Luxury Real Estate

By: Spencer Soper of The Morning Call

But sales are up over same month a year ago. Trend expected to continue

Lehigh Valley home sales increased in January compared with their sluggish pace in the same month a year earlier, but prices continued their downward slide, according to Prudential Patt, White Real Estate's HomExpert Market Report.

There were 250 homes sold in Lehigh and Northampton counties in January, up 9.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the report released Tuesday. The median price of a home sold in January was $173,750, down 5.6 percent from a year ago.

Economists expect the trend of increasing sales and falling prices to continue until prices bottom out in the second half of the year. Falling home prices are making homes more affordable to first-time buyers, who are being lured into the market with a federal tax credit of up to $8,000.

Putting downward pressure on the market are high joblessness and a large number of foreclosures.

The homebuyer tax credit, which was supposed to expire at the end of November, has been extended and expanded to include existing homeowners.

Now, buyers who have owned their current homes for at least five years are eligible for tax credits of up to $6,500 if they buy a new primary residence. First-time home buyers, defined as anyone who hasn't owned a home in the last three years, still get up to $8,000. To qualify, buyers have to sign a purchase agreement by April 30 and close by June 30.

There is debate among real estate experts about whether the expanded tax credit will increase sales of higher-priced homes, which would stabilize prices. So far, that hasn't happened. But activity in the seasonal real estate market historically picks up in the spring.

''I think the urgency (to get the tax credit) will unfold in weeks to come,'' said Brad Patt, senior vice president of Prudential Patt, White. ''We haven't seen it yet.''

The housing market is a key indicator of the region's overall economic health. Household wealth rises and falls with the housing market, influencing consumer confidence and spending decisions, economists say. For most homeowners, their home is their largest investment.

It took an average of 82 days to sell a home in January, up from 79 days a year earlier, according to the Prudential Patt, White report. The average monthly inventory in January was 4,957, down 6 percent from a year earlier.

The months supply of inventory –– a measure of how long it would take to sell all homes on the market at the existing sales pace –– was 8.3 months in January, down from 14 months a year ago. Foreclosure activity in the Lehigh Valley dropped in January, but remained a drag on the market.

There were 244 foreclosure notices issued in Lehigh and Northampton counties in January, according to the national foreclosure tracking firm RealtyTrac. That's down from 263 in the same month a year earlier. spencer.soper@mcall.com 610-820-6694

By Jim Walberg of Caribbean Islands Realty

Jim Walberg and his fellow Rotarians completed another map of the USA on the playground of Tassajara Hills Elementary School - 40 feet long and 25 feet high! It is part of our continued support of education projects in our community.

Since our local Rotary Club was founded in April 1989 it has been serving the many needs of our East Bay communities. During the past 20 years, we have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of people hours to address these local needs. Many of our Rotary Club’s community projects have been focused on educational needs of our school districts. We call one of them “The Maps Project”. Several years ago we learned of a map painting kit that was painted on elementary school playgrounds to assist kids with their understanding of our country’s geography. It sounded as if it was a winner of addition to any school.

We contacted our local school district and opened a discussion with them regarding how it could be of benefit to school kids to better understand the geography of our country. They accepted our invitation to paint this map on all of the elementary schools in the district. Yesterday we completed our eighth USA map on the playground. It has evolved into a very organized operation which now allows us to pull it off in just one day. Yesterday we are done from start to finish in must under six hours because of many volunteers showing up to help.

One of the ways that “Service Above Self” is learned by our younger generations is by modeling it. We invited local high school students and students from Tassajara Elementary School to assist us with yesterday’s project. So, you had young and old working together to create a magnificent end result. There were smiles and high-fives all around as we admired the finished product. The last step of any of the maps we have painted is having the Mississippi River painted along its entire route with it ending at New Orleans. What a great day.

During yesterday’s project I overheard many conversations among the adults and students about when our next project would take place because they wanted to make sure they helped us again. The “virus” of community service continues to be spread as we are always on the lookout for the needs within our community that need to be addressed. Our “army” of volunteers has now expanded to include high school and elementary students who also want to give back to their community.

You may remember my daily mantra, “To whom much is given, much is required.” As long as we are still breathing our work is not over on this earth in order to make it a better place. So, what does community service have to do with East Bay real estate? The quality of life of a community is a key factor as to why people want to live in our region. We want to make sure we are doing our part to improve the life experiences of all who live here. Contact me anytime if you would like to join us on any of our community projects. Until next time…your lifestyle detective remains on duty in the East Bay.