This will be brief as the electrician that was to give 30 minutes notice called from the doorstep of the property.
New Case Shiller numbers already alluded to in the comments of another post:
Portland’s current index is 175.53. It was 174.87 in April. The peak was 185.67 in August, 2007.
Steady progress on our 2356 NW Hoyt property. The driveway was cut in last week down the side of the house. We thought there may have been a driveway there in the past; the curb had been patched along where the curb cut would have been. It wasn’t confirmed but made even more plausible since the dirt dug out was fill.
I bought the Abstract Title report to the property on EBAY (photo of title by seller). This was the item description:
I went to an estate sale in an AMAZING house at located in Portland’s “Alphabet District” (2356 NW Hoyt). They were selling the original Abstract Title!!! Great piece of Portland History especially as it relates to that whole area. Some fun maps and info!!! In the past I’ve tried to see if the new owners are interested in buying some of these treasures but sadly this house was purchased by a development group so I’m not sure how interested they’d be. I’ll probably still let them know about it.
I was the only bidder.
The house is the G. and G.C. Sweet House, as it is recorded in the Alphabet District, may be misnamed. The April 3, 1906 Warranty Deed is between “The King Estate, a corporation, by N.A. King. Same by Richard W. Montague, Secretary. To Elnathan Sweet.” Then on August 4, 1906 a new Warranty Deed is issued between “Elnathan Sweet, and Genevieve Chapman Sweet, his wife -to- Robert F. Hall.”
It looks like there is some more research to be done here. If anybody has any insight or pictures of 2356 NW Hoyt, we’d love to see them.
The combined net worth of the six richest individuals in the world is $310B (forbes.com). On Friday, the senate passes a bill that would put $300B towards rescuing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and supporting mortgagees who in over their heads (and can document it).
President Bush is likely to sign the bill into law within days. After the law kicks in on Oct. 1, thousands of at-risk borrowers will be able to refinance their unaffordable old mortgages into new low-cost fixed-rate loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). (cnn.com)
The CNN story outlines who is eligible, how it works and what it cost.
President Bush is likely to sign the bill into law within days. After the law kicks in on Oct. 1, thousands of at-risk borrowers will be able to refinance their unaffordable old mortgages into new low-cost fixed-rate loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).
Freddie Mac put this video out in December. It is also available in Spanish.
Tomorrow: Case-Shiller’s latest report should come out.
A house that was undergoing a foundation replacement in Salem collapsed last night. The news clip in the Statesman Journal was posted at 12:07 AM last night so there are no useful pictures and the details are pretty sketchy. Please post more or I will work on it later in the day.
Update: pictures here. Last night’s news report quoted the contractor as saying there was a water issue which caused the support system to give way. There was no mention of whether living in a home that is jacked up is common practice.
KGW also has video of the collapse.
Staging is debatable. Do I stage? With what? How much stuff is enough? Every agent and professional stager will have a different answer. What I am sure is that in the non-existent “Staging Your Home Guide” by Turner, Turner & Turner, there is no mention of pest control devices as being appropriate staging pieces.
I showed two houses to a buyer on Tuesday. The first had a couple of “mouse” traps big enough to slaughter your average purse dog. The traps weren’t set but were the first thing you saw sitting on the shelf entering the basement. The second house had an electronic rodent killer under a dining table; two hours into a broker open.
Of course, we all make mistakes. I was just accused of writing, “the worst directions ever to a listing.”
Should real estate agents be required to close a certain number of transactions a year without having to work in conjunction with a Realtor that meets or exceeds that threshold? What would that threshold be?
It’s not the first story of its kind and probably not the last. Sunday’s front page Oregonian article detailed the rise and fall of Ryan Olsen Development in their story, Portland-area Builder Implodes. I don’t know the stories behind other builder’s woes or Ryan personally but the article felt more personal and well, sad.
Olsen rode into the housing market with a really good product for Portland. We sold at least one of his homes; new construction with an eye to fitting into the existing houses in the neighborhood. We had a good working relationship with his Realtor through both Ryan’s homes and other properties he sold. Olsen’s homes were “appropriate” and very well finished. He had a core competency of building one or two houses at a time in close-in North and Northeast Portland neighborhoods on in-fill lots.
When he got away from his core competency, everything went to hell in a hand basket. The combination of moving into subdevelopments, coupled with a brutal decline in the market for what he was building sent the company into a death spiral for which the end result will be the foreclosure auction of his personal home.
No matter how you feel about builders, developers, flippers and those who make or have made their living around the Portland housing market, you’ve got to give Olsen credit for going down with his ship and trying to make it survive to the bitter end. I don’t have the specifics but I expect a less moral builder could have exited and left others holding the bag much earlier than he did with less personal sacrifice.
Realtor Beige, the paint preferred by Realtors nationwide. Walk into any paint store and they’ll know what you want but they won’t have a paint by that name. Neutral is good. Many remodels, cosmetic or otherwise are a matter of personal choice that you might plan to live with for years. No problem. Su casa isn’t mi casa. But when it comes time to sell, what will the buyer’s reaction be? Will your house be referred to as 123 Main St. or something else?
Our buyer’s have named houses:
With the exception of the last house, they’re really not derogatory towards the property it’s just how the buyers separate lots of houses in their minds. Food for thought more than anything else.
This is my first blogging foray over the Columbia River. I’m not licensed in Washington but Jenny is and has numerous transactions going on up there right now. Since she has clients that are interested in the happenings up there we’ll give this a try. If it is well received, I’ll post similar reports when they come out from RMLS.
Clark County’s inventory is considerably higher than Portland’s: 12.6 months compared to 9.5. Clark County peaked at 17 months of inventory in January. Portland never broke 13 months.
The feature story in July 7th’s Business week is somewhat mind boggling. The Housing Abyss story is fairly long but the idea of “buying and bailing” followed two paragraphs later by the common damage to foreclosed homes makes one think that 2+2=5 in bankland:
[An agent] in Henderson, Nev., says he has been flooded with calls from people interested in “buying and bailing”—that is, buying an additional house while their credit is still good, then walking away from the old one unless they can cut a favorable deal with the lender. So far the number of people who have done so appears to be small. But Hawks says banks are receptive to lending for such purchases because they figure the buyer will be able to afford the new, cheaper place. Also, says Hawks, they know that, since the buyer’s credit will become damaged, he or she won’t pull the same trick on them, at least for a few years.
Two paragraphs later:
Mass foreclosures accelerate a neighborhood’s decline, triggering a spiral of abandonment and decay. A survey of agents this year for Inside Mortgage Finance by Geosegment Systems and Campbell Communications found that about half of foreclosed properties have significant damage, which reduces a property’s value by about 25% (e.g., $100,000 on a $400,000 house). Ruined floors and carpets, holes in walls, and missing appliances lead the list.
Banks are knowingly receptive to a buyer purchasing a second home so they can repossess a house that is going to be trashed? Maybe the buyer can strip the house before foreclosure and put the parts on Ebay to pay for the first seven years of mortgage payments on the second home! The whole thing requires some long-range planning on the buyers part as it is going to trash your credit and perhaps a total lack of morals but the American way is all about the bottom line.
Doesn’t seem like good banking practice to as a way of making new loans.
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