Alice Holbrook

About the author

Alice has covered personal finance topics, from the perspective of a writer and an editor, for almost 13 years, and she has spent the past five years focusing on the homebuying, homeownership and mortgage rate trends. She joined Bankrate in 2024 after more than a decade at NerdWallet. She loves translating industry data and statistics into insights homebuyers can use. She’s had work appear in outlets including Newsweek, The Washington Post, The Associated Press, USA Today and MarketWatch.

When she’s not working, Alice is likely reading, cooking or spending time with her kids.

Alice wants you to know

My husband and I bought our first house in late 2023. We were hesitant to even start looking because of high interest rates and home prices, but we ended up putting in an offer – and having it accepted – on the first home we saw. We knew our move date was flexible, so we were able to choose a house that needed a little bit of work. That meant we weren’t competing with a bunch of other buyers for the same property.

Don’t disqualify yourself from the housing market just because it seems intimidating. If you have your financials in order and you’re really hoping to buy, find a good agent and tour a few homes. Being able to offer the seller some flexibility could get you an offer accepted, even in a hot market.