It's time to tell another story about a specific local house!

This house is located in Amissville in Culpeper county on a quiet country road. As with many local properties, it was once part of a larger farm. And, in fact, one of the things I love about this house is the old farmhouse that is at its core.

It's been nicely renovated in ways that allow you to still see the original and it's special character. The second floor is all hardwood floors, a very rare thing these days, but fairly common in 1940 when this house was originally built. It sits on just under 2 acres with some nice fencing.

There are 4 bedrooms and 2 full baths. The kitchen is modern and large with lots of light. It's got that great front porch and some beautiful mature trees. In short, there's lots to love about this house.

For horse people, there's adjoining pasture that rents pretty cheaply. ($200/mo.)

The house sold in December, 2004 for $314,000 with a $9000 subsidy to the buyers to help with closing costs. It was on the market for 127 days before selling. In 2004, that was actually a long time. And, at that point in time the $9000 help for the buyers was also unusual.

It next sold in May of 2007. This time it was on the market for 292 days before being sold for $360,000.

It's back up for sale now. It's been for sale for 86 days. It was originally listed at $349,900 and is currently listed at $299,900. It's a short sale this time around, meaning that the owners owe more to the bank than the home will sell for. The possibility of foreclosure looms if the property does not sell.

If the home sells for full price (unlikely in this market) it will be 17% off the highest sales price. That's a little less than the price declines we've seen overall in Culpeper County.

I believe, overall, this home is a pretty good value in this market. Part of why it's lingering at this price is the fact that it's a short sale. Real estate agents are reluctant to show short sale properties. There are a number of reasons for this, including a lengthy/complex process that frustrates their clients and usually produces a smaller paycheck for them.

It may also be sitting because of the new home that's being built nearby. While there's enough distance between them that it's not intrusive if you're a city person; people moving out here often want no sign that neighbors even exist!

Still, for someone with horses and not a big house hunting budget, I think this has a lot of appeal.

Surrounding sellers will no doubt be unhappy with the low price on this. If this sells for under $300K, and it ultimately will, many surrounding properties are clearly overpriced. Or, at least, that's what potential buyers and appraisers are likely to think!

I've spent a lot of time the last couple of weeks on previewing homes for sale in the area. I've looked mostly at homes priced in the mid and upper-ranges. And I've come to one inescapable conclusion. Homes are still seriously overpriced in our area.

No seller wants to hear this. And I don't want to be the one to break it to you all. But the vast majority of homes I toured have absolutely no chance of selling for anything near their asking price.

Mind you, this is only my opinion! And I'll no doubt be proven wrong on at least one! I saw a property today in Amissville, listed for $575K where the house would need to be bulldozed so you could start over! I'm entirely serious here! Granted there was also a barn (in rough shape!) and it was on 12 acres, but seriously! I was nervous going upstairs as the ceilings on the lower level were clearly compromised and I wasn't sure how extensive the damage was!

You're thinking that's only one property and that I exaggerate the nature of the problem. Unfortunately, that was just one example among many of truly overpriced properties.

If you're a buyer looking for a real fixxer upper, I'd be turning in seriously lowball offers on some of these places. I don't know that the sellers are mentally and emotionally ready yet to accept the deal, but I'd sure be trying right now!

On the flip side of this, what is selling are the properties that show beautifully and are very aggressively priced.

Strangely enough, I'm also seeing good movement on rentals all of a sudden! It's got me wondering if a lot of potential first time buyers have given up on the idea given the current credit crunch in the mortgage markets.

July numbers should be available to me in the next day or so and we'll see if inventory's deceasing substantially.