08	8/08	9/08	10/08
For Sale	248	247	236	218	203	212	201	211	224	234	229	224	216	233	231
Sold	15	20	25	13	15	20	9	16	11	18	17	15	12	18	13
Mon of Inv. on Sold	16.5	12.4	9.4	16.8	13.5	10.6	22.3	13.2	20.4	13.0	13.5	14.9	18.0	12.9	17.8
Mon of Inv. on Pended	10.3	11.2	14.8	12.8	12.7	42.4	11.2	14.1	14.0	16.7	13.5	18.7	11.4	15.5	11.0
Avg. Act Price	947	950	934	958	967	1014	1006	984	947	905	901	895	894	865	870
Avg. Sld Price	836	579	840	720	623	663	597	704	685	681	885	572	880	674	683
Avg. Sq. Ft. Price	423.2	341.87	450.4	342.65	367.49	398.57	338.77	374.74	370.27	326.1	403.19	343.71	471.01	329.48	369.82
Sold/List Diff. %	95	94	92	95	92	92	94	94	93	93	92	96	93	94	93
Days On Market	197	160	170	159	175	147	162	255	234	166	217	137	186	117	84
Median Price	745	473	625	470	568	473	550	565	518	565	492	470	742	502	485

Facts and Trends^TM
Published Nov. 2008
Location : Eastham , Orleans
Avg DOM & SP/LP %
Price Range: $300,000 - No Limit
SQFT Range: 0 - No Limit
Single Family Homes		Prepared for you by: Lee Wareham, REALTOR

Date	8/07	9/07	10/07	11/07	12/07	1/08	2/08	3/08	4/08	5/08	6/08	7/08	8/08	9/08	10/08
For Sale	248	247	236	218	203	212	201	211	224	234	229	224	216	233	231
Sold	15	20	25	13	15	20	9	16	11	18	17	15	12	18	13
Mon of Inv. on Sold	16.5	12.4	9.4	16.8	13.5	10.6	22.3	13.2	20.4	13.0	13.5	14.9	18.0	12.9	17.8
Mon of Inv. on Pended	10.3	11.2	14.8	12.8	12.7	42.4	11.2	14.1	14.0	16.7	13.5	18.7	11.4	15.5	11.0
Avg. Act Price	947	950	934	958	967	1014	1006	984	947	905	901	895	894	865	870
Avg. Sld Price	836	579	840	720	623	663	597	704	685	681	885	572	880	674	683
Avg. Sq. Ft. Price	423.2	341.87	450.4	342.65	367.49	398.57	338.77	374.74	370.27	326.1	403.19	343.71	471.01	329.48	369.82
Sold/List Diff. %	95	94	92	95	92	92	94	94	93	93	92	96	93	94	93
Days On Market	197	160	170	159	175	147	162	255	234	166	217	137	186	117	84
Median Price	745	473	625	470	568	473	550	565	518	565	492	470	742	502	485

Facts and Trends^TM
Published Nov. 2008
Location : Eastham , Orleans
Avg Price For Sale & Sold
Price Range: $300,000 - No Limit
SQFT Range: 0 - No Limit
Single Family Homes		Prepared for you by: Lee Wareham, REALTOR

Date	8/07	9/07	10/07	11/07	12/07	1/08	2/08	3/08	4/08	5/08	6/08	7/08	8/08	9/08	10/08
For Sale	248	247	236	218	203	212	201	211	224	234	229	224	216	233	231
Sold	15	20	25	13	15	20	9	16	11	18	17	15	12	18	13
Mon of Inv. on Sold	16.5	12.4	9.4	16.8	13.5	10.6	22.3	13.2	20.4	13.0	13.5	14.9	18.0	12.9	17.8
Mon of Inv. on Pended	10.3	11.2	14.8	12.8	12.7	42.4	11.2	14.1	14.0	16.7	13.5	18.7	11.4	15.5	11.0
Avg. Act Price	947	950	934	958	967	1014	1006	984	947	905	901	895	894	865	870
Avg. Sld Price	836	579	840	720	623	663	597	704	685	681	885	572	880	674	683
Avg. Sq. Ft. Price	423.2	341.87	450.4	342.65	367.49	398.57	338.77	374.74	370.27	326.1	403.19	343.71	471.01	329.48	369.82
Sold/List Diff. %	95	94	92	95	92	92	94	94	93	93	92	96	93	94	93
Days On Market	197	160	170	159	175	147	162	255	234	166	217	137	186	117	84
Median Price	745	473	625	470	568	473	550	565	518	565	492	470	742	502	485

