Memo to Post: Houses Near a Metro on Sale for Less Than $400,000 in College Park

On page 1 of Saturday's Washington Post Real Estate section, we find more evidence of bizarre behavior in the housing market, and the weak institutions that foster it:

"The pair ... uncovered an all-too-common problem for homebuyers in the District and inner suburbs: There are too few houses available in the less-than-$400,000 price range, as low mortgage rates and high rents have pushed demand to an all-time high...

It’s very difficult to get a house in a desirable neighborhood for less than $400,000,’ said (a broker). 'If they’re out there, they probably haven’t been cared for....'

They house hunted almost every weekend, but they had thus far only bid on one: A $350,000 Petworth fixer-upper....

Many of the outer suburbs still have plenty of houses in the lower price ranges.  68 percent of homes offered for less than $350,000 are located in the outer suburbs beyond Montgomery County, Arlington and Alexandria."

I could go on and on quoting from the sad tales of beleaguered homebuyers quoted here.  They don't seem to know that Prince George's is even an option.  According to zillow.com, there are 97 homes for sale in zip code 20740, and 92 of them can be bought for less than $400,000.  In fact the asking price for 58 of them was less than $200K.     

There are public services and amenities that you can get in MontCo that you can't get here, but I find it hard to believe that people who were really aware of the differences would pay $300,000 extra for them.  That a fixer-upper near Petworth should be worth $200,000 more than a North College Park fixer-upper near the Greenbelt Metro strikes me as insane. 

You can blame different levels of government, the media, the weak intellect of buyers, or some combination of the above, but you have to wonder how much longer our housing stock will remain dirt cheap while all around us the bubble resumes.