tigard real estate agents: A Light at the End of the Tunnel
- 06/10/08 11:34 AM
A report released yesterday stated that the number of homes that went pending in April this year were higher than anyone expected. The Pending Home Sales Index from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) rose to 88.2 in April, up 6.3% from March's reading of 83 and the highest level since October. This is good news since economists had thought there would be a small decrease in sales. This is still down from last year but obviously we are in a whole other situation this year. This has caused NAR to revised its existing home price outlook for 2008. They are … (0 comments)
tigard real estate agents: Fannie Mae No Longer Requires Larger Downpayment
- 05/20/08 11:44 AM
In response to the housing market taking a nose dive mortgage companies and been making many changes that I would call... reactionary. Because it would be crazy to prevent these sort of situations at expense of loosing the quick buck. One of these changes was to up the downpayment percentage required of a Fannie Mae guaranteed loans. This was back in December and now that people are concerned about the lack of home sales, not just defaulting loans, the percentage requirement has been brought back down to 3 to 5 percent. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24665862/ PLEASE CHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST ON THE HOMEPAGE … (0 comments)
tigard real estate agents: Shrinking Houses
- 05/09/08 05:43 AM
Americans have always considered bigger to be better, but in today's housing market times seem to be changing. In previous years it had been predicted that there would be a mass downsizing of the American home. Yet the average size of a new home continued to rise from just over 1,600 square feet in the late 1970s to nearly 2,300 now.But a number of trends suggest that this time Americans really might be ready to downsize. For instance, baby boomers are increasingly becoming empty-nesters and naturally they need less space. Also, between 1970 and 2000, the percentage of nuclear families went … (0 comments)
tigard real estate agents: Are Some Housing Markets Bulletproof?
- 05/06/08 10:26 AM
Some of the best housing markets, the ones who kept on appreciating while the rest of the country plummeted have actually started to see some bad times of their own. Charlotte, NC, Salt Lake City, Seattle and Portland Ore. all posted home price gains during 2007, even as more than half of the 150 markets tracked by the National Association of Realtors registered declines. But now it's looking bad for everyone. The markets that were first and hardest were the ones who had seen the biggest boom prior, whose prices were unbelievably inflated and therefore had nowhere to go but down. The … (0 comments)
tigard real estate agents: March Market Report
- 04/16/08 06:18 AM
March Residential HighlightsMarket activity in March showed forward progress for month-to-month comparisons, but remains slow compared with the level of activity a year ago.When comparing March to February 2008, closed sales were up 22.2% (1,691 v. 1,384) while pending sales also increased 5.5% (1,938 v. 1,837).On the other hand, comparing March 2008 with March 2007, closed sales were down 39.1% and pending sales decreased 36.9%. New listings also dropped a slight 1.8%. Also notable in March was a decrease in the level of inventory from February. At the March rate of sales, the 15,412 active residential properties would last 9.1 months.First … (0 comments)
tigard real estate agents: How to Improve Your Listings Appeal
- 04/16/08 06:13 AM
1. Increase curb appeal. It's nothing new. HGTV has a whole show devoted to curb appeal. It is quite easy to over look the outside of the house but you can't forget that not only is it the first impression but you need people to want to come in. Perhaps try driving around and take note of what attracts you to other homes and try to include that in your own listing. Look at the landscaping, paint, roof, shutters, front door, knocker, windows, house number, and even how window treatments look from the outside. You need your listing to stand out … (0 comments)
tigard real estate agents: Floor Plan Trends
- 04/10/08 07:41 AM
Builders now-a-days are trying their hardest to appeal to what they believe truly attracts today's buyer. There are different ideas of what people want which gives the consumer a nice variety of home types that fit their personal needs. Here are four builders and a look at each of their strategies. Arbor Custom Homes. Arbor's latest and greatest creation is the bungalow style that has been interpreted rather broadly that appeals to first-time buyers and borrows from multiple architectural styles. Although they have a variety of floor plans to choose from, there are some common elements that Arbor feels are key. … (1 comments)
tigard real estate agents: How We Will Know The Market Is Moving Back Up
- 03/27/08 08:00 AM
Some say a recession is coming, depending on who you ask, it is already upon us. Some day the economy will improve again and it will be time to act accordingly, but how will we know when that is? Here are some key indicators from the housing market. New Jobs vs. New Housing. In the past there was about one new home owner for every two new job openings. If your market has builders scaling back, like we do, but new jobs are still being created then at some point the builders will have to pick it back up to meet the … (0 comments)
tigard real estate agents: Real Estate and Technology
- 03/12/08 08:30 AM
Lead Capture Technology: First the Internet Now Cell Phones The Internet and now mobile…Will the real estate industry adopt mobile marketing applications in the same sluggish way that internet eventually became the norm? It has only been 10 years since www.realtor.com became the starting place for anyone looking to buy, sell, rent, and list properties; in those years the same people began carrying a cell phone with them eighty-plus percent of the time. Now with text messaging growing faster than any other form of communication in the world, the opportunity to capitalize has presented itself.
