According to an article in Sunday's New York Times, it's not just homeowners that are walking away.

Apparently more and more banks are deciding some properties just don't have enough value to be worth the foreclosure process. When you consider that NAR (National Association of REALTORS) has estimated that the foreclosure process can cost a bank $60,000, properties at the low end of the market quickly become more trouble/expense than they're worth.

Of course, if you're a municipality with vacant, deteriorating homes where no one is paying any property taxes, you've got a big problem.

We haven't yet seen much of this in our area. Prince William would, perhaps have been most vulnerable to this with their high volume of low cost condos going into foreclosure. But the prices fell fast enough and demand jumped enough that the problem has been dodged.

There seems to be no chance of seeing this kind of thing in Fauquier or Rappahannock Counties. Culpeper does have some foreclosed townhouses selling below $100,000. But the numbers are very small and there seems to be enough demand in that price range to absorb what comes on the market.

...with the stupidity of NAR (National Association of REALTORS).

Read the blog and weep.

Seriously, if there is not a single REALTOR out there who believes home prices will either not appreciate or (gasp!) decline this year the public should definitely not believe a word we say!

Some days I beat my head against the wall. Credibility is hard to gain and can be lost in a second. I'm not saying NAR ever had any credibility. But I'd appreciate it if they wouldn't try and ruin any I've managed to build!