OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Krystal Spudy, a single mother is on the "tail end" of buying a home in Yutan. She's noticed a huge increase in prices over time.
Pre-pandemic, the house she lives in now was worth $164,000 and now it's around $250,000.
"It's you and everybody else looking for the exact same thing, and so, you just gotta be ready to hit the ground running, move as fast as possible, which kind of makes you nervous that you're gonna make the right decision in the end," Spudy said.
Omaha realtor, Dakotah Smith says home prices have been climbing locally by at least 8% for many years. How will interest rate hikes impact more buyers like Spudy?
"What we first expect is just for that to level off. For home prices to stop appreciating so quickly because there just aren't the amount of buyers at any price range to jump into that pool of homes as there was maybe a year or two ago," Smith said.
Will house prices drop? Smith expects that might start at higher price points first, but not for houses in the $200,000-$400,000 range.
The higher interest rates, he says, could mean fewer sellers and the hot market could start to cool.
"If we slow down the acceleration, it will allow more and more homebuyers to get into their first home," Smith said.
It's making way for people like Spudy, who's creating her own version of the "good life."
"Anyone who's younger than me on a single income — I just don't know how they could ever be living the 'American Dream' of owning a home," Spudy said.
Smith says those buying a home should make sure to establish solid relationships with their realtor and mortgage advisor since they can help you establish what you can afford in real-time.
The last thing you want to do is put an offer on a property based on a pre-approval that's 60 or 90 days old in a rapidly changing market.
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