Adam and Chelsie Coriano put their house on the market in early March with hopes that the federal government's housing stimulus program would bring a buyer to their doorstep.
But the April 30 deadline for stimulus deals came and went without a buyer for their two-story northwest Omaha home.
Then May came and went. Then June.
In their fourth month trying to sell their home, the Corianos are hoping even for some showings. But since the deadline for the tax credits passed, the frustrated couple has shown the property just three times.
“It's like somebody turned off the faucet,” Adam said.
The Omaha-area housing market has turned sharply downward after the federal government stopped dangling up to $8,000 in front of buyers. The same situation is playing out nationally, which is the expected consumer response at the end of a sale.
But now the real estate industry is pondering a critical question: When will the market turn back around? The short answer: No one is sure.
When the stimulus was in place, an unknown number of buyers moved up their purchases to take advantage of the tax credit. Now the market will need time to fully build up a new collection of buyers, local real estate executives say.
Nationally, analysts worry that a housing market just starting to recover is about to take a double dip. Locally, real estate officials are more optimistic about an Omaha market that did better than many other places weathering the downturn.
“There is no easy fix to get out of this, in my opinion,” said Vince Leisey, president of Omaha's Prudential Ambassador Real Estate. “But we will.”
The tax credit, which was widely praised for helping turn around the local market, went out with a flurry.
In April, 1,537 homes went under contract, according to figures from the Omaha Area Board of Realtors. That followed a March in which 1,307 homes were signed to deals. Those were the best months since at least 2005.
But in May and June — after the deadline to sign the tax-credit deals — pending sales dropped by about half compared with May and June 2009.
Council Bluffs fared slightly better. Its May contracts were up over May 2009, and its June pending sales were down less over the previous June than in Omaha.
“We had a real run,” said Larry Melichar, president of CBS-Home Real Estate. “It has slowed down.”
Home construction also is feeling some aftereffects.
The metro area had a spike in new home sales with the credit in effect. But in May and June, new home permits in Douglas and Sarpy Counties had two of their more sluggish summer months going back to 2007.
Marc Stodola, president of Charleston Homes, said he thinks people are being cautious about building new homes because they don't have a lot of confidence in the economy. And the company is factoring that into its plans.
“Right now we're just being cautious,” Stodola said.
Dan Whitney of Landmarketing Inc., who analyzes the Omaha home construction market, said activity is picking up, including in some subdivisions that were stagnant. But construction is concentrated in subdivisions that are marketing themselves better, he said.
In contrast to other cities, Whitney said, an oversupply of homes isn't an issue here. The area could use more new homes on the market, he said.
“It's slower than it was. But you know what? It's such a more balanced market than almost any other city,” he said.
For home sales overall, the good news for the Omaha area is that June was a bit better than May.
Some projections have the metro area improving gradually throughout the rest of the year. Others, however, are targeting spring 2011 — after the annual winter downturn — for the market to stabilize.
Although the tax credit is gone, historically low mortgage interest rates of less than 5 percent remain an incentive for buyers. If those rates start rising, that also could drive people to buy homes so they don't miss the opportunity, said Andy Alloway, owner of Deeb Realty.
Alloway said the housing market's recovery will be tied to the recovery of the entire economy and to job creation locally.
“If the economic indicators are getting better,” he said, “you'll probably see houses selling more.”
For now, Omaha has more homes on the market — more than 5,900 — than it has since August 2008. At the current rate of homes going under contract, that equals 10 months' worth of inventory.
The Corianos continue to wait.
The couple decided to sell their home in the Avalon North subdivision so they could downsize to a smaller house and allow Chelsie to stay home with their newborn son, Adam said.
At first, Adam said, the traffic was busy — more than 10 showings a month. He said he was optimistic because the house has lots of nice finishes, such as granite counters, a whirlpool tub and wood flooring.
Without any offers, the Corianos have dropped their price twice and listed last week at $159,711. They would consider a third cut, Adam said, but that probably would put the price below what the couple paid to build the home in 2007.
“It's a waiting game right now,” Adam said. “I'm just hoping I hear some good news from somebody sometime.”
Leisey said sellers need to be “extremely realistic” about the market's new conditions.
Homes need to show well, because buyers will have more properties from which to choose, Leisey said. On price, he said, sellers need to realize they won't get what they would have received just a couple of months ago.
But the market must go through this period so it can stand on its own without government support, said Robert Wiebusch, vice president of operations for N.P. Dodge Real Estate.
“It will stabilize out. You can't go on a stimulus program forever.”
Contact the writer:
444-1128, jeff.robb@owh.com
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