Michael and Danielle Tinker say they made their first real estate investment at just the right time.

The couple - he's 22, she's 21 - met at St. Luke's Boise Medical Center, where they work. In March, they closed on a 1,600-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath Corey Barton home in Kuna. In April, they moved in.

The Tinkers weren't sure about buying a house with prices in free fall. "It was kind of scary," Michael Tinker said. But low home prices and interest rates, along with incentives from the government and Barton, gave them confidence.

After months of bad news in the Valley housing market, signs of life are emerging like green shoots in a blackened forest. First-time homebuyers like the Tinkers may represent the leading edge of a recovery.

The number of homes sold in Ada County rose 12 percent last month, the second-largest increase from March to April in 11 years, the Intermountain Multiple Listing Service says. Sales in Canyon County rose 16 percent.

Like the Tinkers, real estate agents and builders say, shoppers are being lured back to model homes by low prices, low interest rates, a federal tax incentive designed to stimulate the economy, and builder incentives designed to sell houses.

Robynne Browne, an agent with Windermere/Richard B. Smith in Boise, has been struggling since the market crashed last fall. Last week, though, her phone just started ringing.

"It was nuts," she said. "I have two listings and a closing on Wednesday. And those people want to go out and look at investment properties. It's like someone just opened a spigot."

Kim Davis, an agent with Group One Realty in Boise, said she has buyers in the move-up market who are willing to sell their homes for slightly less than they paid to capitalize on interest rates and low prices.

Average rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages nationwide were 4.84 percent last week, the eighth straight week they were below 5 percent. Meanwhile, the median price of homes in April fell to $170,000 in Ada County and $116,100 in Canyon County, the MLS says.

"If you take a little loss on a $200,000 house and buy a $400,000 house with interest at all-time lows, they can gain more equity than they lose," Davis said.

But agents say they aren't advising sellers to increase their listing prices. Prices for existing homes are still trending downward.

"If sellers can afford to stay in their house, I tell them to wait a while before listing," Browne said.

For new homes, though, there are signs that prices have struck bottom and bounced slightly.

"The real shocker is we've seen four straight months of increase in value in new homes because the inventory is decreasing," said Mike Pennington, residential specialist with John L. Scott Real Estate in Boise.

The average sales price of a new home in Ada County was $214,474 in April, up 4 percent from $206,743 in January, according to the MLS. There were 797 new homes listed in Ada County in April, down 7 percent from 854 in January.

Pennington said he's seen bidding battles for new homes because there are fewer to choose from.

"I think the builders who are working in a thoughtful way can begin to go back into the market and make some money now," he said.

Springtime temperatures haven't hurt either, said Idaho's largest home builder, Corey Barton, of CBH Homes in Meridian. More people get out and look at real estate as the weather improves.

Barton isn't ready to say the market is recovering but says the upside for buyers has gotten too big to ignore.

"Anytime it's warm out and the government offers $8,000 in free money, that's a good thing," he said.

Barton believes today's market offers the best buying opportunities "in our lifetime."

"Interest rates are just stupid," he said. "If they go any lower, money will be free. And house prices are lower than I have ever seen."

Barton thinks prices will remain low until employment stabilizes and the foreclosure rate falls.

For the first time since November, the number of foreclosure starts in the Treasure Valley fell from the previous month. But Charlie Nate, president of Idaho Data Providers, which tracks foreclosure starts, doesn't think the decline is the beginning of a trend.

That's bad news for sellers. As long as distressed homes continue to take up a chunk of the market, they will keep prices in check.

Pennington said he is watching for the existing home inventory in Ada County to drop steadily for a sustained period. "That will signal that the market is beginning to heal," he said.

The Tinkers locked in a 5 percent rate on their 30-year fixed-rate mortgage of $158,000. Under a rural development program run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that guarantees loans, they received 100 percent financing and don't have to pay mortgage insurance. They also took advantage of the $8,000 federal tax credit and a $2,000 credit for upgrades from the builder.

Now they're enjoying home ownership, Michael Tinker said. He bought his wife a German shepherd puppy, installed sprinklers and sod, and is painting his bonus room.

"I painted it for my favorite teams - one wall is blue for the Broncos, and another wall is orange for the Texas Longhorns," he said.

Brad Talbutt: 672-6737