The Washington Post has this update on the DC housing bubble. "Misty and Steven DiPietro have had a for-sale sign in front of their house for 83 days now. A neighbor's has been there seven months. Down the street, there are two more houses for sale, and around the corner, four more. The 20176 Zip code area, where their two-year-old house stands, has the highest number of homes for sale in the region."

"What's happening in 20176 reflects a dynamic at play throughout the region. Homes on average are sitting on the market longer, in many neighborhoods, much longer than they did a year ago. Those who study local real estate markets say the homes are lingering for two main reasons: because of a housing glut in areas where builders put up large developments during the housing boom of the past five years and because of buyers who are counting on better prices as the market cools."

"The neighborhoods with the most single-family houses and townhouses for sale are concentrated in Loudoun and Prince William counties. The Zip codes with the most condos on the market are closer in, most notably in Northwest Washington, the southwest portion of Alexandria, northern Reston and Aspen Hill."

"'If I'm a buyer, I would probably come in and try to lowball me,' said Steven DiPietro."

"(In) Potomac Crossing, where the DiPietros live, people talk about the latest adventures of sometimes-desperate home sellers, with neighbors trading tales about how much the asking price was reduced, friends keeping track of each other's foot traffic. But making a house stand out can be tough when three others of similar style, size and age are up for sale on the same block. When her real estate agent made follow-up phone calls to potential buyers, Misty DiPietro said, they could only vaguely recall her house. 'It's a little discouraging,' she said."

"The DiPietros are moving to a larger house in Hamilton, to be completed in December, and have shaved $20,500 off their original $650,000 asking price after watching neighbors across the street reduce theirs and get a contract for that amount."

"Ken Wasserman sat lamenting just how quickly the real estate landscape has changed. The house next door, he said, sold in a week last summer for $700,000. Wasserman and his wife, put their house on the market in November for $716,000. They waited. And waited. Aware of developers offering tens of thousands of dollars in incentives on new homes in the area, the couple recently reduced the asking price to $680,000. Any nibbles? 'Nothing. No offer,' Wasserman said."

"Chris Downs, 25, a potential buyer, is considering buying his second townhouse and renting out the first, which he bought in 2004. Downs plans on negotiating hard. 'There are a lot of choices,' he said. 'When you look at these brochures, they're just slashing prices.'"

"Alicia and Jeff Hennie, whose Columbia Heights condo hit the market Thursday with a $399,000 price tag, say they are prepared to wait it out, at least for a few months. Their one-bedroom unit is in the 20009 Zip code, which has the highest inventory of condos in the region. The couple is looking at a May 20 move-in date for a brand new condo downtown in the 20001 Zip code, another area with high condo inventory."

"'We don't have to have it sold right away,' said Alicia Hennie. 'But we don't want to carry two mortgages. We'll see what happens.'"