Portland Real Estate Blog Lost In Cyberspace

Portland Real Estate Blog Lost In Cyberspace

If you are finding yourself here and wondering what has happened to my site, all my 5 blogs were hacked and have now been deleted. Everything is pretty much gone.

It was a tough decision to make but I decided to move forward instead of trying to recreate the entire blog all over again.  I have been hacked 5-6 times already and have constantly tried to bring the Portland real estate blog back on line, but it is far too time-consuming.  Whatever I can still salvage will be posted here.

Sites Up And Running

In the meantime, check out my ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate blog on Facebook or ALL ABOUT…..Lake Oswego Real Estate which are up and running.  Both my photo blogs are also back ALL ABOUT…..Lake Oswego Living.A Photo Blog and ALL ABOUT…..Oregon Snapshots.

Portland Real Estate Blog Under Construction

Therefore – this site is UNDER CONSTRUCTION and more will be posted soon. Check back again!

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon Real Estate. © Copyright 2008-2013. Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Portland Real Estate RE MAX equity group February 2013 Housing Update

Portland Real Estate RE MAX equity group February 2013 Housing Update

Portland Real Estate Market Highlights:

Closed sales in February 2013 represented the best February since 2008. Pending sales were the best showing for a February since February 2007.

New listings held steady, keeping the months supply of inventory at historic lows.

Sales Prices

The Median Sales Price slipped in February as compared to January but jumped more than 16% comparing year-to-date 2013 to year to date 2012.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon Real Estate. © Copyright 2008-2013. Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Portland Real Estate Balanced Sellers Or Buyers Markets

I’ve been reporting on the latest shift in our Portland real estate markets going from a high inventory of Portland houses to sell to a very low inventory of houses since last fall when it became apparent there was a positive shift occurring.

We started seeing the inventory drop in March 2011 when inventory fell from 10.9 months in February 2011 to 7.1 months in March 2011. The number of our Portland houses for sale has been steadily dropping ever since then to 4.7 months in April 2012.

Portland Real Estate Balanced Sellers Or Buyers Markets

April 2012

The other day I posted the latest RMLS™ Market Action Report for April 2012.  We are at our lowest number of Portland homes for sale since the last 5 years.

One of my buyers recently said “it’s going crazy”.  I had just showed her a new listing and we literally walked out the front door on our way to the car when I received an email from the listing agent saying there was already an offer on that house.  That has been happening regularly with other clients as well.

We are facing bidding wars.  Of course, not in every real estate market, but there is a lot of pent-up demand, the buyers are getting, in some cases, interest rates below 3%, and they are ready to buy.  But, with few houses on the market, buyers are needing to act quickly and some of those buyers don’t want to get in bidding wars so some are still holding back.

Buyer, Seller Or Balanced Real Estate Markets In Portland April 2012

A market above 7 months of inventory is considered a market favoring buyers.  Between 5-6 months of inventory is considered a balanced real estate market and prices begin to stabilize.  Under 5 months of Portland houses to sell is considered favoring sellers and prices begin to increase.

What’s Happening In The Portland Real Estate Market?

Currently every single Portland real estate market is either a balanced or sellers’ real estate market.  There are no Portland metro real estate markets that are favoring buyers.

BALANCED REAL ESTATE MARKETS (between 5-6 months of inventory or under 7 months favoring both buyers and sellers)

• Oregon City/Canby – 5.7 months of inventory
• Lake Oswego/West Linn = 5.4 months of inventory
• Tigard/Wilsonville = 5 months of inventory

SELLERS’ REAL ESTATE MARKETS (under 5 months of inventory and favoring sellers)

• North Portland = 4.3 months of inventory
• NE Portland = 3.5 months of inventory
• SE Portland = 3.2 months of inventory
• Gresham/Troutdale = 4.7 months of inventory
• Milwaukie/Clackamas = 4.6 months of inventory
• West Portland = 4.8 months of inventory
• NW Washington County = 2.7 months of inventory
• Beaverton/Aloha = 4.0 months of inventory
• Hillsboro/Forest Grove = 4.8 months of inventory

How to Use The Above Information

If you are planning on purchasing a home, and you see the area you want to buy a Portland home is a sellers’ market, you most likely won’t want to “low ball” your offer.  In fact, you should be prepared for not only multiple offers being made on the property but more than likely a bidding war as well.

