Making a Comeback

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 appeal seems to be a perfect blending of modern and classic.

The variety is wonderful too because there is truly something to be found for almost every need. You can find an 80 year old home that you can fix up yourself or has already been done for you. There are brand new detached homes with all the accents and even condos and town homes are getting in on the act. Take a look and you'll quickly find something to your liking.

The Sunday Oregonian - February 17, 2008 - Homes & Rentals H1-H2

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The Declining Market

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 the year. The hardest hit was Miami homes which lost 17.5% in value. Las Vegas and Phoenix both declined by 15.3%.

Three metro areas actually increased. Charlotte, N.C., 2.3%; Portland, Ore., 1.2%; and Seattle, at 0.5%.

Los Angeles fell 3.6% in December alone, 13.7% for the whole year.

Other huge loses include 10.8% for San Francisco, Tampa for 13.3%, Detroit for 13.6%, and San Diego was 15.0%. The nation's biggest market is New York and only declined 5.6% for the year, because people will never stop moving to New York.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/26/real_estate/Case_Shiller_year_end/index.htm?postversion=2008022610

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The Market Today

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 the home inventories are much lower. Generally, it is not a heavy Buyer's Market for homes priced less than the average home for that area. Let us know if you'd like us to send you the average home sales price for any certain area! (Ex.: Beaverton/Aloha is $257,100, West Portland is $503,100, Tigard/Sherwood is $377,700) Currently, home sellers on average are still receiving about 97-98% of asking price. Homes priced much higher than the average for the area are experiencing much more of the Buyer's Market, and those tend to receive a bit less.

Is it Best to Buy Now or Wait it out?
That depends on what you're buying and/or selling. If you're looking for a move up home, then you're likely do better buying in this down market rather than waiting for more of a Sellers Market. Right now it is largely buy low and sell low. So, yes, you may have to sell for a bit less this year, but you get to buy your move up home for less as well. For example, if you'd sell now for about 5% less than you would in a Seller's Market, but you're buying a mor e expensive home, also at a rate of 5% less right now, then you'll come out ahead vs if you wait until the market prices go up again. Because, then you'll get more for your home, but you'll pay more too. Make sense? This can vary depending on your area and your price range though, so call us and we can run the numbers that are specific to the area and price range that is of interest to you!

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Women in Real Estate

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 sets a great example for other industries and what women can achieve. The time has come for women to display how truly confident and financially savvy they really are.

http://nationalrealtynews.com/content/templates/contrib.aspx?articleid=809&zoneid=4

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Where To?

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. In the South people are just trying to escape the heat, what better place than the Northwest, or so thought 17,979 Southerners. But the West coast by far is very much aware of what we have to offer. Of the 106,192 Westerners who moved to Oregon 51,295 were from California. The rest of the top five included Washington with 24,230, Arizona with 8,078, Texas with 4,580 then Colorado with 4,424.

When Oregonians do make the move out of state they tend to keep it in the Western family as well. Washington was first with 28,905 followed by California with 25,375, Arizona with 7,224, Idaho with 7,136 and Utah with 4,270.

The Oregonian - Saturday, February 16, 2008 - Living B1

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February Market Report

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, under construction or new construction increased 6% (5,370 v. 5,045) when comparing 2007 and 2006. The average sale price appreciated 6% ($387,200 v. $365,600) and the median sale price grew 6% ($318,600 v. $300,000).

Affordability

According to a formula used by NAR, the average Portland family household only had 99% of the income needed to purchase a median priced home ($276,500) in the Portland metro area in December. A family making the median annual income ($63,800 according to

HUD) would pay $1,340.46 a month for this home with a 20% down payment and a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with an interest rate of 6.1% (per Freddie Mac).

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Noisy WES

The Westside Express Service is coming and so far Tualatin is the only city who has expressed concern over noise that will be caused by the daily commuter train that runs between Beaverton and Wilsonville. Unfortunately if Tualatin wants a noise solution, Tualatin has to pay for it.

City officials have been looking for options to the noise problem and so far have come up with two. There could be quiet zones established where the horn is not required to sound when crossing the intersection. This could cost Tualatin about $600,000. It is about the same cost to install wayside horns. These are horns that are attached to a train station and sound while the train goes by, and can reduce noise by 98 percent.

Since Tualatin, not TriMet, would benefit from the implementation of one of these possibilities, it would be Tualatin that be expected to foot the bill. Especially since the horn is a safety measure that TriMet is not so sure they want to mess with.

http://tigardtimes.com/news/story.php?story_id=120174072218043600

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