Fancy yourself a Realestate Agent?

OK, so the housing market sucks for most of us right now. I estimate that I've lost almost a quarter of the value of my house in the last few years. Not because of developing a sinkhole in the backyard, or of an infestation of termites, nor a fire that destroyed the whole top floor (none of those happened by the way) -- but because there are too many houses out there for people to buy and not enough people to buy them. Pure economics. I wish I hadn't dragged my feet when my wife first suggested moving about 3 years ago. If we'd moved then, we'd be better off. As it stands right now, we'll have to wait another 3-5 years for the market to pick back up in the area -- if we're lucky. We need a massive influx of people looking to buy the houses that everyone leaving the state is leaving behind. The foreclosure list in the newspaper this past weekend was literally thicker than the newspaper itself!

There is a good side to the market, if that's possible. NEW GAMES TO PLAY! The people at Red Oak Realty in California ( in connection with Realius) are offering a cool "Guess the price" game. You see an ad (full MLS-style, recent sales, plus Google Maps, etc.) for a house on the market and then offer up your guess for the sales price. Compare that against the actual list price and you start gaining points. You can see others' guesses as well after posting yours.

Red Oak's entry to the Realius site is for housing in California mostly (unless my bad geography is catching up), but it's fun to use regardless of where you live.

Play the Fantasy Real Estate game.