“We didn’t know how crazy the market was until we started looking,” said Redmond.
They wanted to put down roots in Rochester, where Redmond is a teacher and Mancuso, a nurse. They weren’t looking for anything extraordinary – though, of course, they had a wish list: a three-bedroom, two-bath with a spacious first-floor layout in a walkable community.
Redmond said their real estate agent warned them right away they would have to be super competitive to land the house they wanted.
For starters, an offer would need to be at least $10,000 over the asking price. They could do that. But they soon discovered that wasn’t nearly enough for a hot seller’s market fueled by a pandemic, low interest rates and other factors beyond their control.