Published: August 04, 2009 11:17 pm      

Home sales on the rise

Jessica McFatridge is getting married next summer.

But before the 26-year-old bride-to-be says “I do” to Jonathan Hollingsworth, they both want to say “we do” to Tiffany Grant.

Grant, a Realtor with F.C. Tucker/Tomlinson Inc., is assisting the couple purchase their first home.

Since it will be their first major purchase together, McFatridge said they are “learning about the housing market as we go. We are finding homes that are too big for us, or not big enough, but there are a lot of homes out there.

“We are not in a real rush. We don’t want to settle,” she said. “We are looking for the right fit.”

With 909 home listings in Howard County, the right fit should be easy to find.

Also, Grant said, the market is full of homes at bargain prices.

Add in low interest rates for qualified buyers and a federal tax credit for first-time homeowners, and you have “a perfect storm for buyers.”

“The 30-year fixed rate is amazing. If a person ever wanted to buy a home, right now is the time,” said Grant.

She said the federal tax credit is $8,000, and first-time homeowners have until November to take advantage of it.

“Like any industry, we’ve had our struggle with the economy, but it’s a perfect storm if you are looking for a home. It’s a great time to be a buyer.”

Kathy Harbaugh, executive vice president for the Realtors Association of Central Indiana, said central Indiana’s housing market has been “sluggish.”

But it is not as bad as it seems.

“When the rest of the country took a huge fall, we didn’t fall that far,” she said. “Our market is like a half circle. We don’t have the huge rises and falls as the coastal states. Our market stays conservative.”

Harbaugh’s organization represents more than 500 Realtors and affiliate members in Cass, Grant, Howard, Miami, Tipton and Wabash counties.

“I feel confident in the next six months we will see a more stable market,” she continued. “People have a ‘wait-and-see attitude’ now. They are waiting to see if they are going to have a job and they may be apprehensive about buying a home. But we are seeing good traffic at open houses. What we need now is an economy boost.”

In the housing market, except for foreclosures — the county’s current foreclosure rate is 38 percent, which is way down from January’s 70 percent — the housing market seems to be finding its way out of dark economic storm clouds.

National trend

Although the nation is mired in the longest recession since World War II, the U.S. Commerce Department recently released figures indicating new home sales rose 11 percent in June and sales have increased for the past three months.

According to economists at Thomson Reuters, who forecasted sales to drop 0.5 percent, December 2000 was the last time home sales increased so much.

But as the adage says, we are not out of economic woods yet.

“Existing home sales were up and new home sales jumped. While these items indicate the free fall in prices is likely over, it would be wrong to imagine we have hit a turning point in the market,” said Dean Baker, co-director of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Baker also writes for his organization’s weekly Housing Market Monitor publication, which discusses the latest indicators and developments in the housing sector.

“There is still an enormous oversupply of housing,” he continued.

That means, he said, the direction of house prices “will almost certainly continue to be downward.”

Yet, if housing sales are up, someone has to be buying the homes, and if that’s the case, “there are a lot of empty businesses and houses,” said Janelle Shallenberger, owner of Kokomo’s American Realty Group and American Real Estate Appraisers.

By the numbers

Her statistics indicate since July 2004, the most homes sold in the county occurred in June 2007, when 130 homes were sold. The lowest month for home sales was January 2009 with 43 homes sold.

The highest repossession of homes happened twice: June 2007 and May 2008. The lowest number of repossession occurred in July 2004 with 13.

Shallenberger’s husband, Mike, is a Realtor for M.R. Shallenberger Realty Inc. He has been in the business since 1969.

Janelle Shallenberger said a home in Howard County is typically on the market for 139 days and the average home cost is $74,542.

She said things are improving in the housing market because “Chrysler workers were off two months and now they are back to work. Things are starting to look better, but in the long run, who knows?”

Perhaps her husband does.

“For Realtors, summer is like Christmas. People want to move and get their kids in school, so home sales go up,” said Mike.

Home sales may be up now, but it not be strictly related to the economy, he said.

“The numbers are deceiving. We need to pump up the economy as fast as we can.”

Looking to the future

The real-estate couple both estimate it will be “three years minimum before things improve in Kokomo,” said Mike. “If a person buys a new car, they won’t have money for a home. They’ll accept the offer, get their financing approved and buy a car. It’s out of whack.”

Commerce data also shows not only did new home sales rise, but home resales also rose 3.6 percent in June. It was the third-straight month for an increase, as well.

However, since it’s a buyer’s market, Andy Hardie, the closing transaction manager for Hardie Group The Real Estate Co., said sellers need to adjust to the market if they want their home to sell quickly.

The first thing, he said, is for sellers to understand the true value of their home; not the value they believe it to be.

“The market is going to come back around. When your house is on the market, you have to persevere and make sure you have the house priced right,” said Hardie, whose Kokomo company has averaged selling one home a day since June 1.

In 2008, Hardie said 1,018 homes were sold in the county.

“If you want it sold quickly, use competitive pricing. Offer a home warranty. Make sure the house is in top-showing condition and even offer to pay the closing costs. It’s a tough challenge to sell a home. I tell them sometimes it’s better to take a loss now and you can make up some of the loss on your next home.

“[The real-estate industry needs] to build some momentum. It seems the real-estate market has relied on the automotive industry. With Chrysler and Delphi workers going back to work, that’s a positive,” she said. “It is some great deals out here now. I’ve heard stories about how the [housing] market used to be. I’ve never seen that side. I’ve seen this side. I am excited to see the other side.”

• K.O. Jackson is the Tribune’s business writer. He can be reached at (765) 854-6739 or via e-mail kirven.jackson@kokomotribune.com