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Jolynne Ash, Exlusive Buyers Agent Portland Oregon, Energy Trust of Oregon Trade Ally

Earth Advantage Green Home Certified Realtor

As a trade ally of Energy Trust of Oregon, I can tell you about energy-efficient features and improvements for your home.

Buyer's Market in Portland, Oregon. What's Next?

The characteristics of the Buyer's Market are definitely changing this Summer. In popular pockets where most homes are under $325,000 there are shortages of good inventory to sell. I have several buyers having a hard time finding the right house at Market Price right now. When homes are over priced they sit on the market for months with few showings and fewer offers. Listings priced right sold in less than 30 days. A well priced listing will always sell if it's priced appropriately for the area and quality of the home.

What is new are decent homes under $200K. It used to be that only major fixers were selling in this price point but now there are some real bargains in nice homes in decent neighborhoods. We actually sold a very nice home in NE Portland for $118K!.

Tax Credit Closing Date Extended

The tax credit has ended but Congress did extend the time period allowed to close a transaction until September 2010 (formerly June 30). The contract still has to have been executed by April 30, 2010 to qualify.

The reason is the banks are having trouble getting loans closed on time, so 200,000 homebuyer's would have lost the credit.

Current Market Conditions July 2010

2010 is by far a better year for real estate than 2009. While we are no where near our 2007 heights, market activity remains strong. In fact closed sales increased 13.3% when comparing January-June 2010 with the same period in 2009. In June of 2009 we had an 8.2 month supply of inventory, and today we have just 7.3 months. Remember 6.0 months is considered a balanced buyer/seller market. The average sales price of a home within the city limits of Portland is current $283,800. The biggest obstacle is still the banks. Every month new rules are put in place which throw up road blocks for Buyers in all price ranges. FHA loans have gotten significantly more expensive since January. The bright spot is that interest rates are between 4.5% and 4.25%.

I am noticing that properties are now listed at market value as opposed to this time last year when many Sellers still lived in the past. Buyers now need to recognize the fact that Sellers are not going to be discounting the asking price like they did a year ago (because it is listed at a fair price). Homes priced under $300K are moving at a fairly fast rate. Homes over $500K are still lingering on the market 4-8 months. Homes priced at "Market" for their area are selling well. We still have a number of short sales (about 22% of overall inventory) but the close rate is around one in four. This low average is because the banks are still not cooperating with underwater Sellers. Foreclosures are selling fast if they are in reasonable condition or priced appropriately if they need TLC. Forbes Magazine just list Portland as number three in the Nation for the number of foreclosures. The funny thing is that we don't have that many on the market so the banks must be holding onto to them?. Home prices are holding in most areas but they are not going up.

 

Buying Foreclosures

We specialize in foreclosures and bank owned homes. As Exclusive Buyers Agents we have advance access to lists of homes in all areas, and can help you get the best deal possible.

Foreclosure Property Hot Sheet by Email Sign up for our free no obligation service to automatically receive email notice of any new properties available that are in foreclosure.

Quick Search Foreclosure Properties available now in the Portland Multiple Listing System (MLS). This pre-configured search will list all properties that are foreclosure, REO, or Short sale status currently on the market. For daily updates to this list use the previous link above. Or for more help and tips call us at 503-678-2020.