The Patriot Ledger has this report on Massachusetts. "House 'For Sale' signs sprouted like goldenrod last summer along the highways and byways of the South Shore. But there seemed to be a drought of buyers for all those properties that only a few months earlier were selling overnight at record prices. What was going on? Gradually, concern was turning to panic. Was the dreaded real estate bubble beginning to burst in towns from Milton to Plymouth?"

"This story is still shaking out. But it would seem that the real estate market in our corner of the world is no longer as good as it was, especially those who are stuck with two houses and, therefore, two mortgages."

"Sellers are clinging to the memory of huge appreciation in house values, while buyers are interpreting reports of a slowing market as an opportunity to get the bargain of a lifetime. The times they are a-changing. Just ask the agents at the real estate office in Duxbury, who, like their colleagues in other South Shore towns, are being forced to talk sellers off the roofs of their expectations and encourage buyers not to count on making a killing."

"According to agents Diane Cole, Faith DiBone and Evan Sabran, South Shore houses are an incredible value right now. Six years ago, at the height of the tech boom, many people were taking their profits and investing them in real estate. 'You didn’t even have to market your house,' says Sabran. 'That market lasted for so many years some sellers think it still exists,' Sabran said."

"Cole agreed. 'Sellers tend to listen to rumors about what’s going on in the market.' According to Sabran, 'Sellers usually are three to six months behind the curve.''Sellers got caught short,' DiBone confirmed. 'The result is they get angry with their agents. I lost three listings because of that, and those houses are still on the market.'"

"So are some of the houses that buyer Liane Bromberg looked at early in her seven-month odyssey to find a home in Hingham or Weymouth. Bromberg says today’s market is strikingly different than the one three years ago when she bought her Hanover home. Today she wonders if she might have overpaid for the Hanover house."

"There’s no danger of that happening now. Bromberg says she is looking seriously, but not feverishly. She gets daily e-mails from her broker, and most weekends she goes to open houses. But rather than feeling pressured, she’s 'having a good time.'"

"A recent tour of the housing market in Hingham revealed that there were several $1 million-plus houses that had been on the market for at least a year. Still, owners not only were showing little sign of lowering their prices, they already had purchased new homes." "Creative financing has made it possible for some owners to carry two mortgages and not be forced to sell at a sacrifice, says Diane Cole. That’s one of the reasons for a current spike in 'inventory,' Realtor-speak for the number of houses on the market."

"Sellers also have to start thinking differently about pricing. No longer is it productive for the seller to price a home considerably over what he or she expects to get in order to allow for wiggle room, Sabran says. He recommends to his clients that they state 'a first and final offer. Don’t worry about leaving room for negotiation,' he said. 'Buyers know if a price is fair.'"

"Fair is the operative word. All the Realtors interviewed for this article agreed that if a house is priced fairly, for both parties, it will sell."