"We were like, 'Yeah this is crazy. It's going to come down at some point,'" says Solomon, a 37-year-old who works in sales. "And it didn't." When the couple begrudgingly picked up their search in the summer of 2024 , the market still wasn't doing them any favors. Though rising mortgage rates had forced many buyers to the sidelines, prices in their area had held firm due to the lack of available homes. Solomon and his wife arrived at a harsh realization: "I guess we really need to rethink our