By Jeff Ostrowski
From Bankrate.com
During the record-breaking housing boom of the past two years, a drastic under-supply of homes for sale has bedeviled buyers and delighted sellers. Now, the squeeze is slowly easing—a shift that could mark the start of a much-anticipated cooling of the white-hot housing market.
The abnormal conditions of the past two years have been brutal for buyers. Because the demand for homes outpaced supply by such a wide margin, buyers have faced month after month of steep price increases. In desperation, many home shoppers have waded into bidding wars and even waived contingencies for appraisals and inspections….