MOUNT VERNON — After years of enduring plummeting home sales and price drops, Skagit County's real-estate industry is finally building itself back up.
For the first time since the housing bubble popped in 2007, Realtors here are receiving multiple bids on houses, and sales are picking up, although many are short sales and foreclosures.
RoseMarie Longmire, president of the North Puget Sound Association of Realtors, said 335 homes were sold in the first quarter of 2012 in Skagit County. While that's a far cry from the 669 sold in 2007 in that same time period, Longmire said last quarter was one of the strongest the local real-estate industry has experienced in some time.
But that increase in sales doesn't mean those homes are selling for much more than they have during the past few years, experts say.
Countywide, prices still appear to be dropping, though not as quickly as during the last few years, Longmire said, and have stabilized in some areas.
Longmire said low home prices and the lowest interest rates in decades have created a perfect market to buy, while homeowners are more comfortable selling with such affordable options to move into.
"People are waking up and saying, 'If I'm going to buy, I'm going to do it now,' " she said. "They're realizing they can switch up for a lot less now than if they wait."
Allen Workman, a broker for John L. Scott RealEstate in Anacortes, said Skagit's market has been in trouble for the past five years, wrought with poor sales and price drops. But in the last part of 2011, the tide started to turn, he said.
Although statistics show only a modest change over last year, Workman said the number of buyers looking for homes and making offers has risen at least 10 percent to 15 percent in the last few months, with multiple offers on some homes.
"We haven't seen that for probably five years," Workman said. "Things have seemed to brighten up considerably."
Workman said homes priced at less than $250,000 have been selling at a steady rate for a while, as first-time buyers with attractive federal loans and investors paying with cash are taking advantage of competitive prices.
More recently, he said sales of homes in the $400,000 to $500,000 range have been picking up, and the overall forecast for 2012 is optimistic.
However, Workman and Longmire both noted that short sales and foreclosed properties make up roughly 40 percent of recent sales. Longmire said that out of the 335 homes sold in Skagit County this year, 135 have been short sales or foreclosures. The percentage was similar last year.
Carol Warfield, real-estate-department manager at Bank of the Pacific, said banks are cautiously approving home loans once again, after keeping the coffers closed tight for years.
She said loan agencies tightened up requirements for applications immediately after the housing crash, approving only the most qualified customers. Now although much more paperwork is required, people with reasonable credit and steady income can get a loan, Warfield said.
Meanwhile, interest rates are down to historic lows, below 4 percent.
"It translates into a wonderful opportunity to refinance. And it allows people to purchase more, or just purchase, when maybe they couldn't at a higher rate," Warfield said.
Even construction, the industry hardest hit by the recession, has seen some local success, as new homes are beginning to sell in a few county developments.
Craig Schuldt, community manager at Skagit Highlands, a Quadrant Homes development in Mount Vernon, said 31 homes have sold there since the first of the year.
The site features homes designed for customers, meaning construction doesn't start until a floor plan is agreed upon and the property is purchased.
He said homes start around $170,000, and have been moving so fast that prices have actually risen by almost $10,000 in the last nine months.
Homes in the San Juan Passage development in Anacortes, starting at $379,000, also have been selling recently. Kathy Clarke, director of sales, said five homes have sold in the past six months, a notable improvement over recent years.
She said many retired baby boomers from the Seattle area who had held off buying a new home until the market improved are seeing today's low prices in a new light.
"We're seeing retired baby boomers coming in who weren't comfortable buying two or three years ago," Clarke said. "Their portfolios have stabilized. They may have less than they did three or four years ago, but they're ready to buy."
Still a long road ahead
While national and state statistics are encouraging and local industry experts are optimistic, Crellin said that before the market can get back to normal growth, the "shadow market," comprised of bank-owned distressed properties and homes late on their mortgage payments, must be drastically reduced.
Currently, there are 78,000 properties in the state more than 90 days late on mortgage payments, and many more already foreclosed.
He said the number of new delinquent properties is decreasing, but those homeowners will be hard-pressed to restore their credit.
"To really get the housing market back on an even keel, we need sustained job growth. There's no question about that," Crellin said.
Source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/realestate/2018321408_realskagit03.html
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