Facts and Trends^TM
Published Nov. 2008
Location : Eastham , Orleans
Months of Inventory Based on Closed Sales
Price Range: $300,000 - No Limit
SQFT Range: 0 - No Limit
Single Family Homes		Prepared for you by: Lee Wareham, REALTOR

Date	8/07	9/07	10/07	11/07	12/07	1/08	2/08	3/08	4/08	5/08	6/08	7/08	8/08	9/08	10/08
For Sale	248	247	236	218	203	212	201	211	224	234	229	224	216	233	231
Sold	15	20	25	13	15	20	9	16	11	18	17	15	12	18	13
Mon of Inv. on Sold	16.5	12.4	9.4	16.8	13.5	10.6	22.3	13.2	20.4	13.0	13.5	14.9	18.0	12.9	17.8
Mon of Inv. on Pended	10.3	11.2	14.8	12.8	12.7	42.4	11.2	14.1	14.0	16.7	13.5	18.7	11.4	15.5	11.0
Avg. Act Price	947	950	934	958	967	1014	1006	984	947	905	901	895	894	865	870
Avg. Sld Price	836	579	840	720	623	663	597	704	685	681	885	572	880	674	683
Avg. Sq. Ft. Price	423.2	341.87	450.4	342.65	367.49	398.57	338.77	374.74	370.27	326.1	403.19	343.71	471.01	329.48	369.82
Sold/List Diff. %	95	94	92	95	92	92	94	94	93	93	92	96	93	94	93
Days On Market	197	160	170	159	175	147	162	255	234	166	217	137	186	117	84
Median Price	745	473	625	470	568	473	550	565	518	565	492	470	742	502	485

Sunday, November 9, 2008

News - Plymouth Rock Studios spotlights jobs

Lee Wareham thought you'd be interested in this story from the CapeCodOnline.com web site:

Story Title: News - Plymouth Rock Studios spotlights jobs

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080925/NEWS/809250325&emailAFriend=1

----------------------------------------------

Here's what Lee Wareham had to say about the story:

How will Plymouth Rock Studios affect the Cape Cod Real Estate Market? Will Waterfront properties be desirable to transplants?

----------------------------------------------
Visit CapeCodOnline.com today for the latest news and information!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

BusinessConnector newsletter July 8, 2008

Has the Cape's housing market stabilized?

The housing market nationwide may still be deteriorating, but there is evidence mounting that the worst is behind us on Cape Cod.

For the third consecutive month, the median price of a single-family home across Barnstable County has held steady, as these numbers show.

June 2007:     $338,000.00     +4.0%
July 2007:      $345,500.00     +2.2%
Aug 2007:      $355,000.00      +2.8%
Sep 2007:      $387,500.00     +9.2%
Oct 2007:       $345,000.00     -11%
Nov 2007:      $330,000.00     +4.3%
Dec 2007:      $329,000.00     -0.3%
Jan 2008:      $323,000.00      -1.8%
Feb 2008:      $327,450.00     +1.4%
Mar 2008:      $310,000.00     -5.3%
Apr 2008:      $315,000.00     +1.6%
May 2008:      $315,501.00     +0.16%
June 2008:    $315,900.00     +0.13

These numbers just released by the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds confirming a growing conviction among real estate experts that the Cape Cod market is not feeling the impact of foreclosures or exotic mortgages that have so bedeviled the nation's housing market.

Housing, after extraordinary price run-ups earlier this decade, began to decline earlier than other markets now harder hit. As a result, Cape Cod may be coming out of the swoon earlier than elsewhere.

