CHARLOTTE, N.C. — At her first meetings with clients, many hoping to buy a first home, Sarah Ortiz Hilton runs through a list of warnings.
They may have to offer tens of thousands of dollars over the asking price only to have those offers rejected anyway, Ms. Hilton, a real estate agent, tells them. They might have to put up thousands of dollars in nonrefundable fees to get a seller to consider their offer. And if they’re looking for a home for less than $300,000, they might be out of luck.
In part, her cautionary message reflects the red-hot housing market, rising interest rates and limited supply around the country. But particularly in booming Sun Belt markets like Charlotte, it also reflects something else: the increasing influence of real estate investors buying up houses, especially at the lower end of the market, and turning them into rental properties.
In cities like Charlotte, that trend is exacerbating the shortage of houses for sale, driving up prices and putting homeownership out of reach for many first-time buyers, the biggest losers in today’s market.
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