Robert and Louise Brown had their eye on the Leisure Park retirement community for several years. Three years ago, they decided they’d sell their Post Falls home and make the move. Both retired and in their 70s, they wanted a place with fewer stairs, less room and less maintenance. “We tried to sell it ourselves first, and that didn’t work,” Robert Brown said. “About the time we started doing that, the economy went into the tank.” Kootenai County’s housing market – following several years of booming sales and rising prices – had developed a sharp chill. Home sales dropped by 18 percent in 2007, and then by 22 percent last year. Average sales prices sank, too. The Browns eventually decided to hire a real estate agent. And their original asking price of $205,000 “went down in steps,” Robert Brown said.