Area’s high-priced homes pose a hard sell for most

While an $8,000 federal tax credit has spurred home sales below $300,000 in Central Virginia, homes listed at $750,000 and above are finding buyers scarce and slow to act.

Only 47 homes priced at $750,000 or more have been sold in the first six months of 2009, according to figures compiled by the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors.

That puts the market on track for a decline from the 132 homes sold for more than $750,000 in 2008 and down from 203 sales in the category in 2005.

There seems to be no sense of urgency in the market, said Christopher Brement, who has been trying to sell his home in Crozet’s Old Trail development home for about six months. Potential buyers don’t feel pressure that another buyer is going to swoop in and put a contract on the home.

“If a home doesn’t provide everything that a person is looking for, they’re going to be reluctant to act quickly,” Brement said. “People don’t have the motivation to pull the trigger.”

Prices haven’t come down enough to motivate buyers in the upper echelon of the real estate market, despite some dramatic cuts in asking prices.

Brement’s house is listed at just more than $1 million, down from $1.25 million, said Angie Brement, Christopher’s wife.

They moved the price down after consulting with a Realtor a few months ago. While they don’t have much flexibility in the price, Christopher said, they are trying to list at or below the competition. But it gets harder the longer it stays on the market.

“Every month that passes [we] assume that our house is worth less money,” Brement said.

Those looking in the million-dollar price range aren’t likely to be first-time homeowners qualifying for the HUD tax credit, either.

“The ones who are serious about selling are being very cognizant about price,” said John Ince, president and principal broker of Charlottesville Country Properties. “It may mean putting it below the appraisal assessment, but most importantly, putting it below the comparable [homes].”

One factor slowing sales of higher-end homes nationally has been a slowdown in lending of what’s known as “jumbo” loans.

Jerry Northcutt, owner of Access Home Mortgages, said that the recession has not stopped his company from providing jumbo and super jumbo loans, but the financial crisis has led to tighter lending requirements for borrowers.

“We’ve been doing them all along,” he said.

Such loans provide financing for homes costing between $417,000 and $1.5 million, Northcutt said. As of Wednesday afternoon, the interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage jumbo loan was 5.87 percent, he said. “Historically, that’s a great rate.”

Some local high-end home agents don’t see the market turning around for at least a year.

The market for homes over a half-million dollars is tough, no doubt about that, said Marjorie Adam, Realtor with Remax Assured Pro-perties. Homes can still move quickly, however, depending on price and amenities.

It can be difficult to show the amenities that set apart one home from another, said Brement, who also serves as president of Bramante Homes Inc. – a 30-year-old construction company that started building upper-end homes in the last three years. In Albemarle County, homebuyers in the $750,000-and-up price range want more acreage, and if not more acreage, more amenities, Brement said.

People looking to buy higher-priced homes in the Charlottesville area are often coming in from congested urban areas, such as Northern Virginia or New York, Ince said. Those folks are looking for good deals and have the financial capability to wait.

The deals are the “most powerful” factor, he said.

“Putting azaleas on the porch isn’t going to do it, price is what’s going to drive people. Everyone’s value shopping right now,” Ince said.

While falling, the high-end sales aren’t alone by any stretch.

In its most recent market report, the local Realtors association said home sales overall slid by 27 percent compared with the same six-month period of 2008.

The bright spot was a surge in homes priced at less than $300,000, an increase credited largely to falling prices, low interest rates and the $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers.

Daily Progress staff writer Brian McNeill contributed to this story.