One of the best things about blogging is that I now have a 24/7 forum (at least for a week anyway) to complain about people, specifically my dad.

Dad was never blessed with the gift of good timing. It took him 49 years and four daughters before he finally conceived his prized son. He bought heavily into telecom stocks right before the stock market collapse in 2002. And perhaps his greatest stroke of luck, he held onto his Boston-area house during the housing boom and finally decided to sell well after the market began to implode.

More than two years later, the house still remains for sale. Dad, whom I and a sibling convinced to move into a smaller, more senior citizen-friendly house, is still convinced that he can get more $400,000+ for it. I don’t think he could get that price even when the market was good. It’s old, ugly, and has no garage, a virtual poison pill in the Boston real estate market.

Yet the old man refuses to drop the price. He’s already changed real estate agents three or four times…as if they’re to blame for his plight. I’m not sure if he grasps that the market is not going to turn around anytime soon. Meanwhile, the house just sits there, eating up dollars in terms of taxes, heating bills, and insurance.

So how would you handle the situation? Should Dad continue to hold out in a vain attempt to wait out the market? Or should he just cut his losses and do a fire sale?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 at 2:50 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.