These simple steps will make sure you are ready:

•  Be over-prepared:  You must be in a “ready-to-buy state”, not just interested. In other words, you should be fully pre-approved by a lender, knowledgeable about contractual obligations associated with buying a home and available at any moment to sign the offer.

Time is critical when a great home hits the market.   Having your financing in order will give you a competitive advantage.   Being ready includes not only lender pre-approval, but having identified the source of down payment and having liquid funds to write an earnest money check.

• Be ready to make your purchase decision quickly.  No one likes to rush a big decision and it’s unfortunate that buyers face such short time periods.  That being said, in a competitive home buying environment, the buyer who has the foundation of market knowledge can make quick decisions with confidence.

Multiple offers are back!  Having a great broker and understanding how to structure a competitive offer and how the process works is paramount.

• Take a crash course upfront.  See 10 – 20 homes in person to establish your foundation of knowledge.  This will help you recognize a great home when you see it.

Try to take a look at all homes immediately as they hit the market and do not trust the MLS photos.  View all contenders ASAP.  You will gain great market and neighborhood knowledge by seeing numerous homes and it will also help solidify the moment you walk into the right home.  You can’t know if it’s the right home if you haven’t seen a number of the wrong ones.

Product knowledge and financial preparedness are the keys to success in buying a new listing when it hits the market. By becoming a student of the market and viewing properties in person with your broker, you will be ready and able to seize a good value.  If you are ready to jump into this market … give us a call today  (503) 292-1500.

There has been a lot of positive news in the Portland real estate market that suggests that the “bottom” is now in the rear view mirror and that values are poised to rise.   For those of us in the trenches we are struggling to find good homes for our purchasers to buy and in many instances we are seeing multiple offers on new listings – hallelujah right?  Does this mean we can all “hold” our properties and be up 5 to 10% next year and recapture some of our lost equity?

This is a question many potential sellers are asking us today.  It seems that the media is finally providing positive press with an upbeat attitude about the market and homeowners everywhere are becoming optimistic.  However before we all start making a plan about this exciting news, keep these facts in mind:

1.  According to CoreLogic, a Santa Ana, Calif.-based real estate data firm, Portland home prices declined 3% in January compared to January 2011.

2. Clear Capital, another research firm, reported a 2.2% decline in home values when comparing February 2012 vs. February 2011.

3. In the three month period of December, January, and February, note the following averages in Metro Portland inventory and sales year over year.

Year      Inventory      Pending Sales      Closed Sales
2010       12,382                1508                    1169
2011       11,684                1430                    1190
2012         8,460                1791                    1366

If you take a step back to try and determine the true direction of the market, the research firms would have you believing that the market is still in a soft decline. Yet when you look at the shrinking supply of homes and the increased demand, basic economics would suggest we are about to see some real appreciation.  Either way, the trend appears to be good, but keep these items in mind:

1. In 2005 when prices rose, buyers were able to purchase their next home before they sold their existing home.  This is no longer the case.  Very few buyers will be able to purchase before they sell.

2. Many existing homeowners who would like to move up or move down would like to strike now with today’s lower than ever interest rates. However, due to the lack of inventory many are refraining from putting their homes up for sale as they do not believe they will find a home they would like…a “Catch-22”.  So the theory goes, if inventory grows a little, it may quickly grow a lot as existing homeowners see future home solutions and consequently place their own homes on the market.

3. How much of the recent increase in sales can be attributed to the fact that, for the first time ever, 30 year fixed interest rates have been available during the past three months between 3.6 and 3.875%?

4. Those homeowners who wait may likely yield a higher price for their home in a few years, but the home they buy will likely have appreciated the same amount and interest rates will likely be higher.

In the end, we do believe that the market has stabilized and, in fact, that we may even see some appreciation, but nothing close to what we saw during the boom due to the reasons detailed above.  The best news, however, is that buyers today no longer need to fear buying a home only to see its value decline after their purchase.  And, for those sellers who have continued to pay on their loans with no equity, the next 3-5 years should put you back in position to sell your home and actually buy your next home with your retrieved equity.

Portland area homes sold faster in January as prices and the inventory of for-sale properties dropped.

The Regional Multiple Listing Service said Wednesday homes sold in January spent an average of 136 days on the market, down 14.6 percent from the 160 days it took to sell a home a year ago.

