There's a couple of factors that make selling at a profit but below "market value" unattractive to people who should be putting their housing back on the market

There's a couple of factors that make selling at a profit but below "market value" unattractive to people who should be putting their housing back on the market: 1. $83k is not the total cost of ownership; it's just the loan balance. Just looking at a home mortgage calculator, the out-of-pocket costs of buying an $83k home at the historical interest rate of 1997, which was about 7.6%, is about $363k[0]. 2. Homelessness is a crime in most states, so housing becomes a natural short position that everyone has to cover, just like taxes. Outside of estate sales, it is very rare for a home seller to not also be a home buyer. The monetary value of the home is, for them, a way to accelerate and account for what would otherwise be a barter transaction. So if you're expecting to have to buy a home for a million dollars, and you've already spent $350k on the loan, then $1.2 million means you'd be about $150k in the negative, not counting closing costs and moving costs, compared to doing nothing. The $1.3m asking price is close to break even for people who aren't planning on dying anytime soon. [0] I used this calculator: https://www.calculator.net/mortgage-calculator.html?chouseprice=83%2C000&cdownpayment=20&cdownpaymentunit=p&cloanterm=30&cinterestrate=7.6&cstartmonth=9&cstartyear=2025&caddoptional=1&cpropertytaxes=1.2&cpropertytaxesunit=p&chomeins=1%2C500&chomeinsunit=d&cpmi=0&cpmiunit=d&choa=0&choaunit=d&cothercost=4%2C000&cothercostunit=d&cmop=0&cptinc=0&chiinc=0&choainc=0&cocinc=0&cexma=0&cexmsm=9&cexmsy=2025&cexya=0&cexysm=9&cexysy=2025&cexoa=0&cexosm=9&cexosy=2025&caot=0&xa1=0&xm1=9&xy1=2025&xa2=0&xm2=9&xy2=2025&xa3=0&xm3=9&xy3=2025&xa4=0&xm4=9&xy4=2025&xa5=0&xm5=9&xy5=2025&xa6=0&xm6=9&xy6=2025&xa7=0&xm7=9&xy7=2025&xa8=0&xm8=9&xy8=2025&xa9=0&xm9=9&xy9=2025&xa10=0&xm10=9&xy10=2025&csbw=1&printit=0&x=Calculate https://www.calculator.net/mortgage-calculator.html?chousepr...