Tag Archives: population and demographics

Business

Elon Musk’s college sweetheart auctions off their mementos

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CNN
 — 

Holding onto an ex’s stuff may prove profitable later on, at least if your ex turns out to be the wealthiest man in the world.

The former girlfriend of tech entrepreneur Elon Musk is auctioning off a cache of photos and Musk memorabilia from her relationship with the billionaire. Jennifer Gwynne, Musk’s college girlfriend, is selling the mementos through Boston-based RR Auction.

Gwynne and Musk started dating in 1994 when they both worked as resident advisers in a university dorm, according to a news release RR Auction shared with CNN. Soon after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Musk started in a doctoral program at Stanford, but dropped out to launch his first startup, Zip2.

The lot includes 18 candid photos of the entrepreneur as a baby-faced economics student at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as several other mementos of Musk and Gwynne’s time together.

The glossy photos show the billionaire looking every bit the normal college student before his meteoric rise to success: goofing off in a dorm room, hanging out with his fellow resident advisers, and cuddling with his girlfriend.

The item with the current highest bid is a signed birthday card, followed by a necklace gifted to Gwynne on her birthday.

“Happy Birthday, Jennifer (aka, Boo-Boo), Love, Elon,” reads the note. As of Sunday morning, the highest bid is almost $7,000. The card is expected to sell for more than $10,000, according to RR.

The gold necklace includes an emerald from the Zambian emerald mine owned by Musk’s father Errol, a wealthy South African property developer and engineer.

“When we went to visit Elon’s mother in Toronto during the Christmas break of 1994, Elon gave me both the small ‘love, love, love’ note and the necklace,” said Gwynne in RR’s statement. “His mom had a number of these necklaces in a case in her bedroom, and Elon told me they were from his father’s emerald mine in South Africa — he pulled one from the case. And because I had not gotten him anything as a Christmas gift (and I felt very guilty about that), he said we would consider the necklace an early birthday present for me.”

“I wore the necklace for a number of years on and off, but it’s mostly been in my jewelry box for the last ten years (always reminding me of Elon, of course).”

The necklace also comes with two photos, one of Musk and Gwynne with Musk’s mother, the model Maye Musk, and one of Musk and Gwynne at an end-of-the-year formal in 1995.

Tesla superfans can place a bid on a piece of Musk-orabilia until Wednesday, when the auction closes.

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US

‘We’re living in a nightmare’: Jackson university students take online classes, leave campus amid city’s ongoing water crisis

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CNN
 — 

Just one week after the school year began in Mississippi’s capital city, university students were faced with a crisis canceling all in-person classes and forcing them online, but this time, it wasn’t Covid-19.

Hundreds of students at Jackson State University, a historically Black university, moved into their dorms August 18 as they settled in for the new year, but many have already returned home, while others are being forced to make difficult adjustments on campus due to the city’s ongoing water crisis.

Water in this US city is so dirty, boiling it doesn’t make it usable

Jackson had been without reliable tap water service since Monday, when torrential rains and severe flooding helped push an already-hobbled water treatment plant to begin failing. Roughly 150,000 residents are being forced to buy water or rely on an inefficient system of bottled water pick-up sites for water to drink, cook and brush teeth as businesses and schools were shuttered.

“It’s like we’re living in a nightmare right now,” said Erin Washington, 19, a sophomore. “We can’t use the showers, the toilets don’t flush,” she said.

Washington said the campus already had low water pressure and the toilets wouldn’t flush Sunday, and by the next day, students had no access to running water. Tuesday, the water turned on for a “split-second,” but it was brown and muddy, she added.

Wednesday, the water supply turned off completely, which Washington said was the “last straw” for her. She booked a flight back home to Chicago in the afternoon and is waiting to hear from university officials on whether they will go back to in-person classes next week.

The university’s head football coach, Deion Sanders, also said its football program is in “crisis mode.”

University officials scrambled to make provisions for the 2,000 students who live on campus as they continue to experience low water pressure, university president Thomas K. Hudson told CNN on Friday.

The university switched to virtual learning Monday, a familiar shift for many students whose in-person classes were canceled and moved online in 2020 to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. School officials are monitoring the water pressure “in hopes of resuming in-person classes next week,” Hudson said.

Rented portable showers and toilets have been set up across the campus and water is being delivered to students, Hudson said.

Hudson told CNN earlier this week Jackson State has a stash of drinking water it keeps for emergencies. The university is also bringing in clean water to keep the chillers operating for air conditioning in the dorms, he added.

