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 [...]

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 [...]

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.  [...]

Just some notes from our office sales meeting today…..  I thought I’d share some positive highlights about the market since my last post was a bit of doom and gloom.   So here goes…….
Steve Landis, from Northwest Mortgage, recently attended a presentation given by IndyMac.  He brought back some interesting information.  Steve has recently become our [...]

With the feds taking over IndyMac one might speculate that the mortgage industry couldn’t be hit much harder.  That very well could be the case, but I expect not.  Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac are also shakin’ in their boots a bit after big losses in the stock market this week due to losing investor confidence.  [...]

 There really is no way of candy coating the fact that our market has undergone drastic changes in the last year.  We have seen prices decline, more foreclosure and short sale listings enter the market, and unconventional sales methods with our first mass auction last winter, and then a second round auction earlier this year.  [...]

So the time has finally come.  We are seeing our first real data on price decline.  I think those of us that work in the industry full time, those of us that are selling our homes, and those of us that have recently made a pretty good buy or are facing short sale or foreclosure have already [...]