SACRAMENTO-
Owning a home in Sacramento is becoming more challenging for homebuyers. Many say they’re getting priced out of the housing market.
A prime example is Gwen Pickering, who is looking to stop paying rent and buy a home. She went to an open house in East Sacramento that is going for $330,000.
“I was looking for a rental and the rent prices were actually going up like 2 years ago,” said Pickering. “It was ridiculous.”
For Pickering, finding a home for under $300,000 has proven next to impossible, especially compared to a few years ago.
Pickering blames Wall Street hedge fund investors who are snatching up properties and turning them into rentals, or others who are quickly selling the homes to make a profit.
“The flippers are coming in, so even if you wanted to buy a house, say, I wanted to get a house for [$229,000], and you go in and the stuff is all cheaply done, or not done right, but people bought them.”
It’s a trend real estate agent Josh Amolsch says was bad the last couple of years, but he believes things are starting to improve for individual buyers.
“There’s been a lot of price reductions, supply and demand,” Amolsch said. “So there are a lot of homebuyers out there that are looking to buy their first home and they’re all in the same price range.”
But there’s still a shortage of listings and newly built homes, which has kept the prices beyond reach for many.
According to the Sacramento Bee, there is about a 2-month supply of local homes on the market in the median income price range from $200,000-$300,000.
That means in 60 days, all of those homes will ahve been sold, which makes it a strong sellers’ market.
“$300,000? You found anything under that?” exclaimed Pickering. “Not in a neighborhood I would live in,” she added.
But Amolsch says sometimes sellers will reduce their price if the home is going to the right buyer.
“I’ve won deals from a letter, having my buyers write a letter. And if you can get the sellers to fall in love with the buyers and want them to have the house then that works,” he said.
Meanwhile, Pickering has a message for everyone selling a home in Sacramento: “Stop selling to investors!”
