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Highlands Today

Home Sales Pick Up In Highlands

Photo Illustration by Jasmina Meyer/Highlands Today

Cheryl “CJ” Hamel, an agent for RE/MAX in Highlands County, has sold 18 properties so far this year and currently has 5 residential sales pending.

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By GARY PINNELL

Highlands Today

Published: February 27, 2009

SEBRING - In the past two months, the median home price in Highlands County has fallen below $100,000.

That's an obvious mix of good news and bad news for sellers, but it also means home sales are picking up.

"Sellers are getting more realistic now," said Steve Fruit, an agent with RE/MAX Realty Plus II in Lake Placid. "That's one of the problems we had - unrealistic expectations of what they were going to get for the property."

That news holds up around the state: existing home sales rose 24 percent in January from the year before as buyers scooped up bargains in the state's troubled housing market, the Florida Association of Realtors reported Wednesday.

Fruit's statistics, derived from the Multi-Listing Service, showed 1,065 properties sold in the previous year. The Highlands County Property Appraiser listed 1,087 sold during the same period.

The median price was $136,000 in January and February 2008, but $99,000 this year, a 26 percent drop, Fruit calculated.

"The number of listings is down," said Fruit, who tracks the numbers through the Multi-Listing Service. "More of the listings are motivated sellers. Non-motivated sellers are dropping off. They're taking their property off the market, and agents are not taking overpriced listings. It's not helping the seller; it's not helping the market; and it's not helping the Realtor."

Many of the homes sold were foreclosures and short sales, Fruit said. In a short sale, the lender agrees to take the sale price of the house, even though it's less than the mortgage balance.

"We're getting competing offers on foreclosures and short sales," Fruit said. "We haven't seen that in some time."

Fruit thinks the trend started moving up again in December 2008. "But you can't know until you look back at it."
Cheap mortgages are also helping. The national average rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage fell to a record low at 5.05 percent in January from 5.29 percent in December, according to Freddie Mac. The rate was 5.76 percent in January 2008.

Statewide

Florida's sales, the fifth consecutive month of year-to-year increases, bucked an otherwise sluggish January for home sales across the United States, which fell 8.6 percent in January from the year before.

Sales of homes in Florida were fueled by lower interest rates and plummeting housing prices, the median value of which fell to $139,500 in January from $206,000 in January 2008, a 33 percent statewide decrease.

In Fort Myers, the median price of a home fell 59 percent from $234,000 to $94,900, and sales more than doubled. Home prices in Tallahassee fell from $197,500 to $161,300, a drop of 18 percent.

Florida condominium sales rose in January for the fourth time in five months, up 13 percent year-to-year. Median prices fell 40 percent to $113,000.

"Many people are looking at today's market and seeing opportunities to find the home or business they've always wanted," FAR President Cynthia Shelton said in a statement.

Sales of existing homes in the United States fell again in January as consumers waited for more information on potential federal relief, the National Association of Realtors reported on Wednesday.

Sales of single-family homes, townhouses, condominiums and co-ops fell 8.6 percent from January 2008 to 4.5 million units nationally. January sales were off 5.3 percent from December.

The national median existing-home price was $170,300 in January, down 14.8 percent from a year earlier when the median was $199,800.

But falling interest rates and components of the federal economic stimulus package should entice more reluctant buyers into the markets.

"The housing market will soon get a lift from very favorable buying conditions - not only from improved affordability, but also from the stimulus of an $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit, and higher conforming loan limits that will allow more people to tap into 50-year low mortgage rates," NAR economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement.

"It was dead for about six months, but people are becoming more confident," said Terry Kant, a Tallahassee Realtor. "Things really didn't start picking up until last month."

Tax Break

Kant is getting interest from first-time buyers and those who haven't owned a home for more than three years. Those buyers may be eligible for a tax credit under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The Internal Revenue Service announced Wednesday that taxpayers who qualify for the first-time homebuyer credit and purchase a home this year before Dec. 1 have a special option available for claiming the tax credit either on their 2008 tax returns due April 15 or on their 2009 tax returns next year.

Qualifying taxpayers who buy a home this year before Dec. 1 can get up to $8,000, or $4,000 for married filing separately.

"For first-time homebuyers this year, this special feature can put money in their pockets right now rather than waiting another year to claim the tax credit," said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. "This important change gives qualifying homebuyers cash they do not have to pay back."

At IRS.gov, a revised version of Form 5405, First-Time Homebuyer Credit has been posted. The instructions provide additional information on who can claim the credit, income limitations, and repayment.

Taxpayers who buy their main home before Dec. 1, 2009, can claim the credit on either their 2008 or 2009 tax returns. They do not have to repay the credit if they remain in their main home for 36 months. They can claim 10 percent of the purchase price - up to $8,000, or $4,000 for married individuals filing separately.

The amount of the credit phases out for taxpayers whose adjusted gross income is more than $75,000, $150,000 for joint filers.

A first-time homebuyer and a spouse cannot have owned another main home three years before the purchase.

The new law does not affect people who purchased a home between April 8, 2008 and Dec. 31, 2008. For these taxpayers who are claiming the credit on their 2008 tax returns, the maximum credit remains 10 percent of the purchase price, up to $7,500, or $3,750 for married individuals filing separately.

In addition, the credit for these 2008 purchases must be repaid in 15 equal installments over 15 years, beginning with the 2010 tax year.

MICHAEL PELTIER of the News Service of Florida contributed to this story Highlands Today senior reporter Gary Pinnell can be reached at gpinnell@highlandstoday.com or 863-386-5828

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