Say what?

I have been routinely following properties in the same subdivision that House #1 is located in. When I was going through the closing process of House #1, there was a 2-story located about 12 houses up from mine with a sign in the yard that said "Lease/Purchase". The sign was up for a while, and then replaced with "Contract Pending". A few weeks later, the sign was down and the property showed signs of life. About 2-3 months ago, I noticed the property was once again on the lease market - this time through a Realtor. It was listed for $1,300/mo, which for that area is about $150-$200/mo too much. I checked again today, and it is still on the market. I figure the first person either bailed or couldn't keep up with the payments. Either way, I figure the owner is losing money now, and with that price tag, he/she will be having a hard time getting someone in - especially this time of year.

Also today, I was perusing the MLS listings (via Realtor.com) and noticed a house that I had my eye on several months ago for sale in the same neighborhood. I had actually been in the house months ago and thought it would have been a good buy, but it wan't on the market at the time (it was some kind of foreclosure), and I lost focus of it. I vaguely remember that I wouldn't have paid more than about $105k for it. When I found it today, it had a list price of $146,999! Say what? It only has 1531sf, which is about 350-400sf smaller than House #1. I figure this is probably a new investor who bought it too high and is now trying to get his money back. Comps in the area are around $66-$72/sf, putting this home's FMV at around $105,000 or so. The owner, however, thought he'd mark it up to over $95/sf! I figure this will be sitting a L-O-N-G time.