Are First-Time Buyers Being Shut Out?

Are First-Time Buyers Being Shut Out?

Are First-Time Buyers Being Shut Out?  Image courtesy of  Pixomar / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Are First-Time Buyers Being Shut Out? Image courtesy of Pixomar / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

Across the country, first-time home buyers have been putting in offers on homes, but many of them keep losing out.

One working mother says she’s put in 30 offers on homes in the $100,000 range in the Atlanta area, bidding $2,500 to $3,000 above the asking price, but each time she’s been outbid. “We have to be on top of the game and be able to drop everything and check out a house or it will be gone,” says another couple in Alexandria, Va.

Tight housing inventories are playing a role. For example, in Boston home listings are down 57 percent and in Atlanta area home listings have dropped nearly 40 percent in the past year.

Also, “investors have been pushing home prices higher faster than expected,” Diana Olick reports for NBC. “But the higher prices get, the more investors may get out, because they won’t be able to find such great bargains any more. That in turn will let regular buyers back in, even if they do have to pay a little more to own.”

Source: “First-time Buyers Struggle as Home Prices Rise,” NBC (March 26, 2013)