Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 23, 1992 TAG: 9202210489
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLYNE H. McWILLIAMS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
REALTORS OPTIMISTIC ABOUT '92
THE region's residential real estate business has suffered in the lagging economy, but brokers and agents see signs of it trying to bounce back.Despite declines in Roanoke Valley home sales last year, local real estate professionals are optimistic about renewed interest that accompanied the dramatic decline in mortgage interest rates.
And local brokers are content they're doing better under the economic strain than the rest of the state because of Roanoke's diverse employment base. On the other hand, buyers are scared in areas like Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, where government and defense cutbacks have severely affected those economies.
Lee Mastin, a broker with Mastin Kirkland Bolling Inc., said home sales are historically slow in January. He has seen an increase in sales compared to the past few months. He said his company had sales of about $3 million in January, an increase over last year.
There were 245 Roanoke Valley real estate sales in January, up 109 percent compared to 117 transactions in January 1991, according to information from the Roanoke Valley Association of Realtors.
However, a telling factor about the state of the residential real estate business is the number of agents who depend on commissions from home sales for their primary income, Mastin said.
Al Whitley, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Commerce, blames the economic downturn for a drop in the number of real estate brokers and agents still working in the state. The fall in mortgage interest rates hasn't provoked enough people to buy to get the "depressed" industry on its feet again.
The number of licensed real estate agents in Virginia fell 15 percent, from 41,589 in July 1990 to 35,168 in August 1991, the latest available figure. The number of licensed realty brokers fell 23 percent in the same period, from 11,636 to 8,994.
Steve Hoover, a partner with Mastin Kirkland Bolling and president of the Virginia Association of Realtors, said there was a decline in the number of members in his association last year - but not as sharp as he had anticipated. What used to be the high growth areas of the state - running from Washington, D.C., to Norfolk - have taken the brunt of the recession.
The highest membership in the association was 32,000 in mid-1990, Hoover said. That fell to about 29,000 at the end of 1991.
While the state numbers don't provide clues about why real estate agents and brokers allow their licenses to lapse, Mastin said five people who have left his company in the last year concluded they couldn't earn livings in the business currently.
"There's no gravy left," Mastin said, explaining that there aren't any easy sales anymore.
Wes Naff, president of the association, said the industry did worse in the early 1980s when recession was accompanied by interest rates of nearly 20 percent.
"We'll be OK," Naff said about real estate people in general. "We're optimistic about 1992."
The Roanoke association has about 1,000 members this year, a drop of 100 from last year.
Hoover said the home sales market does seem to be picking up because of the low interest rates and revived consumer confidence. He expects the market to get even better by the end of the year.