It seems like with increasing frequency I am having to write some variation of this post. Clearly as the housing market has shifted, views of its future have polarized. A lot of statistical data on the market isn’t good. That can’t really be argued. There are positives too. What the result will be is any body’s guess. Some will be right others will be wrong. When we get there (when and where TBD) there will be no “neener neener neener sucks to be you” or “I told you so” on this blog. It simply isn’t necessary. (more…)

We went down to The Casey last night for their broker’s open. Stepping out of the elevator into the 13th floor unit reveals some terrific views and a balcony that provides a sense of vertigo through its clear railings. The universal comment as people walked in was, “I didn’t expect the views.”

Moving up to the $3.3M lower level penthouse on the 15th floor (there are 16th floor penthouses as well) we get a glimpse of what that sort of money can buy: huge decks, large open living spaces and high end finishes and appliances. I don’t think it is how I would spend $3.3M but it is not a problem I have to worry about it.

Bearlee brings up the Skyscaper Forum. I previously posted about the Wyatt from their pages. This is the thread on The Casey. There is a lot of good stuff on the site for everything Portland condo tower. (more…)

Portland State University’s Population Research Center puts out an annual report on population. Looking at Multnomah County, we added 8,480 people between 2006 and 2007 and 49,549 since 2000. That’s a steady 1% increase per year. Obviously not everyone one of them is a home buyer but the vast majority do need somewhere to live. There’s no way to predict how many of them are potential buyers so I’m not going to bother with even some conservative math by guessing how many people per family, job status, ability to qualify for a loan, etc. If the stats showed a decline in population this would be an entirely different post. One more thing before I hit “post.” My working definition of “good for the housing market”- a positive indicator for a stable market without sharp spikes in either direction. It’ a piece of the puzzle, not the complete picture. (more…)

I’ve been critical of Zillow in the past but as snapshot of Portland this is pretty (if it is accurate is a different question). Click on the image to enlarge.

I don’t know what to make of the “who we are” section. Especially since the very next line states that a large portion of the population works for nonprofits. (more…)

Thanks to everyone that participated. It took only 10 days to reach 1 million clicks and for Make-A-Wish to receive $5000 donations from us and Kaiser. (more…)

I’m just running out to show property but before I go, in it’s entirety, is a article on the latest Case/Shiller report. The same three cities kept their heads above zero but we have to keep the latest RMLS figures as a gut check to what is on the surface good news for Portland.

– John Flowers, Dow Jones Newswires (more…)

Buyer A and Buyer B buy House A and House B. We’re assuming the houses are the same in every aspect, and the “value” is $300,000 and that House C is the same too. Each house needs a $10,000 roof. All the seller cares about is the net in their pocket when the transaction closes. There are no transaction costs involved.

Buyer A offers $290,000 as is and the buyer replaces the roof the day after closing.
Buyer B offers $305,000 with the seller to put on a new roof and pay $5000 in closing costs. (more…)

More bad data for real estate. Property sales are the lowest since 1999. The Bussiness Journal reports, in part:

Existing home sales — including condominiums and town homes — dropped in all four regions of the nation, according to the 1.3 million-member association. In the West, existing home sales tumbled 28.5 percent from a year ago. (more…)

My son, Ryan, is the sharing type. He gave me the virus that he had at the beginning of the week. He fared better than I did- I spent four hours yesterday having fluids pumped back into me at the ER. Mostly better, if not a little groggy, today. So how does this all relate to housing? When you are lying on the bathroom floor after nearly passing out, you see things from a different perspective. (more…)

Our sales meeting topic yesterday was short sales. The meeting started something like this, “What is a short sale?” “It means that someone is taking it in the shorts.” Actually a very accurate response but there is more to it. RMLS and OREF, which produces the forms that are standardized for Oregon real estate, have acknowledge the increase of this type of sale in our market by modifying the rules and creating new forms.

For our purposes here, the RMLS rule change doesn’t really matter, it is just about how an agent handles the switch from Active to Pending while waiting for third party approval. OREF new Short Sales- A Brief Summary is great disclosure describing short sales. The is also a new addendum that goes along with short sale transactions. (more…)