Garry and Evelyn Scott put their four-bedroom home in the Perrywood community up for sale in February, hoping they would have it off their hands by the time their new house in Upper Marlboro was finished being built.
They knew the market was cooling, so they listed the property at $615,000, which was $10,000 below its assessed value. But the spacious home, set in a quiet cul-de-sac, wasn’t getting any takers. So they lowered the price to $610,000. Then $605,000. Then $599,000. Then $575,000. And they threw in $15,000 in closing costs. Still no offers.
‘‘I’m smoking again. ... I’m nervous,” Garry Scott said. The couple, who bought the home seven years ago, can’t carry two mortgages, and their new home is almost done.
The Scott’s home is just one of more than 6,000 on the flooded market in Prince George’s County. The prolonged boom that lasted close to five years has made a full reversal, as homes that used to be snatched up in a matter of days are sitting on the market for months. And the reality is starting to sink in for local sellers, who are being forced to cough up closing costs, bid down and flat out give up on trying to sell.
‘‘In any market, there’s a time when what goes up must go down,” said RE⁄MAX Allegiance Realtor Eric Coaxum, who works in Laurel.
Agents and experts say the prolonged and frantic boom, which began cooling toward the end of 2005, is one of the reasons for the drastic slowdown. There are fewer buyers since so many bought property a few years ago. Plus they say concerns about foreclosures, which are particularly high in Prince George’s, have scared prospective buyers.
‘‘I’ve been doing this for 23 years and I’ve had to do things I haven’t had to do for 10 years [to sell a home],” said Ansa Tyus, a District-based RE⁄MAX Realtor who’s trying to sell the Scott home. She’s had to circulate postcards for open houses and pursue other tactics she describes as ‘‘guerrilla marketing.”
June statistics released by the Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, which tracks regional real estate trends, showed 6,294 active listings in Prince George’s. The last time the housing stock topped 5,000 was in early 1999. That’s compared with fewer than 1,000 homes for sale in the early part of 2005.
Homes in Prince George’s are now spending an average of 76 days on the market, compared with just 22 days this time in 2005. It mirrors activity region-wide and nationwide, where homes are staying on the market far longer than they were even last year. Data from the National Association of Realtors shows the nationwide housing inventory in May was 23.5 percent larger than at the same time last year.
‘‘I think a lot of people wish they had a crystal ball because we’d like to know what’s gonna happen next,” said Darrell Carrington, a senior loan officer with Freestate Mortgage Services in Bowie.
He said foreclosure fears have rippled through the market. Of the 4,522 foreclosures recorded statewide last year, 1,558 were in Prince George’s.
Agents say the sellers of higher-priced homes are having the most difficult time, especially since they are competing with new luxury homes being built in developments throughout the county. And some of those developers offer competitive incentives. Ryan Homes, for example, is offering 50 percent off options in several of its residential developments until the end of the month.
Donald Frederick, president of the Prince George’s Association of Realtors, said offering closing cost assistance, a rarity just a few years ago, is now commonplace.
‘‘It’s got to show well, it’s got to be priced properly. A couple years ago, you could put a price on it, anybody would pay for it. It’s not like that anymore,” Frederick said.
He and other real estate agents think, or hope, the current buyer’s market will begin to turn again in spring 2008, as developments like the 300-acre National Harbor project in Oxon Hill bring hundreds of jobs to the county.
The housing stock in Prince George’s is still the most affordable in the region, even though prices of county homes rose faster last year than anywhere else in the Washington area.
But sale prices are starting to take a dip this year. As of June, the average sale price was $335,020, about 2.85 percent less than this time last year. That’s compared with a 2 percent increase in Montgomery County sales prices.
The number of units reportedly sold in June is also about 44 percent less than the number sold at the same time last year, according to MRIS.
The cooling market even has the county government looking for new sources of revenue. County Executive Jack B. Johnson proposed a controversial $17 million telephone tax in part to offset the slowing revenue growth from the housing market.
On Barnacle Geese Court in Perrywood, the Scotts said they thought they would have an offer by now. They said they’ve put more than $100,000 of equity into the property, including a deck, ceiling fans and hardwood flooring.
‘‘It’s a little discouraging,” Garry Scott said. The home is still listing at $575,000, and they’re offering a $3,500 bonus for the buyer’s agent.
‘‘It’s priced right now,” Evelyn Scott said confidently.
E-mail Judson Berger at jberger@gazette.net
A flooded market
Average number of days homes are on the market, Prince George’s County:
June 2007: 76
June 2006: 35
June 2005: 22
Total active property listings, Prince George’s County:
June 2007: 6,294
June 2006: 3,568
June 2005: 1,267
Source: Metropolitan Regional Information Systems
