With the National market in flux and certain segments of our local market slowing, buyers are looking for ways to save money and sellers are looking for a way to get out of trouble. Those two goals sometimes intersect with something called a short sale. A short sale is where a Lender agrees to let a seller sell their home for less than what is owed on the property. That is the basic idea but the reality is more complicated and the process often times takes quite a bit longer than a traditional 30 day close.

I have spoken with quite a few agents who handle short sales and bank owned properties and the consensus has been that in Portland you don’t really get a great deal and it takes in many cases 5 months to close. This is because Oregon is very under-represented when compared to the rest of the country in foreclosures and other distressed types of sales and this means that those properties often sell for close to market value. On the flip side I have clients that have bought properties for much less than market value. I think it has much more to do with the amount of inventory that bank currently holds versus the specific market.

The bottom line is that you need to talk with a Real Estate Attorney, a CPA, and an experience Realtor before you decide to enter into a short sale.

For more detailed info check out these two articles:
Selling a Short Sale
Buying a Short Sale

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You might have heard the news - it will be on the TV tonight and I wanted to point out the small print that will likely be overlooked by much of the media.

For 20 years the Case/Shiller index has tracked the rise and fall of the housing market nationally. Of the 20 areas they look at all were down except 3 - some like Miami are down as much as 17%. Three areas went up: Charlotte, N.C., 2.3%; Portland, Ore., 1.2%; and Seattle, at 0.5%.

Read the entire article here: CNN/Money

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I want to share two new tools that I think are going to become widely used by both buyers and investors.

1. Google Street View : This amazing new tool allows to walk around a neighborhood or an entire city virtually. Many of my clients are using this to further explore areas before viewing homes.

2. Zilpy.com : This great new site allows you to see what homes or apartments are renting for in any given neighborhood. This is great if you’re planning on buying a rental or keeping your home and turning it into a rental. I also suggest you look at Craigslist to see what your competition as a rentor or landlord is going to be.

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I read an article this morning from one of my favorite columnists, Carol Lloyd, who writes a weekly column called “Surreal Estate.” In the column she talks about a recent study asking children and adults what their “dream” home was.

The results?: A place with Love, Family, Good neighborhoods and Good schools topped the list. Little mention was made of Appliances, Appreciation or Square footage.

I think this article is a great reminder of why we buy homes… To have a place of our own, one we can make special. A place where we make memories, play our music, and make our families and our future.

You can read the entire column here: Surreal Estate

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Well - In a word, YES.

We have had a resoundingly crummy week here in Portland and it has definitely affected the number of people that are getting out there and looking at houses. We’ve also had a very small amount of new listings hit the market in December which means there really isn’t much class A inventory to look at right now. If you have a unique or nice close-in home you’d likely be pleasantly surprised by the speed of the market for good homes right now.

So back to the issue of what you can do about the weather:

1. LIGHT: In the winter it’s dark - add as much light as possible to your home. You can paint dark rooms with brighter and warmer colors. I recently installed new lights in my kitchen and it made a HUGE difference in the feel of the room at a very low cost. If your home is vacant make sure there are lights on timers for agents bringing people by after work in the dark.

2. WARMTH: Leave the heat on! It is a very good feeling to come in out of the cold… not out of the cold into a different cold. People will not spend time or think favorably about a cold house.

3. DOORMATS: I do not like having to take off my shoes to show a house. I recommend doormats at all outside doors both inside and outside. People are generally very considerate so don’t make them wear those little blue bootie things.

A couple little changes can make a big difference and that will help you sell your home faster. Now, come on everyone with very nice houses in close-in PDX - people want to buy your home but you have to get on the market first!

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The new Portland Report is here! James and I were trying to get this out before the holiday but life and work intervened so here we are. Watch and enjoy the Lost Holiday Episode!

Watch Here - Portland Report

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Hello Everybody!

I just got back from some R&R in Jamaica and NYC and let me tell you, it’s great to be home in Portland! I am going to share some awesome news for everyone here in PDX and anyone thinking about moving to the greatest little city on the West Coast.

NEW MARKET:

The Oregonian finally referenced some local data and it looks great! Oregonian Article We’re in the top 5 markets in the country and were recently named the #1 place to invest in Multi-Family investment property. Why? We still have appreciation and a low rate of foreclosure Nationally speaking. We win on multi-family because of 3 things. 1. Alot of apartments have been turned into condos. 2. We haven’t built enough new apartments. 3. People love Portland and are still moving here.

Nationally there are good numbers too - we’re still selling alot of homes:
2002-2004 - 4.7 million sold on average per year
2005 - 7.1 [boom year]
2006 - 6.5 [boom year]
2007 - 5.7 [bad year ?????]
2008 - 5.7 [projected]

This shows pretty well that we’re doing fine and people are still buying and selling homes.

