Archive for July, 2010

1.  Hiring a friend over an expert.  Having an experienced broker is now more critical than ever.  Although your emotions may be pulling you toward a friend or relative who needs some business, your business sense should cause you to stop and think first.  Selling your home is likely one of the most significant transactions you will make in your lifetime.  Hiring an agent or team, such as Lee Davies Real Estate, with experience under their belt in up and down markets as well as a proven aggressive home selling plan, will save you headaches and successfully guide you to getting your home sold.

2.  Overpricing.  Although you may hope and want for more, overpricing your home just won’t bring in a higher selling price.  It will, however, create a frustrating situation when you haven’t sold your home after several months of cleaning your way out the door every morning.  A comprehensive appraisal-style pricing strategy will help sell your home more quickly and ultimately for the best price possible.

3.  Skipping Home Prep Step.  With so many listings on the market, having your home “show ready” is more important than it has ever been.  A well maintained home that shows like a model will have a leg up on the competition.  As savvy as many buyers believe they are today, many just can’t see past scratched walls, unattended flower beds and cluttery knick-knacks.  Buyers who can imagine themselves comfortably living in a home, without imagining needed repairs, may also be able to imagine writing up that offer.

Need to get rid of an old refrigerator?  The Energy Trust of Oregon will pick it up and you’ll get $30 for participating between now and December 31, 2010.  What a deal!  Refrigerator Recycling details

Beginning August 1, 2010, if you are selling a home with an uncertified woodstove, you will be required to remove this device from the home.  DEQ details

The sun is finally out and we are proud to announce the return our car wash sponsorship program for local schools and charities.  Lee Davies Real Estate offers the use of our parking lot and supplies for groups interested in a car wash fundraiser.  Please contact Julie Williams if your group is interested in taking advantage of this opportunity.

Click on the image below to see the full RMLS report in PDF format:

Market Action Report

from Northwest Mortgage Group 

As of July 27, 2010 (1% loan fee applies)

Rates shown above are based on transactions with a 20% down payment, 1% loan origination fee, 740 credit scores, impounds for property taxes and insurance and 30-day rate lock.  Contact Jeanine Roe or Brian Page of NW Mortgage Group for more information at 503.439.9191.

Every home owner or prospective home owner right now wants to know when the housing market will stabilize.  While I can’t tell you exactly what will happen in the next few years, I can tell you the two factors that will most determine where we are headed. 

1. Shadow Inventory:  This is a new term in the lexicon of real estate jargon.  This refers to the inventory of foreclosed homes banks possess that are not currently for sale.  The housing bust came on so suddenly that banks did not have the staff, training, or knowledge to adequately deal with the large number of homes they were taking back.  Over the past year, to give HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program) a chance to keep home owners out of foreclosure and to reduce the cost of maintaining the condition of foreclosed properties, banks were delaying the foreclosed home liquidation process and hence stockpiled their inventories. This delay allowed delinquent borrowers to stay in their houses and also allowed banks to avoid asset value write-downs. Unfortunately, with HAMP running out of qualified borrowers, that trend is starting to reverse course. Bank balance sheets are beginning to balloon with REO (real estate owned) homes and the shadow inventory is being converted to actual inventory.

This is a negative for two reasons. First it implies more people are being put out of their home and onto the street and second, at some point, the distressed homes banks are adding to their balance sheets will need to be put back up for sale. Once the housing market starts to pick up recovery momentum, banks will begin to slowly liquidate their inventory of foreclosed properties. Hopefully they will do so in a manner that does not greatly disrupt local supply/demand and push prices even lower (which would hurt their own cause).

2. Unemployment:   As the economy continues to stagger to its feet, the high number of people without jobs will directly dictate home sales.   Interest rates at historic lows are great for people who have jobs, don’t have a house (or can afford to sell in today’s market), and investors.  For everyone else, low rates do not help in qualifying for a loan if you don’t have a job.  The other issue to consider is what happens to a “generation” of buyers who, because of a short sale or foreclosure, will not be able to purchase another home for 3-7 years.  This is a huge segment of the future market place that will be hamstrung by poor credit.  With a potential lack of purchasers for homes, inventories will bulge–driving prices down.  Until more American’s are gainfully and confidently employed we will struggle to level out home prices.      

These are the key indicators to watch as we all anxiously await stability and predictability in the housing market. 

source: mortgagenewsdaily.com