“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 [...]

 Just thought I’d pass along the link to the President’s plan to helping homeowners stay in their home.
FinancialStability.gov
There are lots of fact sheets, press releases, and self-assessment tools.
Personally, I think it’s great that our current administration is making efforts to not only keep people in their homes but to make it more manageable for families [...]

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, [...]

Fannie Tries Short Sales Over Foreclosures
Fannie Mae has launched pilot projects in Phoenix and Orlando intended to reduce foreclosures by pre-approving short sales, agreeing on a price and the loss it will take prior to a deal even being made. It is hoped the program will improve the popularity of short sales among real estate [...]

New website…..same great service.
So I can’t say I’m way ahead of the curve on this one… but I’m happy to report that I’m not lagging behind the pack either. Over the last several months, I’ve been completely revamping my web presence. The cherry on top is the scrapping of my old website, and the implementation [...]

Nearly a year ago I got a call from a potential client.  He was beside himself with excitement as he talked about the REDC auction of Buena Vista Homes.  I was immediately struck by his circus-like fascination.  It’s new.  It’s exciting.  They have jazzy, high-intensity commercials and newspaper ads.  But I asked him to let [...]

And maybe it still is.
NAR released numbers today that state exsisting home sales in September were the highest increase, month over month, since 2003.  Woohoo!, right?  Maybe not.  Nationally, home prices are still falling.  Even the eternally optimistic NAR econ-front man, Lawrence Yun, is cautious.  MSNBC reported Mr. Yun as offering the following: “housing may [...]

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 [...]