The Housing Market Is Wild Right Now — And It's Making Inequality Worse
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 6 April 2021
⏱️ ? minutes
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Summary
Sean Hawksford in Bozeman, Mont., is one of those buyers. He told his story to NPR's daily economic podcast, The Indicator.
NPR's Chris Arnold explains why the market is so wild right now.
And while homebuying is a big financial decision, it's also an emotional one. Those emotions are on full display in a new Netflix show called Marriage or Mortgage. Michelle Singletary, a personal finance columnist for The Washington Post explores what the show reveals about the homebuying process, and why — in more ways than one — it's not for everyone. Here's her recent column about the show.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Sean Hawksford and his wife have a kid on the way. |
| 0:03.2 | So they've been looking for their first home in Boseman, Montana. |
| 0:07.0 | Sean's got a good job. |
| 0:08.7 | His wife works as well. |
| 0:10.5 | They found a house they loved that they could afford for $425,000. |
| 0:16.6 | So you said, all right, it feels like a huge step, but we'll make the offer. |
| 0:20.4 | We'll do it. We'll commit to making the offer. |
| 0:22.6 | They really wanted the place. |
| 0:24.1 | So they offered $10,000 more above asking. |
| 0:29.0 | But the owner said, hey, sorry, we've got offers even higher. |
| 0:34.0 | So Sean and his wife done deep. |
| 0:35.8 | They went from $435 to $450. |
| 0:40.0 | They responded and said, I'm sorry we've accepted someone else's offer. |
| 0:44.6 | Apparently they were beaten by an all cash offer. |
| 0:48.2 | And then we did that 17 more times. |
| 0:51.8 | That's 18 offers. |
| 0:54.0 | 18 houses. |
| 0:55.7 | And yeah, we've been turned down on all 18. |
| 0:59.6 | Sean told his story to NPR's daily economics podcast, the indicator. |
| 1:04.5 | The team over there heard about him because Sean had become something of a celebrity in Boseman. |
| 1:08.9 | You might have seen him around Main Street in Boseman with a cardboard sign, |
| 1:12.2 | a local business owner begging people to sell him a home. |
... |
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