ALL ABOUT.....Portland.Oregon.Real Estate

8 Steps Towards Surviving The Spring Home Buying Frenzy

Betty Jung — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:01:34 +0000

Even though Punxsutawney Phil says Spring is still 6 weeks away, the Spring home buying frenzy is closer than you think. Many of our areas have a low inventory of houses for sale and you might want to consider what you can do to improve your chances of finding the right house for you. Multiple [...]

Oregon Financing Update

Betty Jung — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:01:43 +0000

Guest Author: Bob Chiodo, CFP Equity Home Mortgage, LLC www.ResCommLending.com Apply Here Estimated Rates for the week of February 8, 2010*: 30 yr fixed=4.75 – 5.00 FHA/VA=4.75 – 5.00 OR VA=4.50 w/1.5 pts/4.625 w/1.0 Jumbo (30 yr fixed)=5.50 – 5.75 5/1 ARM=conforming 3.625 – 4.000; jumbo 3.875 – 4.250 As you can see, rates stayed about the same from last week. I replaced the 7/1 quote [...]

Market Update: A Decade Of Lake Oswego’s High End Market

Betty Jung — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:01:10 +0000

You’ve read it here, in other blogs, the newspapers and on the news – that the million dollar and above housing market in Lake Oswego was stuck this past year. I’ve written in the past about those million $ houses and since we’ve just completed a year and a decade, I thought now would be a good time to [...]

Time’s Running Out…Again

Betty Jung — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 08:01:51 +0000

Guest Author: Steve Emory Sr. Mortgage Banker Loan Officer Pacific Residential Mortgage, LLC www.seloan.com We have two items coming up soon, that will have a large negative impact on First Time Buyers (FTB) or other buyers going FHA. The FHA UpFront MI is going from 1.75% to 2.25% of the base Loan amount on 04/01/2010, and the Tax Credit ends with offers [...]

Life Lesson Learned From Selling Real Estate

Betty Jung — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 08:01:02 +0000

A couple of things happened recently that reminded me of a post I’ve been wanting to write. Selling real estate has taught me many life lessons. I was reminded of one the other day. My day was booked with appointments. Going to the first appointment, the customer had a conflict and forgot to call me. Not a [...]

Helping The Kids Cope With A Move

Betty Jung — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:01:51 +0000

Moving has become a common aspect of the American way of life. Some families are old hands at relocating, others will be moving perhaps for the first or only time. But whether a family is a veteran or a rookie in the moving process, one aspect of moving that is frequently overlooked or left to chance [...]

The End Of The Suburb

Betty Jung — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:01:06 +0000

Ellen Dunham-Jones recently co-authored a new book entitled Retrofitting Suburbia. The birth of suburbs was in the 1950s and 60s, half of all households lived there and most of those households had children and stay at home moms. Since 2000, two-thirds of suburban households no longer fit that Ozzie-and-Harriet stereotype. Demographers predict that 75% to 85% of [...]

Market Update: Average Sales Price Change 2008 vs. 2009 By Area

Betty Jung — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 08:01:03 +0000

Following are the stats for the month of December (not full year) 2008 vs. 2009 for the average sales price by area for single family residential, condos, townhouses and attached. We will be getting more year-end and 2009 data from RMLS® probably in their next report due out February 14 or thereabouts. You might be surprised with [...]

Oregon Financing Update

Betty Jung — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:01:31 +0000

My link in yesterday’s post to the Gastronomy blog wasn’t correct and I fixed that. Here’s the link should you want to see it. My Lake Oswego Living.A Photo Blog is also on several travel sites including two European ones. In a future post, I will link to those as well. The other day I watched [...]

Ask First – I Might Say Yes

Betty Jung — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:01:59 +0000

Many of my posts on this blog and my Lake Oswego Living.A Photo Blog get linked to or reposted on other sites. I’m ok with that as long as there is a link back to my blog(s) and adheres to those conditions/licenses that are posted on both sites. Recently, my Lake Oswego Living.A Photo Blog was featured on a food site – Gastronomy [...]

