The Phoenix housing market is crazy hot right now — just ask an Ohio couple currently camping out in an Airbnb as they lose bid after bid on their dream home.
In May, when the couple arrived in Phoenix to look for a home and find new jobs, it was exciting for them as they expected to find a house within the first two or three weeks.
"What we realized is the market was a lot hotter than we anticipated it being," said Nick Gibson. "As we got ready to make some offers on homes, we soon realized that it was a completely different ballgame than we anticipated."
Many of the offers on homes were well above the asking price, said Allie Gibson.
"That forced us to change the location we were looking at homes," she said, adding that they originally didn't plan on buying a home so far out on the periphery of the Valley.
"We thought we could get a lot of square footage with a pool for a reasonable price," she said.
When the couple started thinking about moving to Phoenix two years ago, they figured they would find a home for $225,000. That budget doubled and now is closer to $450,000.
The Gibsons currently are paying about $1,500 a month to rent an Airbnb. They came to the Valley with the idea of starting fresh, and found work a lot quicker than it's taken them to purchase a home. Allie is working in the retail/consumer goods supply chain sector while Nick is in the health care industry.
"It's scary being a buyer right now," said Allie.
The couple said they haven't looked at new homes being bullt by homebuilders across the Valley doing what they can to keep up with demand, especially in the West Valley, where they are offering entry-level homes.
Homebuyer woes
Aaron Carter, associate broker for CarterMosier Group at HomeSmart, said the Gibsons aren't the only couple facing homebuyer woes.
As their broker, Carter said he continually revamps the search criteria to increase their search options.
"We have clients who have gone through six months of what we call a holding pattern, where you're an airplane circling around waiting for a property to come up that matches your search criteria," Carter said.
Buyers are so desperate to win a home, they are waiving appraisal contingencies, he said.
If an appraised value of a home comes in at $415,000, and the buyer offered $450,000 for the home, the buyer will pay the difference between the appraised value and the contract price, since the lender won't lend more than the appraised value, Carter said.
"You're not seeing a lot of supply coming in at that price point so it's going to be a while before that eases up. Buyers are dropping out at this point. Seller concessions are a thing of the past in this current market."
Meanwhile, the Gibsons say they haven't given up. They said they will be patient and not settle because their dream home just might be around the corner.
"Every time we lose out on a house, we will find our forever home the next weekend," said Allie. "The process repeats itself. There's always going to be inventory out there. Something will come up next weekend. We just have to have patience and enjoy the process."
