Steven Schindler was taken aback last spring when his real estate agent told him to prepare to visit 30 to 40 homes in order to purchase one.
“I just laughed,” said Schindler, 35, a plumber and first-time buyer. He told himself there was no way his wife, Allison, and he would need to view that many homes.
It turns out the couple did look at more than 40 homes as they sought one priced between $500,000 and $550,000. In September they completed the purchase of a four-bedroom home in east Petaluma, the town where Allison grew up.
The Schindlers are pleased that they persevered, and they advise other first-time seekers against getting discouraged if house hunting takes longer than expected.
“It’s a really tough market out there,” said Allison Schindler, 32, who works in retail.
The number of first-time buyers has markedly declined over the past six years as home prices rebounded from a historic market crash.
Today, only a quarter of Sonoma County households can afford the median-priced home. As a result, owning a home seems especially out of reach for many younger families.
Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist for the California Association of Realtors, predicts that more young couples will leave the state in order to purchase homes. The impact of that exodus will be both economic and personal.
“They’re our future,” Appleton-Young said. “They’re our children. And we’re pricing them out of the market.”
For now, a large number of first-time buyers still have the wherewithal to purchase less-expensive homes in the county. Finding a suitable place often requires an extensive search, financial help from relatives and the possibility of competition from buyers with greater resources.
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