Valley Realtors optimistic for 2015 housing market

By kalea hall | khall@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Local real-estate agents say the housing market in 2014 wasn’t as strong as it was in 2013, but they are optimistic for 2015.

“We have gone through tough times,” said Michael D. Klacik, broker for Klacik Real Estate in Poland. “You have to be a very optimistic person when you are in sales. You have to have the ability to change with the marketplace in order to succeed.”

Year-to-date numbers released in November by the Youngstown/Columbiana Association of Realtors and the Warren Area Board of Realtors show increases and decreases in closed sales in the Mahoning Valley. Data through December 2014 will not be released until next week.

The number of closed sales went down by 1.6 percent from 2013 in Mahoning County. Pending sales, however, increased by 4.7 percent, new listings rose by 6.9 percent and the average sales price was up 4.2 percent.

In Columbiana County, data through November show an increase in closed sales by 0.6 percent from 2013. New listings saw a decrease of 1.4 percent in Columbiana, while pending sales and the average sales price increased.

November’s year-to-date data from the Warren Area Board of Realtors show an increase in closed sales by 2.4 percent and an 8.2 percent increase in pending sales in Trumbull County. The data also show new listings down and the average sales price up.

“The last two years have been amazing for me,” said Tibitha Matheney, Burgan Real Estate agent.

What has been amazing about it is having the ability to work with people who are able to purchase, she said.

Low interest rates have made it an option for renters to consider buying.

“The interest rates have been the best for saving the market,” said John Burgan of Burgan Real Estate in Boardman. “If it goes to 5 percent, people say that is too high.”

Burgan said the current interest rates are in the high 3 percent to 4 percent range.

Although interest rates are low, it is difficult to get approved for a loan today. A lot is dependent on the credit score.

Klacik thinks the market would improve more if banks weren’t so black and white on who gets approved.

“[Some] potential buyers are good buyers — they just need a second chance,” Klacik said.

The market here still has foreclosures and short sales, but those have seemed to slim down. Short sales happen when the real estate generates proceeds that are less than the amount owed on the property.

“We had to re-learn how to do short sales,” Matheney said.

The year was 2007 when the market started to change. Several factors added to the downward turn in the housing market. People were nervous to take chances with the state of the economy at the time.

“If you say you can’t, then you won’t,” Burgan said. “And that affected the real-estate market more than anything.”

Burgan’s business dropped by 7 percent from 2006 to 2007.

The realty company saw an increase in business in 2013, but doesn’t expect to see the same increase from 2014 to this year. This year is expected to stay positive, however.

Burgan Real Estate still deals with foreclosed homes and sees the impact the homes can have on the entire neighborhood. Some neighbors of those homes take on the responsibility of looking after them, and, in some cases, neighbors may purchase the house and put it back on the market.

The home at 3793 Ayeshire Drive in Austintown was in foreclosure and a neighbor bought it, remodeled it, and now it is back on the market, for example.

Klacik is hopeful this year will be better than the last, but the number of buyers out there is still down, and banks’ guidelines to approve buyers for loans are stringent.

“We have a very ample supply of inventory for anybody who is qualified to buy,” Klacik said.