XAP Realty, a Los Angeles … (0 comments)
tigard real estate agents: Making a Comeback
- 02/26/08 10:16 AM
A classic home style in the Portland area is enjoying a renaissance. Tudor-style homes can be anything from three-bedroom bungalows to huge mansions but builders haven't been going with the Tudor design since the 60's, that is until now. They've previously been found in some of the older neighborhoods like Alameda and Grant Park and some of these have been renovated, but you can also find brand new construction with the same elements. Half-timbered stucco, diamond-pane windows, oak floors, French doors, wrought iron railings and dark wood built-ins are some of the details that help define a Tudor home, and the … (0 comments)
tigard real estate agents: The Declining Market
- 02/26/08 06:33 AM
According to a survey released Tuesday, the decline in residential real estate became even more aggressive though the end of 2007, and home prices in 20 key markets plunged to an average of 9.1% for the year. The S&P Case/Shiller Home Price index has been around for 20-years and in that entire time there has never been a more extreme decline in home prices then there was in 2007. Even during the 1990-91 recession, home prices fell 2.8%. All metro areas are now reporting at least four consecutive monthly declines. 20 metro areas were examined and all but three posted declines for … (0 comments)
tigard real estate agents: The Market Today
- 02/22/08 04:43 AM
What is the current Home Inventory?Unfortunately, our beginning of the year weather was tougher than Portlanders are accustomed to, and they largely decided to stay in rather than go out and look at homes to buy. Therefore, our home inventory balooned in January to 12.8 months, the highest recorded level since hitting a high of 10 months in January 2000. (Historically, the month of the year with the highest home inventory is January, so things should improve from here.) Keep in mind though, if you're looking in a price range much lower than the average home price for that area, then … (0 comments)
tigard real estate agents: Women in Real Estate
- 02/22/08 04:41 AM
For some reason or another, real estate has always been one of those professions that women have had little trouble breaking into. In fact the National Association of Realtors puts the number of all female sales agents at 65%. What is really impressive though is the number of women at the top of the real estate industry. The 2008 edition of the Swanepoel Trends Report is referring to management, and not even at middle management levels but executive levels. Women are taking over the very top spots of the real estate world, and this is just the beginning. Hopefully this … (0 comments)
tigard real estate agents: Where To?
- 02/21/08 09:19 AM
As we all know, Oregon is a fabulous place to live. Surprisingly, not everyone is aware of this fact. Of course not everyone is in the dark, Oregon grew by 33,314 people in 2006. 149,838 actually moved here and 116,524 moved away for some reason. In fact, so many people move here every year that half of us came from someplace else. But where are we coming from? On the East coast they are still oblivious to our greatness so only 7,122 came here in '06. The Midwesterners are heading to the coast, either coast, but 13,702 chose the Oregon coast. … (0 comments)
tigard real estate agents: February Market Report
- 02/15/08 10:28 AM
January Residential Highlights Market activity appears to have slowed when comparing January 2008 with the same month in 2007. New listings jumped 11.9% compared to last January, but closed sales dropped 31.9% and pending sales fell 34.3% While an increase in new listings in January is common, a substantial drop in closed sales helped compound the inventory rate as the 13,904 active residential listings would last approximately 12.8 months at January’s rate of sales. This is the highest recorded level since the previous high of 10.1 in January 2000.
New Construction in 2007 The sale of properties listed as proposed, … (0 comments)
In this forum we will offer discussions on a wide variety of subjects, but focus on Portland Metro and real estate. Hopefully our insights and experiences will inform, educate, challenge and entertain our readers week after week.
A report released yesterday stated that the number of homes that went pending in April this year were higher than anyone expected. The Pending Home Sales Index from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) rose to 88.2 in April, up 6.3% from March's reading of 83 and the highest level since October. This is good news since economists had thought there would be a small decrease in sales. This is still down from last year but obviously we are in a whole other situation this year. This has caused NAR to revised its existing home price outlook for 2008. They are … (0 comments)
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