From the May issue: This past month, a real estate broker
advertised that he would dress up as the Incredible Hulk at a Sunday
open house, hoping an appearance by the muscle-bound monster would lure
buyers to his listing for a Midtown condo. He even went so far as to
place signs around the unit warning that lowball offers would cause the
Hulk to get angry. The stunt may have been a joke, but the sentiment
was real. This spring, despite a flurry of activity by
bargain-hunting home-seekers, deals are still rare as buyers and
sellers exhibit contradictory expectations. “For every one seller who
thinks pricing will be going up soon, I have 100 buyers telling me the
opposite,” said Paul Purcell, co-founder of Charles Rutenberg
Realty. [more]