Inman Does Marin (a Little)

This blog, the one you are reading, was mentioned on Inman News which only goes to show that this thing has grown way past what I ever intended for it.

Anyway, they had this to say about Marin:

Like the market in Florida, California's real estate market was one of the hottest in the country. But now, according to one poster, it's a buyer's market in Marin County in northern California, "especially high-end where things are selling 75 percent on the asking dollar. Bad press, high interest rates and rising stock market (are) hurting expensive homes here."

Marin County is notorious for its high prices (and even has its own bubble blog, Marin Real Estate Bubble), but Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado and Yolo Counties, also in northern California, are not. Regardless, it's a buyer's market in those counties, one reader said, especially at the high end. "Low-end homes, entry-level tend to be neutral," the reader said.

"Days on market have increased, in some areas as much as 90 days," the reader said.

And I found this tidbit over at the Ben Jones blog (which also links to the Inman News item mentioned above):

The Wall Street Journal does a Q&A. “Question: Why is it so hard to get good data on housing-market prices, especially in major metro areas like Washington, D.C.? Are there no reliable indexes? I disagree that Realtors will help much, even for information on price cuts in your target neighborhood. Most Realtors just want to sell houses, and ‘now’ is always the best time to buy.”

“A: Wouldn’t it be great if you could get all of the information you need to buy and sell your home on one free Web site? Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot more useful real-estate-listing information floating around in cyberspace than there was even two years ago. But much of it is controlled by Realtors, who, as you have pointed out, seemingly don’t want anything but ‘happy news’ getting out, and don’t really want consumers to be empowered.”

==> "But much of it [RE information] is controlled by Realtors, who... seemingly don’t want anything but ‘happy news’ getting out, and don’t really want consumers to be empowered." <==

Hello! Is there anybody out there? We're just now figuring this out? Gaah!