Sound the trumpets! Release the doves! More doves!

The time may have finally arrived for many first-time homebuyers to purchase their first homes.

There’s just one problem: It’s going to cost them … the opportunity to actually see the house first.

That’s right. Many first-time homebuyers have resigned themselves to making offers sight unseen. Because although job and income growth has empowered many prospective first-time homebuyers, record low housing supplies are driving up prices – and competition.

House hunters are already opting to waive inspections, make offers without ever seeing the homes, and bid well above asking price – and with some even opting to write heartfelt letters to the sellers. But this year’s crop of spring buyers may be competing against those buyers who have been unsuccessful during the past few months as stiff competition and limited inventory force them to lengthen their searches.

And it all comes down to basic supply and demand. In February, there was a 3.4-month supply of existing homes nationally, the lowest on record for that month and substantially below a six-month inventory according to the NAR. And the number of starter homes was down 14.2 percent in the first quarter from a year ago, according to real estate research firm Trulia.

But that isn’t to say that there aren’t buyers’ markets as sales have dipped over the past year in Hartford, CT, Toledo, Ohio, and Baton Rouge, LA, and were flat in Philadelphia and Baltimore, according to Attom Data Solutions.

Nationally, however, the median home price in February was up 5.9 percent from a year earlier to $241,700, according to NAR. Meanwhile, average yearly wage growth has been stuck at about 2.5 percent.

But prospective first-time homeowners haven’t been discouraged.

Thirty-six percent of adults under 35 owned a home in the fourth quarter, up from 34.1 percent in early 2016, according to Census Bureau figures – still below a historically normal 40 percent. But more than a third of all home purchases were made by millennials in the 12 months ending last July, making them the most active generation of buyers, according to an NAR survey.

Meanwhile, existing homeowners – like Generation Xers – have expressed interest in moving into larger homes but don’t out of fear of not finding one or having to pay too much for it. And many baby boomers are delaying retirement and staying in their current homes longer as well.

And all their hemming-and-hawing freezes up a lot of entry-level, first-time homeowner inventory as older generations sit tight and wait out the market.

And with the market showing no signs – at least not yet – of accommodating first-time homebuyers, those on the hunt will simply have to be patient … and ready to pounce when an opportunity presents itself, even if that means making offers sight unseen and well above asking.

Crazy times for real estate to be sure but at DeLeon Sheffield Company, we’ve seen it all. So let our real estate professionals help you navigate these competitive waters with the experience to back it up to make your homebuying dreams come true.

Because at DeLeon Sheffield Company, ‘We’re More Than Realty; We’re Family.’