Those crazy bank owned properties

I guess if I ran a bank that was loaded with REOs and short sales and believed what people were saying about the real estate market turning around, then I might try screwing around with buyers looking to get a deal on a distressed property. But, then I'd be wrong.

A week ago, the story of an attractively priced short-sale in our area was shared here in these pages. The corresponding image is shown below along with its tantalizing description. After receiving at least four offers when the asking price was placed well below that of comparable properties in the area, the bank apparently figured it could do better than any of the offers in hand and would happily sell to the first buyer who presented a full price offer.

Well, maybe not.

Unless this is a typo (which it doesn't seem to be since the same asking price appears at Realtor.com sans the now-inappropriate note), then the bank now wants much more than it was willing to accept a week ago - either that or there's something wrong with my math.
Whatever it is that's going on here, it just doesn't look right and, with the end of summer bearing down on the Pacific Northwest, you have to wonder what the banks are thinking.

Obviously, they haven't seen this chart from John Mauldin's latest missive:
By the looks of what's coming in the months ahead, they might be wishing that they'd have taken one of those offers below $350,000 by the time next year rolls around.

Then again, maybe one of those buyers will increase their offer, they too thinking that we've seen the bottom in the local real estate market.