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062409nw Anerson Realtor Yard Sign Photo by Cindeka Nealy Anderson Realtors is one of a number of area real estate agencies that are undergoing changes. Anderson recently merged with a Midland company and will soon be taking the name of Legacy Realtors.

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Cindeka Nealy|Odessa American

Anderson Realtors is one of the area real estate agencies undergoing changes. Anderson recently merged with a Midland company and will soon be taking the name of Legacy Realtors.

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Housing market sees change

BY GEOFF FOLSOM

There are more “for sale” signs around Odessa these days. And they are staying in the ground a bit longer than they did a year ago. But that’s not the only changes coming to the real estate market in the area.

One Odessa real estate agency is merging with a Midland company, while another recently closed its Odessa office to consolidate all its Permian Basin operations in the Tall City.

But both companies insist the changes aren’t related to a sluggish economy.

“This is very, very positive for Odessa and Midland both,” said Bill Anderson of Anderson A-Team Realtors, which is merging with Legacy Real Estate of Midland. “The economic conditions we have right now has no bearing on the decision. It’s about a decision to enhance service to the public.”

Anderson said he was looking to expand business across the area. He found a match in friend Alvin Collins, owner of Legacy.

“He really likes to broker, and me and my wife really like to sell,” he said.

The merger made sense because more prospective homebuyers are willing to consider living in either Odessa or Midland, Anderson said.

“This gives Odessa agents more access to Midland, and Midland agents more access to Odessa, which better serves the public,” he said.

Collins, the broker/owner of Legacy, said he’s making moves to better serve the entire Permian Basin. He said his company now has agents who can focus on surrounding towns like Andrews, Crane and McCamey.

On June 1, Anderson and its 17 agents became Legacy Real Estate of Odessa, though Bill Anderson said he and wife Patricia Anderson would still be referred to as “The Anderson Team.” While the company has merged with Legacy and its 60 agents, it will maintain its Odessa office.

That’s not the case for Coldwell Banker Covenant, which closed its location in Odessa two weeks ago. Jeremy Smith, Covenant owner, said it’s because Odessa has too many agents who just sell homes as a “hobby.”

“What has happened is there’s been a tremendous run-up in the number of Realtors,” he said. “The market is so diluted it’s hard to make any money.”

Smith said his company, which was formed in 2007 when he bought the Odessa and Midland Coldwell Banker firms, is eliminating two full-time jobs in the transition.

Longtime Odessa realtor Steve Oliver said the business does attract those who might not be well thought out.

“That’s a part of real estate’s problem,” he said. “A lot of people get into real estate thinking they can do real well, real quick. But it’s a lot more difficult than people realize.”

But Connie Coots, executive director of the Odessa Board of Realtors, said the market in Odessa is good.

While sales are down from 542 in the first six months of 2008 to 383 in the first half of this year, she said it’s a nice change to have more homes available than active Realtors, which has a current count of 195.

Homes sold faster a year ago, when the price of oil reached an all-time high, but the lack of available homes to sell hurt the real estate business, Coots said.

The number of available homes in Odessa has increased from 320 a year ago to 444 now.

“That’s really worse for a Realtor is when there’s no homes on the market,” Coots said. “When you actually have more homes than you do Realtors, that’s a better market.”

Along with a drop-off in the economy, Odessa is still seeing more new homes built — a reaction to the housing shortage caused by the oil boom. But Ron Betenbough, co-owner of Betenbough Homes of Lubbock, said the homes his company is building in the North Park community are still selling well.

Since March, he said the company has sold 33 homes in the subdivision near Barbara Jordan Elementary in northern Odessa. The homes are priced between $117,000 and $250,000, Betenbough said.

“It’s fantastic,” Betenbough said of sales. “It is cookin’ out there in North Park.”

Dave Martin, who’s building new houses on 170 lots in the same area of town with Permian Homes, said sales in the area have slowed on more expensive homes, but the market remains strong on “entry level” homes — priced between $100,000 and $200,000. Those sales are boosted by $8,000 tax credits to first-time homebuyers.

Martin, an Odessa native, said he’s built more than 400 homes in Utah over 10 years. He’s a bit concerned about entering the market during a recession, but he said he hopes the area will remain stronger than the rest of the country.

“It is a little bit insulated,” he said. “Our market is pretty easy to see. It goes up and down with oil and natural gas.”

Oliver said the area is over the housing shortage it was in just a few years ago.

“I don’t want to say we’re oversupplied, but we’ve got plenty of homes on the market right now,” he said.

Coots said there are still positive signs. The average sale price for the first six months of 2009 was $150,407, up from last year’s average of $144,732.

But the average days on the market was up to 105 days from 94. Coots said that could be a result of people having difficulty getting a loan.

“Credit scores have to be a little higher, which is good,” she said. “You have to have a little bit of a down payment.”

But if people can get financing, Oliver said it’s a good time to buy because of the tax incentives, better selection and low interest rates.

“I’m very optimistic about Odessa and West Texas,” he said. “I think within six months to a year, we’ll be in a better position than we are today.”