THE NEW
GOLD RUSH
HUFFINGTON
07.21.13
“Housing has become like a thinly
traded, volatile public stock. Any
change in demand can dramatically
affect the price.”
Adding to the frenzy, a flood of
new prospective home purchasers, families and individuals, are
rushing into real estate offices. In
an attempt to not be left behind,
they’re trying to buy now before
prices go even higher. But these
would-be buyers are finding that
if they wait a few days to place a
bid on a new listing — especially
in the sub-$200,000 range —
they risk missing out. Contracts
are being signed without buyers
ever seeing properties.
Though some signs suggest that
investor interest is cooling, cash
buyers — a group dominated by
investors — accounted for roughly
one-third of all sales in Phoenix
in recent months, and one-half
of those homes priced less than
$150,000.
“People are flocking here like
it is the gold rush,” said Marty
Boardman, a local flipper who says
he cannot compete in Phoenix anymore. “I’m up against everyone
from mom-and-pop investors to
multibillion-dollar hedge funds.”
Amid this rampant speculation,
ordinary buyers — that is, people
like the Gilberstons, who want to
live in the home they purchase —
are often losing out. It’s happening
not only here in Phoenix, but also
in many similarly frothy markets.
In Atlanta, Tara Burks has
spent the last year looking for
a small three- or four-bedroom
house with a backyard. A single
mother of a teenager, Burks said
she is looking for room to spread
out after several years spent in a
small rental apartment.
“I was under the impression that
houses were plentiful,” she said.
“I thought the hard part would be
getting approved for a mortgage.”
But while the loan application
proved a relative breeze, the bidding wars have filled her with a
sense of impossibility.
“It’s been a real trial,” she said.
Burks has lost seven homes to
other bidders so far, including at
least three to investors paying cash.
The short supply is attributable