Peke - did your $200 shipping include installation? I've been quoted $500 from our dealer for delivery (from their shop, 20 miles from us), assembly if required (we may be getting the tall backsplash with the shelf), and installation. Not hook-up - that has to be done by a gas pro, apparently. I reckon $500 is steep, but the dealer has no competition within 500 miles, unfortunately for us.

It wouldn't set off any red flags for me. In my market, the only homes selling are those that are "bargain basement" prices. Nothing wrong with most of them other then the fact that the owner has to sell quickly. I might think there was something wrong with the house and possibly would hesitate if the home was significantly lower then comps and advertised "as is", but that's just because "as is" doesn't have a good connotation in my neck of the woods.

>Smart potential buyers will do their research in public records to determine how much was owed when the house was foreclosed on to figure out how much wiggle room there is between asking price and what the bank needs to get to break even. Sorry, but I don't follow this. In my area, there is no correlation between previous sale price and what the bank is willing to take. For instance, I've been looking mostly at townhouses in a specific complex. The last short sale that went through, the previous owner had paid 230K and the bank had it listed at 59K, which is about right. Currently there are two short sales: one where the last sale was 130K and the bank has it listed at 75K (been languishing for months at that price), and a newly listed one where the last sale was 235K and the bank has it listed at 90K. Actual REO/Foreclosure prices have nothing to do with previous sale prices, as far as I can see. I've also been looking at a little cottage that is currently on the market for 40K, foreclosed owner paid 499K at the height of the frenzy. So, for the OP, around here short sale prices tend to be optimistically high-ish, partly because the current owner could be on the hook for the difference between the loan balance and the sale price, but once they get into foreclosure the price is whatever whoever decides it should be to unload it quick. I don't think the realtors have much to say about this--it appears to be set from some corporate central office. Now that we're in the valley of fewer listings due to the robo-signing thing last year, everyone is asking much more. I expect that once the units held up by that start flooding back into the market, prices will drop again. But if you're looking for pricing logic, well, at least around here there isn't much.

If you own less than 2 years (NJ) you have to pay tax on the profit - lower selling price then would mean less taxes in that case. Also if a house here is over 1.0 Million (or within 10-15% of that) no one wants to pay the 1% mansion tax (if it is 1.0 Million or more) - sort of like throwing $10,000 out the window - neither seller nor buyer benefits. In that case buyers or sellers might offer to pay closing costs, real estate transfer tax or agent commissions - with the lower selling price.