By Cindy Gonzalez
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Original Article –>

Julie and Kevin Grady spent a lot of years in the big house that hugs Champions golf course.

They built it in 1997, raised two kids and honed careers there, and only recently decided to downsize, knowing also that they spend winters in Arizona.

Once the couple mentally made that lifestyle switch, the rest of the story went much quicker.

Less than 24 hours after going on the market, the Gradys’ four-bedroom home sold to a Des Moines family that once lived in the neighborhood and wanted to return to Omaha.

Although the housing market remains far short of its pre-recession heyday, the Grady case and other recent home sales have made local real estate agents optimistic that the recovery continues.

“We’re cautiously optimistic,” said Joe Valenti, president of CBSHome Real Estate. “It’s a lot better than it could be if Omaha was following national trends.”

New statistics from the Omaha Area Board of Realtors show that 943 homes went under contract last month — not quite the 1,000-to-1,200 range that Mike Riedmann, president of residential sales for NP Dodge, would like to see. But the level was fairly consistent with the previous two months.

The May tally does represent a huge 60 percent jump from May 2010, but last May’s number was artificially low because it was the first month after the expiration of the federal stimulus effort that sparked a homebuyer rush.

In May 2009, the number of signed contracts was reported to be 1,129; in 2008, 993.

Vince Leisey, president of both the Omaha Realtors board and Prudential Ambassador Real Estate, views the latest sales report as “good,” especially considering the showing in the second half of last year.

Historically, he said, March through June are peak home sales months. Leisey expects June to suffer “a pinch” with the all-out focus on the first College World Series at the new downtown stadium. But he sees this year’s trend as steady.

“We’re not going to have that roller coaster this year like we had last year,” said Leisey.

Riedmann suspects that eye-popping gas prices magnified insecurity of would-be homebuyers and dampened activity in early May. As gas prices fell back, he said, interest has picked up. He saw a bright spot in last weekend’s traffic at the NP Dodge 285-home super open house.

“Good activity in open houses usually means there is going to be good activity in the market,” he said. “That bodes well for us.”

Still, overall, it is not what might be expected given that home prices and interest rates are down. Riedmann said one cannot underestimate the shakiness of consumer confidence as the nation tries to rebound from a recession.

Part of the optimism shared by those in real estate is the relative steadiness of the local economy and the area’s low unemployment rate compared with the rest of the nation. “We don’t see the boom and we don’t see the bust,” said Valenti. “We always fall somewhere in between.”

A new report from CoreLogic, which analyzes real estate trends, shows both Nebraska and Iowa in better shape than the nation in terms of borrowers who are “underwater” — meaning that they owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.

Nebraska and Iowa, for the first quarter of this year, each had about 9 percent of their homes underwater. The national average, by comparison, had nearly 23 percent.

Such drowning, or negative equity, can occur because of a decline in value, an increase in mortgage debt or a combination of the two. Whatever the reason, said Mark Fleming, chief economist at CoreLogic, “negative equity for the foreseeable future will weigh on the housing market recovery by holding back sale and refinance activity.”

Teresa Elliott, the Prudential representative who sold the Grady house, said her business has stayed above any national fray in part by pricing competitively and beefing up marketing strategies.

To the Gradys, Elliott’s team suggested certain changes — including replacing flowery wallpaper and window coverings with a more neutral theme — to increase appeal.

When Laura Doll went to the open house, she was sold.

Doll had been scoping out the familiar subdivision for two months and actually had been inside the property before its official placement on the market. Her family missed Omaha, she said, and her daughters had been accepted in a nearby Catholic school that they had attended before. They’re all eager to pick up where they left off.

Meanwhile, the Gradys, whose two kids attend out-of-state universities, plan to be settled in their new Midtown Crossing condo in time to watch Jazz on the Green concerts from their balcony that looks toward downtown.

Once they made that mental leap from suburban to urban, Kevin said, it was full speed ahead.

“It’s time for that change to happen.”

Contact the writer:

402-444-1224, cindy.gonzalez@owh.com