Local Coeur d’Alene residents struggle to buy homes

June 17, 2021 8:09 PM

Alex Crescenti,

Posted: June 17, 2021 8:09 PM

Updated: June 17, 2021 8:12 PM

by Alex Crescenti

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho. — Coeur d’Alene is the hottest housing market in the nation, according to the Wall Street Journal. However, with rising home prices and crowds of people moving from out of state, locals are having a difficult time getting a winning bid on a home.

“The word is out, Coeur d’Alene is the place to be,” said Derrell Hartwick the CEO and President of the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce.

The place to be for anyone with money to throw around at some of the asking prices for homes. According to Realtor.com, among the 103 homes for sale in the city, the median listing price is $500,000 and that’s causing problems for locals.

“It was definitely a stressful time. It was super hard, of course everyone knows it’s not a buyers market it’s definitely a sellers market,” said home buyer Mackenzie Kranzler.

Kranzler and her family made 23 bids on houses over the course of eight months and were out bid every time. It wasn’t until the 24th attempt they were successful, and the highest bids she saw above asking price were between $60,000 and $80,000 more.

So why is this happening? The answer lies in the amount of people moving from out of state.

“A lot of people, that savings and everything they have in California, Oregon and Washington is in their home where they can come here invest in a home and then have cash for savings,” said Hartwick.

And locals say they just can’t compete.

“So it wasn’t even like you can even have an inkling that you had to offer that big of a price,” said Sherry Tavares who recently found a home in the city after looking actively for two months.

At the end of the day money talks. While some sellers told Mackenzie they wanted to sell to local people, she says that’s not what happened when offers started to pour in.

“It really showed peoples greed for money in this market. That wasn’t the case at all, you couldn’t find anyone who was truly selling for those reasons,” said Kranzler.

These high prices also affect local businesses. The chamber says those moving into town just for work have had to live in trailers and hotels for months while they search for their home.

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