If you are a seller, now’s the time to consider whether you want to move on with your life, sell your home and purchase another home at a really good price with a great interest rate.

Prices aren’t where they were in 2007 and may never be again.  In fact, the average price for a Portland home has decreased by -4.9% comparing the previous 12 months.

Interesting in selling your home?  Let my 37 years of experience and education go to work for you.  I’d love to be your REALTOR®!

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon Real Estate. © Copyright 2008-2013. Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Portland Real Estate Balanced Sellers Or Buyers Markets

Portland Real Estate Balanced Sellers Or Buyers Markets

The other day I posted our most recent RMLS™ Market Action Report for June 2011. As usual, I breakdown the stats area by area to determine which Portland real estate markets were balanced or favored buyers or sellers.

Good News For Portland Real Estate Markets In June 2011

Good news for the month of June is that 10 – the majority of our markets – were good Portland real estate markets in June. Most were either balanced or are favored buyers. There were only a couple of markets still struggling.

Here’s the breakdown:

SELLERS PORTLAND REAL ESTATE MARKETS

Favoring sellers with under 5 months of inventory:

• N. Portland – 4.7 months of inventory
• NE Portland – 4.1 months of inventory
• SE Portland – 4.7 months of inventory
• NW Washington County – 4.6 months of inventory

BALANCED PORTLAND REAL ESTATE MARKETS

Favoring both buyers and sellers with 5-6 – or under 7 – months of inventory:

• Gresham/Troutdale – 6.2 months of inventory
• Milwaukie/Clackamas – 6.1 months of inventory
• West Portland – 6.2 months of inventory
• Beaverton/Aloha – 5.1 months of inventory
• Tigard/Wilsonville – 6.8 months of inventory
• Hillsboro/Forest Grove – 5.5 months of inventory

BUYERS PORTLAND REAL ESTATE MARKETS

Favoring buyers

• Oregon City/Canby – 7.5 months of inventory
• Lake Oswego/West Linn – 8.2 months of inventory

If you are a buyer and wanting a good value, Oregon City, Canby, Lake Oswego and West Linn favor you purchasing in those areas.

If you are a seller and are looking to sell your home, if you are in an area that favors sellers or are in a balanced Portland real estate market, now would be a good time to put your home on the market to sell.

END OF 2010

Although Oregon/City and Canby are still facing 7.5 months of inventory, at the end of 2011 they had 10.3 months of inventory so they are on their way to getting their housing inventory reduced. Likewise, Lake Oswego at the end of 2010 had 12.2 months of inventory and the Lake Oswego/West Linn real estate market are also working with less houses on the market for sale.

The Bottom?

We are in the best buying months of Portland real estate here in our local market areas. If the inventory continues to decrease, prices will rise, or at least they have in the past with little inventory. Have you missed your opportunity to purchase a good value?

I personally think with MERS and all the backlog of foreclosure and short sale inventory, it is a good time to sell or buy in our Portland real estate market. Once all that back inventory hits our local Portland real estate market, things could switch in favor of buyers quickly. However, the question is when or if all that inventory will come on the market for sale or if ever.

Thinking of selling? Give me a call and I can help you get that home sold for the highest dollar in the shortest period of time at 503-804-9685.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate. © Copyright 2008-2011. Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

April Fools Oregon’s Wildflowers

Copyright © 2010 OregonWildflowers.org Fairy Slipper. Used With Permission

Today’s April Fool’s day and last year I shared a personal story about an April Fool’s day in my life and what it meant to me.  I always remember this day.

Today, my question isn’t to trick or fool you. But, are you familiar with the wildflowers in Oregon?  Did you know this photo is one of Oregon’s Wildflowers – the Fairy Slipper Orchid?