“It’s their frustration that I’m concerned about,” Hudson said. “It’s the fact that this is interrupting their learning. So what we try to do is really focus on how we can best meet their needs.”

The water system in Jackson has been troubled for years and the city was already under a boil-water notice since late July. Advocates have pointed to systemic and environmental racism among the causes of Jackson’s ongoing water issues and lack of resources to address them. About 82.5% of Jackson’s population identifies as Black or African American, according to census data.

The main pumps at Jackson’s main O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant around late July were severely damaged, forcing the facility to operate on smaller backup pumps, Gov. Tate Reeves said this week, without elaborating on the damage, which city officials also have not detailed.

The city announced August 9 the troubled pumps were being pulled offline. Then, last week, heavy rains pushed the Pearl River to overflow, cresting Monday and flooding some Jackson streets, while also impacting intake water at a reservoir which feeds the drinking water treatment plant.

Jim Craig, senior deputy and director of health protection at the Mississippi Department of Health, said a chemical imbalance was created on the conventional treatment side of the plant, which affected particulate removal, causing a side of the plant to be temporarily shut down and resulting in a loss of water distribution pressure.

A temporary rented pump was installed Wednesday at the plant, and “significant” gains were made by Thursday, the city said, with workers making a “series of repairs and equipment adjustments.”

It’s still unclear, however, when potable water will flow again to the city’s residents. On Thursday, people of Jackson were advised to shower with their mouths closed.

Hudson said the university is receiving “an overwhelming amount of support from organizations and individuals who are contributing potable water, bottled water and monetary donations through our Gap Fund,” which provides financial support to students for emergency expenses.

“We will continue to work with the City of Jackson for updates on their progress to resume operation at the water treatment facility. In the meantime, the university will remain open to house our resident students during this holiday weekend as needed,” he said, referencing the Labor Day weekend.

City officials reported Saturday most of the city’s water pressure is being restored, but a boil-water advisory remains in place, and pressure is expected to continue to fluctuate as repairs continue. The city said workers are fixing automated systems to support better water quality and production.

Mom and son share videos of daily life with no clean water in Jackson, Mississippi

Trenity Usher, 20, a junior at Jackson State, said she thought this year would be her first “normal year” on campus before the water crisis wreaked havoc on the city.

Usher’s freshman year started in 2020 when Covid-19 prompted universities across the country to move classes online. Usher was one of the few freshmen students who decided to live on campus, she recounted. During her second semester in February 2021, a winter storm froze and burst pipes, leaving many city residents and university students without water for at least a month.

Unlike Washington who was able to go home to Chicago, Usher has to stay on campus because she’s a member of the school band.

Usher moved into her dorm August 19 and even then, she said water was an issue. “Water from the faucets were running thin,” she said.

“A lot of people are packing up and leaving, the parking lots are empty.” She said. If she wasn’t required to stay, Usher says she probably would’ve made the trek home to Atlanta.

“We practice for six to seven hours a day and then how are we supposed to shower?” Usher said. She also has an emotional support bunny she has to make sure has plenty of water, in addition to herself.

Usher said she’s had to pour bottles of water in her trash can to shower outside due to the water pressure issue on campus, a situation she called “horrible.”

Jaylyn Clarke, 18, a freshman, had been on campus for a week before the floods. She took the opportunity to get to know the campus and meet new people. Clarke was looking forward to the experience of attending a historically Black university and enjoyed the perks of staying close to home, which is only three hours away in New Orleans.

Clarke started to see river flood warnings last Thursday, which made her nervous about the potential for flooded roads nearby and being trapped on campus.

“Basically, we couldn’t do our laundry because of low water pressure, the showers and the toilets weren’t working well, and it even affected the AC,” she said, adding the water was brown and smelled like sewage.

Clarke finally decided to go home to New Orleans on August 30 to shower, wash clothes and attend online classes until the issue is resolved.

“I’m going with the flow because I do love Jackson State, but this water issue is like a rain cloud, like a shadow that’s being casted over.”

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Health

Black and Hispanic people get monkeypox more but get less care. Here’s what’s being done to address inequities

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CNN
 — 

The organizers of Atlanta Black Pride, an LGBTQ celebration held each Labor Day weekend, have big plans. There will be parties and performances, workshops and financial literacy classes, brunches and a boat ride. This year also brings an event that no one ever expected would be necessary: a vaccination clinic.

“We actually got a head start, and we started early, even before the festival, with monkeypox vaccinations for people that are here in Atlanta,” said Melissa Scott, one of the organizers.