Lake Oswego – A Centennial Celebration

Betty Jung — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 08:01:10 +0000

Lake Oswego celebrates its Centennial with a full year of events and activities. Here’s the website with the information. If you click on this link you will also see a series of videos about our town, Lake Oswego and some of its history. The city of Lake Oswego descends from the community known as Oswego which [...]

Taking A Toll

Betty Jung — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 08:01:20 +0000

There’s news that Oregon may soon have toll roads/bridges. However, toll roads are nothing new in Oregon as they date back to the mid-1800s. Most of Oregon’s early roads were toll roads. Toll charges, usually moderate, were necessary to cover primary construction costs and provide some degree of upkeep. Toll roads were chartered for private construction [...]

Museums Around Portland

Betty Jung — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 08:01:17 +0000

It’s still winter and the rainy season. If you think there’s nothing to do right now, you might want to visit some of the museums in town. In 2008, I wrote about the Rice NW Museum of Rocks and Minerals. And, if the Portland Art Museum and Children’s Museum come to mind, you’d be right about those being local [...]

Mortgage Market In Review

Betty Jung — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 08:01:45 +0000

Updates: Yesterday, the Feds decided to keep interest rates low to help with the housing market recovery. If you are a prospective home buyer, there are approximately 91 days to purchase a home. Time’s running out for the tax credit. Guest Author: Bob Chiodo, CFP Equity Home Mortgage, LLC bobchiodo@equityhome.com www.ResCommLending.com Apply Here ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative [...]

Market Update: New Construction Stats YTD 2008 vs. 2009 & Smaller Houses

Betty Jung — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 08:01:37 +0000

It’s been awhile since I’ve been on my soapbox. If you’ve been reading my blog since its birth in May 2008, you will know exactly how I feel about builders and smaller houses because I’ve certainly let my feelings be known. SMALLER HOUSES Now from the Home Builders Show in Las Vegas comes the house dubbed “The New Economy [...]

Oregon Financing Update

Betty Jung — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 08:01:27 +0000

Guest Author: Bob Chiodo, CFP Equity Home Mortgage, LLC bobchiodo@equityhome.com www.ResCommLending.com Apply Here Estimated Rates for the week of January 25, 2009*: 30 yr fixed=4.75 – 5.00 FHA/VA= 4.875 – 5.00 OR VA=4.50 w/1.5 pts/4.625 w/1.0 Jumbo (30 yr fixed)=5.50 – 5.75 7/1 ARM=conforming 3.875 – 4.125; jumbo 4.125 – 4.375 Rates are great and have been holding in a narrow range lately. During the holiday season [...]

A Squirrel’s Eye View

Betty Jung — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 08:01:42 +0000

Well, it’s happened twice now since I started writing this blog in May 2008, the dreaded writer’s block. The following happened recently so I thought I’d post this. Truth be told, I actually had another post scheduled for today, but decided it was too personal and scraped it. When showing property, we real estate agents come across all [...]

Earthquake Preparedness Kit & Classes

Betty Jung — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 08:01:00 +0000

Being from California I’m familiar with what it’s like to be in an earthquake. The largest one I was in was a 7.0 magnitude in the late 1960s while working in downtown Los Angeles. At the time I was pregnant and had a file cabinet fall on me while sitting at my desk. My boss had me call [...]

Lake Oswego Community Facebook Page

Betty Jung — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 08:01:49 +0000

The other day I created a Facebook page for Lake Oswego. If you want to add community news and events, garage sales, school drives and events, childhood memories, pictures, fun activities, new businesses you’re aware of, restaurants you enjoy and your review, or happenings in Lake Oswego, please join in. It’s a community page and my hope is that [...]

Real Estate In Portland: The Highs & Lows Of The Past Decade

Betty Jung — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 08:01:28 +0000

From RMLS™ data, I prepared charts for the past decade showing the highs and lows of the average sales price, days on the market and months of inventory in the Portland metro area from 1999-2009. AVERAGE SALES PRICE The first chart has the average sales price fluctuations over the past 10 years: Highest Average Sales Price: in 2007 @ [...]