Signs that say Cape Cod

Placards proclaiming price reductions have sprung up in the region, but a first-time buyer's market has returned

For sale signs (above and below) in Hyannis, where the median price of a single-family home sold in August was $198,000, down from $345,000 in August 2007. (PHOTOS BY VINCENT DEWITT FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE)

If you're in the market for one of those trophy homes that dot the shorelines of Cape Cod, hurry. If you're looking more down-market, then you have time and choices.

Such are the extremes of real estate as Cape Cod heads into what is typically a busy season for home selling. Once the summer tourists head home, the fall market takes over.

The weather is still beautiful during what has become known as the "second season" here. If deals are going to be made, buyers and sellers prefer to complete them before Thanksgiving and the start of the holiday season and the harsh days of winter.

"We usually get a crop of new listings in the fall," said Jamie Regan, head of Century 21 Regan Realtors in Mashpee and president of the Cape Cod and Islands Association of Realtors.

But like so many markets enduring an extended slump, the Cape is hampered by a classic tug of war:

Many sellers remain convinced their homes are still worth what they once were, while buyers are locked in bargain-hunting mode.

"You have the problem of bridging the gap between buyers' and sellers' expectations," said Lynette Helms, head of Real Estate Associates, with offices in Falmouth, Mashpee, Bourne, and Sandwich. Of the current market, she said, "Our sales are down, but it's not a dead market."

Properties are in fact selling on Cape Cod, just at substantially lower prices. The number of single-family homes sold in Barnstable County through the first eight months of this year is down only 2.5 percent compared with the same period last year. But the median home price over that span is down 12.3 percent, to $335,000.

Some towns and neighborhoods have been especially hard hit. In Hyannis, the median price of a single-family home sold in August was $198,000, down 43 percent from $345,000 in August 2007.

Helms said sellers need to face the reality of where home values are going, and price their houses realistically from the start.

"The longer a house stays on the market and the more price adjustments you make, the less you get," said Helms. "In a declining market, you are always adjusting too late."

So, have home values have come down enough to spark a rally in buying?

Regan, the local association president, is hopeful.

"I think this year people will take advantage of our price adjustments," she said.

But Rick Presbrey, chief executive of Housing Assistance Corp., a Hyannis-based affordable housing agency, isn't convinced.

"Even people who could afford to buy are sitting back and waiting because they are not sure real estate is a good investment," he said. "The market may not have hit bottom yet."

Presbrey said the lower and middle parts of the market are the slowest, even though that's where most first-time home buyers search. In his view, prices at this level are still too high. And then there's the fact that heating fuel, gas, food, and other costs have all gone up substantially this year.

"If you are looking at a home that was $330,000 and now it's $275,000, it's still beyond the reach of many first-time buyers," Presbrey said.

But others contend the lower prices are bringing out buyers. Just having some properties listed for less than $200,000 is an important shift in the market, according to Helms, who will succeed Regan as president of the association.

"There is the silver lining of affordability," said Helms. "We have a first-time homeowners market again. In the past, we had basically priced out the workforce market on the Cape."

Complicating the picture is the large number of foreclosed homes in Barnstable County - 323 in the first half of this year, double that of a year ago. There are so many that Presbrey said his agency has six counselors working full-time on foreclosure matters, "and they each have a caseload of about 80."

Hyannis, again, is bearing the brunt of this real estate problem.

"There are neighborhoods you could throw a net over where there are a lot of foreclosures," said John F. Meade, Barnstable County register of deeds. "You have homes that sold in the $300,000s now going in the $100,000s. They never should have been $300,000."

Meanwhile, there is one place that seems inured to the troubles in the market and in the larger economy: million-dollar-plus second-home properties.

"We are amazed at how many high-end properties are selling," said Regan. "People who want to buy for a high-end legacy are doing that."

Doug Azarian, owner of Century 21 Dream Homes in Falmouth and a past president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, believes the Cape's real estate will recover from its current troubles. The region's natural resources and the presence of a still vital second-home market are strong assets, he suggests.

Robert Preer can be reached at preer@globe.com.