One reality that has not changed through the tough housing market: More baby boomers are retiring or choosing second homes. That demographic bubble is sure to benefit places like the Cape, and with housing prices now at relatively reasonable levels, the market is beginning to look more and more attractive.

There is little doubt of pent-up demand. The challenge will be whether potential buyers can sell their homes elsewhere to move here.

Five months of improved conditions for Plymouth housing

Plymouth County, meanwhile, saw its fifth consecutive month of growth in real estate sales. June saw more of a continued slow, but steady improvement, said Registrar of Deeds John R. Buckley Jr.

"While the volume of this year's sales compared to last year has been down each month, the deficit in recorded deeds in 2008 has declined from 18 percent in January, 14 percent through March, 12 percent through April to its current point of a 10 percent decline in June," he said.

Sale prices have dropped dramatically in some areas of the country, and while Plymouth County has seen a decline, the fall has been relatively modest. The average sale price through June was $346,489, down from $378,114 during the same period in 2007.

"We've seen sale prices rise steadily for a number of years," noted Buckley, "so we certainly notice the recent decline in prices. But given the more dramatic fall in other areas of the country, an eight-percent decline in Plymouth County represents a relatively healthy sales market."

Buckley did report a decline in refinance activity in recent months. Plymouth County recorded 2,004 mortgages in June, down from 2,070 in May and 2,283 in April. In total, Plymouth County has recorded in excess of $3 billion in mortgages through June of this year.

Gas prices: The good news for Cape Cod

There is one silver lining to $4.25 cents per gallon gasoline. It seemed to have a positive effect on the Cape's July Fourth holiday business. "This was a really good weekend for us," said Wendy Northcross, president of the Cape Cod Chamber of Congress. "I was amazed by how many Massachusetts license plates I saw in the parking lots. I think that with the cost of travel, a lot of people are staying closer to home this summer."

Betsy Wall of the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism told the Boston Globe that hotels and inns were reporting strong business. "It's a pretty sensible response to high gas prices," she said in response to the holiday traffic.

A random survey by Cape Business indicated that the deteriorating weather later in the weekend may have actually helped retailers and restaurants. Most visitors already were on the Cape when the weather turned gray. That drove them to indoor locations, especially on Sunday.

The high price of gas and the dollar's plummeting value may be discouraging many people from long trips across the United States or abroad. That means that fewer Americans are willing to travel more than 50 miles from their homes for weekends – and that could be excellent news for the Cape.

State employment picture remains better than elsewhere

The state continues to outpace the nation on the employment front, although the unemployment rate now is rising.

While a lagging indicator, the most recent numbers for May show the Massachusetts economy added 3,900 jobs, while the national economy has shed nearly 400,000 jobs.

Solid growth has been seen in education and health services, as well as professional, scientific and business services. For the month of May, professional, scientific and business services added 700 jobs, education and health services added 400 jobs, and the governmental sector added the remaining jobs. Among the nine major private super sectors, five recorded job increases while four showed over the month declines.

The state reported that the Massachusetts unemployment rate rose from 4.1 percent in April to 4.9 percent in May, after having dropped three tenths of a percentage point from March to April. While this one month increase mirrors the increase in the national rate which was reported last week; the state rate continues to fall below the national rate of 5.5 percent. One year ago, both the Massachusetts and U.S. rates stood at 4.5 percent. During each of the subsequent 12 months, the Massachusetts rate has been below the U.S. rate. The national rate jumped from 5.0 percent in April to 5.5 percent in May.

Next newsletter, we will feature local employment numbers.

Hollywood East

For a while, it looked as if the prospect of a $300 million film and television studio in Plymouth could evaporate – after the company's initial focus, 300 acres near the Bourne border, proved unfeasible for development due to legal issues over titles to the land.

But last week, Plymouth Rock Studios announced it would be purchasing the Waverly Oaks Golf Club off Exit 3 of Route 3 for its planned 14 sound stages, back lots, a hotel and office buildings.

The project still must go through a rezoning vote this fall, but town residents and selectmen have indicated a strong desire to see the so-called Hollywood East project come to the town, where it promises to employ several thousand people over coming years and become a draw for an entirely new, high-income, white-collar industry.

