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“These lower-end properties are inching their way up,” he said,

Hoping to find an affordable three-bedroom home, Heather said she and her husband have more options in today’s market.

“We’re finding five-bedroom (homes) in our price range,” she said. “Now there are actual options out there that are decent.”

McCullough said approximately 2,300 homes are listed for sale in Washington County, representing an 8 percent decline from last year.

“This is an excellent sign,” he said. “It does mean our market is heating up a little bit.”

While the inventory is declining, McCullough said the 2,300 homes on the market represent a continued “glut of inventory,” leaving prospective buyers with a wealth of options in terms of housing selection.

In addition to lower prices and a vast selection of properties, buyers are now receiving more favorable interest rates on their mortgage loans, he said.

He said many buyers are obtaining interest rates of about 4.25 percent.

“During the boom time, 6-and-a-half to 7 percent was a good rate,” he said.

As prospective buyers benefit from the troubled real estate market and many sellers continue to face the harsh reality of competing with a wealth of discounted bank-owned properties, a number of local homeowners with no plans to sell their properties remain relatively unaffected by the ups and downs of the housing market.

Austin Somerville, an 80-year-old retiree, and his wife Connie have lived in their St. George home for four years, and while the market has shifted dramatically since 2007, Somerville said he has not experienced the full force of the housing market’s collapse.

After purchasing his current home within the SunRiver St. George retirement community for about $300,000, Somerville said the home’s value has dropped by about 30 percent in recent years, but he has no plans to sell his property in the near or distant future.

“It won’t affect me until I try to sell, and I don’t plan to sell,” he said. “I plan to stay here until they cremate me.”

Unless homeowners are interested in refinancing, Curtis said recent fluctuations in price are not likely to affect residents who plan to keep their homes.