It's even hard to sell a mansion

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Bill Makuski has been trying to sell the high-end home he built for eight months. The brand new home features customs woodwork, fancy bathrooms, and a panoramic view of the Thornapple River. But so far, he's only had one offer. His asking price is $1.6 million, and the offer was several hundred thousand less than that.

"Everyone thinks that values have come down to the point where people think that things should be given away," he told 24 Hour News 8.

He's choosing not to give it away. To start to pay back the builder's loan, he could rent out the house or sell his own home and move in himself. But he doesn't want to give up a key selling point -- the "newness" of the home.

"The new construction homes that had been on the market have sold and that's typically what a buyer is interested in," ReMax realtor John Postma said, more "than an older home that's high end but needs to be updated."

There are 467 homes priced above the half-million dollar mark in metro Grand Rapids, with two of them priced over $2 million. In April inventory was at a two-year low, a huge drop from the high just five months ago.

But that snap recovery hasn't yet hit the high end market. Inventories dropped from the peak in October, but are nowhere near the two-year low in February 2007.

That has to make the sellers of the pricey homes nervous. Or not.

"It may be six months from now, but all we need is one," Makuski said. "I feel like we're in the good position for the right person."

As for high-end buyers having a tough time getting a high-end mortgage, builders and agents said that's generally not an issue. When you can spend that kind of money, you usually make the kind of money to satisfy bankers, or you don't need a mortgage.