The steep rise in mortgage rates is crushing the hopes of many young adults who feel trapped in their rental units.

“We have never seen mortgage rates shoot up this fast at this magnitude. Even people who want to buy, they are priced out,” says Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors (nar.realtor).

Compounding aspiring buyers' pain, home prices are staying at high levels. Indeed, the median price of a U.S. home hit a record $416,000 in June, a jump of 13.4% over last year.

Although the affordability problem has slowed sales, there’s still a hard core of would-be homeowners determined to meet the ownership challenge before 2022 comes to a close.

“These are ‘leftover buyers’ who missed out in bidding wars during the last 12 to 24 months. They’re not throwing in the towel until they obtain a property,” says Richard Rosa, president of the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (naeba.org).

Because many sellers are starting to cut asking prices, some housing analysts expect that home values could eventually slip somewhat from the high levels they reached during the worst of the pandemic, though this hasn’t occurred yet.

Ivy Zelman, who tracks real estate stocks for Wall Street investors, says a further decline in list prices is a real possibility, especially when it comes to newly constructed homes sold by builders.

Given the current uncertainties facing real estate, it’s time for aspiring buyers to rethink their plans, says Rosa, who co-heads a Massachusetts realty firm with 20 brokers.

“We’re not yet in a buyer’s market by any means. But there are opportunities for purchasers who think through their priorities and take a strategic approach,” Rosa says.

Here are a few pointers for income-stretched buyers:

-- Don’t play the “bottom feeder” game at this stage of the real estate cycle.

Though many neighborhood markets are now entering a new cooldown phase, that doesn’t mean buyers can dominate the way they did after the 2008 financial crisis.

“In the Boston area, for instance, there are still too few available homes to meet demand. That’s why we still see multiple bidding situations -- though with many fewer bidders than before. Therefore, if you’re buying in a high-demand area like this, don’t get overconfident about your ability to bargain right now,” Rosa says.

Even so, buyers in the current market have somewhat more latitude than during the most heated days of the market. That means they can be more choosy about their property picks. They’ll also be under less pressure to forgo a home inspection as part of a competitive bid.

-- Consider a home that’s gone vacant.

It’s tough to gain details on a house that’s been vacant for months, especially if its owners have moved away to retire or take a job transfer. It’s harder still if the empty property has fallen into the ownership of a bank through foreclosure.

“The bank won’t tell you anything. And frankly the folks at the bank, or the real estate agent they’ve hired, probably won’t know much about the people who lived there,” says Merrill Ottwein, a veteran real estate broker with Coldwell Banker.

To get the scoop on a vacant property that interests you, your best sources are often neighbors.

Neighbors “probably know all the skeletons in the closet. They’ll spill all they know and tell you if the people who lived there kept up the place before they moved out,” Ottwein says.

Most people who must leave due to foreclosure don’t deliberately damage their home. Still, their financial problems could mean they lacked money for crucial maintenance chores during their tenure in the property, he says.

-- Don’t rule out a “pre-inspection” of a vacant place.

Perhaps the property you like has gone unsold for so long that you’re nervous about hidden defects. In fact, you don’t even want to make an offer until you know more. In such cases, Ottwein advises you to consider hiring a home inspector to take a preliminary look.

What are the advantages of hiring a home inspector to check a property before (rather than after) you’ve submitted your bid?

“If you decide to go through with the purchase, a pre-inspection will let you set your bid based on findings from the inspection. Then if you decide to back out of the deal, you can walk away without complications,” Ottwein says.

-- Factor in neighborhood property values before bidding.

“Before you shape your offer, you and your agent should take a careful look at the recent sales history in your neighborhood. In markets that are still hot, it’s imperative that you be extra vigilant to avoid overpaying,” Ottwein says.

Ideally, you’ll want to examine at least three similar properties that have sold in the immediate area in the past three to six months, adjusting for differences, such as a larger garage or a second fireplace.

Although you’ll want to take a home’s condition into account when judging its market value, Ottwein cautions against seeking out-of-proportion discounts to compensate for superficial shortcomings.

“So what if the owners took the light bulbs with them when they had to move, or if they painted the walls in a color you don’t like? Don’t get emotional about these small issues,” he says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)

A 29-year-old cyber engineer from Seattle credits the pandemic for his chance to move to the city of his dreams: Austin, Texas. Due to COVID-19, his company declared his job “permanently remote.” That means he can work from anywhere.

“Remote work has opened up housing possibilities all over the country,” says Amanda Pendleton, a home trends expert for Zillow (zillow.com).

