Of the more than 90,000 houses in Frederick County and its towns last year, more than 5,330, or almost 6 percent, of them sat vacant on April 1, 2010, according to numbers recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Of those vacancies, 2,355, or 4.88 percent, were among the county's 48,244 total housing units.
The combined vacancy rate of the county's municipalities was even higher, with 2,981, or 7.12 percent, of 41,892 housing units, sitting vacant.
Of the county's 12 municipal areas, the City of Frederick led with 2,207 vacancies, or 8.01 percent of its 27,559 total housing units. The City of Brunswick followed with a 7.51 percent vacancy rate, or 175 vacancies for its 2,330 total units.
Thurmont, which has slightly more housing units than Brunswick, with 2,498, had a vacancy rate of 5.76 percent, or 144 properties.
Mount Airy, with a total of 3,225 housing units, had 118 vacancies, or 3.66 percent.
Wayne Six, an appraiser and president of Six and Associates, said there are a lot of unoccupied houses in the county. "It is definitely more noticeable than normal," Six said.
In presentations to real estate and building organizations locally, Six has noted the negative impact of foreclosed houses on neighborhoods. When appraisers use surrounding properties as a comparison to determine the value of a property, a foreclosed or short sale house, or one that is simply unoccupied, it affects the value of the property being appraised, even though that property is not under any financial or other distress.
Sandy Fouche, president of the Frederick County Association of Realtors, said that figure "seems to be a lot for Frederick County."
Fouche said that there are 205 foreclosed and 30 pre-foreclosed properties in the county officially listed as vacant.
Still, Bob Sawchuck, an agent with Mackintosh Inc. Realtors in Frederick, said that number might be high, but it's not indicative of a lack of viability in the area's housing market.
"While the number of vacant homes in the county is a concern, I don't feel it will be a blight on the market here," Sawchuck said. "Inventory levels in the county have been relatively stable to falling. Pending sales numbers have been increasing, indicating a larger pool of buyers looking for homes. That will do a lot to stabilize prices here, as well. I would be curious to see how many of those counted vacant homes remain vacant. Of the three I mentioned, two have sold and one is rented."
Sawchuck said he checked his records for April 1 and had three houses that day that were "vacant."
"I can tell you from my perspective that I had three homes that I verified to (the Census Bureau) that were vacant as of April 1, 2010," Sawchuck said. "In two of the cases, the owner had passed away and the heirs had the home listed for sale. In the other case, the owner had moved out of state and had the home for sale. I am certain that many of the counted vacant homes were ones that were either foreclosed or abandoned due to short sales."
In a statement, the bureau said finding a large number of vacant houses in an area when the number should be lower is an indication of a housing problem. For example, when there is a higher-than-average vacancy rate in an area with lots of vacation or seasonal properties that may be vacant at least part of the year, that can show a problem with housing at that site.
The Census Bureau defines a house as vacant if no one is living in it at the time of enumeration, unless its occupants are only temporarily absent. Units temporarily occupied at the time of enumeration entirely by persons who have a usual residence elsewhere are also classified as vacant.
New units not yet occupied are classified as vacant housing units if construction has reached a point where all exterior windows and doors are installed and final usable floors are in place. Vacant units are excluded if they are open to the elements -- that is, the roof, walls, windows or doors no longer protect the interior from the elements, or if there is evidence that the unit is condemned or to be demolished.
Also excluded are quarters being used entirely for nonresidential purposes, such as a store or an office, or quarters used for the storage of business supplies or inventory, machinery or agricultural products.
In releasing the report on Feb. 2, Census Director Robert Groves said the vacant house statistics were gathered for one day -- April 1, 2010.
In a news conference, the text of which is available at the Census Bureau's website, Groves warned that the data could be "misinterpreted," saying the areas showing high vacancies may not necessarily reflect the foreclosure problem facing the country. But he added that high numbers in areas where there are normally vacant houses, such as in recreation or vacation sites, could indicate housing problems.
In the statement, the bureau said enumerators returned to vacant houses over several months to verify the status, but used April 1 as the specific date to use on whether it was "vacant" or not.
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