REO and this big bailout- wtf is going on?

[Travis Cannell]

I am looking at REOs in Los Angeles and found one that I liked. It was listed on the MLS at $230K. My agent contacted the selling agent to take a look at it, and the selling agent informed my agent that the bank changed their offer and wanted $405K instead.

What is going on here? Are some of these banks waiting to see if they are going to get bailed out?

A $180K price swing seems crazy to me. It is like they know the true market value of these loans but just don't want to admit it.