Portland Real Estate Blog

Mortgage rates around the country fell this week, with rates on 30-year mortgages sinking to their lowest level in 10 months.

Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported Wednesday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.18 percent for the week ending Nov. 22. That’s down from 6.24 percent last week and was the lowest rate since the week ending Jan. 26, when 30-year mortgage rates averaged 6.12 percent.  Locally rates have been bouncing between 5.625% and 5.75% for a 30 year fixed mortgage with one discount point.  Typically you have to drop your rate 1% to make it worthwhile to refinance.

It marked the second week in a row that mortgage rates dropped, a development that economists attributed to easing inflation pressures. Inflation is calming down amid stabilizing energy prices, slower overall economic activity and the housing slump.

SHAWN HEADLEE

Senior Loan Officer

Phone/Pager – 503-906-1353

Columbia Mortgage, LLC.

Fax – 503-526-2847

On September 23, I wrote that I thought that the EcoBroker designation was a bit of a sham. Not recognized by the National Association of Realtors, though supported by other “green” entities, I stated that the effort looked commercial.

A short while later I was contacted by the Vice President of Business development. We emailed back and forth and I shared my feelings that I thought the site looked commercial with the Wells Fargo and other banking institution’s logos all over the page. There is no separation of the “consumer” side or the “agent” side of the site. My comments were passed on to those take care of those sorts of things. The site still looks the same as the day we emailed.

I offered to take the course and write my review here. I was then invited to take the course- at full tuition. I can understand that they must get a lot of offers to do the same but converting skeptics should possibly be a part of their business strategy.

Admittedly, NAR hangs on to their endorsements with an iron fist and is very much a commercial enterprise itself. Until we see changes on the EcoBroker front, we will continue to be green in our own ways. I think EcoBroker has the right idea and may have a good for-profit business model but that it was either released too soon or needs to at least appear good for the greater good and not just the buck. Note that they are a .com, not a .org.

Full disclosure: We participate in the Quality Service Certification program through our company, Prudential Northwest Properties. We are certified company-wide. They are a third part program that mails surveys to our clients for anonymous feedback on our service. We pay for the program and advertise QSC on our website. I know QSC is working closely with NAR for their endorsement. Our rating today is 4.75 out of 5.

Maybe I’m wrong about EcoBroker (and other third party designations). Should EcoBroker get a “pass” because they are green? Perhaps a better question: does the consumer care that Realtors continue to gain education and designations to put behind their names? Discuss.

Charles Turner- MBA, e-PRO, GRI, Quality Service Qualified…

Here’s a little real estate “fun” for those searching for real estate in Portland, Oregon.

Enter “Portland Real Estate” into Google and you’ll find sites and ads for Portland, Oregon, Portland, Maine and Portland, Texas. Texas also has a New York, Venice and Florence. The PortlandRealEstateBlog ranks on the first page. The same is the case if the same search is run in Yahoo.

Enter “Portland Oregon Real Estate” and the results are not so fun. The blog doesn’t show up in the first few pages of the results. Our sponsored ad is still on the front page.

Search by either Charles Turner or Jennifer Turner, Portland and the blog is the first result but none of the phone listings returned as results are us.

So, we know what Portland we are in, what would $300,000 get us in the other Portlands?

In Maine, we get a lovely 5 bedroom 1.1 bath house for $310,000.

Download portland_maine.pdf to see the complete flier.

In Texas, we get four bedrooms and three baths for $299,999.

Download portland_texas.pdf to see the Texas flier.

We comment on Realty Times website on market conditions. The two main questions are pricing trends and whether or not we see the market as a buyer or seller favored or somewhere in between. There is then a space for commentary.

There are 16 agents reporting and our consensus:

In my latest update, I state:

The market has shifted towards buyers but that doesn’t mean that buyers are finding what they are looking for at a discount over months past.

An overpriced house is overpriced in any market and it takes sellers some time to adjust their psyche as markets change. A year ago, we saw sellers wanting to counter full price offers. We saw them lose deals because of it. Now we see sellers that are still shooting for the starts and their properties languish on the market.

