Buyer’s want “tooth brush” ready residential real estate. They don’t want to paint, redecorate or replace the carpet. They want to move in, put their tooth brush on the rack, and go to work in the morning. They don’t want to take on the time responsibility of making it “livable”.

On the other hand, the typical seller in this market is a lender, a short sale seller or an individual seller that is barely scraping by to make any kind of deal work let alone stage and complete market prep.

This makes for “strange bedfellows”. As a result, the market can’t deliver what the buyer wants regardless of rates, inventory and buyer’s market conditions.