In fact, the movie industry has been booming in Massachusetts since lawmakers approved tax incentives designed to lure filmmakers to the state. To learn more about the studios, visit www.plymouthrockstudios.com.

BusinessConnector.biz headlines

When you register your business at BusinessConnector.biz, you can begin publishing your press releases, job openings, sales and special offers immediately. Here are some of this week's headlines from our members. Once you register for $149 for the year you can begin to publish all sorts of information about your business. All Business Connect 2008 sponsors get their account free for being part of the conference.

To read more details about the following news, go to BusinessConnector.biz.

• Complete Home Concepts makes its conference rooms available to business organizations and nonprofit groups to use free of charge. Located within Complete Home Concepts in Hyannis and Plymouth, the rooms are available during business hours and can seat up to 45 people in classroom seating and includes an LCD projector, screen and podium within the room.
• Joel G. Crowell, President of Cape Cod Cooperative Bank, is pleased to announce the successful hosting of the Digikids Child Safety ID Program at the East Harwich Branch of the bank. "This was a very rewarding experience for the bank," said Crowell. "Sponsoring this program for our community was very important to us."
• Richard L. Rowe Jr., President and COO of Scituate Federal Savings Bank of Marshfield, was elected East Regional Director of the board of directors for the Financial Managers Society at its annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.
• The Cape Cod Commission will hold three open houses this month on the 2008 Regional Policy Plan. Topics include land use and economic development; water and coastal resources; and transportation, waste management and energy.
• First Citizens' Federal Credit Union announced the appointment of Kevin J. Inkley as Senior Vice President, Lending. In his new position, Inkley will be responsible for creating, managing and implementing First Citizens' strategic planning programs regarding consumer and business lending programs, including direct and indirect programs and mortgages as well as collections.
• Damon, Topham & Company LLC, a full-service multidisciplined firm providing accounting, business development and financial services, has been named one of the area's largest accounting firms by the Boston Business Journal. The Marshfield company was recognized as No. 49 on the Boston Business Journal's list of sizeable accounting firms. The firm has two offices (Marshfield and Boston) and a staff of 11.
• Christopher Joyce, founder and owner of Joyce Landscaping Inc. of Marstons Mills, has received the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce's 2008 Business Excellence Award for service companies. He was honored for his "ongoing dedication to local job creation, community involvement and public service," the chamber said during recent awards ceremonies at its annual dinner and meeting in Falmouth.
• The 2008 American Business Women's Association Cape Cod Charter Chapter scholarship will benefit three women with $1,500 each. To learn more, please contact JoAnna Watson at jwatson@capecod.net
• Job postings include: Curley Direct Marketing in South Yarmouth seeks a part-time, highly motivated administrative assistant.
• Meet our newest member businesses: Cape Cod Mall, Mid-Cape Home Centers, Lady Slipper Stationery, Lipman Development Strategies LLC, DeMelo Brothers Inc., Platinum Auto Service, Account Ability.

New head for Sandwich chamber; merger proposed with SAFLP

Kate Bavelock is the new executive director of the Sandwich Chamber of Commerce. Her appointment also is spurring a potential merger of the Sandwich Alliance of Financial and Legal Professionals with the chamber.

After several meetings with executive board members from both groups and Bavelock's recent appointment, the two organizations voted to merge. The SAFLP would become a committee of the chamber, said Tim Cooney, an original founder of the alliance.

The alliance was established several years ago because Sandwich was attracting many new attorneys and financial advisers who saw the location as a hub not only on the Cape but across the canal and throughout Southeast Massachusetts.

One inhibiting factor in the group's growth has been a relative scarcity of office space in Sandwich. Some founding members, in fact, have been forced to look in other towns for space.

Pass it on

If you know someone who may be interested in receiving this newsletter, you can easily forward up to five copies at once.

