A seller puts the house on the market himself — no judgment there, more power to them if they can pull it off. A buyer falls in love with the home, in a neighborhood we watch closely. But when we ran the comps, the numbers told a different story: the buyer paid about $90,000 over market value. In today's market, that's not a quick bounce-back — more like 5 to 7 years to recover unless they're planning to hold long-term. It's a good outcome only if everyone's comfortable with that timeline. The real takeaway: this is what happens when a buyer isn't represented, or skips doing the homework before they buy.