“Bumping along the bottom” is the latest catch-phrase I’ve heard to describe our current market conditions, but I’m feeling a bit more (cautiously) optimistic for summer ‘09. In the last month I’ve had a number of buyers enter the market and write offers after being on the fence for a couple of years. [...]

 You may already be wondering where I’m going with this.  Not to worry, I’m not writing the standard “Ten Reasons Why You Need to Sell/Buy RIGHT NOW!”.  Besides, it’s usually life (or life-style) changing events that are the catalyst for a home sale or purchase.  And babies, true love, or job transfers don’t really give [...]

A lot has happened since I’ve sent my last newsletter, and the majority has been very good.  Especially since the first of the year there have been some very encouraging signs of recovery.  But the economic hole we are in began being dug 20 years ago, when credit of all types became much more readily [...]

For anyone who has used a 12 Step program to overcome anything, this will sound familiar.  Being in the throes of an economic crisis, recovery should be on our collective mind.  It seems the media is flailing around, trying to point a finger at one single cause or source of our current crisis, but honestly, [...]

Being in the industry and always looking for more data, and more accurate data, I’ve been subjected to an ongoing debate over who has the best, most accurate data.  I think most people are looking for some minor nuance to point conditions in their direction.  Looking for some subtlety to give them a glimmer of [...]

I knew there were more than, say, a million reasons why I <3 Portland.  And why you should leave California to live in Portland. Now we have just one more…. Yesterday Forbes ranked Portland as the 4th best place to ride out the recession.  You can read the full article here. 
Reasons being:
Underwater homes: 11%    (foreclosures, homes without equity)
Median home [...]

What a week, eh?  Talk about riding a rollercoaster!  More banks and companies failing, more local builders (Renaissance) “reorganizing debt”, candidates sparring, government officials looking to point the finger, but more importantly, more and more uncertainty in the housing market both nationally and locally.  I have a whole file drawer full of potential buyers right [...]

Hope Forbes doesn’t mind that I borrowed the slide from their totally hawt slideshow, that ranks Portland #4 as an area “Where Home Prices are Most Likely to Rise”.  See the slideshow here, and read the full article here.  They are saying by the year 2010.  I’m crossing my fingers but not holding my breath.  [...]

 If you haven’t checked out Altos Research  yet, it really is a must click/see/bookmark.  Currently they offer the most up to date information and real estate data.  Simply put, they rock.  I’m comparing Portland and Beaverton, although I did dig through some of the suburbs to the east and south.  The trends for those cities are [...]

An article by the Oregonian today states that Parmount Equity Mortgage is coming under scrutiny by both the states of Washington & Oregon.  You know who they are, they have the radio commericals, “Hello, this is Hayes Barnard….”  The allegations are that Paramount Equity was not providing proper disclosure, not lowering rates after borrowers paid discount [...]