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Glimmers on real estate turnaround have yet to shine on Prince George’s
Published on: Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Guest Column By York Van Nixon III
For months there have been claims by media and politicians of a “bottoming” to a recession that has all but strangled our financial markets.
One would have to look hard in Prince George’s County to find any evidence of it in the real estate market. Just look around. There are still more “For-Sale” signs on lawns than “Sold” signs, a clear indication of a continuing imbalance of buyers and sellers.
Prince George’s County, besides having one of the highest concentrations of African-American wealth in the country, is also a major victim of “predatory lending” that is evident by its foreclosure rate that, in many neighborhoods, is double or triple the national average, which is between 10 and 15 percent.
If you do not need to sell your home or tap your equity to pay for medical bills, tuition, or some other expenditure, then you can just wait it out until home values return to their peak, which will probably be around 2012.
For the unlucky ones who need to move, the options are limited. If you purchased your home after 2005, count yourself lucky if it is now worth what you originally paid. For many sellers, the choices are often limited to taking a loss or walking away from the property and a good credit history.
The “top-down” solution from Congress, which only bailed out Wall Street, had little or no affect on the County’s real estate market. But there is another approach that could turn things around before we see an economic disaster that could rival New Orleans.
Last week, Jack Johnson, county executive, received a plan which could put an immediate floor on Prince George’s County’s declining real estate market. We can only hope he has the courage to not follow the failing policies of Congress and marshal his leadership abilities to bail out the residents in his backyard.
York Van Nixon III
Nex Millennium Realty
Reader Comments - 1 Total
Posted By: Michael Cerrito On: 6/28/2010
Title: Real Etate Market
In response to “Glimmers on real estate turnaround have yet to shine on Prince George’s County” (Wednesday, October 28, 2009), the guest columnist paints an overly pessimistic picture of the housing market in Prince George’s County. Grant it, the County’s housing market has seen some tough times recently as have other jurisdictions both locally and nationally. However, as real estate professionals who are verifiably licensed in Maryland and actively engaged in the Prince George’s County market we take issue with the columnists’ opinion as we’ve seen steady improvement for more than a year.
Unlike comments that reflect only opinion, we offer hard facts and figures compiled by the Metropolitan Regional Information System Inc. (MRIS - a regional multiple listing service). Their data for the period July, 2008 through September, 2009 (October numbers are not available yet), reflect that the number of units sold every month has increased by 62% in Prince George’s County. The number of contracts entered into every month is up over 200% and the number of active listings or houses for sale has decreased by 23%. Where we are not at the high value levels that we saw in 2007 we are experiencing a “leveling off” of decline in average sold prices and overall the price decline over that 14 month period has been 25%. These statistics demonstrate that inventory is shrinking, absorption of inventory is accelerating and prices are sustaining themselves.
Contrary to last week’s column, home sales have increased dramatically in Prince George’s County with the help of national and local programs designed to stimulate the housing market. The Federal Government’s popular first-time home buyer tax credit has been extended until April 30, 2010 and expanded by Congress to give both new and move-up buyers a tax incentive to buy a home. On the local level Prince George’s County Executive, Jack Johnson, implemented a plan in July called “Down Payment On Your Dream”/Neighborhood Stabilization Plan (NSP) which got its start as part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) of 2008. This plan is assisting first time home buyers in the purchase of foreclosed homes in the County by offering down payment and closing cost assistance. This program has just recently settled its 100th home and its gearing up to settle over 600 more. That’s right, government “top-down” solutions that have helped Prince George’s County and many other jurisdictions nationally. The County now has 100 new first time homebuyers in 100 homes that had previously been on the foreclosure docket. These citizens are now living the American dream. We verified with the County Executives office that he is committed to this plan and no other housing plan has been presented or is being considered, another misrepresentation by the columnist.
Although some like to report doom and gloom, the truth of the matter is… the housing market in Prince George’s County is looking up. Local REALTORS® are experiencing multiple sales contracts and, on some properties, offers that are above listed price. The home buying programs are working to bring confidence back to the County real estate market. Interest rates are at all time lows and now is the perfect time to buy a home. All…good news!
Sincerely,
Michael Cerrito, President
Prince George’s County Association of REALTORS
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