NOT ALL SIGNS ARE BAD FOR THE REAL ESTATE MARKET IN COLUMBIA COUNTY
Mike McCagg
ccSCOOP News
Despite just completing a year in which home sales in Columbia County dropped 23 percent, realtors say the market is good in the county and times are getting better.
"Things are starting to stir a bit in the area. We are starting to see an increase in calls," said Rick Reilly, president of the Columbia-Greene Realtor's Association and an agent with the Rhinebeck-based firm Fraleigh and Rakow. "I think the perception out there among potential customers is that we have hit the bottom of the curve. They want to get in when the values are still good." |
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The activity is down a bit numbers wise, but the interest level is high among first time home buyers and people with cash interested in getting a good deal,” real estate agent Bob Weinman, of Red Apple Realty, said on Monday.
The optimism not only follows a year in which home sales fell 23 percent in the county, but a December in which just 24 single-family homes changed hands in the county, down from 34 in December 2007 and 55 in Decembers 2006, according to statistics provided by the New York State Association of Realtors.
Despite the harsh numbers, Weinman and Reilly said they have seen signs of life in the market. And, they said, the down market of last year may not have been as bad as the numbers would indicate.
“While the closings were down at the end of the year, the pending sales were high. Take for example, November. Pending sales were the highest they have been in years," Reilly said. "There are people buying out there. They are just being very cautious. "
“People are seeing this as an opportunity to get into the market. The activity from the second home buyer market isn’t what it was, but the local market—especially for first time homebuyers—is better,” said Weinman.
While the real estate agents said the market for second homes has slowed in the county, the first-home buyers market has opened due in large part to dropping home prices. Median home prices for sales in the county decreased by three percent according to the NYS Association of Realtors, but in some cases the price tags placed on homes have dropped much more drastically.
“Prices are at an extremely low level—a level we haven’t seen in a long time,” Weinman said.
Reilly said that is due in part to the overly inflated prices of the past few years. "Some property values are down 20 percent, but that may be down from an unreasonable value," Reilly said.
The realtors also said that certain areas of the county have seen more activity than other areas. Weinman said the central part of the county—Claverack, for example—has seen plenty of activity, because home buyers who have gone through his agency are looking for the lower costs the area affords.
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