HONOLULU -- Hawaii's housing prices have been soaring for a couple of years. KITV 4 News and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin have teamed up to cover the housing issue in an unprecedented effort.

KITV 4 News reporter Paul Udell followed a couple hoping to get into the market as first-time buyers.

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Sunday after Sunday, Sabrina and Ricky Tran check out open house listings. They've been searching for six months.

"It's been pretty rough, going out there and seeing what the open houses are like," Sabrina Tran said.

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"It's crazy. We're still hanging in there. We want to find our home. It's tough out there. Even for a two-income household, it's tough," Ricky Tran said.

They have a combine income of $80,000 a year. They started looking at $190,000 townhouses. They've had to move their range up to $255,000.

"It's totally crazy. Basically, we wish it would be a lower price, but as of now, it keeps climbing and climbing and we can't do anything about it," Sabrina Tran said.

Even when they find something with promise, they face other issues. They're used to being disappointed. They were shocked when they first started hunting by how little they could buy.

"We're OK with something that has to be fixed up a little, like paint jobs… little fixer uppers. But not big jobs that are going to cost a lot," Sabrina Tran said.

Seekers like the Trans often compete with investors or people with lots of money from selling their homes.

"Just a few days ago I put in an offer for a client, first-time home buyers. They went $5,000 over the asking price. They got outbid by somebody who offered all cash and there were six other bidders too," real estate agent Rowena Wong said.

The winning bid was also $31,000 over the townhouse asking price.

"We can only go up in price," Sabrina Tran said.

With that they moved on to the next open house. But with prices soaring, how do they keep up their hopes?

"We pray a lot. That's all we can do is pray a lot. We just look up to God and we'll see how it goes from there," Ricky Tran said.