NOTHING BUT GOOD NEWS ON THE REAL ESTATE FRONT

Buyers everywhere

A crisis in the housing market sparked by a surge in delinquent “subprime” mortgages was a key factor behind the U.S. slide into recession.

Now some Realtors see the glimmer of a turnaround.
“It’s like it’s been raining buyers, when they’ve been the scarcest thing in town,” said Joan Dodd, a Realtor who has worked 30 years in the Phoenix Valley – one of the areas most blighted by foreclosures as boom turned to bust.

“The buyers are just seeming to come out of nowhere … We’ve had a long dry spell, but it seems to be over.”

Dodd said she thought interest rates were “fabulously low,” which had helped entice buyers back into the market. She further cited an $8,000 tax allowance for first-time home buyers – a view echoed by others.

Janie Hudson, a Realtor who has also been in the business for 30 years, said she saw positive trends.

“It isn’t great, but I don’t see any doom and gloom. If (homes) are priced well, they are starting to sell,” she said. Just this month, a three-bedroom ranch house, priced at $330,000, sold in its first week on the market at its asking price – something she had not seen for some time.