Other houses he has seen were just as bad or much worse, with many sellers unwilling to get their properties in shape for the market. This despite surveys, such as a recent one by Coldwell Banker of 300 online consumers, that showed most prospective buyers rank a "move-in ready" home as important.
In 2002, Millinghausen sold a house in Ambler and moved to Lancaster. When he returned in 2005 to start his own law firm, he could not believe how much housing prices had risen in three years.
"I was unwilling to spend $400,000 for a house. I couldn't because I was starting a business," he said.
Realistic pricing is the key to getting the market moving, Millinghausen said. He said he believed that many agents set prices high to keep values up and that the historically low interest rates of the last 10 months or so were not much of a trade-off.
He also said he thought that interest rates had been artificially depressed and that they should be allowed to rise to their "natural level," which would allow home prices to fall.
John Duffy, owner of Duffy Real Estate on the Main Line, acknowledged that some pockets of Montgomery County, and other areas as well, saw large price increases between 2002 and the start of the housing downturn in 2007.
He also acknowledged that it was not until 18 months or more after the housing bubble burst that sellers began to abandon the belief that they could get as much money for their homes as their neighbors did when they sold at the top of the market.
"They realized that while they would be getting less for their house, they could likely pay less for the one they were buying," Duffy said.