At the same time, new listings dropped by 16.5 percent to 2,613, while the average price was relatively unchanged at $249,100 and the median price dropped 3.5 percent to $207.500.

RMLS said there were 1,823 pending sales in January, a 22.4 percent increase, and 1,224 closed sales, an 18.3 percent increase.

There were 8,514 unsold homes in January, enough to satisfy current demand for seven months, a sharp drop from the 11.3-month level posted one year ago and 12.6-month level posted two years ago.

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2012/02/16/portland-homes-sell-faster-as-price.html?ed=2012-02-16&s=article_du&ana=e_du_pub

The latest take on Portland area home prices shows a year-end decline of 2.4 percent in December from a year earlier.

That’s according to figures released Thursday by CoreLogic Inc.    CoreLogic Inc. Latest from The Business Journals Birmingham home prices dipped in DecemberMemphis December home prices declined 5.4% from 2010Nashville home prices dip in December Follow this company , a Santa Ana, Calif.-based real estate research firm.

The decline was less sharp when bank-owned and other distressed properties were excluded — 1.4 percent compared to the prior year.

CoreLogic paints a softer portrait of Portland home prices than the Regional Multiple Listing Service. In January, RMLS said the average home sold in December commanded $260,800, a 6.2 percent decline from one year ago.

The two real estate data firms use different methodologies, which could explain the discrepancy. (Read about CoreLogic’s methodology. RMLS uses its own database to determine pricing averages.)

CoreLogic said its national index, including distressed sales, declined 4.7 percent in December compared to the prior year. It is the fifth consecutive year for home price declines, CoreLogic said.

“While overall prices declined by almost 5 percent in 2011, non-distressed prices showed only a small decrease. Until distressed sales in the market recede, we will see continued downward pressure on prices,” said Mark Fleming, CoreLogic’s chief economist.

Distressed sales account for about 15 percent of the Portland home market and 20 percent of the national market.

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2012/02/02/corelogic-confirms-price-declines-for.html?ed=2012-02-02&s=article_du&ana=e_du_pub

While everyone wants to know when the housing market is going to rebound, the exciting news for those of us in the industry is that this may be the year of the flat line!   Since June of 2006 we have watched market values erode, in excess of 10% per year for a couple of years, but in 2010 the rate slowed to 8.7%,  and this past year according to Standard and Poors Case Shiller index, Portland’s values decreased only 4.7%.   For many folks this may still seem disappointing, but for home buyers this is excellent news, especially when you combine it with the fact that mortgage interest rates have set new record lows in the 4% range.   However, this is only one form of measurement, so here are some items that we, the troops on the ground here in Portland, would like to convey.

Year End Stats:                        2010       2011   
Inventory is Down                   45,691     34,084          
Sales Units are Up                   18,926     19,682            
Market Absorption Improved    7.9           5.3

It is common knowledge that, as inventory tightens, price begins to stabilize, and we are seeing it on the front line when working with buyers.   In years past we touted that the reason to buy now was that buyers finally had the ability to shop as there was a broad selection of homes.  Today, we have more buyers than sellers who are eager to snatch up a home at a 4% fixed rate mortgage, but the selection is not there.   Buyers, like Realtors, are anticipating the typical increase in inventory this spring as home sellers wait for the sunshine to show their homes.  But in the past few years, the carryover of inventory of available homes caused a glut of inventory in the spring.  This is not the case today.

At the end of 2008, the actual market absorption (time needed to clear out the current inventory of available homes) was over 14 months.  Today, those rates are down to 5-8 months.   The actual market absorption rate for your home may still be higher or lower than these figures and that is dependent on your location, price range, property type (single family home, condominium, acreage, etc).

Another positive indicator is lot sales.  Between 2008 and 2010, very few, if any, builders were buying lots as there was no available financing, and by the time builders would finish building the home, it was apparent based on market trends that the home could be worth 10% less than what they had projected.   A leading optimistic trend is that builders are now buying lots; in fact they are scrambling for them.  Some are able to get some traditional financing, but most have established creative private sources of funding to conduct business.  In 2009, based on the market absorption,  it was not uncommon to see that there was a 3 year supply of available lots, and now that figure is closer to a one year supply, but worse yet, much of the supply is made up of the “left overs” – the least desirable lots. 

Finally, it was recently reported in the Oregonian, that the actual number of foreclosures in Portland was lower than anticipated, once again suggesting when combined with these other bench marks, that the market appears to be stabilizing.

