By Billy Davis

Real estate sales in Panola County will finish 2009 with encouraging numbers despite the gloomy economy, real estate agents reported this week.

Panola County recorded 90 residential sales through December with several more pending, reported Realtor Elloise Miller.

Miller found those statistics using MLS, the Multiple Listing Service that shows a computerized listing of homes for sale. She said MLS recorded 102 home sales in 2008.

Panola County has experienced a slowdown “a little bit,” reported Realtor Paula Stewart.

“I think everything’s on the upswing,” said Stewart. “I think everybody’s excited.”

 “We’ve had a wonderful year,” said Batesville Realty broker Nell Foshee, whose office had surpassed 50 closings by December.

She clarified that those closings include many outside Panola County, since Batesville Realty sells properties in Lafayette County.

Foshee said a slowdown in home sales became obvious when fewer agents were calling her to show homes listed by Batesville Realty. Those agents aren’t calling because customers aren’t calling them, she explained.  

 Foshee said she has witnessed ups and downs in the real estate market since she began selling real estate in 1987.

“The difference between then and now is that back then I would worry about it,” she said. “Now I know it’s going to be okay.”

Echoing national reports, Foshee said the real estate market was in trouble nationwide when banks were approving mortgages for unqualified homebuyers.

When the real-estate bubble burst, home values plummeted nationwide.

Various media outlets this week cited hopeful news from Zimmer, an online firm that tracks home prices in 154 housing markets across the country. Forty-eight markets showed home values were stabilizing – which leaves 106 that weren’t.

The Memphis Business Journal reported this week that 35 percent of homes in the Memphis market had reduced their prices. The average price dropped nine percent.

The Journal story reported better news for Mississippi. The state was among only a few that reported the lowest percentage of slashed home prices, less than 15 percent, during the current recession.  

Counties in North Mississippi, including Panola, reported improved home sales during October and November, The DeSoto Times Tribune reported this week. The inventory of homes for sale has also shrunk.

Panola County is “nestled away” from the metropolitan areas, which is where the national news gets its gloomy real estate stories, said Stewart.

“The local banks and mortgage companies – they know the person getting the loan. They’ve done a better job,” Stewart said.

Miller said the “gloom and doom” in the national media, which scares homebuyers from purchasing a home, fails to mention that interest rates are rock bottom.

“Now is a good time to buy,” she said. “It’s a buyer’s market.”

“There’s never been a better time to buy a house,” agreed Stewart.

Every agent contacted by The Panolian reported the same positive news: buyers need to know about the low interest rates and the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers.

Foshee clarified that the tax credit is available for anyone who has not owned a home for at least three years, which would include first-timers. The tax credit has been expanded through April.

A $6,500 tax credit it available for anyone who has been in their home for at least five years, Foshee also reported.