Seymour area housing market booming as economy recovers

“We are blessed, very blessed. That’s the best way to describe it,” the owner/broker of Tanye Pedigo Langley Real Estate in Seymour said. “There are four real estate agents in my office, and we are all tied up. Our office sales will support that.”

The housing market had a strong first quarter because of job gains and near-record-low mortgage rates.

Locally, jobs have been added to several companies, and 30-year mortgage rates are hovering at about 4 percent.

Nationwide, job growth has been steady this year. Through April, an average of 196,000 jobs have been added per month, which is more than a year ago, the Associated Press reported.

“Right now, there’s been 190 residential sales in Jackson County,” Rob Millman, associate broker at Prudential Indiana Realty in Seymour, said last week. “If you look at first-quarter figures, there were 96 homes sold in Jackson County, which is 38 houses more than a year ago. The average price of homes sold is $94,434.”

Millman said price, condition and location are the three things that sell homes, with price being the most important factor.

Pedigo Langley agreed the price has to be right.

“If you price your house in the correct market value, in my opinion, it will sell really pretty quickly,” she said. “If not, it is going to stay on the market.”

Pedigo Langley said now is the time to buy rather than rent.

“It’s actually cheaper, for the most part, to buy a house and have a mortgage than to rent one now,” she said. “The people who are renting are spending on average, I would say, $700 to $750 a month, and you can buy quite a bit of house for that.

“First-time home buyers, they can buy a home that’s much nicer than what they can rent a home for. I think a lot of people that have been tenants, if they do qualify to buy a home, they can buy a house and make payments averaging less than paying rent. They might get a comparable house and only be paying $600 a month.”

Plus, she said, with the mortgage rates available now, homeowners are able to build equity.

In the first quarter of 2013, Millman said the average interest rate on a 30-year mortgage in Jackson County was 3.625 percent.

“If you go back and look at 2009, our market only sold a little over 6 million volume, and there was a 4.75 interest rate,” Millman said.

Ty Warren, vice president of retail loan services at JCB, said rates have had “a good run” lately. That’s led to an increase in mortgage purchases.

“I think there has been some demand with local employers hiring, so I think that’s why we’ve seen some increase in purchases and new construction activity,” Warren said. “We have seen our purchases increase over last year and the prior two or three years.

“It speaks to where we’re at now from an economic standpoint not only locally but nationally,” he added. “Demands in the current marketplace, meaning Jackson County, Bartholomew County and surrounding counties, just the low rate environment has spurred that.”

Pedigo Langley also pointed to a strong local economy boosting home sales.

“We do have more job openings within our industries as far as the city of Seymour itself,” she said. “We have quite a few people relocating here, and more so than we did a year ago. We are receiving more calls, and we have more walk-ins, and we’re receiving more emails (from people inquiring about a home).”

Pedigo Langley feels the local real estate market is strong and thriving.

“I think we have very reasonable prices, and property taxes are very reasonable compared to neighboring counties,” she said. “Our community is very community-oriented. I think the small-town atmosphere with a more affordable marketplace is driving people to the Seymour area.”

And that’s a good thing for Realtors.

“I feel very positive and very optimistic about the rest of 2013,” Pedigo Langley said. “I’m very excited.”