"We have watched the homes that go up for sale in our neighborhood very closely," Dobin said. "We have put in bids on a few homes, only to walk away relieved when the deals were rejected."
Why relieved? Because, he said, had any of those offers been accepted, it would have been a financial challenge.
"We bid on a nice, almost-new home out in the Great Valley area, 15 percent below asking, which was stretching us toward our upper limits," said Dobin, 34, a sales manager in the fiberglass industry. A bank was involved with the owners, who had relocated.
The owners, he said, were insulted by the offer and "said they would rather hold the home for two years than sell to us."
Even the "three-bedroom starter home" he now owns was a financial stretch, Dobin acknowledged.
"We refinanced and took out a home-equity line of credit several years ago to help make ends meet when we had our first child," he said. "We never thought we'd still be in our current home, as we are expecting our third child.
"The last few months have certainly moved us to the sidelines," Dobin said.
Chris Ryan, a real estate agent for 35 years, is a first-time seller. He's downsizing and has had the Chestnut Hill house he's owned for 28 years on the market for almost 30 days.
But most buyers, Ryan said - including coveted first-timers who don't have to sell a house to buy one - strike him as less than serious about the single he's listed at $575,000.
"I've either been getting the ones who have been looking for one or two years, or those who are getting married in a year and want to move in a year and a half from now," he said, adding that he'd rather take the house off the market than lower the price.
"They're just wasting our time," said Ryan, 63. "They're waiting for prices and interest rates to drop before they act."
