I was looking through my archive when I found this post from last year. I think it is just as appropriate this year so I'm going to re-post it with updates for this year in italics.
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. Same story this year
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! I wrote one last month with 5 offers [ps- that's not slow!!!]. One of my listings has had 50 showings in the last two weeks!!! Nothing this busy this year but I did have one listing with 3 times the showings in December over October and November 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. Not sure where our rents are going this year but vacancy is at 3.5% and investors want better returns - that means higher rents.
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. Spring did see a turnaround in 2008 and then we've stayed at 10 months of inventory basically all year. Some close in areas like Overlook and Ladds Addition and Colonial Heights have almost no inventory making it good for sellers but tough for buyers in those areas.
You might also notice that I've totally upgraded the new listings page with photo tours and links to the full listing info. I'm working on a way to incorporate narrated video tours for 2009. 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. I've added Best Deal in Portland to highlight the very best the market has to offer and I'm looking forward to helping more people buy and sell here in Portland in 2009.
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