It's always been a source of annoyance for me when people talk about the real estate market like it's the stock market. They say it's "good" or "bad," in a blanket fashion, when they typically mean that it's good or bad for sellers. In fact, a market that is good for sellers is inherently less favorable for buyers, and market dynamics that favor buyers are less kind to sellers. So, it's never really a bad market for everyone and, to be glass-half-full about it, it's always a good market for someone -- whether that someone knows it or not.

But lately, I'm seeing less of this problem. There's a new popular misconception in town. It suddenly seems de rigueur for both sides to think that the market is great -- so great, in fact, that real estate consumers seem with increasing frequency to think that they can have it all, sometimes getting upset or even irate when they receive an explanation as to why that's not realistic.  more...