Stephanie Visscher is still in the game. But she is pulling her hair out.

Along with her boyfriend, the Denver public relations counselor has been looking for a house since early January, to no avail. Inventory is so scarce where she wants to live, and competition so stiff, that she hasn’t even had a chance to make an offer.

“It’s definitely been tempting to give up,” Visscher told me. “Everyone says you have to make compromises on your first home, but there’s nothing to compromise on. When I have gone to showings, it’s crazy.”

How crazy? Once, as the couple toured a house, the people next in line to see it knocked on the door to make sure they didn’t go beyond their allotted time. Visscher and her boyfriend went for coffee after the showing, and when they circled back by the place, someone else was peering in the windows, trying to get an early look.

Still, the couple keeps looking, hoping that something will magically appear that they can afford and that has some of the features they desire.

Many others aren’t as optimistic. They’ve thrown in the towel for now, figuring they’ll start looking again when the market loosens up.

In February, Florida agent Robert Goldman of Michael Saunders & Co. listed a house on a Monday, had offers that Tuesday and wrote a contract on Wednesday. One of the offers was from a woman who had already lost out on a couple of other houses, and when she was told she’d lost again, she had had enough. “That’s it!” she screamed. “I’m done with this.”

Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, calls the phenomenon “buyer fatigue,” noting that those who aren’t up to the scrum “can find the process draining.”

“Imagine getting excited enough to submit an offer on a home -- quickly making what is likely the biggest purchase of your life -- only to lose out to a higher bidder,” Hale told me in an email. “Perseverance pays off,” she said, but added that “aggregate data suggest that some would-be buyers are likely putting their searches on pause so that they can regroup.”

Some buyers are turning to the new-home market, where sales are up nearly 20% from a year ago. But even that sector is not immune from buyer burnout.

Buyers of new-build homes may not be outbid in the way that resale buyers are. But if they decide to think on it, even just overnight, the house and lot they were looking at could be sold to someone else by the time they return the next day. So they just give up.

According to researcher Rose Quint of the National Association of Home Builders, the share of buyers likely to give up until next year (or later) has jumped from 16% to 28% year over year. It’s the fourth time in four years that this percentage has increased, Quint reports.

According to one study, 44% of buyers found themselves in a bidding war last year. Of those, about half won.

Buyers throw in the towel for any number of factors. Maybe they tire of racing out to see the latest listing, only to find it’s in terrible condition or in a less desirable neighborhood. Or perhaps they find the lending process irritating, if not impossible.

But in today’s high-pressure market, where being first with an offer isn’t necessarily the key to getting it accepted, the entire process can sap the energy out of even the most prepared wannabes.

“I’ve seen buyers back out for a variety of reasons -- the stress. The emotions. The feeling of ‘they don’t stand a chance,’” says Ohio agent Donna Deaton of RE/MAX Victory+Affiliates. Deaton says she “stood in the cold and the dark” on a recent Friday night at a new listing, waiting for her turn to take clients through. “We were at least 20 people deep. We wrote an offer for $25,000 over list price and still lost out.”

Economist Hale says that with prices rising like crazy over the last six months, it’s understandable that buyers become frustrated and start “reevaluating their options.”

“Buying a home is a roller-coaster of a journey in the best market circumstances,” she says, and “housing market conditions are especially challenging to buyers right now.”

“Supply and demand are out of control,” says Ohio agent Denton. Florida agent Christopher Carter agrees.

“The frenzy here for real estate is disturbing,” he said. “People just keep looking because for some reason, they feel they have to buy something.”

At last count, the National Association of Realtors put the inventory of unsold houses at a historic low of 2.3 months’ supply nationally -- about a third of the six months’ supply that is considered normal. In Austin, Texas, the inventory sits a mere 0.7 months.

In the new-home sector, meanwhile, builders can’t get shovels in the ground fast enough. Some are sold so far in advance they are purposefully slowing sales.

As Holden Lewis at NerdWallet sees it, the lack of inventory is partially being fed by the fact that sellers often have their choice of multiple, above-asking-price offers.

“Would-be sellers know they would face fierce competition when looking for a home to buy,” wrote Lewis in an email. “Rather than subject themselves to a demoralizing home search, they stay put and keep their homes off the market -- which exacerbates the problem of scant inventory.”

