Frederick appeals to first-time homebuyers

The federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers and the affordability in Frederick County may make it the perfect time for young people to dive into the real estate market, local real estate professionals said.

For Nick Carroll, 25, and his girlfriend, Kasey Lehman, 23, all of the factors of their recent closing couldn't have come together more perfectly.

"We both work for the government, so we knew what track we were on," Carroll said. "Economically it just didn't make sense any longer to rent a house now that home prices came down to a value that was pretty much equivalent to what rental prices are going for."

Carroll and Lehman began looking for homes in Northern Virginia, where 750-square-foot residences were running $300,000 and up at the time the couple was considering buying. A two-bedroom, two-bathroom condominium in Arlington priced at $400,000 was the straw that broke the camel's back for them.

"That was when we first got turned off" from looking in Arlington, he said.

Carroll and Lehman eventually closed on a 2,380-square-foot townhouse in Frederick that was a foreclosure. Comparable homes in their neighborhood are in the $250,000 range.

Mike Muren, an agent at Mackintosh Inc. Realtors, said he has worked with at least 20 first-time homebuyers this year in Frederick . Muren, who grew up in Frederick and has been a Realtor for eight years, said clients Carroll and Lehman exemplified one personality type he often sees: young professionals, employed for a year or two out of college and looking in the $150,000 to $300,000 range.

"They're happy and ready to become homeowners," Muren said.

"The other group is similar except for the fact that they tend to be very skeptical," he said. "Somebody in their family has told them way too much, and didn't exactly know what they were talking about."

Muren said that regardless of the type of buyers he has, he likes to spend an hour or two orienting them to the home-buying process -- going over different types of loans, grants and tax credits and explaining the process from start to finish.

"For those people who are skeptical and may be a little bit more nervous, this really tends to help them out," he said. "The more educated your consumer can be, the happier everybody's going to be at the end of the process."

Although Carroll and Lehman both have family in the Frederick area, moving out of Washington was a tough decision. Each of them now spends at least two hours commuting to downtown Washington every workday.

"We were somewhat apprehensive, but more just about the value of homes dropping substantially," Carroll said.

"Given a couple months of recovering house prices and pairing that with the credit É it ended up being a great experience."

David Titus, a Long and Foster agent in the Frederick /Monocacy office, said some first-timers remain unsure if now is the right time to buy. Regardless, statistics back up increased home sales.

"In October '08, we sold 170 houses. In October '09, we sold 225," Titus said. "Over the last couple months, it's been increasing at a decent (rate)."

For first-timers in particular, even if they are ready to buy, pressure from parents and other outsides factors can at times deter them from getting involved with real estate.

"I've seen quite a few times this year where parents have scared their children unnecessarily (or) given them wrong information," Muren said. "Everybody has a parent, or an uncle, or a co-worker or somebody who knows everything about real estate, but they really don't know anything at all."

Carroll said his family realized young people like he and Lehman are the experts on buying a home these days.

"(Our families were) almost intrigued because we can tell them so much more about what was going on with residential markets today," Carroll said. "They haven't been involved with buying a house in 20 years or so."

Copyright 2009 The Frederick News-Post. All rights reserved.