Zillow ranks American cities on their desirability for single workers. Austin is one of the top ten.

“If untethered from an office, singles can move to places that offer more affordability and a vibrant singles scene,” Pendleton says.

But there’s one major factor impeding the engineer’s move to Austin. He must prep for sale the bungalow he bought in Seattle five years ago. The place is crammed with excess clothes, tech gear, furniture and books. And the man’s real estate agent warns the glut must go, or the house will sell at a steep discount.

Decluttering the bungalow seems like a daunting project to the engineer, a single with a busy work and social schedule.

Neen James, a time management expert, doesn’t know the cyber engineer from Seattle. Still, she’s convinced he can finally get a jump start on his home-selling project through what she calls “the power of 15 minutes.”

“Few of us have full hours of time to commit to an important project. But almost anyone can carve out 15-minute blocks of dedicated time each day by getting up a bit earlier or staying up a bit later. The key is to eliminate all distractions and work only on the task,” says James, the author of “Folding Time: How to Achieve Twice as Much in Half the Time.”

Stephanie Calahan, another productivity specialist and business coach, says integrating music into any major task -- such as household decluttering -- can enliven the spirit and increase the intensity of the work.

“Anything that gets a rhythm going adds momentum,” she says.

Though the cyber engineer favors funk music, Calahan says older home sellers often prefer classical for this purpose.

Here are a few pointers for home sellers:

— Recognize the import of a well-staged home.

Martha Webb, a professional organizer often credited with originating the home staging concept, explains why clearing a place of clutter is essential to a successful sale.

“Nobody wants to buy your chaos when they buy a house,” says Webb, author of “Dress Your House for Success.”

Even in the current inventory-tight market, cluttered homes can sit unsold for weeks or months. When they do sell, it’s often for a much-reduced price.

“Unless you hire a professional organizer, it doesn’t cost you anything to declutter. Yet you have a tremendous amount at stake,” Webb says.

A house crowded with possessions looks smaller than its true dimensions, which is one reason it’s devalued by home shoppers.

“I don’t care if you’ve got a house with 8,000 square feet. It’s still going to feel small,” she says.

-- Consider throwing a fest.

Calahan says decluttering can be more tolerable if the agony of it is infused with occasional amusement. She tells the true story of one insurance company manager whose many boxes of unsorted personal papers included countless old paid bills, medical statements and nearly every greeting card she’d ever received. After several weeks of tedious sorting, she announced a celebratory party to reward herself.

“Eight of my client’s friends came over for what we call a ‘shredding party.’ She asked each friend to bring along a paper shredder. She served wine and brunch and then everyone helped shred her excess papers. It was so much fun that later all her friends had their own shredding parties,” Calahan recalls.

Setting a party date is a good way to end inertia. It gives you a deadline. You know the work must be done by the time your friends come over.

-- Hasten your campaign with creative ideas.

Professional organizers routinely advise those immersed in decluttering projects to take a break every few hours. That helps prevent the beleaguered feeling that comes from trying to take on an entire room all at once or, worse, the whole house.

Calahan recommends preparing a comprehensive written plan that spells out a step-by-step approach. Or you could start with a single part of one room, using a flashlight to define how large an area you’ll tackle at a given time.

“In the midst of a big decluttering project, the flashlight allows you to focus mentally on a single area,” she says.

-- Think about doing a clutter-busting blitz if time is short.

If the home you’re planning to sell has bursting closets and disorder throughout, there’s no way a single person or couple can deal properly with the problem without devoting many days or even several weeks to the task, says Vicki Norris, a professional organizer who lectures nationally on the subject (restoringorder.com).

But one solution is to add extra hands to the task and then to conduct an all-out blitz. Many organizing firms can mobilize a team on short notice; you can find one in your area through the National Association of Productivity & Organizing Professionals (napo.net).

Alternatively, you may be able to recruit a team of friends or relatives. Whether you hire organizers or seek out volunteers, Norris says you should bring in no more than four to five people and designate a leader.

Obviously, if you’re energetic and have lots of time, you can handle the whole project yourself.

“The only difference with a blitz is that you blast through the house faster. This is basically decluttering on steroids,” she says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)

A Pennsylvania woman of 68 recently lost her husband to colon cancer. The experience was so upsetting she’s vowing to soon sell the stone colonial where the couple lived for more than three decades.

But the widow’s real estate agent had strong words of advice: Either undertake some updates to modernize the property or prepare to accept a steep discount.

