It's kind of obvious that you get what you pay for, and I can't really shop for you -- it's one thing to be a buyer taking up an agent's time, and another to be a blogger for a potential competitor :) There are, in fact, contractors and do-it-yourselfers out there who are looking for low $/square foot.

In fact, buy-in is often the hardest part for people of modest means. And YOU may not want a pre-foreclosure, but that doesn't mean someone else isn't interested in just that. If you were a carpenter or electrician buying your first house, and I showed you a $204k 5 bedroom, and you had 2 kids with one on the way, you might feel differently!

The other reason I post "contractor's specials" is in the hope that someone going through the archive might find something way, way under market -- like the first place I offered on when I bought.

As the spring market picks up and I have more time (school's over next week!) I'll try to hit more open houses for you.

I've noticed a lot of your posts tend to focus on square footage. You realize if a large house is selling for a low price per square foot, there's probably something wrong with it, right? Have you even viewed any of these large cheap houses you're always posting about? When I was searching for houses this past winter, I stopped looking at listings with only 3-4 pictures because in every instasnce it ended up being a complete gut job w/busted gas pipes, etc. I think some of these posts would be more useful if you viewed them first, then gave a little review (like some of the other bloggers on here). That would weed out the pre-foreclosures that no one wants to look at. Anyone can look at redfin's listings and find the same low-price-per-square-foot listings that you post on here... just my 2 cents.