Did you think they wouldn’t?

Senators tentatively agreed Wednesday to extend the much-sought-after $8,000 first-time homebuyers tax credit, an incentive that many Long Beach area realtors credit for boosting home sales. The credit was set to expire at the end of next month, and as the deadline approached people in the real estate industry began reporting that numerous first-time buyers were hurriedly getting into the market.

Not only did the Senators agree to extend the credit, they agreed to offer a reduced credit of up to $6,500 to repeat buyers who have owned their current homes for at least five years. The tax credits would be available to buyers who sign purchase agreements by the end of April, and they would have until the end of June to close on their new homes, a story in the Los Angeles Times states. The Senators agreed on an amendment, which may be tied to an unemployment insurance bill. The Senate was expected to vote on the bill as early as Thursday.

Speaking of credit, a report from the California Association of Realtors released earlier this week credits the tax credit for improved sales. The report shows home sales in the state rose 2.1% in September compared with the same period a year ago, while the median price of an existing home fell 7.3%.

“The market’s momentum continued in September, as many home buyers took advantage of the federal tax credit for first-time home buyers,” CAR President James Liptak said in a statement. “The success of the federal tax credit is clear. Nearly 70% of first-time home buyers report that the tax credit was ‘the most important’ or a ‘very important’ factor in their decision to buy a home.”

The median price of an existing, single-family detached home in California during September was $296,090, however September’s median was up 1.1% compared with August’s $292,960 median price.

Long Beach’s median fell 8.3% year-over-year to $360,000. Other nearby cities with notable drops include Bellflower, down 14.3% to $340,00; Cerritos, down 11.2% to $580,000; Compton, down 33.7% to $210,500; Downey, down 6.5% to 375,500; and Paramount down 33.3% to $225,500. Prices in Lakewood stayed even at $392,500. The median across Los Angeles County fell 8.8% to $365,000.

And in Realty Bites news, stay tuned Tuesday for the column’s first video—on staging-live.lbpost.com that is. The videos were started by award-winning Long Beach Press-Telegram videographer Robert Meeks and myself a few years back and were a highly popular weekly feature on the newspaper’s Web site that accompanied a printed column. The two- to five-minute videos featured extravagant homes, dilapidated dwellings in the throes of foreclosure, odd trends and the well-placed moment of jocularity.

I plan to bring back the video on a regular basis, at least monthly, and sometimes weekly. Please feel free to post or e-mail (don@lbpost.com) me good ideas for videos.

The inaugural video features 5565 Naples Canal, a newly built custom home on the waterfront. Listing agent Keith Muirhead with Long Beach-based Equity Brokers Inc. likes to market such homes for the “indoor-outdoor lifestyles” they offer, as many of the floorplans in Naples’ homes include a bottom floor that opens out onto the canal area. The five-bedroom, four-bathroom, 5,070 square foot “Italiante/Mediterranean inspired home” is selling for $6.2 million. The video tour gives viewers a taste of the canal-living lifestyle along with details of the home.