As I look at the residential pendings they are down a bit, but “lots and lands” pendings were up by a long shot!!

This is good news, this means that people are thinking about building and when new construction starts up again that means that the economy may be moving toward recovery.

Bank owned listings were also up. This reveals that my hunch was right, banks are just now getting their inventories out there and I think there are more to come!

Listings of short sales were fewer this week and that is probably because they became bank owned.

Definitely word out there that interest rates will be going up when the government uses up their allotted bond purchasing money. Lower priced homes, low interest rates..buying couldn’t be better!

Here are the past 2 weeks, side by side.  We are hoping that the expansion of the tax credit will promote activity in more than just the first time home buyer price range!

Officially signed into law this morning!!!

Homebuyer Credit -

Extended to May 2010 (must be in Contract by April 30th and close by June 30th)

$8,000 for first time buyers (have not owned a home in the last 3 years)

$6,500 for buyers who have lived in their residence for 5+ years

It's a GREAT TIME TO BUY! :)

The Bill extends the $8,000 tax credit for first time homebuyers, as well as adding a $6,500 credit for non-first time homebuyers.  The credit would be good for contracts entered before April 30th, 2010 and closed by June 30th.  Income restrictions apply as well.

President Obama is supposed to sign the bill into law tomorrow.

Many believe that this will be the last extension of the credit.

While the temperature went down so did pendings and solds this week.

I know…..they were not exceptional the week before!

We are hearing nationally that things are picking up…investors snatching up the great deals out there may be the bulk of the sales.

New home stats are not up. So we follow-up on any interest and work on making sure all of our properties are highlighted in the best way possible.

It looks like the Senate will pass an extension of the homebuyer tax credit, we will have the specifics available on our website as soon as they are made official!

Or feel free to contact me and I can send them directly to you.

Have a great week!! Kelly

Inventory up a bit, pending and solds down a bit.

National news suggests recovery so we can hope that we are in for something good.

Global news suggests that our optimistic national news could change at any moment, leaving us all just guessing.

One thing we know is that inflation is on the rise which will affect mortgage rates which will in turn affect house sales. When we look back a couple years from now even though economy may be recovering our buying power may be greatly altered.

Tell all your friends that now is the time to buy!!

Retail Sales for September fell by 1.5% - and while the numbers were better than expected, they are still dismal at best. In addition, the flood of pre-holiday sales and layaway options that are already hitting - remember, it's still mid-October - also suggests a lack of pricing power for retailers.

Stock earnings season continued with some mixed news: There were reasonably strong earnings reports from Intel and JPMorgan Chase, while there were weaker than expected reports from Johnson & Johnson, General Electric and IBM. Bank of America also posted its first loss for the year.

Take care,

Kelly

<!-- .hmmessage P { margin:0px; padding:0px } body.hmmessage { font-size: 10pt; font-family:Verdana } -->What a week last week!! I had the privilege to observe first hand the “Ironman World Championship” at Kona. My husband manufactures an “Ironman” recovery mattress which is amazing.  In fact the two world champions sleep on them and so do we!!  We were there on behalf of this recovery mattress. We had the privilege of being VIPs and were able to stand at the finish line to receive the runners.

This race consists of a 2.4 mile swim in the ocean, 112 mile bike ride through the wind and terrain of Kona and then after that a 26.2 mile run to the finish. It was extremely hot and humid and the winds were strong for the bike segment, they faced head winds going both ways!!


Craig Alexander Men’s World Champion


Chrissie Wellington Women’s World Champion


Pictures from www.ironman.com

The pro’s started at 6:45 am and finished in about 9 hours which was very impressive.  I have to tell you what was even more impressive and brought us to tears were the people who finished the race closer to midnight!
There were people in their late 70’s finishing this race and when they came over the finish line the cheers were amazing!!

A young man who had both his legs amputated at the age of 5 participated.
A young man in his 20s who has battled cancer at four times already in his life who had recently had a heart transplant also participated.

A 79 woman with an amazing outlook on life, an 80 year old gentleman with great legs all participated in this amazing event!


Back on the home front things were relatively quiet even in the lower price ranges this last week. Even the number of new listings were down.
We see a little more activity in the “looking” phase of homebuyers right now in the upper price ranges.  Hopefully this will lead to some pending sales in the next few months.

Salem – Oregon Housing and Community Services has been awarded $457,390 to support foreclosure prevention counseling throughout the state.

OHCS Director Victor Merced made the announcement: “Great news. Now we can reinvigorate our help to Oregonians who are having difficulty keeping their homes. This is very important for people fighting to stave off foreclosure.”

The much-needed boost will enable OHCS, which manages the mitigation money, to provide counseling to homeowners in danger of foreclosure. Counseling referrals are made through Oregon SafeNet, 1-800-723-3638.

The grant to support OHCS foreclosure intervention came from the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program. The initial funding was provided by Congress in the FY08 Consolidated Appropriations Act.

Additional funding was provided through the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 and the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009. The National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program is administered through a competitive application process by NeighborWorks® America, within guidelines defined by Congressional legislation.

NeighborWorks® America is an independent, congressionally-chartered non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., with a mission to provide access to sustainable homeownership and safe, affordable rental housing.

Earlier foreclosure mitigation awards to Oregon totaled $418,504, covering early 2008 through mid- 2009, when 1,514 persons were served. The mitigation counseling is conducted by counselors certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in workshops and housing centers under the auspices of OHCS.

Oregon Housing and Community Services is the state’s housing finance agency and community services program administrator. The department provides financial and program support to create and preserve opportunities for quality, affordable housing serving Oregonians of lower and moderate income, and administers federal and state antipoverty, homeless, energy assistance and community service programs. Go to www.ohcs.oregon.gov/

This last week pendings were down 31% from the week before.

However we had two pendings in the over 400K mark.

3 out of the 20 pendings were Bank Owned while 2 out of the 13 solds were Bank Owned.

We had a showing on one of our million listings this last week and we had more showings on our under $200,000 homes.

Many of our transactions have encountered Buyer financing problems. This is a tough time that requires experienced Lenders and Brokers and communication with the Real Estate Broker. I believe Sellers are the most at risk to be hurt when something goes wrong and it has never seemed fair.

It is very difficult to fireproof a transaction for a Seller, much easier for a Buyer. Extensions for closing and other hic-ups are very common. So when we finally get an offer the roller coaster ride doesn’t end until the Seller gets their check and the Buyer gets their keys!

Things have definitely remained stable this last week.

Pendings were up a bit in the lower range and one Yamhill County property sold over $400,000!

This was actually one of our listings!

Distressed properties have also remained steady over the last month in our area.

Over the weekend we set up quite a few showings some in the lower price range and some over a million, it is looking good!