After two months of solid house-hunting, newlyweds Adam and Jackie Haut have become quite schooled in what to look for in a house and what to avoid.

Realtor Sharon Tahere, with Ruhl and Ruhl, shows a Davenport home to first-time home buyers Adam and Jackie Haut on Friday, June 26, 2009. (Larry Fisher/QUAD-CITY TIMES)

Under the guidance of their Realtor, Sharon Tahere of Ruhl&Ruhl Realtors, they’ve picked up tips such as inspecting the mechanicals and roof, checking for signs of a wet basement and looking for other potential pitfalls.

“With the old houses, you get a lot of house for the price range,” Adam Haut said Friday as he toured yet another prospect in Davenport. He was pleasantly surprised by the home’s condition and floor space.

For Jackie Haut, the goal is to get moved before September when she begins her new teaching job at George O. Barr Elementary School in Silvis, Ill. But the real rush is to find a house and close on it in time to qualify for the new $8,000 federal tax credit for new homeowners.

The approaching deadline “has made us more aggressive,” said Adam Haut, who often is forgoing sleep after working third shift as an ER nurse at Genesis Medical Center, West Central Park Avenue, Davenport to tour another available house.

But it is first-time homebuyers like the Hauts who are helping the Quad-City housing market climb out of last year’s slump and continue a rebound that began in April.

“It appears the market is hot right now because first-time buyers are starting to realize they need to start looking for a house to get everything in line by this deadline of November 30,” said Sue Clark-Nissen, the chief executive officer of the Quad-City Area Realtor Association. “This office is quiet, and that means the Realtors are busy.”

Kris Ratigan, the marketing director for Mel Foster Co., said growth in the company’s pending sales show that new homebuyers are taking advantage of the tax credit. Through the first half of June, Mel Foster’s pending sales were up 10.5 percent compared to a year ago.

Another positive sign is that the dollar volume of those June sales is up 18 percent over a year ago, she said. “The higher-priced homes are definitely moving now.”

Caroline Ruhl, the president of Ruhl&Ruhl, agreed that the rebound began in April. In May, her company’s pending sales in the Quad-City market rose 9 percent from a year ago, and for the first half of June, sales are up 6 percent.

“The energy is out there, and people are excited that things are happening again,” she said.

Besides the influx of new homebuyers, Ruhl credited the area’s low unemployment and continuing low interest rates.

“Buyer confidence is coming back,” she said. “People still have jobs. There have been layoffs, but absolutely nothing compared to the rest of the country.”

Clark-Nissen said the new homebuyers are causing a spiral effect in the market. “If a first-time homebuyer is snagging a home (typically in the low end of the market), then the seller of that home is moving up to the next level.”

While the number of listings is beginning to rise, with buyers on the prowl, the market could use more listings, she said. “If you’ve got that many buying, they like to have a nice inventory to look at.”

Ruhl said there is no doubt that even sellers had lost their confidence earlier in the year and were holding back on listing their properties. “I think there were a lot of people that wanted to move, but they didn’t want to move and lose money.”

While the Hauts are finding plenty to choose from in their price range – $130,000 and below – they also have noticed that they have to move fast.

“A lot of houses Jackie has found online, we go look at them, they already have a couple of offers,” Adam Haut said.

First-time home buyers Adam and Jackie Haut, right, check out the living room of a home for sale in Davenport with Ruhl and Ruhl Realtor Sharon Tahere on Friday, June 26, 2009. (Larry Fisher/QUAD-CITY TIMES)

First-time home buyer Adam Haut shares a laugh with Ruhl and Ruhl Realtor Sharon Tahere while inspecting the attic of a Davenport home for sale on Friday, June 26, 2009. (Larry Fisher/QUAD-CITY TIMES)

Article taken from Quad City Times.  To view the article, click here.

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