ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The U.S. housing market frenzy is starting to show some signs of cooling off as more homes hit the market. It’s good news for potential homebuyers who’ve been outbid time after time in their search for a new place to call home.

That’s the situation Michael Curtis and Suseth Garcia are in. The couple, and their 6-month-old son Sebastian, currently live in an apartment in Rochester’s Corn Hill neighborhood. For months, they have been looking to buy a house. It hasn’t been easy. They’ve bid on five properties and have looked at countless others, but have been outbid every time.

“There's an old Roman saying which is that everything is worth what the buyer is willing to pay for it,” said Curtis. “And right now that's absolutely the case.”

The average home in Rochester sells for about $170,000. That's 25% higher than just a year ago. And they’re going fast, with an average of five days on the market.

“I’ve never seen a market like this,” said Richard Sarkis, a veteran real estate broker with Howard Hanna. “It's definitely the sellers who are in control.”

Sarkis is the realtor helping the couple find a home. Curtis and Garcia moved to Rochester from the New York City area after he lost his software engineering job during the pandemic. Both have family members in Rochester. Curtis found a new job and works remotely from home. But with a growing family, they need a bigger place to live.

Sarkis suggested the couple lease an apartment for six months while they search for that home. He has some advice for buyers.

“Be prepared,” he said. “You have to be prepared financially. Don't look at homes until you have your financial house in order. That's very important.”

Michael and Suseth have that part down. But when the first home they wanted went for $110,000 more than the asking price, it set the tone.

“That was sort of the wake-up call,” said Curtis. “Like, uh-oh, this is not what we thought it might be.”

In the past, if a buyer bid $10,000 or $20,000 over list price, they had a good shot at the home they were looking for. Now, experts say, that figure will likely be outbid.

“If there was ever a time to put your house on the market, now is the time,” said Fred Corsi, Howard Hanna’s Western New York regional president. “It’s not unusual for buyers to have to write offers on 8, 10, 12 houses before they actually get one.”

Corsi believes it’s also a correction, of sorts, that the average home price in the region was a bit lower than it should have been. He says buyers should manage their expectations. Sellers want strong offers, and no contingencies, like traditional home inspections.

“My advice to sellers is jump into that market, take that risk because we are finding that listings are increasing,” he said. “There are more houses coming into the market over the last six weeks, so that the inventory is starting to creep up a little bit.”

Curtis and Garcia have learned to manage their frustration over being outbid so many times.

“You become hardened to it a little bit,” said Curtis. “The first couple of losses, especially on the ones we really loved, they hurt.”

They know their home is out there — somewhere.