There Goes the Neighborhood

We live on a street that has maybe eight houses. Each houses is a side-by-side. Houses have one of two floor plans, depending on what side of the street they are on. The typography is the determining factor here. Our neighbor's house is for sale, two houses down- the same layout as ours with a few updates. It is selling for 1.2 million nok more than we paid for ours. OK, to be fair, they knocked out a few walls to open up the entire main floor. They extended the main bathroom into the laundry room. They added a few skylights in the loft. They have redone their floors. But it is the same house in the same neighborhood, with a lesser view.

I read in the paper yesterday that properties have been selling for a million nok more than the asking price. The neighbor's house was only 700k more than asking price. I am beginning to wonder how we were ever able to find our house. The real estate market around here is completely out of control. New development is so severely restricted and there are so few "affordable" houses on the market that buyers end up going nuts bidding on homes. It is probably a little slower when you get into houses costing a million US dollars and on up- but for your average family home, a one hour open house is all it takes. I wonder if the previous owners of our house feel like they gave it away.