New Beaverton Listing

February Market Report

February Residential Highlights

The Portland metro area market improved in February compared to a record low January, but remains slow compared with February 2008. Comparing February 2009 with the same month in 2008, closed sales dropped 38.1%. Pending sales also fell 30.5%. New listings decreased 19.7%. On the other hand, when comparing February 2009 with January 2009, closed sales grew 17.1% (857 v. 732) and pending sales were up 3.3% (1,276 v. 1,235). New listings, on the other hand, dropped 17.3% (3,471 v. 4,196). At the month’s rate of sales, the 14,188 active residential listings would last approximately 16.6 months, down from a record 19.2 months in January.

Sale Prices

The average sale price for February 2009 was down 12.9% compared to February 2008, while the median sale price dropped 7.5%. Month-to-month, the average sale price and median sale price are both up when compared with January levels; the average sale price increased a slight 0.4% ($298,500 v. $297,200) and the median sale price was up 3.6% ($259,000 v. $250,000).

Year-to-Date

Comparing January-February 2009 with the same period in 2008, closed sales dropped 35.8%. Pending sales also fell 29.1%. New listings decreased 17.2%.

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Beware

I was reading a blog by a RE/Max agent in New Jersey, Mr. John Nyiszter who made me aware of some very important information.
Apparently there are identity thieves out there who will borrow an address and pictures from your listing website and post an ad on craigslist posing as a renter.
Then when this person finds a renter via craigslist they will request payment for the home they are going to rent you.
The potential renter in this scenario figured it out when the person who posted the craigslist ad asked for a wire transfer to Nigeria.
Especially nowadays, there are a lot of shady people out there and I want you all to be careful.

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Portland Home Prices

Here is a look at the current home prices in Portland Oregon.



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Choosing Foreclosure

It is said that 20% of home owners are "underwater" on their mortgages and more and more homes are going into foreclosure every day. For many the best financial option is to let their home go into foreclosure instead of throw away thousands of dollars that the home has lost in value.

The prediction is that most of these home owners will do just that but some think that people aren't always so rational.

One reason is that people tend to over value their own home. That makes it to valuable for them to just walk away from.

Secondly, people tend to place greater importance on immediate consequences than they do the long term ones. Walking away might help you out down the road but is a lot of pain and effort right now.

Then there is the morality of it. Some feel it is just plain wrong to walk away because if you borrowed the money, then you need to pay it back, it's that simple. Check out this article with great real-life examples of home owners situations and what they intend to do about it.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/real_estate/0903/gallery.walking_away/index.html

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Portland Inventory Report

Watch for our real-time updates on the Portland Area Real Estate Market!

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Score A Deal!

Before recently most people had never even heard of a short sale, now buyers are out looking for them to make sure they are getting a deal.

A short sale is when the bank agrees to discount the loan balance for a seller who owes more on his mortgage than the home is currently worth. And since nowadays these are everywhere, you are going to find one on your house hunting trip whether you want to or not.

So there is a down side to these things, you have to work for them. There is the extra step of getting approval from the bank and this one step can add months and months to the process. Especially now because they are so backed up with all the short sales being processed.

First of all, you want to be aware of what your are getting into, patience and persistence are going to be key. Do not think your transaction will be different and be easy and short, because it won't. So do not plan on aparticular move in date, have a place to stay till it is all finalized.

Second, you definitely need a realtor who has done these before. You need someone advising you properly and calling the lender daily on your behalf.

Thirdly, try to avoid short sales with extra liens on them. The more banks you include the longer it will take. If you can help it, you also want to avoid homes that already have other offers. This too will extend the process and decrease your chances of getting the home.

Fourthly, you want to price right so have your agent research the comparables, do not just go off the list price. The bank may be low-balling to attract multiple offers. You will also want to get pre-approved or the bank my not even look at your offer.

Fifthly, try to get the lender to pick up the closing costs. You also want to let them know that you won't be paying for appraisals and inspections until you have an approved offer. No reason to be throwing money away on every house you MAY get. While you are at it, try not to put in earnest money over 3Kin case you want to pursue more than one home at a time.

Finally, be willing to be annoying. You should be calling your agent at least once a week so that you know they are calling the lender constantly. The processor dealing with your loan will not be putting your off because they want the phone calls to stop. But if you are willing to put in the effort, you can score a major deal!

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/27/real_estate/short_sale.moneymag/index.htm?postversion=2009012806

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