Desperate times call for desperate measures?  So it would seem in the Manhattan, New York City pricey real-estate market where one resident wants to swap a Maurice Sendak drawing, estimated $650,000 for an apartment.  In a market where the average price per square foot for a home tops $1,000 even a plastic surgeon gets creative by offering his services as part of an offer on a mixed-use building.  Elsewhere in the nation, developers are constructing "skinny" houses on smaller plots to entice first-time buyers.   Even our friends from the south cross border to buy in San Antonio as financial investments. 

And according to the Los Angeles Times, homes are staying longer on the market in Los Angeles County where the median time to sell at the end of April was 34 days, 25 more days then last year.  Yet the median Southern California home price was $485,000, or 9% higher than April 2005′s median price.

Savvy readers will recognize a trend here.  Most of these creative and innovative systems were current 10 years ago when the market went south.  It isn’t to say we are in the same situation since we are not experiencing riots or companies flocking away from California.  The market has slowed down these last 9 months and sellers have become creative.  A house in Belmont Shores comes with a restored classic 1960′s car as extra appeal.

Here is the link to the article.