What goes wrong...

An attractive little house with a large garden in a village-centre location. Worth in my view about 40,000 euros because of the land value - but in reality worth perhaps 10,000 euros, because the house is rotten and can not be saved but the frontage is legally protected. The vendor though is, or was, asking for 157,000 euros, because he and his brothers had sat down and added together the costs of the items on their wish lists, and they added up to 157,000 euros so that was the asking price...
The house has been unsold for 14 years to my knowledge and I don´t know how long before that. The owner´s impossible price has deprived someone of a possible home, and the village bars, shops, and school of custom.  
Confused business, this rural depopulation...