If you are a homeowner, or a would-be buyer, take heed: Your property taxes are going up.

They may not increase this year, or even next year. But thanks to the unusually large jump in housing prices over the last 12 months, plus a major shortfall in state and county revenue from other sources, your property taxes will increase by 2023.

According to CoreLogic, housing prices closed out 2020 at the highest annual gain -- 9.2% -- in six years. And Zillow predicts prices will continue to trend upward, rising a whopping 10.5% in 2021.

That’s good news for sellers, but not so great for owners who aren’t interested in selling -- or for buyers basing their purchase decisions, at least in part, on a house’s property taxes. Even sellers who move on to another house will eventually have to pay the piper.

There’s no telling how high the tariffs may go; that depends on the tax rates of your particular jurisdiction. But as sure as I’m sitting here typing this, they will go up.

State and local governments derive about half of their revenue from taxes: states, largely from income and sales taxes; counties and cities, primarily from property taxes. Revenues tend to fluctuate with economic conditions -- and boy, have those changed over the last year.

Taxable sales are down, as are incomes, as are the values of large swaths of income-producing property. With the exception of industrial real estate and some apartment projects, commercial real estate is scraping bottom. While the hotel and retail sectors have taken the brunt of the virus-induced recession, office space is also sitting empty because many people are still working from home. And malls are shutting down because we’re doing the lion’s share of our shopping online.

Many states saw a free-fall in revenues in the second quarter of 2020, according to the latest figures from the Census Bureau. And as result, “most ended the 2020 fiscal year uncertain about their fiscal bottom line,” says Lucy Dadayan, a senior research associate at the Urban Institute.

Some states have cut spending, laid off or furloughed workers, and/or used federal aid or rainy-day funds as they wait to see what taxes they can collect. And although vaccines have arrived, Dadayan thinks it will “take a long time” for business activity to return to pre-pandemic levels.

Meanwhile, local jurisdictions are almost assuredly going to be forced to lower the value of a good part of their tax bases, leaving housing to make up the shortfall. And with housing values rising practically everywhere, homeowners are going to be easy prey for their local tax assessors.

Not everywhere, of course: Some states have property tax caps to prevent local governments from making too dramatic an increase.

And not everyone thinks levies are about to rise, but it’s the prevailing view among industry experts. David Logan, the director of tax analysis at the National Association of Home Builders, figures he’ll receive word soon from his own lender about his property taxes going up -- and says other homeowners should brace for the same.

Maybe not right away: Most jurisdictions reassess properties within their borders on two- or three-year cycles. Then again, Logan believes some places might change their schedules to allow for more frequent assessments until the recession blows over.

Either way, Logan says local governments “are likely to seek ways to raise taxes on many types of properties to fill their budget holes.”

There are other ways to boost revenue that don’t involve property taxes, of course. But when localities search for a stable income source, what’s more stable than housing? And is there any other group besides homeowners with no lobby fighting on their behalf? Even if your assessment falls for some reason, your tax rate, also known as “millage,” could go up and you’d still end up paying more.

“Values can decrease, while at the same time, property taxes can increase,” says Barry Sharpe, a Florida broker and head of the Real Estate Tax Appeal Group.

Minneapolis realty broker Kris Lindahl sees the handwriting on the wall, too. He points out that if your neighbors down the street sold their place during this current housing up-cycle, the value of your house is going to change -- more likely up than down.

“If homes in your neighborhood are selling for above asking price, your tax bill may increase,” Lindahl told me in an email.

Many people stuck at home for months have made improvements to their places -- upgrading a kitchen, perhaps, or finishing a basement. That, too, can impact property taxes.

“We’ve seen a lot of homeowners invest in home improvements during the pandemic,” says Lindahl. “Some of those home improvements will definitely increase the assessed value of the home, which will increase the property tax bill.”

One upshot of all this is that some owners may decide to flee to areas where property taxes are lower. If that happens to any great degree, the inventory of houses for sale will increase, offering would-be buyers more choices.

At the same time, buyers already stretching the limits of their budgets might shun houses in areas where the property taxes are sky-high.

