Thinking of selling her own house in Motovun, my beloved has been looking through ads for houses in the hilltown and its environs on her mobile phone. She shows me a tiny picture or two every now and then. Some houses I recognize, but most I do not. Photographs are carefully taken so as not to show what is actually on sale. The prices have tumbled, but not enough. To the best of my knowledge, there has been not a single sale as of late. Everything is at a standstill. The ads themselves must be contributing to the sorry state of the market. Anyone who comes along in hope of buying something or other is bound to be sorely disappointed. Is this what I saw? Are these prices real? Motovun is a bloody mess, and there are few houses in the hilltown or around it that are worth looking into. The prices are still silly, of course. The global real estate boom is long over, and it cannot possibly return for many years, if ever, but the owners of houses are still in the dark about the collapsed market. Whence the silly ads. Motovun for dummies, indeed.

Addendum I (May 22, 2018)

Six years later, little if anything has changed. Although there have been a few sales the last couple of years, they are hardly worth bragging about. My beloved’s house is now officially for sale, but not a single serious offer has come her way so far. And the reason the real-estate market is so sluggish in Motovun is that prices are way too high still. They would need to be halved for the market to start moving in earnest. Predictably, my beloved does not agree with me on this score. She can wait for the right buyer, she explains. Returning to the title of this piece, though, there was one sale last year that merits a brief if guarded comment. The price was no less than exorbitant, but a dummy with money to spend gobbled it up without even noticing that something was amiss. Everyone in the hilltown was stunned by the sale. And so was I, it goes without saying. There was much gossip for months because nobody could believe the price. Would that there were many more dummies around the world, for there is much on offer on top of the Motovun hill. Blessed dummies are always welcome!

Addendum II (February 25, 2025)

Well, well. The house of my former beloved was finally sold in 2023, sixteen years after it was purchased. Amazingly enough, it was not used by anyone for as many years. And we agreed to split up a year after the sale (“Troubles,” December 31, 2024). In short, this is one more story emblematic of Motovun. There are quite a few others of this ilk. To be sure, there will be many more of them in the foreseeable future. Which is why I love the title of this piece. It is right on the money. For all its medieval charms, this hilltown will keep attracting only dummies before this bungling civilization perishes without trace. Alleluia!