Real estate agents in Sedona are hoping the housing market turns around soon, as more and more people are seeing their homes go into foreclosure.

In 2009, of the 187 home sales, 73 were in foreclosure, according to reports from the Sedona Verde Valley Association of Realtors.

Carolyn Huggins, a real estate agent for well over a decade, said the 39 percent foreclosure rate is the worst she has seen in her career.

She said the market is definitely favorable for buyers.

Figures show there was not a one or two month spike to skew the numbers and instead they stayed pretty steady from month to month, according to Huggins.

From Jan. 1, 2009, to June 30, there were 29 foreclosures. From July 1 to Dec. 1, there were another 38, and in the last month of 2009, six homes followed.

In past years, Huggins said it was extremely rare for a home to go into foreclosure or become a short sell in Sedona.

A short sale is defined as a sale of real estate where sale proceeds fall short of the balance owed on the property’s loan when borrowers cannot pay the mortgage, but lenders decide to sell  properties at moderate losses.

She said the reasoning for the high number of foreclosures is a simple one — at least for Sedona. The practice used to be for some homeowners to buy houses with adjustable rate mortgages with plans to refinance the property a few years later with the earned equity.

However, since the house is worth less than purchased, the owner is faced with property not worth what is owed and can no longer make the mortgage because interest rates have risen significantly.

She said there were also people trying to flip homes or buying at low prices to sell at higher figures, which she said was not wise.

“I told people, ‘You don’t flip in Sedona,’” she said.

Owners are also not getting what they are asking when selling homes. What a home seller accepted in 2009 on average was almost 10 percent less than the listed price, Huggins said.

Huggins thinks the market may have checked itself, as real estate agents have done a good job in keeping up the list for sold properties.

Marc Avery, another real estate agent, said he thinks the issue is artificially low prices, where  homes are just as expensive to build, but they are selling for much less with salaries decreasing for buyers. He also said Sedona is not alone in homes foreclosing at an alarming rate.

“It’s high everywhere. It’s affecting the economy as a whole,” he said.