Alberta Arts Listings – $250,000 – $375,000
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Homequest has created this killer new plug-in that allows me to create blog pages with live searches. This search is right up most of my clients’ alley. Check out all the single-family houses between $250,000 and $375,000 listed in Alberta Arts. Enjoy!
The Market – What’s Really Going on?
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Just the facts, please.
RMLS just released the latest Market Action report for January real estate activity, so let’s explore what’s really going on. My quick take away is that January was a mixed bag. Sales were greatly improved as compared to January 2009, but inventory rose sharply from the previous month (Dec 09). Interestingly, pending sales were up 35% from December, but closed sales fell by the exact same amount. Even more newsworthy was the 87% increase in new listings. Wow. You can look at the huge influx of new listings as a positive sign that sellers are feeling better about the market and are excited about the opportunity to sell or you can look at the (in my opinion) negative aspect that all those new listings coupled with fewer closed sales led directly to the highest inventory rate since May 2009. The last thing we need is more stagnant market with house sitting and not selling. Average sales price for January 2010 was down 5% versus January 2009, which feels about right.
Here’s an end of year wrap up showing appreciation rates for each county for 2008 versus 2009:
Appreciation Rates by Count - 2009 vs 2008
Here are the highlights for Portland metro:
Portland Metro Real Estate Highlights
For a complete look at Market Action, simply click on the pictures for a full copy.
RMLS Market Action - January 2010
RMLS Market Action - January 2010
Home Buying Tips: Wants vs Needs
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This is an excerpt from an email conversation with one of my clients who was having trouble finding the right home:
I want to make sure that we’re doing everything possible to find you the right house. I fully understand what it is you want and why you’re looking in certain areas. It’s true, though, that what you’re looking for happens to coincide with what most people are looking for. Namely a close-in house with soul (usually means a classic style) near cool amenities. Unfortunately, the price to play in some of these neighborhoods is rather significant.
Like we’ve talked about in the past, buying a house is always an exercise in compromise. Whether it’s price or location or style or size, every buyer has to compromise on something. That’s true at every price point, too, by the way. The trick is to figure out what’s most important and try to limit the compromise to the other categories. It might be worth your time to jot down a wants versus needs list. It might seem elementary and a waste of time, but I’ve found that they can often be really helpful. I have clients who want a fireplace, but need a larger yard (they have big dogs or do a lot of outdoor entertaining). Others need a second bathroom, but want a garage. Obviously it’s unique to each buyer.
In your case, your needs list might be something like:
- Cool close-in location near bars, restaurants, etc
- 3 bedrooms minimum
- At least 1 ½ bathrooms
- Price range
- Near MAX or bus line
- Style and soul
- Space for brewing and a teaching studio
- Etc
Your wants might include:
- Formal dining room
- Garage or Basement
- Walking distance to a park
- View
- Etc.
Where the exercise becomes useful is when you really put some hard, honest thought into it and decide whether a dining room, for example, is more or less important than a fireplace. Obviously your list won’t match up exactly with Laura’s, so part of the project is merging both your lists into a final master list that will guide our search. Sometimes it helps to kind of refocus on what’s important. The other thing it can help with is figuring out if you can actually find what you want at a given price. If, for example, you decide that your need is actually even more focused than living in a cool close-in location with amenities and is actually more that you only want to live in Mississippi, Hawthorne or Alberta (again, for example), then that will determine your strategy going forward. If you want a cool close-in location, then the strategy might be to figure out what that actually means and make a list of neighborhoods that fit the bill. There might be some neighborhoods that you aren’t currently really familiar with that, with a little exploration, you find you really like. If, on the other hand, it really is only a handful of neighborhoods, then the strategy might simply be to laser focus on those areas and just understand that it’s going to take some time and be ready to pounce when potential listings come online.
Also, once you come up with a list like that I can actually run a search and see if any houses that match your criteria have sold in the past six months or so within your price range. If a few dozen sold recently, then we know that all we have to do is keep an eye out and, sooner or later, the right one will pop up. If only a handful have sold recently, then we’ll know that it might be a long wait, but that those houses do appear on the market occasionally. If nothing that meets your criteria has sold in the past six months, then we’ll need to reassess the list and/or price range.
Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (whew, that’s a mouthful!)
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Here’s a great site for information on state, local, utility and federal incentives and policies that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Portland Makes the List: Cities Where Renters SHOULD Buy
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A client of mine sent me this excellent article earlier today. Portland is ranked as one of the US cities where renters should really consider becoming home owners. The article is really interesting because it does not say that owning is cheaper than renting. In fact, most of the suggested cities actually have quite a premium – the spread between what you’d pay renting and what your monthly mortgage payment would be - on buying. In San Francisco, for example, a home owner can expect to find a 233% spread premium to own. Sounds crazy, right? That’s down from the fifteen year average spread premium of 293%.
The study looked at today’s spread premium as compared to the city’s fifteen-year average. In cities where today’s spread was significantly lower than the average, the study went on to look at market expectations for the next five years.
Portland, for example, usually has about a 62% premium for home owners. However, that’s down over 16% now. Additionally, Portland is expected to see home prices jump almost 20% over the next five years. That represents an excellent investment opportunity.
The main point is that if you plan on becoming a home owner in the near future, now is the best time to move. With rental rates inching closer to mortgage payments and the prospect of significant real estate appreciation in the next five years, today represents the best value for home buyers.
It’s all a matter of timing…
(…and don’t forget about the first time buyer tax credit that’s set to expire in a few months!)
You can find the actual stats here.
Agent Profile
Jesse Knight specializes in residential real estate with a focus on first time home buyers in the Portland Metro market. Through face-to-face meetings and the targeted use of technology tools, Jesse provides complete representation. Jesse is your consultant, advocate and all around real estate professional.
