When it comes to a tough housing market, it’s a dog-eat-dog world.

When a friend goes out of town, this homeowner checks out an open house down the street on their behalf, but they’re not too impressed at what they see.

Their honest feedback caught the ire of the seller who wasn’t too keen on their candor cutting into their profits.

You’ll want to read on for this one.

AITA for telling someone their house was overpriced?

There was an open house on our block.

I went to check it out on behalf of a friend who’s currently out of town, but looking for a house in our neighborhood.

They have a valuable perspective they can bring to the open house.

I bought a house on the same block with a similar layout and square footage earlier this year when the housing market was crazy.

They explain the current state of the neighborhood.

These houses were built decades back, and some home owners have updated the interiors, while others haven’t.

So there’s a huge variation in how much each house sells for based on the quality and ‘updated’ ness of the interiors.

I learnt that the owner of the house for sale was a house flipper who had recently flipped the house was an selling it at a markup of $200k and was asking for 20k higher than our house.

They think back to when they bought their house.

We bought our house a few months back when the market was crazy, so I think we ended up overpaying by $10k.

Not a big deal in an area where the median home price is $750k.

But home prices have dipped a bit and markets have stabilized since then.

They get to the open house and begin virtually showing their friend around.

So during this open house, we video called our friend and gave him a live video tour (with permission).

We compared this new house to ours. Ours was recently renovated, but a few years prior.

The interiors were comparable in terms of quality. It was a different aesthetic, which comes down to personal taste.

They give their friend their honest opinion and didn’t hold back.

I listed out to my friend the pros and cons of the house based on my personal experience living in my own almost identical house.

My friend asked me why I this other house had a higher asking price and I told him there was no justifiable reason – this house was a little overpriced.

Naturally, the other potential buyers were interested in this.

Now a few other potential buyers were within earshot and asked me questions about the neighborhood (not pricing).

I responded to their questions honestly.

They offer perspective on how their house differs from this one.

Our house faces a park. The house being sold was on a busy intersection with traffic at all hours, and facing a dumpster that attracts lots of rats and raccoons. I pointed that out.

The realtor tries to defend the price, but they have an argument for that too.

The realtor joined the conversation and said that another “much older” house in the same block had sold for a similar price recently.

I said they were referring to our house that had been renovated and updated 3 years back.

And in retrospect, I felt I had overpaid a bit. So I didn’t believe it should be priced much higher than ours.

At this point, the owner had walked in and was listening in on the conversation.

The friend is convinced by their feedback and the friend’s interest in the house wanes.

I wrapped up my conversation with my friend (still on speakerphone) who told me he wasn’t ready to offer asking price based on my feedback.

On the way out the realtor whispered to me that they agreed with my assessment, but the homeowner decided on the pricing.

The seller wasn’t happy that they were scaring people away from the house.

Later the house flipper ran into me on the street and told me I should mind my own business.

He said I had reduced the market value of my own house with my little activism.

Now they ponder if they were out of line.

On the one hand, I could have minded my own business and let prospective home buyers consult with their own realtors to make a decision.

On the other hand, I don’t think I need to help realtors and house flippers to make a few extra bucks.

So AITA?

Reddit is bound to have opinions.

This commenter thinks there’s more than enough blame to go around.

If the seller is going to charge such a high price, they should be able to properly explain it.

This redditor wonders if the author really knows enough to be  questioning the seller’s price.

On the other hand, buyers have the right to be informed.

This homeowner and friend would have rather be honest than complicit in an inflated sale.

If transparency makes you the bad guy, then so be it.

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.