A video on Facebook shows the crowd behind an affordable house in Raleigh

In one Facebook post, realtor Monique Edwards illustrated the problem of affordable housing Role in stunning detail.

A queue of cars stretching for a quarter in two directions, and dozens of people waiting to look at a rare opportunity: a house priced below $ 300,000.

“When we talk about the housing crisis, we really mean it,” said Edwards, the company’s owner / broker. NC Living Realtyflipping the phone camera over the crowd in the post. “It’s absolutely insane.”

Edwards wanted her client to see closer than the market became.

And when Tuesday’s clock barely struck 5 p.m., they arrived at house on Lafertti Court – 1,485 square feet at a price of $ 260,000.

More like a street fair than a home exhibition

The scene in North Raleigh, near US 401 and Interstate 540, looked more like a street fair on July 4 than a home show.

“I didn’t even show you what was in the house,” Edwards said. “Sometimes you have to see it with your own eyes. My biggest concern is how I’m going to help these people. “

Raleigh got used to houses of this size with half a million price tags near the city centerbut Edwards highlighted the lack of homes for middle-income families across the region.

Beginners in the market customers do not always understand the need to submit competitive bids, refuse repairs or – in many cases – agree to pay the price in advance if the appraisal of the house is not an appraisal.

She said this house was listed reasonably and she showed it to her client, thinking that many potential buyers would wake up to the size of the line.

“I wanted to highlight a shortcoming that we don’t have in the private sector,” she said, “and the private sector doesn’t create it.”