Charles County Maryland Real Estate Market Report - July 2009
The real estate market outlook, based on results for the month of July 2009, continues to show signs of improvement in several areas, compared to last month as well as this time last year. There were 103 homes sold in Charles County during the month of July compared to only 121 homes sold in June, which represents the only statistic moving in a negative direction. As a result the current overall inventory supply stands at 12.5 months. On a great note, pending sales are up over 50% compared to this time last year.
While home prices continued to decline, the rate of decline lessened to 9.02% over a year ago compared to a decline of nearly 17% in June. With the demand of lower priced homes on the rise, we saw the median price jump $10,000 to $275,000 over June, but still down over 8% from last year. One of the reasons for this strengthening is because the banks are becoming more rigid in the negotiations of offers for Bank-owned and short sale properties. They are not as quick to drop prices as they once were. Although the Bank-owned inventory remains high, the lower priced homes appear to show strong signs of meeting the “bottom”. Homes priced over the median price range are still feeling a “price squeeze” and we are continuing to see falling prices as a result.
As for properties in Foreclosure, Realtytrac.com reported 110 new properties in default for the month of July in Charles County. The rate of new defaults continues to out-pace the total monthly rate of sale, which is an ongoing trend. The total number of properties in Charles County that are in some state of foreclosure (including Bank-owned) has risen to 954 properties, compared to just 887 during the month of June. The number of properties in a state of Foreclosure continues to rise, and all these numbers are not reflected in the MRIS Trends Report because the majority of these homes are not currently being actively sold at this time. Also noteworthy are Realtytrac.com statistics showing a National increase of foreclosed properties increasing more than 9% over the previous 6 months.
Speaking of “Foreclosure”, as a Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE), my first responsibility to clients who are facing foreclosure is to council them on how to keep their home. First and foremost a homeowner in this situation must keep communications with their bank open. While the majority of my “distressed property” clients have not had much success with getting their mortgage companies to provide the needed modifications, it is certainly worth trying. Because of the outlook of the current housing market, and homes in default outpacing sales, many of the homeowners who choose to proceed with a short sale will undoubtedly still find themselves in Foreclosure.
Recently I sent out information to my clients asking them to contact their Congressmen and Senators to support the bill that provides every home buyer with a $15,000 tax credit. You can go to www.Congress.org to find out who your local representative is. Please call in your support for this bill. It will go a long way towards the recovery of the housing market, and may very well turn falling home prices around over night, saving many homeowners from going to Foreclosure.
On a final note, the month of August is looking very strong. While this month is typically one of the slowest months of the year, we have seen increased buyer activity in all price points. Rental activity also continues to remain strong.
If you know of anyone looking for a career in real estate, now is the time to begin one. DeHanas Real Estate is looking for high quality people to help our clients buy, sell and rent homes. A number of new systems we have recently instituted within our organization are producing a large volume of business. In the past, we have found some of our best agents are former clients. Please call us to discuss the opportunity at 301-870-1717.