--
Lee Wareham - REALTOR®, TRC, e-PRO
The Tucker Group
Kinlin Grover GMAC Real Estate
193 Cranberry Highway - Route 6A
Orleans, MA 02653
800-275-9210 x141, 774-313-6091 Mobile
508-255-1489 Fax
mailto:lwareham@kinlingrover.com
http://LeeWareham.com

http://www.CapeTuckerGroup.com - The Tucker Group Cape Cod Real Estate Team Website

http://LoCape.com - a new "narrow search" local search engine - indexing lower Cape Cod websites only. Brought to you by the Tucker Group.

http://SearchCapeCodRE.com – sign up for daily email alerts and search MLS listings!

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Cape Cod Facts and Trends Reports - Jan. - Mar. 2008...

Below is a Facts and Trends report for the data available from the Cape and Islands MLS for three Lower Cape Cod towns. March is now included. The most important thing we're seeing is that while list prices are slightly down, the sold prices are holding firm, or up a little (March 2008 avg. sold price is about the same as May of 2007). We are starting to hear about multiple offers on properties that are being perceived as great values currently. There are always people who want to buy here, and it seems they are not as affected by the current Mortgage environment.

There are now 51 properties under agreement and pending sale in these three towns. 19 in Brewster, 14 in Eastham and 18 in Orleans. Inventory is beginning to shrink and that likely means we'll be seeing changes here.

As always, if you would like a customized trend report for any town in Massachusetts, I can prepare one for you.

Regards,

Lee Wareham

774-313-6091

Show charts

Facts and Trends^TM
Published Apr. 2008
Location : Brewster , Eastham , Orleans
Number of Homes For Sale vs. Sold vs. Pended
Price Range: $0 - No Limit
SQFT Range: 0 - No Limit
Single Family Homes		Prepared for you by: Lee Wareham, REALTOR

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Festive Cape Rep Theatre Fund Raiser at Willy's/Eastham April 19th - Please Come!

As a proud member of the Board of Directors at Cape Rep Theatre, nestled in the woods opposite Nickerson State Park on Route 6A in Brewster, I am hoping you'll be able to join us for an evening of fun and entertainment.

Cape Rep Fund Raiser Flyer

Sally

P.S. It's not the yellow building at the entrance. It's a wonderful 142-seat theatre with comfortable seats, summer air-conditioning, and the very best quality that Cape Cod theater has to offer...

Sally Tucker

The Tucker Group
Kinlin Grover GMAC Real Estate

193 Route Cranberry Highway – Route 6A
Orleans, MA 02653
800-275-9210 ext. 141 Toll Free, 508-237-3765 Mobile, 508-255-1489 Fax
mailto:SallyTuckerCapeCod@comcast.net

http://CapeTuckerGroup.com

www.SearchCapecodRE.com – sign up for daily email alerts and search MLS listings!

www.LoCape.com - NEW! Localized search engine for Brewster, Eastham, Chatham, Harwich and Orleans.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Be It Ever So Illogical: Homeowners Who Won’t Cut the Price

March 26, 2008

Economic Scene

Be It Ever So Illogical: Homeowners Who Won't Cut the Price

By DAVID LEONHARDT

In 2005, Randolph Harrison and his wife, Pamela, decided to move north from Silicon Valley, over the Golden Gate Bridge into wooded Marin County to be closer to her new job. They found a six-bedroom house that seemed ideal except for the price, $1.875 million. The current owner, they knew, had bought the house a year earlier for $1.475 million.

So the couple, who both have finance jobs in the technology industry, told their real estate agent that they wanted to offer $1.575 million. He told them that the owner wouldn't even listen to such a low bid. The owner's attitude was "we'll just stay here until we sell it for 1.875," the agent said, "even if it takes years."

Three years ago, when the real estate bubble was still inflating, this sort of standoff was the exception. It's the norm today. Overall home sales have fallen a remarkable 33 percent since the summer of 2005. Home prices, on the other hand, continued to rise until 2006 and are now only 5 to 10 percent below where they were in mid-2005, according to various measures.

In most other areas of the economy, this combination of plummeting sales and stable prices would not happen. When demand for airline tickets drop, the airlines cut their prices until they have sold their seats. When stocks become less appealing, share prices fall, sometimes sharply.

