Generally, the RMLS™ statistics for June 2014 follow the prior few months of improvement. The only static figure is low inventory, which has not budged in three months, but for some reason does not seem to have adversely impacted the other trends.
Continue reading “Portland Metro Residential Sale Stats: June 2014”
A recent March 21 article by Wendy Culverwell of the Portland Business Journal [“Cover Story: Land squeeze stalls Portland homebuilders”] offers a sobering view of Portland’s housing inventory and prices for the immediate future. Here is the take-away:
This question is not just rhetorical. As of January 10, 2014, a batch of new laws became effective across the country, including Oregon. Though the laws were intended to deal with Big Bank excesses – you remember, those morally vacuous zombie institutions that singularly brought this country’s credit and real estate markets to its knees and ushered in the Great Recession? Yeh, those guys; the ones whose execs never went to jail. Anyway, following Wall Street’s near death experience, circa 2008-2009, Chris Dodd and Barney Frank [Big Bank sycophants par excellence] immediately put their low-paid staffers, interns and toadies to work crafting a 900-page bill which has spawned 14,000+ pages in regulations[1]. Like so many politicians before him,[2] Barney Frank apparently didn’t read his namesake bill very close either. After creating a law that is more aptly named “FrankenDodd,” Mr. Frank, now retired from the House after 30+ pugnacious years berating anyone who disagreed with him, has recently admitted that the law has gone too far. ~PCQ [For full article, go to link here.]
Background. People with an “institutional memory” of the real estate brokerage business over the past 30-40 years will say that pocket listings have always been around. For real estate newbies, a “pocket listing” is one that the broker does not place into the local multiple listing service (“MLS”) – at least not at first. There may be a variety of valid reasons a seller would not want their listing to be published, such as privacy, confidentiality, safety, etc. Continue reading “The Big Secret: Whisper Listings”
“Ocwen, Ocwen, Ocwen.” What a peculiar sounding name for a large company! Does it have some noble Greek meaning? Or perhaps a venerated Roman god high on the Pantheon of deities? Surely, a quick Google search will provide an etymology, and the mystery will be solved. Right? No, Nada, Nyet! There is nothing; just a name with no provenance. But wait! One genealogy site shows there to be a single birth record of someone with the name of “Ocwen.” However, that’s it. The trail abruptly ends. No other births, no family records, no divorces, no death notices. Just an odd name, a cipher, existing in a peculiar jumble of discordant letters. Hmmm. Sounds slightly demonic, like something from a Dracula script; the undead – existing to suck the life from its victims. Given the Ocwen we see today, perhaps that isn’t too far from the truth….[Continue here.]
OK, the numbers are in for calendar year 2013. In 3Q 2012, for the first time in five years, housing prices actually began to improve, month over month. The trend continued for much of 2013, although slowed during 4Q, which we might expect, given the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays [Memo to PC Police: Sorry for using such anachronistic and sappy terms, but I insist on preserving some semblance of our country’s Judeo-Christian heritage. So sue me!] Sorry, I got sidetracked, where was I? Continue reading “The 2013-2014 Portland-Metro Residential Marketplace – How Are We Doing?”
Ever wonder when the foreclosure crisis would wind down? That is an important issue, since “shadow inventory,” i.e. distressed homes not yet in the marketplace, is an important reason why available housing stock or “inventory” is so low. Attached is link to a chart showing Portland Metro quarterly foreclosure filings for calendar year 2013. [It is page 9 in a multi-page set of graphics that are not yet displayed. Once I assimilate all of it, I will display all 11 pages with another post.] Continue reading “2013 Portland Metro Foreclosure Filings By Quarter”
Generally. Condominiums and townhomes are similar types of housing – almost. The condo owner (technically called the “unit owner”) does not own the entirety of the structure and land upon which it sits. Rather, ownership is indirect; that is, by virtue of the unit owner’s membership in the unit owners’ association, each is assigned a proportionate interest in the property. This is usually based upon the square footage that the unit bears to the total square footage of all units. Continue reading “Oregon Condo & Townhome Associations – Buyer Due Diligence Items”
The RMLS™ Market Action Report was just released for the month of November, 2013. In almost every metric, the trend lines look good. However, Inventory in Months remains stubbornly low. [Per RMLS™ “Inventory in Months is calculated by dividing the Active Listings at the end of the month in question by the number of closed sales for that month. This includes proposed and under construction homes.”] For November 2013 inventory was just 3.7 months. A “healthy market” is considered 6 to 8 months. Continue reading “Portland-Metro RMLS™ Stats for November 2013”
Ever been overwhelmed at all the laws, rules, and regulations affecting what might otherwise be a simple residential real estate transaction? Ever wished there was a place you could go to find everything you needed in one place? Now you can! Enjoy! [Go to link here]
