RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – Raleigh-area realtor Monique Edwards brought her client to view a house in the city’s North Farms area Tuesday evening expecting things might be a bit chaotic.
The three-bedroom, three-bath home in question was listed for $260,000 and she knew from experience that in the current housing market demand would be high.
What she saw upon arriving at the Lafferty Court home, though, prompted her to pull out her phone and start recording.
“It’s absolutely insane,” Edwards can be heard saying in the recording. “The line goes all the way (around).”
A neighbor, Ann, described the scene a day later.
“It was really chaotic. I couldn’t even walk the dog,” she said. “(People) were double parked in the cul de sac. The yard looked like they were having an auction because there were people in the yard.”
No auction, though. Just a house showing in 2022.
For months, CBS 17 has reported on a competitive housing market in the Triangle, with low inventory fueling high prices.
But Edwards feels some home buyers still do not fully comprehend what will face as they set out to test the market right now.
“I feel like a lot of people don’t know what’s happening,” she said a day later, pointing out that she witnessed buyers touring the home for less than five minutes, then announcing they intended to make an offer on the house.
In the video, Edwards can be heard referring to a “housing crisis.”
In an interview with CBS 17 Wednesday night, she said the “crisis” she was referring to is, specifically, the inventory of what she calls “middle” housing, and the ability of buyers to land a home for under half a million dollars.
“They have jobs, they have families, they have a good income,” she said. “But that middle housing is where that supply is really, really horrible. We really need to do something about it.”
In the absence of significant changes in the market landscape, though, Edwards hopes her video — now shared thousands of times on social media — serves as a “teachable moment.”
“This is absolutely ridiculous,” she said in the video. “We have got to get control of the housing industry.”
The realtor representing the seller of the home told CBS 17 Wednesday that the house is now under contract within two days of when it was put on the market.