The festival will also offer Covid-19 vaccines on location.

The monkeypox vaccines won’t protect people right away, because two doses are needed, but Scott said the festival is the perfect opportunity to reach a large group of people who have been disproportionately affected by the outbreak.

As of Friday, there are nearly 20,000 probable or confirmed cases of monkeypox in the US, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The virus is spread through close contact and can infect anyone. But cases in this outbreak have mostly been among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, and no one’s been hit harder than those who identify as Black or Latino/Hispanic.

Nearly 38% of monkeypox cases are among Black people, yet they represent only 12% of the US population. Hispanic or Latino people make up 19% of the US population but account for 29% of the cases as of August 27, according to the CDC.

Not all US cities keep or publish demographic data. But among those with the most monkeypox cases, people of color are often overrepresented among the sick and underrepresented among the vaccinated.

In Philadelphia, for example, 55% of monkeypox cases are in Black people, 16% are in people who identify as Hispanic, and 24% are in those who identify as white. Yet 56% of the shots have gone to white individuals, 24% to Black people and 12% to Hispanic people, according to the city’s website.

In Atlanta, as of mid-August, 71% of monkeypox patients identified as Black, 12% as white and 7% as Hispanic, while 44% of the vaccines have gone to white people, 46% to Black people and 8% to Hispanics.

And in Houston, Black people are overrepresented among the sick, making up 32% of all the cases, but they are only 23% of the population. Only 15% of people who have gotten the vaccine identify as Black, according to the Houston Health Department.

However, while Hispanic people account for 21% of the cases in Houston, they make up 45% of the city’s population and 32% of those who have been vaccinated. White people are 24% of the population, 17% of the cases and 39% of those who have been vaccinated against monkeypox.

In Los Angeles County, the health department says 40% of cases are among Hispanic people, yet only 32% of first vaccine doses have gone to members of that community. Hispanics make up 49% of the county’s population.

White people are the most vaccinated against monkeypox in Los Angeles. They’ve gotten 41% of the first doses, and they account for 29% of the cases. White people make up a quarter of the population of the county.

Black people are overrepresented among the cases. They make up 9% of the population in the county but 11% of the cases. Only 9% of those who got their first vaccine dose identify as Black.

It is not totally clear what’s driving the differences, but this isn’t the first disease to see such inequities, said Dr. Chyke Doubeni, chief health equity officer at Ohio State University. Unless something drastically changes, he said, we’ll see the same pattern in the next outbreak.

“I would say as a public health community, we’re very good at repeating the same mistakes multiple times,” he said. “It’s the same story, the same underlying causes. There are barriers to care and information. Systems that require people to stand in line for hours for a vaccine do not work for people with hourly jobs, for instance.”

For months, community leaders have repeatedly called on the Biden administration to step up its efforts to protect this population. On Tuesday, the administration announced that it was launching a pilot program aimed at LGBTQ communities of color.

“It’s important to acknowledge that there’s more work we must do together with our partners on the ground to get shots in arms in the highest-risk communities,” said Robert Fenton, the White House national monkeypox response team coordinator.

“Equity is a key pillar in our response, and we recognize the need to put extra resources into the field to make sure we are reaching communities most impacted by the outbreak.”

The administration will send thousands of vaccine doses to organizations that work with Black and brown communities. The initiative will also work with state and local governments to set up vaccination clinics at key LGBTQ events that attract hundreds of thousands of people, such as Atlanta Black Pride, Oakland Pride in California and Southern Decadence in New Orleans. They will send enough vials to vaccinate up to 5,000 people at each event.

Federal health officials say they also will work with local leaders to identify smaller gatherings for pop-up vaccine clinics, like house and ballroom events that are popular with younger people. They’ve set aside an additional 10,000 vials for those equity initiatives.

Pride Month events in June went by without pop-up clinics. One pilot vaccination program that the administration launched with local public health organizers at the Charlotte Pride Festival and Parade last weekend ended up administering only about a quarter of the doses allocated, but officials still called it a “great success.”

“It’s important to also respect sort of the strategy that Charlotte may have had in terms of how to get the word out,” Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the White House’s assistant monkeypox response coordinator, said Tuesday. “And so, 500-plus vaccines is a great success – it’s not a clinic, and so really, going to Pride and getting vaccinated – any number, especially that, I think is remarkable.”

The outreach seems to be working in Fulton County, Georgia, which includes Atlanta and several large suburbs.

