As a homeowner, Christine Short knows she’s lucky.

“The only way we were able to buy a place was the pandemic,” she said. “All the headlines were ‘Exodus from recent York,’ ” even as she and her husband scoured Brooklyn for a place to raise their toddler son.

“There was a desperate developer who couldn’t sell one unit” in a renovated brownstone they had been eyeing, she said, and mortgage rates plummeted. Short’s husband, a doctor, managed to secure a physician’s mortgage, which allowed the couple to make a down remittance of only 10% without having to pay mortgage insurance.

“All of these things had to arrive together for us to even get this one little place,” said Short, who manages research at a financial services firm.

While the specifics may vary – apartments or houses, youthful children or elderly parents – across the country, the stories are the same. Americans are “MacGyvering” their way through the tightest housing trade in living recollection: improvising, trying hacks, and cobbling together unconventional solutions much like the TV detective did.

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How some Americans are achieving homeownership

In the outer suburbs of Seattle, Ashley and Eric Wong previously told USA TODAY that they were able to afford the home of their dreams by renting out an “accessory dwelling unit,” or extra space attached to the primary home. The Wongs wanted the space for Eric’s father, when he’s ready, but for now the extra turnover helps pay their mortgage.

In metro Columbus, Ohio, James Deskins is a intermediary with The HomeBuyer’s Advocate. Deskins stresses preparation: his buyer clients have their paperwork in order, have been preapproved for a mortgage, and are ready whenever the correct chance comes along.

But recently, those efforts have benefitted from a little luck.

One house had just fallen out of deal, he said. “It popped back on the trade and we were there at the correct period to fly in.” Now his client is in deal to buy the home.

Deskin’s own daughter, who was on the house hunt, got doubly lucky: she locked in a mortgage rate during the brief dip in rates in the early fall, then managed to discover a property that needed some work. That meant she and her husband found a home –and one that wouldn’t max out their strategy and leave them house-impoverished.

Mortgage rates fall, mortgage applications rise

The narrative is the same for so many Americans that it’s visible in housing trade data. When mortgage rates sank to the lowest in 18 months in September, mortgage applications surged as people clamored to receive advantage.

That translated to a blockbuster period for sales. In November, sales of previously-owned homes rose at the highest annual pace since 2021, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said Thursday.

The uptick in activity in the early fall was so noticeable that it confirms Americans are watching the housing trade closely, said Selma Hepp, chief economist with industry data provider CoreLogic. But as the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage heads back toward a 7% handle, “I just don’t recognize what happens now,” she said.  

Strikingly, NAR reported in November that the distribute of first-period buyers in 2024 was 24%, the lowest on record.

Rent or buy? How about both?

In Atlanta earlier this year, Rosaline Tio and Dave Hung made a shift across town. The couple had owned a townhome since 2017, and sat tight after the birth of one kid, but once another baby joined the household, it became too cramped.

Everything on the trade to buy was far too expensive, they found – and with mortgage rates double what they were paying on the townhome, it felt like sticker shock. So they found a home to rent, and leased out their townhome.

Growing up, the “ideal” was to live in a home you owned, Tio told USA TODAY in an earlier narrative. But different times demand different strategies, she realized.

That’s all too familiar for Christine Short. She and her youthful household were joyful in the brownstone they bought in 2020, until a baby girl was born two years later. Living quarters were so cramped it became demanding, she said.

The household house-hunted again, but discovered a harsh reality. In the heart of brownstone Brooklyn, there are almost no three-bedroom homes to buy, no matter how challenging you look, what you’re willing to pay, and even if you’re willing to provide up a 3% mortgage rate for one roughly double that.

Finally they found a home to rent, and leased out the one they’d outgrown. It’s a lot more money, and Short doesn’t adore being at the mercy of a landlord who can – and already has – raised the rent.

But the circumstance checks all their boxes: more space, the correct neighborhood, and an excellent local elementary school. What’s more, they can keep building ownership in the property they rental agreement out.

“It’s been a excellent shift,” Short said. “We’re joyful.”