Photo: A nice Cape in Winn Brook, but is it worth $789,000?

A weekly recap of residential properties sold in the past seven days in the “Town of Homes.”

• 208 Grove St. Center-entry Colonial (1940). Sold: $782,000. Listed at $729,000. Living area: 1,750 sq.-ft. 8 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths. On the market: 125 days.

• 76 Hoitt Rd. Cape (1951). Sold: $700,000. Listed at $789,000. Living area: 1,659 sq.-ft. 6 rooms, 4 bedrooms, 1.5 baths. On the market: 129 days.

• 100 Lexington St., Condominium (1977). Sold: $230,050. Listed at $219,900. Living area: 756 sq.-ft. 3 rooms, 1 bedrooms, 1 baths. On the market: 37 days.

Is there an unwritten rule in Belmont that says home sellers and salespeople are required to suspend all reality when pricing real estate?

For example, a simple, clean, classic Cape on Hoitt Road, a block from the Winn Brook. A past owner made a terrible mistake by knocking down a wall to supposedly create an open floor plan – sorry, but it looks like a VFW function hall with that pillar in the middle of the room – but all-in-all, an OK place.

So what were they thinking originally listing it at $789,000? Really? Did the salesperson take a good look at the 80s kitchen, the 70s bathrooms and the 50s upstairs bedrooms? You are asking someone to pay out nearly $3,500 a month in mortgage payments (5 percent down, 4 percent mortgage) for 30 years (!) to live in a house with less than 1,700 square feet? That comes out to $450-per-square foot. That’s nuts. The town assessed the house for $632,000 last year.

That price was so out there one has to believe the seller is thinking they are living in Belmont, California where the medium house price is greater than a $1 million.

And once again, the broker/seller had to swallow hard and admit a mistake was done after potential buyers too a step back when they heard what it would cost them. And they swallowed $89,000 to a far more reasonable $700,000.

Why not price all homes at $1 million and see where it goes.