Understood and agreed... In my opinion, gamblers and speculators should know--and be willing to accept--those risks going into it. If you own 3 or 4 pieces of property, you're taking a risk that the market will stall for a few years, and you'll be left paying the bills in the meantime. That's just part of it. Hopefully though, if you take that risk, you have the common sense not to over-extend yourself (aka, don't sit down at the slot machines with more coinage than you can afford to lose!!!). Unfortunately, people forget that part of it. They love to take credit for their smarts when all the cash is flowing in, but then they point fingers elsewhere when it dries up. In this case, we're talking about a guy that owned a residence for 30+ years. He wasn't in it to make a quick buck, or to flip a non-existent property. I don't feel sorry for him, but neither do I think he's being greedy for trying to get as much as possible for his family's home. Again, I hope he gets every penny... Heck, I hope he gets DOUBLE!
Really, I think this is all hardest on the realtors, who obviously make a living doing this stuff. They can't control it. But as for property owners, there are risks (and benefits) with everything... You just gotta ride it out... If you're in over your head, it's because you didn't do your homework and/or didn't comprehend the old adage, "what goes up, must come down":
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