satguru

Barron's Is Way Off Base Regarding Mark to Market

Mark-to-market is the the only way to value everything. If you don't have any market i.e. nobody to buy what you are selling, there is no market value. Only when you have a buyer do you have value. I don't understand these pseudo financial intellectuals.
I had my house on the market in 2007 for $750,000 and got no buyers for it but there were other similar homes that had sold for about that price. I dropped my price to $699,000 a few months later and still no buyers so I pulled my house off the market. Right now the value has been set at about $500,000 since two homes in foreclosure sold for that price. Nobody will pay me $699,000 or $750,000. Right now the market has set it at $500,000. This is the problems with banks. I still in the back of my mind think the house is worth more but I know it is not. My only choice is to wait it out until house prices go up but I have the luxury of time which the banks don't. I can hold on to it forever. If the house goes on foreclosure the bank can either mark to market and sell or hold on to it. What's so difficult with this concept.