I would like to share with you a few effective practices and ideas that have helped my own company get our listings sold, and hopefully these tips can help you, too—whether you need to revive a stale listing, or you need to convince a new seller why they need to list with you.

The reason: Affordable starter homes, those essential first purchases in a typically lifelong journey of homeownership and building security and wealth, are vanishing across the U.S. like summertime cicadas. And these entry-level homes that do hit the market are now often priced out of the reach of the people who need them the most.

It’s a problem that has been gathering steam for some time. Classic starter homes began going up in earnest across the country after World War II, giving young Americans without much equity the ability to own property. Builders made these abodes smaller without as many high-end amenities to keep them more affordable for first-time buyers. But in recent years, they’ve shifted to erecting larger, more profitable homes as land, materials, and governmental costs have driven up prices. Many starters have been torn down so larger homes can go up in their stead. And investors have bid up the prices on those that remain.

To be sure, savings account rates have increased, but they are lagging the pace set by the Federal Reserve — as well as the hikes witnessed in other interest-based products, like mortgages and credit card rates, which have both surged this year.

The average brick-and-mortar savings accounts paid a scant 0.13%, according to Bankrate’s September 21 weekly survey of institutions. By comparison, mortgage lenders are now charging above 6%, a level not seen since 2008, while credit cards are charging an average of 21.59% APRs for new cards, two percentage points higher than at the start of the year, according to LendingTree.