A house around the corner, on a thoroughfare, went in the market for $1.2M. It's an owner/contractor/flipper who improved it while living in it over the last 2+ years. It has some "improvements" that are very specific to his taste. Stone trimmed archways in a house with standard height ceilings? Check. Wasted square footage caused by reusing cabinets from some other project? Check. Mis-matched/sloppy finishes? Check. Over built for the neighborhood? Check.
Anyway, it didn't sell and around here, everything sells. Now it's on with a different firm. The new asking price is $755k. Clearly, they're trying the bidding war strategy. Yesterday, I drove by during the Broker's Open House Tour. The number of pregnant women and people with small kids that were looking at it was nuts. Also sad, because they're all hoping they can afford it, when the truth is, the seller's "real" price is far out of their reach. Frankly, I hope the strategy backfires on the greedy jerk*.
*We encountered him at a different open house, where he was berating the agent about the asking price of the house she was holding open, so my assessment is based on his actual behavior, not on the house he's trying to flip. Or maybe both. Also, I have no problem with reusing/repurposing building materials, as long as they look good and fit the space well. Trust me, if you know anything about design and construction, these don't.