Area housing market has turned corner, many Realtors agree - Foster's Daily Democrat

Tom Heany, CEO, said his firm believes the market finally has turned positive. Realtors These are the people who have been afraid to buy the last several years of economic turmoil because they did not feel secure about the future. Carter said she's been "straight out" this year, much better than last year. After several years of declining house prices, other potential buyers may be waiting for prices to fall even farther. Realtors seem certain that they can't go much farther, however. Association of Realtors reported year to date residential sales in Rockingham County were up 2. For Strafford County that was a median sales price of $207,950, up 1. It's time for all of the fence sitters to jump off the fence . They are being cautious and not buying more home than they can afford, she said. But she is not ready to say the area housing market has turned positive yet. I don't think we're going to go down anymore and think we'll have a gradual incline from here," said the veteran of almost 30 years in the business. But she said there are positives at work, among them some of the lowest prices and interest rates she's ever seen. The downturn in the late '80s and early '90s when Pease Air Force Base closed was worse for the market than the ongoing economic crisis, in Wolters estimation. Both take a longer time to close and can be very stressful and cumbersome. He said 20 percent of his closings are short sales. Even then the process can be frustrating with the smallest problem causing skittish banks to pull out of financing. She also said if the government is serious about helping homeowners in distress they need to make mortgage relief programs more user-friendly.