Like many of you, I’m a gardener and I’ve been interested in the wildflowers of Oregon. I personally don’t know all of them nor do I know where they can be found.  However, there’s an Oregon wildflower site with lots of information including some upcoming gardening shows all about wildflowers and pictures (including the picture posted here and used by permission from Greg Lief Photography).

Upcoming Shows

• Mosier Wildflower Show (April 25, 2010)
• Mount Pisgah Wildflower Festival (May 16, 2010)
• Tryon Creek Trillium Festival (April 10-11, 2010)
• The Glide Wildflower Show (April 24-25, 2010)

I’d like to become more familiar with all of them.  For more information you can also go to the American Society of Wildflowers.

Some Upcoming Plant Sales

• Clackamas County Master Gardeners

• Hardy Plant Society Spring Garden Sale

• Portland Japanese Garden Plant Sale

• Lake Grove Garden Club Spring Plant Sale

• The Oregon Garden

• Gardenpalooza

You can also check out the Oregonian’s Calendar of Events and Garden Time’s Event site as well.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon Real Estate. © Copyright 2008-2013. Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Portland Real Estate Balanced Sellers Or Buyers Markets

Back in July 2009, I wrote a post about which areas in Portland were either a buyers, sellers or a balanced real estate market.  Looking back at that post, all areas of our real estate market here in Portland have improved since July.  Granted, the areas closer in were driven (and are still being driven) by the first-time home buyer’s tax credit and the high number of foreclosures.  Now that program has been extended and expanded it will be interesting to see next year how the Federal program impacted our market.  However, it definitely impacted the first-time home buyers and the close-in metro areas of Portland.

Portland Real Estate Balanced Sellers Or Buyers Markets

Here are the current numbers as of October 2009 compared to July 2009:

BALANCED REAL ESTATE MARKET IN PORTLAND

Currently, our latest October 2009 stats show Portland (which includes Clark County, Washington) having 6.5 months of inventory.  5-6 months (or under 7 months of inventory) is considered by our National Association of Realtors® as a balanced real estate market.  We are at the higher end of the range, but we are definitely seeing a balanced market – good for both buyers and sellers – here in Portland, Oregon overall.

Here are the numbers for each of the areas in Portland from our latest RMLS™stats –  October 2009:

Sellers Markets (obviously favoring sellers=too little inventory)

• North Portland currently has 3.9 months of inventory (in July it had 5.7 months)
• Northeast Portland currently has 4.2 months of inventory (in July it had 5.8 months)
• Southeast Portland currently has 4.6 months of inventory (in July it had 6 months)
• Beaverton-Aloha currently has 4.7 months of inventory (in July it had 6.3 months)

Balanced Markets (good for both buyers and sellers)

• Gresham/Troutdale currently has 6.1 months of inventory (in July it had 8.3 months)
• Milwaukie/Clackamas currently has 6.6 months (in July it had 6.8 months)
• North Washington County currently has 6.7 months (in July it had 7.1 months)
• Hillsboro/Forest Grove currently has 6.3 months (in July it had 9.1 months)
• Tigard/Wilsonville currently has 6.9 months (at the higher end and closer to a buyer’s market) (in July it had 9.3 months)

Buyers Markets (obviously favoring buyers=too much inventory)

• Oregon City/Canby currently has 9.8 months of inventory (in July it had 12.7 months)
• Lake Oswego/West Linn currently has 8.4 months of inventory (in July it had 11.9 months)
• West Portland currently has 8.9 months of inventory (in July it had 9.2 months)

Already we’ve been seeing multiple offer situations in the hot seller markets noted above.  As we move into the spring-buying season we will undoubtedly have another frenzy of buying with multiple offer scenarios again.

Winter is a great time to buy.  Serious buyers and relocation buyers will be out in our marketplace in the next several months.  Rates are so low, inventory is still high in many areas and with the tax credit I am surprised many people are still on the fence.  If you don’t have an agent to represent you, let me help, I’d love to be your Realtor®.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon Real Estate. © Copyright 2008-2013. Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.