In more positive news, the Rhode Island Association of Realtors reported 395 sales in January, a 9% increase from January 2009. The median price rose 14% to $200,000, and days on the market fell 24% to 83.  Condo sales rose 28%, prices remained virtually the same, and days on the market rose 2 percent.  Multi-unit sales fell 21 percent, while price increased 21 percent and days on the market fell 36%.  While January is typically the slowest month for home sales, weather has been on our side unlike other parts of the country that have been paralyzed by record snow this season.

However, the housing market remains vulnerable with unemployment at high levels and consumer confidence lagging. When looking across the country, the housing market is flat.  We also have a long way to go to recover to the home values of 2006.  So, we are not out of the woods just yet, but clear fields are getting closer.

And if the trend is your friend, moving upward or even sideways is better than having a further contraction. Getting back to the activity level, our offices are operating at high levels in this traditionally slow time of year. Maybe it is all the rain we’ve been getting instead of snow. Hopefully, this will continue into the spring market.

Here are the highlights of the RIAR report.

The Single Family Home market is starting to stabilize:

• 787 Single Family homes sold, compared with 621 last year.
• The median sales price was $200,000, down from $215,000 during October 2008.
• 22% of sales were distressed properties, which is approximately the difference between this and last year sales.
• The median price of sales without short sales or foreclosures was $230,000.

The multifamily home market fell slightly in year-over-year comparisons:

• 187 sales in October 2009, down from 193 a year earlier, a 3.1% drop.
• The median price fell from $116,000 to $110,000.
• 18.6 % of those were distressed sales.

Condos had a 35% increase in sales in October compared with the last year:

• 111 sold compared with 82 a year earlier.
• The median price fell 29 % to $161,000 from $227,500.
• 21 % of the sales were distressed, again most of the difference from last year.

With Mortgage rates at historic lows, and lower prices, home affordability conditions are the best on record since 1970. The expanded tax credit should drive the spring market; helping the move-up buyer as well as the first-time buyer. Since potential buyers have until April 30 to have a contract in place, we should continue to see robust sales through  Spring.

This Week’s Real Estate Insight:

By the time the credit expires, we should have worked though enough inventory that prices stabilize or even increase slightly, then the market could stabilize because buyers won’t be paralyzed by worry about further decline in home values.

The event is free to members of the association and costs $20 for non-members. It will be held at RIAR’s office in Warwick. Space is limited, the event starts at 10:00 am. Call 401.785.9380 and choose option 1 for more information.

Condominium and co-op sales were up 9.7 percent from August to September, a 21.2 percent increase from a year ago. The median existing condo price was $175,100 in September, down 11.7 percent from a year ago. Sales in the Northeast increased 4.4 percent from August to September, an 11.8 percent increase from a year ago.

The median price in the Northeast was down 7 percent from a year ago, to $234,700. And according to data released by the Rhode Island Association of Realtors today, Rhode Island existing single family home sales rose 27.9 percent in September and days on the market dropped to 87 from a high of 109 earlier this year.  There is currently a 6.8 month supply of single family homes for sale, down from a 14-month supply in January.

This Week’s Real Estate Insight:

Early information from an annual NAR consumer study to be released Nov. 13 shows first-time home buyers accounting for more than 45 percent of home sales in the past year. The National Association of Realtors is lobbying for an extension of the first time homebuyer credit. We Realtors believe that the extension is critical to continued recovery of the housing market.

Rhode Island has a new agency law about which your Realtor must inform you. As members of our state organization, Rhode Island Association of Realtors (RIAR), we are required to provide you with a RI Mandatory Real Estate Relationship Disclosure during your first meeting, before listing your property, or, in the case of a buyer, before putting in an offer to purchase a home. This form is not a contract, but it does clarifies how you would like to be represented. You should know that because of changing circumstances, you may need to sign this form several times.

What happens when you are the seller.

Your Realtor can work with you as a Designated Client Representative to help you decide how to market and promote your property to the public, decide on a listing price, and negotiate with buyers. He or she will act in your best interest and keep your information confidential.

However, your Realtor may need to work with you, with permission, as a Neutral Dual Facilitator. This would happen if your Realtor is assisting both you, the seller client, and the buyer client. She then becomes a facilitator and needs to be neutral and cannot advocate for either of you. For example, if one of your Realtor’s buyer clients takes an interest in your home, your Realtor is a client representative of you and a client representative for the buyer. Your Realtor can assist both you and the buyer throughout the transaction as a neutral dual facilitator.

Now you ask, how can I be represented as a Buyer?

Again, there are multiple ways, and you have choices as to how you want to be represented.

Commonly, a Realtor will work with you as a Designated Client Representative to help you find that dream home. Once found, he or she can help you decide how much to offer or counteroffer on any property listed by another agent. Here, the Realtor will act in your best interest and keep your information confidential. In this case, you have met a Realtor with whom you feel comfortable and you want this Realtor to help guide you through the home buying process.  You will ackowledge this by signing the mandatory RI Real Estate Disclosure form along with your Realtor.

But, like what was stated above in seller representation, your Realtor may need to work with your permission as a Neutral Dual Facilitator, because he or she represents both of you. This is looking at that example from the buyer point of view. This happens if you are working with an agent and become interested in one of that Realtor’s listings.

Finally, the Realtor can just be a Neutral Transaction Facilitator. This means that the Realtor can assist you with required paperwork, but does not represent you and cannot negotiate on your behalf. For example, if you walk into an open house and meet the listing agent for the first time, and you want to put in a specific offer; the agent can help you with your offer as a neutral facilitator.

Stay tuned for more information on choosing a Realtor.

Bucking the national trend in home sales, The Rhode Island Association of Realtors (RIAR) showed a 12.4 % increase in sales from March 2008 to March 2009, and existing home sales increased 21.5% from February 09 to March 09. National Association of Realtors data showed a nationwide 7.1% decrease in sales during the same twelve months.  RIAR statistics include Rhode Island sales only, while NAR data includes the Fall River and New Bedford metropolitan areas. NAR reported that distressed sales accounted for just over half the sales in March virtually the same as in Rhode Island.

Lawrence Yun, NAR’s Chief Economist was in Rhode Island last Wednesday speaking at a RIAR conference.  He feels the national housing market “has returned to its normal balance after a buying frenzy in the first part of this decade led to a collapse last year, that can set the stage for buyers to return to the market and house prices to stabilize.  A median-priced house is as affordable as it was in 1998, before the run-up in housing prices.”

This Week’s Real Estate Insight:

You can take it from me, or you can listen to these two economists, Yun believes conditions are right for recovery to begin in Providence. “The buyer should be coming back, Providence will be the first housing market in the Northeast to emerge from the housing slump, and  University of Rhode Island  economist Len Lardaro agreed with Yun, saying “Now would not be a bad time to buy real estate – at the right price.”I’d be thinking about buying a house.”