Note that this is the first time I have shifted from a neutral market to buyer’s. I think sellers have the ability to shift the market back in the favor but it won’t happen unless they shift their thinking first.

This time last year, buyers were tripping over each other trying to beat out the competition for a limited number of listings. It really didn’t matter if the house was priced accurately. The offers just seemed to roll in. The listing agent’s primary job, often became advising the seller on what terms they could pick out of the multiple offers so that they got the best deal possible.

Markets change. Portland’s real estate market hasn’t tanked like it has elsewhere but now sellers are needing to compete for buyers and that starts with accurately pricing a home. That’s something that zillow and other nonhuman resources can’t do at this time. Overpricing a home is the death of selling it. It is hard to get past the old days where pricing was done by looking at recent comps, adding a little, then adding some more. Odds were that the offers would roll in.

Overpricing in a market that is more tilted in the buyer’s favor risks the following:

1) Buyers never look at the home.
2) The buyers that do look think that it is overpriced and never look again, even after price reductions. They emotionally move on.
3) By the time price reductions bring the price down to what the market would have accepted, the listing is stale.
4) The price reductions may go straight below what the home would have sold for if it had been listed lower in the first place. Listings are best the first few weeks when the listing is fresh to everyone, not just new buyers entering the pool.
5) Price reductions show in the listing history. Enough reductions may make the buyer think they are desperate.

Just because a listing agent recommends a high price that sounds good doesn’t mean they can get it sold. Where the lowest bid for work performed isn’t always the best bid, the highest suggested listing price isn’t necessarily the right price for the home.

We’d like your ideas about what we can do to improve this site and our TurnerRealtors site.

Discuss!

How many bedrooms does that house you’re looking at really have? Often in listings, we will see “third bedroom non-conforming.” Non-conforming to what? One common misconception is that it has to have a closet.

Ben Howell, Plans Examiner for the Bureau of Development Services (BDS) for the City of Portland explains:

For building code requirements a legal bedroom in a one- or two-family dwelling must have the following:

1. Minimum width: 7 feet

2. Minimum ceiling height: 7 feet (rooms with sloped ceilings must have at least 35 square feet at least 7 feet high with not less than 35 square feet 5 feet high)

3. Egress window (see Windows brochure)

4. Smoke detector

5. There may be other requirements, depending on the proposal

6. The building code does not require a closet

If an attic, basement or garage is being converted to a bedroom, the city of Portland has special standards for existing one- or two-family dwellings (see brochure).

Our web site has lots of other good information: http://www.portlandonline.com/bds

Portland monthly runs a footer called “PDX Index” across the bottom of the “mudroom” department each month. This month has a couple real estate related figures (pg 30).

Percent population growth in Portland between 2000 and 2004: Four Percent

Percent pouplation decrease in Los Angeles between 2000 and 2004: Nine Percent

From our Realty Times Newsletter:

Home sales appear to be bottoming out with lower home prices attracting buyers in many areas of the country, according to the National Association of Realtors.

David Lereah, NAR’s chief economist, said the housing market is showing signs of life and that sales may be leveling out. “Many potential home buyers who have been taking a wait-and-see attitude or taking their time and being methodical in the search process are being enticed by lower home prices,” he said. “Given a positive economic backdrop of lower mortgage interest rates and job creation, we expect sales activity to pick up early next year.”

Existing-home sales are forecast to be fairly stable in the fourth quarter and sales for all of 2006 are expected to drop 8.9 percent to 6.45 million — still the third strongest year after consecutive records in 2004 and 2005.

NAR President Thomas M. Stevens, said this presents a unique opportunity for buyers. “The supply of homes on the market is the highest we’ve seen in over 13 years, and interest rates are experiencing an unexpected decline,” said Stevens.

While this changing market is a great time to buy, it’s become increasing important for parties on both sides of the real estate transaction process to have professional representation.