"I can't say the light is shining brightly, but at least the light is there," said Hugh Gordon, branch manager of First Home Mortgage.

Gordon and other industry professionals are saying the local market is on an uptick.

"Our traffic is up considerably," said Barry Weller, sales manager for Drees Homes. "It's not 2004 or 2005 for sure, but signs are that we have bottomed out and (are) on the mend."

Weller was referring to boom sales a few years ago when people were lining up to buy properties and were willing to pay prices soaring upward at 20 percent or more per year.

Weller attended a meeting with MetroStudy on Wednesday morning, a company that researches housing trends, sales and forecasts for the region.

In Northern Virginia the inventory is down substantially, while sales are up, Weller said. The Maryland market typically follows, he said.

Unlike recent times, Gordon is seeing more than one potential buyer interested in properties.

"Ever since the first of April we have seen noticeable activity, not just in people looking for homes and pre-qualifying, but those actually making offers on homes," Gordon said.

At a recent meeting of the Sales and Marketing Council of the Frederick County Builders Association, many members talked about an uptick in the market.

"From my perspective, I'm seeing more activity on the purchase side than the refinancing side," Gordon said.

Statistics seem to bear out what local real estate agents are noticing.

According to the Maryland Association of Realtors, 185 homes were sold in Frederick County in April, an increase on 153 sold in March.

But the percentage of sales were down in April by 19.6 percent compared to April 2007.

In March, sales had decreased 38.1 percent compared to a year earlier.

The foreclosure crisis has meant Gordon's firm has to keep up with almost daily changes in lending guidelines.

"I've always been conservative and would never lead someone into something high risk," Gordon said.

But there are always new types of loans coming out, he said, including a new "conforming jumbo" loan that would allow qualifying buyers to purchase higher priced homes. "And there are a lot of those in Frederick County," he said.

At Worman's Mill, Sasha Nugent, a sales representative with Wormold Co., said she, too, has seen an increase in demand, especially for townhouses, followed by single-family dwellings.

"There really is a demand out there," she said. Sales for the company have been doing "pretty well steady all year," she said.

Gordon said homes are coming down in price in line with the market where people can afford them.

Larry Riggs, president of the Frederick County Association of Realtors, said there are more showings of homes, more responsiveness from buyers, and that even some sellers are more realistic about pricing.

"The pain is lessening," Riggs said, describing the challenge facing real estate professionals.

The National Association of Realtors launched a program called Surround Sound that the organization likens to a movie theater, to surround consumers with positive information on the housing market.

The program includes advertising, as well as prepared information for local real estate associations to use for the media.

Inventory of homes on the market in Frederick County grew to 2,198 in April, from 2,146 in March. But spring is the time of year when generally more people put homes on the market.

"This really is the best time to buy," Nugent said. "It is a down market, people should take advantage of it."

In April, according to the state Realtors' group, the average price of a home sold in Frederick County was $322,660, down from $375,549 a year earlier.

That compares to $543,277 in Montgomery County, up from $530,743 in April 2007. In Washington County, the average home sold for $235,609, down from $259,325 in April 2007.