LAURIE EDWARDS

Laker Weekly Lake-area Realtors are cautiously optimistic that the housing market is back on the rise.

Lake-area Realtors say they are hopeful a strong finish in 2009 home sales may signal better days ahead.

"I wouldn't say the real estate market is going great at Smith Mountain Lake, but I would say it looks to be improving pretty consistently," said Matt White, broker for Realty World Properties in Huddleston.

According to data from the Virginia Association of Realtors, 2009 sales were up 1.6 percent from 2008, with the fourth quarter of 2009 up by 18.1 percent.

In the Roanoke Valley, sales were up every month except August from July through December 2009 against the same period in 2008. In August, sales were down by only two.

Locally, there were twice the number of single-family waterfront homes sold in the fourth quarter of 2009 (38 sales) compared to the same quarter in 2008 (19 sales).

Six homes listed at more than $1 million closed in the fourth quarter. The million-plus home market often is used by Realtors and analysts as an indicator of market growth.

Glenda McDaniel, a Realtor with Long & Foster in Moneta, said she had two $1 million-plus homes closing in January.

She said buyers are again becoming comfortable spending seven figures on a second or retirement home. She attributes that, in part, to the market correction, "probably the biggest" she's seen in her 22 years as a Realtor.

"We've seen price corrections this year from the original listing to sale of 15 to 30 percent," said McDaniel.

Teresa Criner, a Realtor with Wainwright & Co. in Moneta, said another factor could be the slow rise of the stock market through the end of 2009.

"I think it can be some rebound on their stock investments and feeling like it's a sound investment at this time in the market," said Criner.

The majority of waterfront homes sold in 2009 were in the $600,000-and-under category, with the average sales price for the year at $611,564.

"I've noticed this: People who can afford more are paying less right now," said Jody Lyons, Realtor with Lyons Team Realty in Moneta.

At Mayberry Hills, an off-water subdivision in Moneta, the developer is preparing to break ground on a new phase of patio homes because most homes in the development have sold, said Lyons.

"Out of 35 homes in Mayberry Hills, I think we only have five empty now," he said.

Listing price is key right now, said Barry Bridges, broker at Weichert Realtors Bridges & Co. in Moneta. He said many of the homes that are stagnant on the market are those that haven't undergone price corrections. He attributes the will-not-budge prices to the ballooned prices in 2004 and 2005 that sellers can't get out of mind.

"If you bought your home for $300,000 and three years ago, it was worth $600,000 and today it's worth $500,000, have you lost $100,000 or have you made $200,000?" asked Bridges. "That's what's so difficult for people to wrap their minds around."

He said sellers have to forget the 2004 and 2005 property values because, "that was a weird time in our history. Property values went up so fast, it was unbelievable."

Bridges and other Realtors point to pending sales as another indicator that the market is improving. As of Dec. 31, there were 18 waterfront single-family home sales pending.

Confidence in the market was part of the reason Dave Vaden, a Realtor since January 2004, decided to open his own agency on Oct. 1.

At Smith Mountain Lake Parkway Realty in Huddleston, Vaden said he closed three sales from October through December and had two more under contract in mid-January.

Vaden said he thinks there will be a lot of movement in the housing market through April.

"I think it'll be a good year for people who work hard," he said.

In addition to market confidence, Vaden said he considered the monetary benefits of running his own agency instead of paying another broker.

He said he's confident that sales will continue to improve through 2010 and that the risk in opening his own agency will pay off.

White said he thinks the market is stabilizing and the inventory will start to deplete through 2010, opening the door for a "more normal pace" of sales in 2011.

This year will be better than the last few, but not in comparison to the boom period in mid-2000, he said.

"We're selling property and we're selling it for reasonable prices, but we're not selling it at a terrific pace," said White.

While Realtors would like to see things return to a more rapid pace of sales, several said they don't want to see a repeat of the 2004-2005 market bubble, because the pendulum eventually swings the other way.

If it does, Realtors could see themselves, and the housing market struggling again.

"My hope is we have a nice, slow, steady growth," said Bridges.