Kelsay and William Cosgrove took all the right steps to get ready to buy their first home, saving up money and working with a lender over the past 18 months to get their credit in the best spot. "So we've been invested in this homebuying process for a while now," Kelsay said. The Cosgroves welcomed a little girl in September, and around the new year, they officially started the hunt for a home. But it hasn't been easy."We have ran into a lot of issues," Kelsay said."Brick walls," William added. For one, the couple said their FHA loan has been a disadvantage when going up against other buyers who have more cash on hand. "They're basically saying they're only taking cash or conventional offers because they know that FHA will require that additional inspection, and a lot of people are just waiving inspections right now," Kelsay said. The Cosgroves said they made offers on four homes so far.They're willing to pay toward closing costs, offered an appraisal gap and in one case went more than $50,000 over asking, but still lost out."It's disheartening, working so hard to try and get something that you're proud of," William said. Kelsey and Ryan Lang tell a similar story. The couple said they've made offers on seven properties and counting, recalling their surprise after getting outbid the first time. "The amount that they put down was, I believe $25,000 over asking price, and we were just like, 'how are we going to do this?'" Ryan said. Both couples said any homes that do hit the market go fast."We'll see something, send it to our realtor, and then she'll be like, 'oh, I'm sorry, that's under contract,'" Kelsey said. Housing experts nationally and locally say after the 2008 recession, construction of new homes slowed, not keeping up with demand and leading to the shortage we see today. Omaha realtor Joe Gehrki said the metro alone is tens of thousands of units short right now. "We could actually add 30,000 dwelling units and absorb that, and that's a big number for our population," Gehrki said. Take that already slim inventory, coupled with consumer demand, and it leaves many first-time homebuyers facing bidding wars and rising costs to buy a home. The Great Plains Regional MLS reports the median close price in Omaha was $260,000 dollars in January. That's up 15 percent from January 2021. And that follows significant increases the year prior. Between January 2020 and January 2021, the median close price increased 12.4 percent. "You have people overbidding and outbidding. You know, it's crazy," William said. A recent report from Redfin indicates investors are betting on the housing market, purchasing a record high 18.4 percent of homes nationwide in the fourth quarter and fueling competition. Gehrki said he's seeing that here, and the Langs said they lost out to an investor on one of their offers. "Investors are like kind of hurting the chances of people in positions like ours," Kelsey said. For Gehrki, one of the biggest things that needs to happen is bringing more housing inventory to Omaha. "Homeownership builds the fabric of our community. And right now, the employment climate in Nebraska is phenomenal. We have the lowest unemployment in the nation. But we don't have enough housing," Gehrki said. But for now, families like the Cosgroves and the Langs are doing their best in a challenging market. "Even though it's very difficult, like, there's so many odds against what you're trying to do and accomplish for yourself. But it doesn't mean that you should give up," Kelsey said. Coming up next in this series on the housing market, KETV NewsWatch 7 will take a look at a new initiative that Gehrki and others are involved in looking at ways to increase the inventory of homes at lower costs.