Just try to imagine stock prices staying roughly flat over a three-year period while sales volumes sank because investors considered the market overvalued. Bear Stearns is still worth $150 a share, and I'm not selling until someone pays me $150!

Real estate, though, is different. For both economic and psychological reasons, there is no asset more conducive to hopeful overvaluation.

That means real estate slumps tend to grind on for years, until sellers submit to reality and reduce their prices. This week's batch of economic reports suggest that the adjustment is finally starting to happen. The decline in house prices is accelerating, especially in some of the big metropolitan areas covered by the Case-Shiller index released Tuesday, while the number of home sales has recently risen a bit.

But prices still have a ways to fall. Relative to the economic fundamentals — like incomes and housing supply — the average price nationwide seems to be about 10 percent too high. (This, of course, hides a lot of variation. In Texas, prices look sensible, while in much of Florida and Arizona, they are probably about 25 percent too high.)

The slow unwinding of the real estate excess, in turn, means that the turmoil in the financial markets and the country's broader economic problems also aren't anywhere near their end. Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, recently told Congress that the stabilization of prices was "what we're looking forward to." That is, the end of the real estate slump is the only thing that can get the economy back on solid ground.

Until house prices stop falling, it won't be clear how many more people will default on their mortgages. Even homeowners who stay current on their mortgage payments will be affected. With the value of their largest asset dropping, many will decide to spend less and save more, aggravating the economic slowdown.

On Tuesday, the Conference Board reported that Americans were more pessimistic about the economy's direction over the next six months than at any point since the bad old days of the 1973 oil embargo.

In many ways, it would be better if the housing correction would happen more swiftly and sharply. The pain might be worse, but it would be over quickly. We seem to understand this principle when we're removing a bandage. Why, then, is it so much harder with housing?

Because houses are almost perfectly engineered to trick owners into overvaluing them.

For starters, people have an obvious emotional connection to their house. After you have raised a family or enjoyed long meals with friends there, you are naturally going to place a higher value on it than a dispassionate buyer would. It's your home.

In normal times, buyers and sellers can still come to an agreement because inflation allows sellers to feel that they have made a nice return on their house. People don't sell houses frequently, so the sale price of a house is almost always higher than it was when the current owner bought it, just as the price of food, haircuts and everything else tends to rise over a five- or 10-year span. Because of leverage — the fact that people buy houses mostly on credit — these inflation-driven price increases turn into true investment gains.

In the wake of the biggest housing boom on record, it's understandably hard to accept a new reality. Robert Glinert, a real estate agent in the Los Angeles area, said he has recently been saying no to almost half the sellers who have asked him to represent them. Their initial asking price is just too unrealistic.

"People say, 'I don't care about the market — my home is still worth what I paid for it in 2006,' " Mr. Glinert told me. "And I say, 'To you. Only to you.' "

Doing what Mr. Glinert is asking sellers to do — dropping the asking price below their purchase price — is especially difficult. It's tantamount to admitting defeat.

David Laibson, a leading behavioral economist, categorizes this sort of behavior under the heading of "the principle of the matter." His point is that people often go to great lengths to avoid taking a loss — or simply having to acknowledge one. "Even a small loss evokes a sense of frustration," said Mr. Laibson, a professor at Harvard. "There's something magical about 'at least breaking even.' "

Often, this hurts no one so much as it hurts the would-be sellers. They stay in homes where they no longer want to live, rather than accepting their loss and moving on. Or they move but endure the hassle of renting out their old home, waiting, usually in vain, for the mythical buyer who understands its charms. All the while, their money is tied up in the house, and inflation is eating away at its real value.

Back in 2005, after Mr. Harrison and his wife couldn't find a house they considered fairly valued, they opted to rent instead. They pay $3,250 a month for a four-bedroom home, which is a bargain relative to what their mortgage payments would have been.

And that six-bedroom house listed for $1.875 million? The last Mr. Harrison checked, it still hadn't sold.

E-mail: leonhardt@nytimes.com

Cape Cod Real Estate Market