I have had 4 listings go pending in the last week - 2 with multiple offers!!!

Here is some great info on remodeling costs vs. returns.

NEW RULES:

You love Oregon and Oregon loves your money. Just to prove this they’ve added a new tax witholding law for out of state sellers. Basically the state is trying to make sure that out of state people and corporations pay their fair share of state capital gains. There are exemptions so I am attaching the law and the new forms for you here: Non-resident withholding law

NEW INTEREST RATES:

This is great news for everyone! Mortgage interest rates have fallen dramatically in the last few months. Last week they dipped down to 5.25% for a 30 year fixed. The new lower rates allow people to borrow more and keep the same monthly payment. It’s a great time to refi and a great time to buy. Another tidbit that just hit the news today is the rumor the the Jumbo loan limit might soon be $730,000 almost double the current $417,000. This means that you can borrow more and not pay a rate penalty for going over the conforming limit thereby saving you lots of $$. This will have more of an effect on higher priced markets but is great news for anyone thinking of moving up.

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It’s that magical time of year where most people are planning for trips and telling their clients the market is slowing down. Historically December is the slowest month for pending sales here in Portland but this has never been the case for my business. December is always a sprint from start to finish for two big reasons; Investors and first time buyers.

Here’s how it works: You have interest rates at the lowest point in years, a large inventory and people are ready to make deals. This is the perfect storm for qualified first time home buyers or investors. I wrote an offer on a home last week that had 8 other offers in the first week! [ps- that's not slow!!!]. One of my listings has had 50 showings in the last two weeks!!! Take into account that rents are predicted to go up 10-15% this year and buying your own place or investing in a property that your renters’ are going to pay for looks like a great idea.

There is also a tangible sense in the air that this Spring will see a turnaround in inventory taking us back to more of a sellers market and our couple months of buyers market will be gone. I can’t see the future but I’ve got a hunch.

You might also notice that I’ve totally upgraded the new listings page with photo tours and links to the full listing info. Thanks to all my readers here at sellpdx.com - I’m starting to meet some of you guys and I hope I get to help many more of you as you buy and sell in 2008.

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I recently became a CCIM Candidate and thought I’d put up a little info on what that means. CCIM stands for Certified Commercial Investment Member - only 8,600 people in the world have this designation and here is why: It’s difficult and expensive and takes a lot of time. If you can get the designation in 2 years that would be considered very quick.

There are four week long courses taught in different places all around the world and you have to complete a substantial portfolio of work as well. Once you’ve done all that you get to take a final exam. The process has been likened to getting a PhD in Real Estate. See the details here. I recently finished CCIM 101: Financial Analysis and got 100% on my test - thereby becoming a candidate.

If you are thinking about Commercial or Investment property I can help you with the additional education, experience, and network of people and resources I now have available. If you are a residential agent I would be happy to help your client with their commercial needs.

Nick

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Let’s face it, 2007 is almost over, people are taking down halloween stuff and people are gearing up for Christmas and Hanukkah etc… So lucky me I was invited to attend an economic forecast for 2008 last week in fancy Lake Oswego with crystal ball seer and Duke PHd Economist Bill Conerly.

Some interesting facts: Bill gives a national recession a 1 in 4 chance with a vote that it likely will not happen. Recessions are also getting less frequent and less severe historically speaking. [This is Good News]

How to deal with a recession in four easy steps:
1. Assess your company and sectors vulnerability
2. Have an early warning system
3. Have a contingency plan [going on vacation doesn't count]
4. Make sure you remain flexible

More cool number to know:
1. In the NW population growth is 1.5% annually - Nationally it’s 1% [we win]
2. 14% of homes in the US are vacant - this sounds really scary until I tell you that since 1965 it’s been about 12%
3. Economic value is now intellectual [software] rather than physical [coal mines] which means that jobs follow people now and not the other way around. This is why Portland had it’s biggest in-migration in 2002 when the unemployment was the highest.

If you want to learn more I suggest you read Bill’s book Businomics

I’m currently reading The Tipping Point

The bottom line is that while the rest of the country was building like “crazy” we were building like “really excited” so now that the market is trending to a buyers market we have less inventory than other areas to eat through. We also have a modest median home price that continues to fuel positive population growth [this is good]. We also have a magical security blanket known as the Urban Growth Boundary so we can’t do 10,000 home subdivisions [like Arizona]. Learn more about the Urban Growth Boundary here.

For people who want to read a huge and detailed report on the third quarter in Portland this is a must read

Thanks for stopping by to read this - please feel free to call me if you have any questions.

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