7.Something Months of Inventory Holding Strong for 3 Months

We only have 7.6 months of inventory in Portland! That's great compared to last year at this time when it would have taken 10.4 months to sell everything on the market. That number has been at 7.something for 3 months now, we could use it going down to 6, which is a neutral market for buyers and sellers. Having about 7 months of inventory means that there is a slight buyers advantage. That is basically coming from the homes priced higher than $300,000, however, because anything less than that is in the range of first time buyers, who have tons of pressure to buy now and not miss out on the $8000 tax credit. More info later on the median sale prices for Portland neighborhoods

Latest Portland Market Info

The RMLS just released the June market numbers for Portland. There is no trend for median sale prices across Portland, they were up or down depending on the area. Here's the breakdown, last May vs. June.

North Portland- May $229,900-June $229,900, up $900

NE Portland- May $255,000-June $258,000, up $3,000

SE Portland- May $219,000- June $237,500, up $18,500

West Portland- May $367,500- June $350,800, down $16,700

Lake Oswego/West Linn- May $350,000- June $398,000, up $48,000

Milwaukie/Gladstone/Boring/Clackamas/Estacada- May $265,000- June $249,500, down $15,500

West Linn and Lake Oswego had the greatest gain in median sale price, up almost 14%. Only two areas were down in median price, and they were only down by around $16,000.

In general, good news for Portland real estate!

Short Sales. Really? Is that what they're callled?

I was looking for something new and exciting to write about, but all I could find today was a bunch of news about short sales, and how Bank of America is going to make them so much easier. The truth is that with a short sale (when the seller is going to get less money for the house than they owe on it) you never know how that kind of deal is going to go. It might be quick and easy, with the buyer getting a great deal, or it might be a long, long process where the buyers end up loosing money while waiting around. Most banks, who hold the mortgage and have to authorize short sales, are not very communicative during the process, so you don't know where you stand. Also, betters deals may pass you by while you are tied up in a house that might not work out. The key words here are might, maybe, could, if... you can see that there is nothing definite, and that is the big problem with short sales. The old phrase "Buyer Beware" goes so well with short sales, I think they should be renamed to "Long Sales that Buyers Should Be Wary Of!"

If you live in Portland then you can't help but check out the cover of Portland Monthly in the check out line or at the news stand, and the headline this month definitely caught my eye! The whole city seems to constantly wondering about the real estate market, where we are, and what is the next big neighborhood to boom. "Buy Sell Rent Keep?" Those words are constantly going through my head, and I think the accompanying article had some really good points to it. I especially liked the neighborhood stats, in map and list format. http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/real-estate/articles/neighborhoods-by-the-numbers/

All the info they provide, plus more, can also be found at www.portlandmaps.com which I use on a daily basis to check on specific addresses, and neighborhoods. www.pps.k12.or.us is the Portland School district's website, and in addition to lots of info on specific schools, it also has a place to plug in any address and find the schools it is assigned to. Researching a property and a neighborhood is very important, there is a lot more that you need to know to make an educated choice about buying a home. It is also important to find out all the positive and negatives about your home before you put it on the market, not only are you better able to set the price correctly, but you can also have good reasons above and beyond the physical structure for people to buy it.

Sales are up!

It's all over the news today, I've already heard it on more than one radio news update and seen multiple articles, sales of existing homes are up 5.1% from January to February. So, what does that even mean? New homes built by developers are not seeing the same kind of action, so buyers are focusing on purchasing olders home that they can afford, not the biggest, newest, McMansion in the gated community. All buyers are sticking to their budgets, and taking advantage of the historically low interest rates, the $8,000 tax credit, and the market. As I have said before, we will not be able to identify the bottom of the market until long after it has passed, but this is another sign that it may be now, or it may have been in January and February.

Latest Portland Real Estate Market Info

Today the latest numbers on the Portland Oregon real estate market came out from the RMLS. As always with the market these days, there is both good and bad news. To get it out of the way, the bad news is that sales in January 2009 were down 32.5% from January 2008. On to the good news! Pending sales in January 2009 were up 52.5% from December 2008, and new listings increased 123.2%! As for sale prices, the average sale price in Multnomah County dropped just 1% for this January compared to the beginning of 2008. That is an incredibly small decrease compared to other local counties that had drops of up to 9% from 2008 to 2009.

Some numbers that I always think are interesting are the January median sales prices by Portland Metro region.

North Portland: $232,300
NE Portland: $261,900
SE Portland: $206,500
West Portland: $347,300
Milwaukie, Gladstone, Boring, Clackamas, Estacada: $263,000
Lake Oswego/ West Linn: $429,500