Looking for waterfront property but finding it way out of your league? Consider a houseboat.

Floating homes were popular back in the 1960s, but then floated away, so to speak. They’re back now, though -- bigger and better than ever.

If you live in one full time as your principal residence, it qualifies as real estate for federal tax purposes. And there may not be any property taxes, depending on where the vessel is moored.

According to the folks at YachtWorld.com, interest in houseboats -- especially high-end ones -- is gaining traction wherever there’s water.

According to statistics provided by Boats Group -- the Miami-based parent company of YachtWorld, BoatTrader.com and boats.com, which together have over 200,000 listings -- the number of people open to the live-aboard lifestyle is on the rise. The group reports a 40% increase in inquiries about houseboats in 2020.

The number of boat builders introducing more spacious, innovative designs has also grown. Boats Group’s Ryan McVinney says that houseboats are “more houselike and luxurious than ever before.”

Views of houseboat listings are “up dramatically,” McVinney reports. In fact, across some of the top boating states in the country, houseboat views were up more than 170% in the final quarter of 2020, suggesting strong, sustained demand will continue long into 2021.

There are numerous reasons for the resurgence: Nostalgia is one. People familiar with yesteryear’s models have fond memories of their experiences and want to recapture those moments with their own families. Folks also like the mobile lifestyle, and the fact that the latest models can accommodate the work-from-home movement.

There’s certainly a lot to look at. Consider, if you will, the Arkup 75 “house yacht,” a 75-foot floating villa. It has 2,700 square feet of indoor space and 4,350 square feet overall, including two decks and five terraces. The Arkup literally plants itself almost anywhere close to a marina or beach, lifting itself above the waterline on 40-foot steel hydraulic spuds. Once lifted, the vessel is completely stable in up to 25 feet of water and is able to withstand most storm surges.

It also features floor-to-ceiling high-impact windows, which offer protection against hurricane-force winds, plus panoramic views. A 2,400-square-foot array of rooftop solar panels generates enough power for all onboard electrical systems and propels the boat at a consistent 2 knots -- as long as the sun is shining. The vessel has four bedroom suites, a laundry room and a system that harvests and purifies rainwater, then stores it in a 4,000-gallon tank.

The vessel was most recently listed on YachtWorld at $5.5 million, fully furnished and decorated, but you can customize your own model starting at about half that.

Looking for something a little less expensive? How about a 2008 Harbor Home 58 Upper Deck, listed at $209,000? Moored at Maryland’s Kent Island, this 58-footer features two bedrooms, a Jack-and-Jill bathroom -- oops, I mean “head” -- and a large living area. The kitchen features custom cabinets, granite counters and full-sized appliances. There’s also a four-season sunroom, a rooftop deck and a new HVAC system.

Need something in between those options? There’s a 2017 Sumerset 70 currently tied up near Chestertown, Maryland, listed at $699,000. It has four staterooms, three heads, a lounge and a formal dining area. But my favorite is the futuristic Bravada V-Series, selling for $799,000. Floating now on Lake Mead, Nevada, this fully customizable vessel features 9-foot ceilings, a waterslide, a hot tub, a theater room and Jet Ski ramps.

But that’s enough free advertising. The question is, how do you know if boat life is for you?

Living on the water can be a little more complicated than living beside it. Says McVinney: “Living on a boat is a specific type of lifestyle.”

There’s a pretty good overview here: boattrader.com/resources/houseboats-guide-to-float-houses. But here are a few pointers:

-- After you’ve explored the houseboat market, rent one to see if you like it. “Spend some time onboard,” McVinney advises. “Often sellers will lease their houseboats for a month at a time.”

-- You need not be an expert navigator. But if you plan to leave port, do yourself and your family a favor and take a Coast Guard course on boating and boat safety.

-- If you do intend to motor off somewhere, make sure you know your vessel’s draft, beam (width) and height in case you have to go under bridges. If your trip involves large bodies of water, make sure the vessel is seaworthy.

-- Onboard living means close quarters in all but the fanciest models. Be sure there’s enough space for everyone.

-- If you intend to tie up at a marina, you’ll have shore power and water. But if you have to anchor somewhere, your houseboat needs to be self-sustainable and able to hold wastewater and trash.