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Want That House? You’d Better Pay in Cash

Investors, downsizing baby boomers and millennials with parental assistance are helping to drive surge in all-cash deals

By

Laura Kusisto and

Laura Kusisto

The Wall Street Journal

Biography Laura Kusisto
@LauraKusisto
Laura.Kusisto@wsj.com

Christina Rexrode

Christina Rexrode

The Wall Street Journal

Biography Christina Rexrode
@chris_rexrode
christina.rexrode@wsj.com

Dec. 5, 2017 5:30 a.m. ET

Meagan Freeman and her boyfriend have been looking for a midprice house in the Seattle area for six months but keep running into a hurdle: cash buyers swooping in and snatching up their properties.

It has happened three times, she said, most recently two weeks ago. The couple bid on a home in an unfashionable suburb they believed was a sure bet in the midst of a dreary Seattle November, when the market typically is slow.

Instead,...

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