Black people make up 79% of monkeypox cases there but are only 42.5% of the population, according to the last census. Since the start of the outbreak, the county Board of Health said, it has initiated its own efforts to engage directly with organizations that work with Black and brown communities. Officials have set up clinics, posted QR codes in bars that link to appointment information, and extended hours at clinics so people don’t have to take time off from work to get vaccinated.

As a result, nearly 70% of the monkeypox vaccines that the county has given have gone to people of color, the board said. In comparison, only 10% of doses nationwide have gone to people who are Black, 22% went to Hispanic or Latino people, and 44% went to people who identify as white, according to the Biden administration.

“Communities of color have been hit particularly hard by monkeypox,” said Dr. Lynn Paxton, Fulton County’s district health director. “So efforts targeting health equity have been especially crucial for the Board of Health.”

The Biden administration said equity is a key priority with its monkeypox strategy.

“Our vaccine strategy is to meet people where they seek services, care or community, especially in communities of color,” Daskalakis said.

The extra efforts have been prompted by several obstacles to access to treatments, vaccines and culturally sensitive education material, public health experts say.

Sean Cahill, director of health policy research at the Fenway Institute in Boston, a health organization that works with sexual and gender minorities, says he has been frustrated by these unnecessary barriers.

For example, the monkeypox treatment Tpoxx is still considered experimental, so patients and doctors have to fill out paperwork required by the CDC to get it. For months, not one of the forms was translated into a language other than English. The CDC made the Spanish-language form available on its website in the second week of August.

“For patients who speak Spanish or Chinese or don’t speak a lot of English, it can be a real challenge for them to complete these forms,” Cahill said. It’s even harder for people who don’t have access to a computer or printer.

“There’s just some logistical issues that have been a constant challenge to help patients, and there needn’t be,” he added.

Throughout the outbreak, organizers have been critical of the Biden administration’s response to the public health crisis, especially where people of color are concerned.

“As soon as we started receiving a vaccine, we should have had a conversation with Black and brown community-based organizations to lead the way to vaccinate the most at risk,” said Daniel Driffin, an HIV patient advocate and a consultant with NMAC, a national organization that works for health equity and racial justice to end the HIV epidemic.

To get a vaccine appointment, particularly in the beginning of the US outbreak when vaccines were in much shorter supply, people essentially had to follow their local health department on Twitter to find out when they were available, Driffin said. The appointments would often fill up in minutes.

“Your health status should not be dictated by Twitter or Instagram,” Driffin said.

He added that it’s especially difficult for some people to get appointments to get tests or treatments.

“Especially here in Georgia, where many individuals, especially men, Black and brown people, may not have access to regular medical care. So where are they supposed to go?”

This is not, of course, the first health outbreak to disproportionately affect Black and brown communities.

Black people account for a higher proportion of new HIV diagnoses and cases compared with other races and ethnicities. Hispanic and Latino people are also disproportionately affected by HIV.

The CDC says racism, stigma, homophobia, poverty and limited access to health care continue to drive these disparities.

These same communities are overrepresented in the Covid-19 pandemic. People of color have a disproportionate number of cases and deaths compared with White people when accounting for age differences, according to the CDC.

The CDC has regularly said that more needs to be done to help these communities, and public health officials’ inclination to want to help is good, Doubeni said.

“But typically, they don’t say ‘Oh, we have a problem. Let me see how I can work with the community to see what is beneficial for them,’ and they especially don’t do this from the beginning,” Doubeni said.

On more than one occasion, Doubeni said, he has watched government public health officials spend months to create education materials in English. Only after those materials come out will they start working on a Spanish version.

“I think it’s all well-intentioned, but unfortunately, it doesn’t always begin with an end in mind,” he said.

He tells people that because of institutional racism, and for social and economic reasons, those who are in communities of color may have to be persistent to get the treatment they need.

“Don’t take no for an answer,” Doubeni said. “People should not be ashamed to have to seek treatment for monkeypox. It has nothing to do with them as a person per se. We can control this outbreak and keep it from running out of control. And it’s your right to get the answers you need.”

Atlanta Black Pride organizer Scott said she’s been pleased with the local public health department’s targeted outreach. One of the event’s goals has always been to strengthen the community’s health while encouraging everyone to have fun.

“We’re trying to make sure we reach the people who need it most,” she said.

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Health

City children have better mental health and cognition if they live near woodlands

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London
CNN
—  

City children who have daily exposure to woodland have better cognitive development and a lower risk of emotional and behavioral problems, according to a new study published in Nature Sustainability.

