Charles Woodall

We are pleased to announce the addition of a page here on Dothan Home Search specifically dedicated to our area schools. When you visit dothanhomesearch.com/schools, you will see a map of area schools, and be clicking on a specific school location, you'll get some general information as well as a couple of links to school test scores, demographic information, and reviews. The page is not quite completed, but we are adding more schools and links daily until it is. The link to the page will show up on the sidebar under the "Inside Dothan Home Search" section of links. Is there school information you would like to see missing from this page? Let us know by leaving us a note below and we will look into adding it!

The January slide has continued into February, with February sales dropping over 24% from February, 2008. The number of homes sold was up 50% from January however. Overall, home sales in the Dothan real estate market are down a full 25% for the first two months of 2009, compared to 2008.

Pending sales have leveled off as well, although the total number is still significantly higher than it was three months ago. With spring arriving and the new $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers, I do feel there will be an upturn in the numbers soon.

Not surprisingly, the $110,000 to $160,000 price range is currently the most active. The upper end market has picked up some as well, with seven sales over $300,000 in the last 45 days.

I have to say that I didn’t see this big of a drop-off coming. We have been very busy around our office, so I assumed everyone else was too.

As far as national market trends go, the Dothan area is typically 12–24 months behind the national trends. If you read our monthly inventory report earlier this week, you saw that while the number of homes for sale here in the Dothan area is climbing, the number in most other areas is declining. And while median price was falling over most of the country last year, Dothan remained stable. That being said, I think we are reaching the point where price is going to have to come down to move the mountain of inventory we have accumulated.

This article was originally posted on DothanHomeSearch.com

The number of homes for sale in the Dothan area continues to rise, moving up almost 5% in the last 30 days and up over 8.5% since the first of the year. Across the nation however, inventory levels are dropping. Dothan has always lagged behind the national trends, so this isn’t totally unexpected. Although, such a sharp rise in a short amount of time is a little worrisome.

Absorption rate

Even though the number of homes for sale in Dothan has increased, pending sales are still relatively stable, which means the absorption rate, or the number of months it would take to clear the market if no more houses were listed, has moved down by a couple of months. There is currently 15.92 months of inventory on the market here in Dothan.

Here are inventory and absorption rate numbers for several areas around the Wiregrass.

	Sold	Active	Absorption
Area	February	3/15/2008	Rate (months)
Dothan (northwest) - Midland City	19	181	13.9
Dothan - Southwest	21	333	16.9
Dothan - Northeast	4	42	14
Dothan - Southeast	14	120	14.4
Headland	3	46	27.5
Rehobeth - Taylor	2	75	22.5
Wicksburg - Pinckard - Newton	2	28	12
Slocomb - Hartford - Geneva County	3	36	27.1
Abbeville - Newville	0	28	84.9
Ashford - Cottonwood - Gordon	2	56	28
Columbia - Webb - Kinsey	1	29	12.4

Keep in mind that the absorption rate is based on a three-month average of sales.

This article was originally posted on DothanHomeSearch.com

Part of the new economic stimulus package just signed by President Obama aims to stimulate the housing market. This post is not to debate the merits of the plan, or even this specific provision of it. The purpose of this post is to give you, our Dothan area home buyers, the information you need to be able to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit. Here is everything you need to know.

Who gets to use it?

First-time home buyers are eligible. First-time home buyers are defined as the folks who have not owned a home in the three years prior to purchase. In addition, the credit begins to phase out for purchaser’s making over $75,000 ($150,000 joint return) a year. The credit disappears at the $95,000 ($170,000 joint return) income level.

What kind of house can you buy?

Any single-family residence that will be used as your primary residence is eligible.

How much of a tax credit will I get?

The credit is for 10% of the purchase price of your home, up to $8,000. For any home under $80,000, you would get a 10% credit. Over $80,000, and the credit is the full $8,000.

How does this tax credit work?

Basically, this credit goes toward your Federal income tax bill for the year. So, when you fill out your tax return early next year, you will be able to deduct this credit from the income tax you owe. Look at your tax return for 2008, or, if you haven’t completed it yet, look at your return from 2007. Look for the line that shows the total tax you owed (Line 61 on Form 1040, Line 37 on Form 1040A). You will get to deduct 10% of the purchase price of your home, up to $8,000, off of this amount. There will be a line in the “Payments” section of your return to do this. If you didn’t owe that much in taxes, then you get whatever is left as a refund! Keep in mind that when we talk about taxes owed, we are talking about your total Federal income tax bill, not any amount that comes up in the “Amount You Owe” line of your return.

Do I have to pay it back?

No. Not for any home bought after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009. There is a recapture clause, which states that if the home is sold within three years of purchase, the entire amount of credit is recaptured on sale. This applies only to homes purchased in 2009.

Any way you look at it, this is a pretty sweet deal for home buyers. We’ve got a strong team of REALTORS® waiting to answer your questions and help you find a home.

This article was originally posted on DothanHomeSearch.com

As expected, the number of homes for sale in Dothan has moved back up this month. As of this past Monday, there were 1012 houses listed for sale in the Dothan MLS, up from 979 in January. Inventory levels are seasonal just like sales are, so we expect this number to move up even more, although how much is hard to predict.


Absorption rate
We have already talked about how pending sales are up significantly right now, but that rise has yet to translate into any increase in the number of homes sold (more on home sales next week). The absorption rate for February rose to 18.4 months. Basically, what this means is that if no more homes came on the market, it would take a year and a half to sell everything, based on current sales numbers.

This month we are going to look at absorption rates based on price range instead of area. This table shows the number of months of inventory in the respective price range.

	Sold	Active	Absorption
Price Range	January	2/6/2008	Rate (months)
$50,000 - $99,999	8	155	11.6
$100,000 - $149,999	7	237	19.2
$150,000 - $199,999	10	233	21.2
$200,000 - $249,999	7	86	15.2
$250,000 - $299,999	4	108	27
$300,000 - $399,999	2	94	94
Over $400,000	0	67	-

To say the housing market in Dothan in the $250,000 price range is slow might be an understatement. To say the market in homes priced over $400,000 is dead is not a stretch at all.