MEMPHIS, Tenn — The struggle to find affordable housing hasn't let up.
Drew Turner and his family told us no one knows what that experience is like more than them. After renting a home in Cordova, he and his fiancée decided it was time to purchase their home, especially with a growing family. Yet, finding a home was anything but easy.
"I think it's just hard to understand going into it, and realizing that a house that you want to potentially live in and build, has like 20 other offers on it," said Turner.
Even with the help of an experienced realtor, Turner described his months-long search as a wild ride with too many twists and turns.
"So not only are you getting beat out with the offers, but you can see that there are people, a lot of people in line waiting to buy that house," Turner said.
Turner said the road to homeownership brought challenges from all sides. Ultimately, he was competing against investors who shelled out major money to buy homes all over the Mid-South, in many cases they made offers to purchase without every seeing the home. He learned many investors waived the appraisal and waived the inspection too. That forced Turner to pull out all the stops to get his dream home.
With multiple offers in for online listings, Turner went door to door to see if people would be willing to sell their homes, and when that didn't work, he put out a personal plea on the Nextdoor app.
"I just basically said, hey, this is what we're preapproved for, this is what we're looking for," said Turner. "If anyone's looking to specifically sell to a family, and not an investor, then reach out to us."
If you are thinking about buying a home or know someone who is, Turner said he learned several lessons that could help you become a homeowner much faster.
"Not only is it a seller's market, but they can make the decisions about what they want to do as far as the offer," said Turner.
Before you get started, Turner said to build up a substantial savings.
"I would almost say save up to $25,000, just to have to put on your offer," he said.
Turner recommends that you set your sights on homes that investors don't want.
Investors usually skip homes with pools.
He learned one of the reasons is that renters don't like to keep up with pool maintenance.
Turner said investors also don't like fixer-uppers.
Some investors, particularly those who buy homes in our area to rent them out, don't want them because it will take too much time and effort to get an immediate return on their investment. Drew said you might find some success there.
"That's kind of what we found, in our case, a house that needed some work," said Turner.
Turner will have to cover thousands of dollars in repairs before he closes and gets the keys to his dream home, he said it's worth it, especially with rising rents.
"It's the smartest decision, honestly," said Turner. "With our loan, it's looking like, we're going to end up paying less and you're putting money into something that is yours."
Porch.com a software company that helps homeowners from start to finish took a look at markets where houses are selling above the asking price.
The company found with housing stock dwindling and demand for homes increasing, in Memphis, nearly 45 percent of homes, sold above asking in 2021.
They also found about a third of homes on the market sold out in less than two weeks.
The median sale price for a home in Memphis is about $252,000, slightly below the national average.