Researchers studied 3,568 adolescents aged 9 to 15 at 31 schools across London over four years to examine the associations between natural environments and cognitive development, mental health and overall well-being.

Using vegetation satellite data, researchers calculated adolescents’ daily exposure to “green space,” like woods, meadows and parks, and “blue space,” including rivers, lakes and the sea, within 50 meters (164 feet), 100 meters (328 feet), 250 meters (820 feet) and 500 meters (1,640 feet) of their home and school.

A higher daily exposure to woodland was associated with higher scores for cognitive development – measured through a series of memory-based tasks – and a 17% lower risk of emotional and behavioral problems two years later, researchers said, adding that they adjusted for other variables, such as age, ethnic background, gender, parental occupation, type of school and air pollution.

Exposure to green space was associated with a beneficial contribution to young people’s cognitive development, researchers explained. The same associations were not seen with exposure to blue space – though the sample of children studied generally had low access to it, researchers noted in the study published Monday.

Lead author Mikaël Maes said that, while the team had established an association between woodlands and better cognitive development and mental health, there is no causal link between the two – something that could be studied in the future.

“Currently, the mechanisms why humans receive mental health or cognition benefits from nature exposure is unknown. Scientific research on the role of the human senses is key to establish a causal link,” Maes, a PhD researcher at University College London’s school of Geography, Biosciences and Imperial College London School of Public Health, told CNN.

Maes said in an email that one possible explanation for the link between woodland, cognition and mental health could be that audio-visual exposure through vegetation and animal abundance – which are more common in woodland – provides psychological benefits.

However, there were limitations to the study. The team said the research assumed that living or going to school near natural environments meant more exposure to them, which may not always be the case. Area crime rates were also not taken into account.

Researchers also noted that more than half of participants had parents who had a managerial or professional occupation, meaning that adolescents in other socio-economic groups could be underrepresented in the study. Pupils with special educational needs could also react differently than peers represented in the research.

“The findings are impressive and do highlight the importance of time outside on such a scale,” Carol Fuller, head of the Institute of Education at the University of Reading, told CNN via email.

“That said, while the findings are encouraging, what we don’t get from the study is a sense of why we see the results that we do? While the authors speculate as to the reasons, there is a crucial need to engage directly with young people to understand the results from the perspective of those who were taking part,” Fuller, who was not associated with the research, said.

“The research adds to a growing body of work about the importance of being outside on things like confidence, resilience, and self-efficacy,” she said.

“It makes sense that if you can develop these skills, things like cognition and learning outcomes will then improve. Being outside allows young people to learn a range of different skills and engage in diverse experiences, important for developing these underlying traits,” she added.

Stella Chan, professor of Evidence-based Psychological Treatment at the University of Reading, said in an email to CNN that the research offered “novel insights” with “potential to inform how we may better support young people’s intellectual development, health, and wellbeing.”

“As the authors note, just because someone lives close to natural environments does not mean that they could or would access this space, and of course how people use the space is another big question to ask,” Chan, who was not involved in the study, said.

“Building on these findings, it would be important to investigate how factors that are associated with exposure to natural environments, such as physical activity and hanging out with friends, may help enhance teenagers’ resilience, health, and wellbeing,” Chan said.

The great outdoors has long been linked to good physical and mental health – a 2015 study showed that people who take walks in nature report fewer repetitive negative thoughts.

And a 2019 study found that spending two hours a week soaking up nature – be it woodland, park or beach – gives a positive boost to health and well-being, both mentally and physically.

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Business

It’s so hard to get a house right now, people are giving up on buying

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Buying a home of her own became a priority for Kelly Robinson during the pandemic, as she began to feel cramped in her Indianapolis apartment.

“Last fall having to stay home so much, that really made me decide that it is time to buy a house,” she said. Among the top amenities she was looking for: outdoor space and more privacy.

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Further motivated by record low interest rates, Robinson set her sights to buy in the spring when she expected more properties would be available. It would also give her time to get her finances in order.

“But by the time I got pre-approved and started seriously looking at homes, the market got crazy” she said.

Robinson set a budget for $250,000. But in her market – the suburb of Greenwood – homes began selling within days, with as many as 10 competing offers, and sometimes going for $100,000 over the asking price.

“‘Crazy’ to me is not getting an inspection because you want to be number one on the homeowner’s list,” she said. “That is a risk I’m not wiling to take. And having to make an immediate decision the day you see it? That is another thing that makes me really nervous.”

