‘SALES ARE STRONG': Local Realtors have promising outlook for 2012

With 2012 in full swing, local Realtors say the New Year is off to a great start, but there will still be challenges in parts of the market.

“Residential real estate sales are stronger than they’ve been in the past five years,” said Mary Anne Windes of Real Estate Professionals of Destin. “Some buyers are still hanging on to see what happens in the 2012 elections, but many are taking advantage of the huge inventory, low prices and historically low interest rates.”

With a real estate market that continues to recover from its historic drop over the past decade, there are plenty of signs that point to a recovery and stabilization of the current market.

For local broker Richard Eimers, of the Eimers Group Inc., we are back in what he calls the “new normal” market. For the first quarter, numbers showed that from Destin to Inlet Beach, south of U.S. Hwy. 98, there was a total of 14 months worth of inventory.

“That’s the lowest it’s been in 7 years,” he said. “In the world of supply and demand, supply is down.”

Early measurements on first quarter activity, which runs from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 2011, are pretty much “on par” with what they saw last year, Eimers added.

Looking at today’s market, Windes told The Log that the residential markets are showing the best results so far and that she anticipates the commercial market making a recovery, but not quite yet.

“I’m seeing multiple offers on houses priced below $200,000 with the expectation that prices will rise,” she said. “Unfortunately, the large waterfront homes are bringing in unrealistically low offers, although some of them have panned out.”

Homes in the $1 million range are gaining traction, Eimers says, because sellers are more willing to negotiate and agree on the price they sell for. The biggest challenge, he said, much like Windes, are the high-dollar homes in the $5-$10 million price range.

When The Log asked Eimers where he would put his money in today’s market, he said, if he were a cash buyer, he would purchase land, as long as he had a five-year plan for it.

“I think residential land is the place where you are still going to be able to get your greatest values,” he said. “The problem is, it’s hard to get financed.”

With promising signs in 2012 so far, Windes says the key moving forward is to take advantage of the excessive inventory, low prices and low interest rates by selling your smaller home and moving into something larger.

The challenge is for those who are already in a larger home and looking to downsize.

“This is not your market,” she said.

For Eimers, the biggest challenge for both buyers and sellers in 2012 are Gulf-front single-family detached homes. As you drive around Destin, Eimers says you can see people who want to sell and are going through the process of fixing up their properties to sell or rent.

“You are seeing a lot of people working out there,” he said. “I think there is a good opportunity for rental income.”

As for the rest of 2012, the market has made its moves and it’s time to buy.

“Over the past seven years, we have seen it adjust and adjust and adjust,” he said. “If you are a traditional investor and your plan is to hold on to property for 7-10 years, the two, three or five percent that you might have overpaid for your property is now insignificant — it was true of 2009, 2010, 2011 and it’s going to be true of 2012.”