If you would like to know specifically where your property stands, or would like to begin formulating your real estate/home buying, selling, downsizing, or upsizing plan, please contact one of our brokers.  In my opinion, this is a very pivotal time to either make the move or develop your strategy for the years.

The foreclosure market in Oregon and nationwide improved in 2011, though foreclosures could tick higher this year.

The number of homeowners in Oregon who dealt with some form of foreclosure filing in 2011 dropped 39.14 percent from the previous year and 34.08 percent from 2009.

According to a year-end market report from Irvine, Calif.-based real estate data firm RealtyTrac there were 22,492 foreclosure filings in Oregon last year, or one for every 73 households. That ranked Oregon No. 14 nationwide in terms of the percent of homes in foreclosure.

The average price of a foreclosed home in Oregon is $171,044. According to the most recent data from the Regional Multiple Listing Service, the median price of Portland home not in foreclosure was $225,000 in November.

Multnomah County had the state’s highest level of foreclosure activity in 2011, with 3,335 foreclosed homes.

Nationally, there were 1.89 million homes in some stage of foreclosure last year, down 34.27 percent from 2010 and 33.17 percent from 2009.

While foreclosure activity in 2011 was at its lowest level since 2007, there could be jump in the numbers this year as lenders continue to work through a backlog of distressed mortgages.

“The lack of clarity regarding many of the documentation and legal issues plaguing the foreclosure industry means that we are continuing to see a highly dysfunctional foreclosure process that is inefficiently dealing with delinquent mortgages,” said RealtyTrac CEO Brandon Moore in a statement. “There were strong signs in the second half of 2011 that lenders are finally beginning to push through some of the delayed foreclosures in select local markets. We expect that trend to continue this year, boosting foreclosure activity for 2012 higher than it was in 2011, though still below the peak of 2010.”

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2012/01/12/oregon-foreclosures-down-40-in-2011.html?ed=2012-01-12&s=article_du&ana=e_du_pub

Portland home prices in October were down 4.7 percent since the same time last year, according to Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Home Price data released Tuesday. Portland home prices were also 0.5 percent lower than in September.

Case-Shiller tracks monthly home prices in 20 markets.

Annual home prices improved in 14 of the markets, including Portland. Last month’s data showed Portland home prices were down 5.7 percent in the past year.

Nationally, annual home prices were down 3 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively, for the 10- and 20-city composite indexes. For the month, the 10- and 20-city composite indexes were down 1.1 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.

The index is based on a base value of 100 in January 2000.

Portland has an index value of 135.44. That means a typical Portland home has appreciated in value 35.4 percent since January 2000.

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2011/12/27/Case-Shiller-Portland-home-prices-down.html?ed=2011-12-27&s=article_du&ana=e_du_pub

Between shipping holiday packages, planning the family trip and baking cookies, the holidays can be anything but happy. Fortunately, The UPS Store ® hopes to help keep your holidays happy and hassle-free.

For customers who prefer to do it themselves, Tim Kimble, The UPS Store owner, offers the following tips:

• Begin with the proper materials: a new cardboard box designed for shipping, professional-grade packaging tape and packaging material like foam packaging peanuts or bubble cushioning (at least two inches all around).
• Include a label on the inside of the package with the destination and return addresses.
• Use a shipping option that provides a package tracking number.
• Take batteries out of toys, electronics, etc., before shipping and wrap them separately to avoid contact with metal.
• Seal home-made holiday treats in an interior airtight container or plastic bag before packing them and use an expedited air service.
• Ship wrapped gifts and luggage ahead to your destination, especially if traveling by air.

With only 20 shipping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, good timing is critical. Mondays are typically the busiest shipping days and Dec. 12-16 is expected to be the busiest week of the year, but Tim expects to see the holiday rush as late as Dec. 22 for delivery on Dec. 23.

The UPS Store is located at 10940 SW Barnes Rd., Peterkort Towne Square.

Home preparation is the key to a quick sale at top dollar and the job to get one’s home ready takes a lot longer than most sellers realize.   Clean up, bids, color sections, scheduling, the process of getting your home prepared for professional photographing and  video filming is extensive and can easily take two to three months.  While we see some homeowners rally in a few weeks, most believe they can have it done quickly, only to hit the market a month or two after their initial goal.  This is where a good broker who is well connected and has design savvy can save you time and get you lined up to be one of the first fresh listings to hit the market this spring.