I’m a Housing Reporter Who Took a $25K Hit Selling the House I Bought at the Peak of the Market. Here’s What I Learned.

This article was first published on Inman

Senior Data Journalist Mark Worley co-authored a new Redfin report showing that roughly 6% of U.S. home sellers are at risk of selling at a loss. The analysis hit close to home—he and his wife just did exactly that, selling their St. Louis home for less than they paid.

In early 2022, my wife and I were temporarily living downstairs at her parents’ house, south of Seattle, trying to work out where to move next. 

We had just returned from my native Australia, where I had been posted by a previous employer to help open a new office. (Long story short: the office opened a few weeks before the pandemic hit and we spent much of our time abroad under covid-related lockdowns and curfews.)

Like many at the time, we could work from home and…