Dorcas Helfant, a past president of the National Association of Realtors (nar.realtor), doesn’t know the woman in this true story. But she agrees it will be essential to upgrade her property to make the most of her sale.

“The baby boomers of the world need to wake up to the current market. With inflation and higher mortgage rates, there are now fewer buyers out there than last year. Sellers can’t afford to be complacent,” says Helfant, the broker-owner of several Coldwell Banker realty offices.

The big picture for U.S. real estate is brought into focus by Gary Engelhardt, an economist at Syracuse University who just completed a major study of housing demographics titled “Who Will Buy the Baby Boomers’ Homes When They Leave Them?”

Engelhardt’s study helps explain why the widow will likely end up selling her stone house to purchasers who are much younger.

“America is growing older, with baby boomer homeowners totaling 32 million as of 2019 and increasingly becoming a larger source of existing homes for sale,” he says. Meanwhile, many in the rising millennial cohort are in desperate need of housing.

“There is enough homebuyer demand to meet most of the existing inventory that will come onto the market over the next decade and beyond,” says Engelhardt, whose study was commissioned by the Mortgage Bankers Association (mba.org).

Sellers who adapt to contemporary decor preferences are rewarded, says Amanda Pendleton, a home trends specialist for Zillow (zillow.com), the national real estate company that surveys buyer preferences.

“Research shows how seemingly minor home improvements can make a big difference in the way a potential buyer views and values a home,” she says. For instance, a home with a front door painted slate blue will obtain an estimated $1,537 premium over a place with a pale pink door.

The good news is that many key updates are relatively inexpensive.

“Don’t be intimidated by the changes you need because most are quite easy and cosmetically based,” says Ashley Richardson, an agent affiliated with the Long & Foster realty firm.

Having an updated kitchen is one key to attracting young buyers. It’s rarely necessary to do a major kitchen remodel to sell well. Still, it could pay to have any dark wood cabinets repainted in white to brighten this space.

Many older homes have wall-to-wall carpet, another turnoff for young buyers. Yet if you don’t want to spend what it costs for new hardwood, replace dark-colored carpeting with a lighter, neutral shade.

Before sellers decide where to invest in pre-sale home improvement, Richardson suggests they ask their agent for a checklist of cost-effective projects. Often some of the least costly improvements can have the biggest impact.

Here are a few other pointers for sellers:

-- Remove traditional furniture.

Though it’s unlikely you’ll sell your furnishings along with the house, it’s important to adapt your interior decor to the tastes of younger people -- most of whom favor contemporary furnishings.

“They’re not revolting against tradition. But they don’t want to be reliant on tradition, either,” says Jeffrey Levine, an architect who works with both residential and commercial clients and heads his own Washington-based firm (levinedesignstudio.com).

To get a feel for the sort of room layouts that typical young buyers like, Levine suggests you visit the website of IKEA (ikea.com), the Swedish home furniture retailer with a customer base heavily weighted toward young singles and families with school-age children.

At a minimum, you’ll want to remove bulky, old-fashioned pieces, such as large recliners, before your place goes up for sale.

-- Uncover your windows.

If you’re an older owner who’s lived in your domain for a long while, you may still have the window coverings you acquired years ago.

But Levine recommends that sellers trying to appeal to young buyers -- who like light, bright rooms -- remove all their heavy draperies.

Another key step to bright rooms is to thoroughly clean your windows, says Sid Davis, a real estate broker and author of “A Survival Guide for Selling a Home.”

“A dirty house -- including one with dirty windows -- is the kiss of death for anyone trying to sell,” Davis says.

-- Redo your bathroom lighting.

In their bathrooms, many older homes still feature Hollywood-style lighting with globes set on a chrome bar. But Davis says such fixtures seem dated to many young buyers.

“Look for bathroom lighting with a fresher, more current look. It shouldn’t cost too much to replace bathroom lights. Often you can replace any bathroom fixture for under $100,” he says.

As to the look of bathrooms, Richardson advocates replacing the kind of pink tiling in many homes built in the 1950s. Though the retro look appeals to some, it’s unlikely your young buyers will share this devotion.

-- Remove personal photos and other memorabilia.

There’s nothing that will date your place faster in the eyes of young buyers than personal photos taken decades ago.

Davis says any personal photos can make it psychologically difficult for young buyers to picture themselves living in your property.

“A fresh start is what people of any age want when they buy a house. They lose the concept of a blank canvas when they see all your memorabilia,” Davis says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)