First-time homebuyer Amy Phinsee smiled as she walked into a two-story townhouse in north Las Vegas last Sunday.
The one-day listing that priced at nearly $ 199,000 has been well maintained with a fresh coat of paint. Minutes later, her expression was less enthusiastic.
Phinsee was around the corner looking at a second townhouse with a similar floor plan. The owner of the newly listed two-story property with a faint cigarette smell asked for $ 210,000 and the house was in dire need of renovation.
“I don’t see how that can be $ 10,000 more,” she said.
It’s a phrase Phinsee repeated during a home tour, but she agreed with her real estate agent, Cassidy Cotten, to make an offer in addition to an offer for the first townhouse. Cotten high five and said they’d see what happens. This is because both properties had already received offers.
The Las Vegas real estate market has been fierce for buyers in recent months as the region sees record low inventory levels and soaring house prices. And the battle for a home is even more difficult for first-time buyers.
Buyers like Phinsee learn to place listings within minutes of entering the home, even if it isn’t their first choice, while others send letters to homeowners whose properties are not on the market in the hopes that they will be persuaded to sell become.
“It’s scary and overwhelming, and you can have some bids that get turned down, but if you don’t do those things you won’t get a home,” said Cotten of Simply Vegas Real Estate. “It won’t fall in your lap. We have to be aggressive now. “
Elias Benjelloun, Social Impact Manager at Homie, said there are other reasons besides lack of inventory that put first-time buyers under pressure.
“The buyers who will have an advantage will be the ones who … may have some equity in their home that will help them buy their next home,” said Benjelloun. “First-time buyers generally don’t have these options. If you’re a first-time buyer relying on down payment assistance, there are even fewer options. You need an FHA approved home. “
Never stop
According to a report by Chicago Title Las Vegas, the number of homes in the market in the Las Vegas Valley was 2,237 last month, a significant decrease from over 7,000 homes in March 2020. The report does not include any contracted houses.
In a normal market there are between 6,000 and 7,000 active listings in the valley, said Cotten, noting that the competition has become “extreme”.
Meanwhile, Chicago Title reported that the median sale price for a single family home in March was $ 363,000, up 14 percent year over year.
Adrienne Allen, a broker at Homie, said this year will present more unique challenges than any other year in her two-decade career.
“I feel bad for first-time buyers now,” said Allen. “It’s frustrating because we actually have a lot of first-time buyer programs that came back with the last recession.”
Maureen Saccomani, director of residential property for Neighborhood Housing Services in southern Nevada, said the organization had received “constant demand” for down payment assistance from Nevadans.
By offering educational and advisory services for residential real estate, the organization implements the WISH (Workforce Initiative Subsidy for Homeownership) program, which offers a 4-to-1 match of up to $ 20,000 for down payment costs.
Saccomani said the funds are released annually in April and are usually gone by September. She received the organization’s first WISH pre-approvals last week, including the Phinsee approval letter.
“It’s a challenge because right now, even if they get their conditional approval for WISH funds, the challenge is to find a house that is in their price range,” Saccomani said.
Allen said that many first-time buyers cannot compete if their competition is able to replenish their offerings. Often times, they pay thousands on the valuation and sometimes in cash.
“Some buyers got discouraged and decided to wait maybe a year to see if the market adjusts, but there are also some who have no choice – they have to buy a home,” Allen said.
One tactic she has used with first-time buyers is to have them write a letter to a homeowner whose property is not on the market. The letter states that a buyer is interested in the property for the amount the buyer is willing to offer. The strategy has not yet worked, but Allen said it “will never give up on doing this”.
‘It’s time for dinner’
Las vegan Chris Skelton is early in the buying process. Skelton and his wife Jessica saved $ 13,000 over two years by practicing “extreme financial responsibility.”
“We have our tax returns (refunds), stimulus checks – everything saved,” he said.
They switch lenders after a second lender told them last week that they might actually qualify for down payment aid. Without the second opinion, they would have called it over, Skelton said.
“The biggest challenge, frankly, is getting funds to pay for the down payment,” he said, adding that the couple’s total income is in the range of $ 70,000. “I’m trying to be optimistic about the down payment support program, but if we don’t ultimately qualify we’ll just have to keep renting.”
Phinsee also started saving for a house two years ago. This included improving their creditworthiness and changing careers.
The single mother, who is also in school, was a hairdresser until the pandemic resulted in her being unemployed when she tried to apply for the WISH program, which requires an applicant to have at least six months of work experience.
So Phinsee returned to health care, an industry she worked in before becoming a hairdresser. She has been with her employer United Healthcare for nine months and qualified for the WISH scholarship after receiving her pre-approval last week.
“It was tough because I definitely want to go back to the (hair) salon, but I had to position myself to be prepared,” she said.
“I’m not so nervous now that I got admitted to the WISH program because it gets me in a bigger crowd … but it’s a sellers’ market so it makes me a little nervous, more for a home to pay than I want. “
Worried about finding a home, she pointed out the range of potential buyers who are often seen outside of an open home.
She recalls recently having plans to visit three properties at her real estate agent, Cotten. As they drove to the second home, Cotten received a text message from the seller’s representative saying the seller had accepted an offer and the property had been taken off the market.
They turned the car over and went to the third listing.
“We went through the third house and I asked Cotten, ‘What do you think of this one? ‘and he said,’ Well I think it was a good house unless it’s under contract now, ‘Phinsee said. “So that’s how difficult it is.”
Megan Aaron of North Las Vegas has had similar experiences with open houses. She has started searching for her first home after qualifying for a Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America program last week.
“Going to some of these open houses – how can I describe it?” Said Aaron. “It’s dinner and you’re in the lion’s den and you should just (better) be careful.”
She recalls going to an open house in Henderson on a Friday and then found out on Monday that the house, which was on the market for $ 300,000, had been sold.
Aaron, who has been saving for a house for two years, said the frenzy made her restless, joking that she might have to offer gifts to a seller because she couldn’t compete with budding buyers asking for up to $ 20,000 more.
“I ask myself, ‘What do I have to do? ‘Are we talking about Bath & Body Works basket? A bread basket? “She said,” I’m nervous but I believe everything happens for a reason and whatever is mine will be mine, but it kindles a fire (below me). “
Contact Subrina Hudson at shudson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0340. Follow @SubrinaH on Twitter.