So she decided to put the home search on ice and continue renting.

Courtesy Kelly Robinson

Kelly Robinson wants to buy a home outside of Indianapolis, but said the market is too aggressive now and has decided to wait.

“There are so many aggressive shoppers out there and I’m not willing to compete with that,” she said. “I need to be happy today, but I also want to be happy a year from now. If I overpay or don’t get an inspection, that will cause bigger issues down the road.”

Up against all-cash offers they can’t match and a feeding frenzy on each house they visit, many buyers are dropping out of the market and opting to wait it out and reevaluate their options.

The housing market was on fire this spring, leaving many would-be buyers burned out. Low mortgage rates have been fueling demand, but there’s also been a record-low inventory of available properties. That has pushed home prices to record highs, with some homes attracting multiple all-cash offers, and others selling for $1 million over the list price.

But home sales have fallen for the fourth month in a row, on a monthly basis, partially because there aren’t enough homes to buy, but also because the competition and higher prices are turnoffs to those who can’t afford to compete, according to a recent report from the National Association of Realtors.

“Clearly sales are moving down partly due to inventory shortage, but the affordability is squeezing some of the buyers out of the market,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “Homebuyers qualify for a mortgage based on their income, but with prices rising 20% or higher, it is simply pricing them out of the market.”

Only 32% of consumers believe it’s a good time to buy a home, according to Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index for June. That’s a record low. High home prices were cited as the main reason people were pessimistic toward home buying. That sentiment was particularly strong among renters looking to buy for the first time, said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae.

“While all surveyed segments have expressed greater negativity toward homebuying over the last few months, renters who say they are planning to buy a home in the next few years have demonstrated an even steeper decline in homebuying sentiment than homeowners,” he said. “It’s likely that affordability concerns are more greatly affecting those who aspire to be first-time homeowners than other consumer segments who have already established homeownership.”

Still, even in the face of tough buying conditions, many would-be homeowners remain intent on purchasing now, Duncan said, especially with mortgage rates still relatively low and a down payment ready to go.

“I’m encouraging my buyers to stay the course,” said Corey Burr, a senior vice president at TTR Sotheby’s International Realty in Washington, DC. “They need to have a persistent confidence their dream home will become available and they can buy it. Just because it is difficult doesn’t mean it is impossible.”

It’s true, buying a home is not impossible. Plenty of people are doing it. But more people have tried and still aren’t able to buy. And there are limits to how much time and emotional energy buyers are willing to put toward being shut out of the market.

First-time homebuyers Steven and Laura Andranigian planned to move from their home near Monterey, California, to the Coachella Valley in southern California, where they have family and Laura got a job teaching elementary school.

Courtesy Steven Andranigian

Steven and Laura Andranigian were ready to be first-time homebuyers when they moved to California’s Coachella Valley. But after house hunting for months, they have decided to rent instead.

Looking for a home that costs less than $500,000 has them chasing properties as soon as they are listed. Many times, the houses are gone before they can even make an offer. Twice they’ve been laughed at for asking for time to get a pre-offer inspection. They’ve lost out on five bids so far.

“You get told, ‘Here are the 10 things you need to do to buy a house’” he said. “We did 20 of those. And it is still like, ‘Well, you’re not able to participate.’ Because there are people who are flush with cash who also want to buy here now.”

They had been saving to buy a home for years and have been looking for months. But now they realize that their purchase options are to buy something that needs work in an area they don’t want to live, to wait for a new construction home and pay a premium for it, or to buy something over their budget.

“The only way to buy [a home that costs] over $500,000 is for my in-laws to gift or loan us the difference,” said Steve Andranigian. “But that seems excessive for people who have stable, good jobs to get $200,000 from family. Even when you’ve done everything right you still need more?”

The Andranigians have decided to abandon their home search.

“We decided to rent while we wait for the housing market to settle or resolve itself,” Steven said.

But getting a rental isn’t going to be easy either. The most galling turn of events, he said, would be to have to rent a home they had put an offer on before.

They’ve already seen some homes that they bid on come back to market as rental homes right after closing. Even though a property like that would be the kind of home they would love to live in, it would pour salt in the wound to have to rent it after trying to buy it, he said.

“To have to talk to the landlord, and hear they were sitting on a ton of cash and they wanted to turn it into a rental while we are just trying to buy our first home would be really hard,” he said. “But to find out the landlord is a hedge fund and it is owned by some faceless company? That may be worse. We don’t want to rent the place. We want to buy.”

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