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Highlands Today

Some Realtors See August With Cautious Optimism

Kathy Waters/Highlands Today

Linda Harrell with ERA Advantage Realty, center, shows Boon, left, and Ken Fincher of Sebring a home off of Schlosser Road on Friday.

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Pallavi Agarwal

Published: September 2, 2008

SEBRING - Dale Stewart has had a busy August.

Last week, the Realtor from C.S. Edwards Realty Inc. signed three contracts and knows that all C.S. Edwards agents have been busy showing homes.

"Sales are picking up and prices are dropping," she said Thursday, minutes before taking a phone call from a prospective buyer interested in a brand new, four-bedroom home in Orange Blossom.

The house is listed for $189,900. The owner has dropped the price four times and is taking a loss to get rid of the property, she says.

In two hours, she is set to show the home.

Are deeply discounted home prices finally lifting Highlands County's beleaguered real-estate market?

Yes and no – depending on who you speak with – although some do say their phones have finally started ringing.

Whether these translate into sales remain to be seen. The available August figures indicate otherwise, and a better indication of whether optimism is returning to the market may be evident in September or even October, when the August closings typically should take place.

Realtors sold 44 residential properties and three condominiums from Aug. 1 until Aug. 28, according to the latest figures available as of Friday. To do better than July, about 15 more residential property sales were needed for the remaining three days.

'One Of The Slowest Summers'

If 2007 was bad, 2008 was worse, according to statistics on residential property sales compiled by Steve Fruit, Realtor with RE-MAX Realty Plus.

Fruit said that from January to July, only 591 residential properties were sold compared to 744 for the same period last year. The figure includes single-family homes and condominiums and excludes mobile homes and lots.

That represents a 20-percent drop in sales compared to last year and the slowest sales in a seven-year period, according to Fruit's numbers.

While several markets cheered up on a National Association of Realtors report that sales of existing homes rose in July by 5 percent, things were not that great in the county.

Realtors sold around 60 residential properties in July. Last July, it was around 90.

Greg Karlson, a broker with ERA Advantage Realty, said this summer was the slowest he has seen but maintains that the momentum is picking up.

"It's the beginning of the recovery," he said. "For the first time in a long time," things are getting better.

A combination of factors are bringing buyers back along with lower home prices, he said.

The interest rates are still low, property taxes are falling and will continue to next year, and those who left Florida for North Carolina and Georgia in '05 and '06 because of higher taxes are reconsidering the state, he said.

Buyers who have been sitting on the sidelines are going to take the plunge when they hear that home sales are going up, he said.

"The more you hear news like that, the more it starts to get better," he said.

Foreclosures The Real Problem

Debra Worley, a Realtor from Lake Placid, said that even though home prices are lower, more stringent lending requirements are making it tough for some prospective buyers.

"There is more documentation needed, more running around," she said.

Worley does not expect the real-estate market to stabilize until foreclosures slow down or subside. That won't happen until the end of 2009, according to her calculations, so she does not expect the market to improve soon.

A Florida Association of Realtors report she has recently read shows that Internet inquiries of the Multiple Listing Service, or MLS as it is better known, has gone up 29 percent.

"That would mean the market is moving in some direction," she said.

The highest sales are being seen in properties below $100,000 and the second-highest between $100,000 and $150,000.

Fruit said that home prices have declined from 15 to 30 percent since their peak of 2005, although some areas have weathered the price drop better.

The median value of a home today stands at around $140,000, from $170,000 about three years ago, Fruit added.

To some like Karlson, today's home prices couldn't get better, and buyers should stop waiting.

At some point, sellers will be more picky about their offers and are "not going to take (offers on) such home prices any more," he added.

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