Home Sales Register Dramatic Increase : Economy: Buyers are deciding the time has come, a realty official says. Prices and terms are not expected to go much lower.

Housing sales in Ventura County jumped sharply in December as many would-be buyers eyeing low interest rates finally decided to purchase homes, area Realtors said.

Sales of existing single-family homes countywide rose 21.3% from November and 12.8% from December, 1990, with a median price of $233,330, the California Assn. of Realtors reported. Ventura County posted the largest month-to-month increase of 15 regions surveyed statewide.

Realtors said first-time home buyers accounted for much of the monthly gain. With mortgage rates hitting an 18-year low in December, many qualified for mortgages beyond their reach earlier in the year when interest rates were higher.

A growing realization among buyers that housing prices and borrowing rates are not likely to fall much further also contributed to the sales increase, said Don Cutler, president of the Ojai Valley Board of Realtors.

“There’s been a feeling that there’s not much reason to think prices will get a whole lot lower, or that rates will get a whole lot lower,” Cutler said. “So buyers are deciding the time has come.”

“These rates are wonderful,” said Cathy Mims, president-elect of the Oxnard Board of Realtors. “I tell people that if they want to wait 20 years to get these rates again, fine.”

Bertha Madrigal, 20, contracted to buy a $115,000 one-bedroom condominium in Oxnard with her fiance last month with savings from her two jobs as a Wendy’s restaurant crew leader and an office worker. He also works two jobs.

“I took an introduction to business course in college and the teacher talked so much about how it was a great time to buy,” said Madrigal, who put 5% down for a $900 monthly mortgage, tax and insurance payment. “We’re getting married in July and didn’t want to rent because that’s like paying someone else’s mortgage.”

Tamra Dominguez, 32, sold her two-bedroom Ojai home for $165,000 in December only two months after putting it up for sale. Dominguez and her husband in turn bought a four-bedroom home in Oak View for $189,000, on an 8% fixed-rate mortgage.

Dominguez, who has one child with a second due in nine weeks, said she and her husband decided to move partly for space reasons, but also because of the decline in both home prices and interest rates.

“I’d looked at this one cute house and asked what the price was, and I was shocked to find out how much house prices had gone down,” Dominguez said.

Single-family home sales throughout California dropped 0.6% from November to December, 1991, on a seasonally adjusted basis, but were up 3.3% from December, 1990, the statewide association said. Condominium sales rose 5.4% month-to-month and 8.8% from December a year ago.

Homes sales appear to have risen in areas throughout the county.

The Conejo Valley Board of Realtors, which covers Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park and Moorpark, reported selling 151 single-family houses in December, compared to 131 in November and 140 in December, 1990. The median price of homes sold in December was $306,000, up from $273,000 a year ago.

“I think there is a pent-up demand for housing,” said Emily Ireland, president of the Conejo board. “I hate to see people waiting for the interest rates to drop further. They know what it is today, and they can get a great deal right now.”

As for waiting for prices to drop further, Ireland said: “Whatever people think a price is going to go down to, they should write an offer there and it could well go through.”

The Ventura Board of Realtors reported sales of 97 homes in December, compared with 81 in November and 91 in the same month last year.

Board President George Kite said 75% of buyers in recent months have been first-time homeowners. The composite: a married couple, age 33, both employed, with a family income of $58,500. Half put 10% down and the remainder put down 20% assisted with gifts or loans from relatives, Kite said.

Kite said sales have picked up further this month, a rise he attributed to interest rates edging up about half a percent two weeks ago.

“Suddenly, people are saying maybe I should jump in now because they could go higher,” Kite said. “People often react more to the fear of losing out than anything else.”

Cutler said sales in the Ojai Valley have been even more active this month. He expects the upward trend to hold, unlike the brief flurry of increased home sales shortly after the end of the Persian Gulf War.

“I’m impressed by the activity going on now,” Cutler said. “The first-time buyers are much more active. People are selling to buy up in their own community. It’s more traditionally sound purchasing going on.”