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Alexandra McDaniel, 29, grew up in Scottsdale, the prosperous suburb north of Phoenix. As she and her fiancé, Cameron Smith, 32, started their seek for a house early this 12 months, she hoped to dwell near her dad and mom, and close to her job at a vogue retailer. Mr. Smith was intent on discovering an space the place Ms. McDaniel might safely stroll their canine alone at evening.
Mr. Smith is an information analyst at Amazon. Together, he and Ms. McDaniel earn roughly $200,000 a 12 months. They figured they may afford to pay as a lot as $550,000 for a house, although they aimed decrease.
But as they sat in a convention room on a current morning, their Realtor, Curt Johnson, projected a map on a display that compelled them to downgrade their expectations.
He had looked for homes with small swimming pools and a minimum of three bedrooms priced at $475,000 to $575,000. Scottsdale had no listings. The half-dozen properties he had discovered had been scattered about 15 miles away, and past a freeway.
“It’s a lower-income space,” Mr. Johnson mentioned, including that it had “the next crime price.”
He drove the couple out for a glance. The first two properties had tiny yards unsuitable for his or her canine. The third place had an enormous yard and a wide-open kitchen, however the asking value was $599,000. The subsequent one was equally priced, and the neighborhood felt seedy. The final home was inside their funds, however alongside an residence advanced whose balconies appeared instantly into the yard.
As they drove again to Scottsdale, they struggled to make sense of their scenario.
“We have nice jobs,” Ms. McDaniel mentioned. “We’re doing precisely what we had been informed to do, and it doesn’t work.”
