Buyer's market? Five reasons it's so hard to buy a home right now

The inventory of homes for sale is at an 11-year high. Interest rates are bizarrely low -- under 4.4% on a 30-year-fixed rate loan, at last report. One would think that buyers would be burning up the market, but many are finding it difficult to actually close the deal.

Here are five reasons buyers are finding it very difficult to actually find and close on homes, even on today's "buyer's" market:

1. Distressed homes cause buyers distress. Short sales and foreclosures make up about one-third of the homes currently for sale, which sounds like a wonderland of opportunity for buyers to get into the market at a bargain price. But, often, the best-priced foreclosures in the best condition tend to get scarfed up by cash investors (see #3), leaving the average first-time home buyers to fight over the dregs, in terms of location and condition.