Home sales in the Triangle are far from what they were just a few years ago, but realtors say homes are still selling.

According to the Triangle Multiple Listing Service, there were 1,997 closings in June 2009 in Wake, Johnston, Orange, and Chatham counties. That's compared to 2,311 in the same month in 2008, and 3,449 in 2006.

But people still marry, divorce, change jobs, have children, and do all the kinds of things that necessitate a move, according to Bob Fortner of Keller Williams Realty and the Raleigh Real Estate Talk blog. http://www.raleighrealestatetalk.com/

One of his clients, Marylu Lawrence, recently bought a townhouse in North Raleigh using the first time homebuyers' federal tax credit. Fortner said his phone has been ringing off the hook with people like Lawrence interested in the credit.

"The $8,000 tax credit made a big difference in wanting to do it now, rather than six to twelve months from now, or even later," Lawrence said.

Click here to learn about the $8,000 Tax Credit. http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/2009/glance.php

Clients Paige Armstrong and Brian Foster are recently engaged, and looking to buy a home in which to start their married life together. Most of the homes they're considering are in the $250,000 to $300,000 range.

This range is a popular selling point in the Triangle right now.

Triangle MLS http://www.trianglemls.com/ numbers show that so far this year in Wake, Johnston, Durham, Orange, and Chatham counties, more than half of homes sold were priced under $200,000. Nearly 80 percent were priced under $300,000.

"Over three hundred thousand is a bit of a struggle," Fortner said. "Especially if you get over five hundred thousand, it's almost impossible. The financing around five hundred thousand is quite tough now."

Some developers are refocusing their efforts to meet the market's demand.

Heritage Wake Forest, http://www.heritagewakeforest.com/ a master-planned community complete with pools, a golf course, restaurants, and other amenities, previously catered to buyers looking in the four hundred thousand range. But sales, marketing, and development teams have been paying attention to what kind of buyers were coming into the sales office.

"We saw a distinct change and an increase in the buyers that were under three hundred thousand," said Pat Mills, senior sales manager at Heritage.

She said the community is now offering more pre-sale and existing inventory homes in that price range.

Pricing is not the only thing that matters when clinching a sale.

Cherie Weigle recently sold her townhome after about sixty showings in ninety days. She says that listing the home slightly lower than others up for sale in the neighborhood got people in the door. Marketing and staging the home for showings led to offers.

"It was in good shape," Weigle said. "I had it painted and carpeted."

"The furnishings were nice. Everything matched. It wasn't cluttered, and it was easy to walk through the home," added Fortner. "If you make it stand out in some way, when they get there, you're pretty far down the road towards getting an offer on that home."