Existing home sales in September were the lowest they’ve been in 14 years, according to data out Wednesday from the National Association of Realtors. The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book also came out Wednesday, with some anecdotal hope for our housing future. The Fed noted that housing inventory is expanding around the country and the Richmond Fed, in particular, cited an agent in Virginia who was specifically seeing a rise in “fixer-uppers and less-than-ideal homes entering the market.”

The house that Corita Stull is renting right now in Baltimore, Maryland, has some issues. Take the toilet in its only bathroom: “It’s never been good at flushing. We often have to bucket flush on top of regular flushing,” she said, laughing.

Stull is a special education teacher and a single mom, with four sons at home. The house — busted toilet and all — is about to go on the market. And Stull is hoping to buy it, even though she says she’s not really the fixer upper type. 

“I have to find a place for us to be, and that is a fixer-upper in this market,” she said.

Homes that are probably livable, but need giant helpings of TLC, haven’t been of much interest to buyers since the pandemic, said Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel, a real estate appraisal and consulting firm.

Buyers have wanted what they wanted — and right away. “Immediate gratification wasn’t fast enough,” he said. 

But now, Miller said, there aren’t enough houses on the market that are move-in ready.

“And so I would think that the fixer-upper market is — there’s a little bit more supply than we would typically expect,” he said.

Meanwhile, the median price for an existing home in September was up 3% from the previous year, the fifteenth consecutive month of year-over-year increases. That makes people more willing to deal with a toilet that doesn’t flush. 

“Many buyers are turning to homes that need renovation as a way to enter the market at a lower price point,” said Nadia Evangelou, a senior economist with the National Association of Realtors.

But, Evangelou pointed out, the cost of renovating has surged in the past few years. Prices of building materials have gone up, as have wages for people who do the building.

“It may look like a better solution, the fixer-upper, but sometimes, when you don’t add the renovation cost, then it can go over the budget,” she said. “And we have seen that many times as well, personally speaking.”

Evangelou bought her house in Virginia in 2018. She did some interior work right away, with a plan to fix up the outside eventually.

She said six years later, those fixes are still waiting.