Through 2021, a Boston couple in their early 30s -- a software engineer married to a therapist -- struggled to buy their first house. After their baby daughter was born, their two-bedroom apartment fe... more
Many first-time homebuyers are brimming with optimism about their housing plans. One reason is that more than 75% are young -- from the millennial generation or Gen Z.... more
All signs point to a sustained hot seller’s market for real estate through 2022. Many longtime owners could sell now, make a bundle and then move.... more
A Minnesota couple -- a retired engineer married to an artist -- have relished their exurban rancher on a heavily wooded lot for more than 20 years. But lately, new health challenges have made it clea... more
This year has been a time of profound frustration for many households seeking larger living quarters. Especially rattled are young families who’ve passed months of the pandemic in crowded rental units... more
Economists looking to 2022 say real estate markets are struggling to find a new balance between the interests of buyers and sellers. It’s unclear if next year’s sellers will retain the overwhelming do... more
Obviously, it’s not nearly as bad as post-traumatic stress from a combat experience or a shocking medical diagnosis -- but homebuyers who’ve lost out in multiple bidding wars can still suffer signific... more
Many would-be home sellers are torn on timing. Should they put their place on the market by the end of this year or wait until the first quarter of 2022?... more
Every year, researchers at the national realty company Zillow survey homebuyers on the factors that most impact their choices. This year, they were struck by an unusual finding: Many buyers picked pro... more
It’s not only food, energy and prescription prices that are soaring. As the pandemic eases, landlords, freed from government constraint, have become emboldened to raise rents to startling levels.... more
During the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, a couple of retired federal employees living in a ritzy suburb pondered the sale of their big Dutch Colonial. But the hassles of showing their property convi... more
During the worst of the pandemic, there were numerous young adults of home-buying age who were so petrified by the competitive real estate game that they waited for many months on the sidelines.... more
Back stateside after a decade of deployments in the Middle East, a 37-year-old U.S. Army mechanic vowed to buy a house of his own. An off-road vehicle enthusiast, he was keen on acquiring a place with... more
Most homeowners who bought their property prior to the pandemic have ample reason to feel good about their purchase. That’s because the red-hot real estate market ushered in by COVID-19 has led to a s... more
A couple in their late 60s -- an American Express manager married to a landscape architect -- were highly motivated to retire and move to a beachfront condo in South Carolina. Standing in their way: t... more
The barriers facing prospective first-time homebuyers are hardly insubstantial. Many have mounds of student debt and diminutive savings accounts. Others have flawed credit or work histories. What’s mo... more
For home sellers, it's still time for celebration. In most popular neighborhoods, available properties remain in short supply. Tight inventories keep selling times short.... more
An increasing number of wannabe homebuyers, many of whom have spent years saving for a down payment, are now pulling back to reassess, though only temporarily.... more
For many months during the pandemic, wannabe homebuyers have had to battle rival purchasers. Due to a severe shortage of available properties, many have endured fiercely fought bidding wars that ended... more
A Pennsylvania couple in their early 60s -- a nurse married to a pharmacist -- have long aspired to leave their modest bungalow in favor of a larger house close to the beach and their grandkids in Sou... more
Now underway is what America’s real estate analysts call the “great normalization” of home-selling markets. Ever so gradually, the profound imbalance between home buyers and home sellers is diminishin... more
As they approach marriage, many young couples face the daunting challenge of how to acquire their first home. But couples marrying over the age of 50 sometimes confront the opposite issue: how to deal... more
Home-sellers have reigned supreme for months, as escalator-price contracts and multiple offers mounted and rival buyers competed ferociously for the same property. This frenzied market has caused many... more
For more than eight months, a government attorney in her early 50s has been methodically seeking the ideal move-up property for herself and her 14-year-old daughter. So far, she’s considered and rejec... more
To take advantage of the stellar seller’s market, an oncology nurse of 65 just sold the oversized family house where she raised her three kids. Now she’s under time pressure to decide where next to li... more
During the worst of the pandemic last year, many wannabe homeowners fantasized about leaving cramped city quarters for a house in a semi-rural area. After all, they reasoned, telework gave them unlimi... more
Real estate markets are red-hot for many home sellers across the nation. But frustrated and outbid, some wannabe buyers are moving to the sidelines. Still others remain unwavering in their pursuit and... more
Sheri Koones is a best-selling author of books on real estate. For more than 20 years, she and her businessman husband relished life in their 6,800-square-foot Mediterranean-style property in a plush ... more
After plugging in their home address to online real estate websites such as Zillow or Redfin, many homeowners feel elated and house-rich. After all, the value of their property as estimated by these c... more