Builders + Boomers = Disconnect & Lack of Housing for Seniors/Boomers in Lake Oswego

Builders + Boomers = Disconnect

I’ve written many posts about Baby Boomers, inasmuch as I am one.  In holding open houses here in Lake Oswego, I meet many Baby Boomers as well.  All along I’ve been against the McMansions and have stated so.  In addition, however, I have also given kudos where due to the builders who are finally getting on board and building smaller houses.

Now comes word, that everything in my blog posts is “happening” in new construction.  Gone is the glitz and glam of yesterday.  Gone is the popularity for the McMansions and now the 1,900 sq. ft. house is the most desired sq. ft. by Boomers.  It’s the first-time home buyers, the Baby Boomers, empty-nesters, singles, and seniors that all want and need the smaller, quality-built affordable houses.  All those add up to a large percentage of home buyers. 

In a recent story, along with a MetLife report which I’ve written about,

“depending upon where these buyers were from, they wanted homes between 1,600 square feet and 2,400 square feet. This year’s data showed the most popular size at 1,900 square feet — and 79 percent wanted that space on one floor, up from 17 percent in 1970.”

Guess I’ll stay in the house I have as long as I can do the stairs, as it’s exactly that sq. footage. The article goes on to say there’s been a Builder-Boomer disconnect  – I’ve only been saying that forever!

Lake Oswego + Boomers = Disconnect

In last week’s Lake Oswego Review there was an article about the City now once again concerned about the affordability of houses for its seniors and Baby Boomers.  Lake Oswego has always been a high-end market with a lack of easy transportation and affordable housing. 

Particularly, the West End of Lake Oswego where I live there is no easy transportation with only one limited bus route and service and you have to cross a busy highway.  Situated next to I-5 and Kruse Way, the West End would be a logical place to add light-rail along those two corridors.  The Kruse Woods Financial District is located at this West End, with office workers not given any choice but to drive.  Certainly not an amenity the City can shout about nor can Boomers and Seniors use on a frequent basis.  There are no stores or shopping within walking distance from my house other than perhaps Trader Joe’s which is about a mile away.  So much for the Walk Score for its West End – the “forgotten child” of Lake Oswego’s City officials. 

Everything seems to be geared towards the affluent area of First Addition and near the Lake instead.  There is no easy parking at the Library and in fact I’ve had my car hit in its parking lot.  Yet the Lake Oswego residents are hesitant to transfer those facilities to its West End Building.  The Lake Grove Post Office is severely lacking, and it would be a great addition to the West End Building not to mention the Booktique which is currently in Mercantile Village.  We bought the building, so now let’s use it.  Are there any Planners on staff at Lake Oswego with the vision to make this an even better place to live?

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.  Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).

Market Update: Financing Stats & The Debate Goes On

The major players in the housing market sent their letter to President Obama requesting that the home buyer tax credit be extended for one year, that it be increased in amount and be made available to all home buyers.  There’s been a final push in favor of the tax credit. 

Mark Zandi, the Economist has said extending the home buyers tax credit and increasing its amount makes sense.  We haven’t seen too many economists in favor of the credit, but I agree wholeheartedly with Zandi and if you’ve been reading my posts you know that I believe  if you don’t fix housing, you won’t fix the economy.  In case you missed it, here’s the news story.  

However, yesterday USA Today reported that a housing credit isn’t needed and that 80% of financing for first-time home buyers is with FHA financing.  I had written a post not too long ago on that very subject that in fact FHA financing in the three areas my blog covers wasn’t the primary source of financing.  I decided to do another check since we are in the middle of the frenzy for first-time home buyers to purchase in order to get their tax credit.

For the month of September, RMLS™ #147, 148 and 151, showed that once again the bulk of purchases were not FHA financing.  The bulk of the transactions in the above areas this blog covers were in fact Conventional financing.

(The stats aren’t broken down by RMLS™ for West Linn and Lake Oswego.  The totals also include both residential detached and condos, townhouses and attached dwellings).

September 1-30, 2009 Methods of Financing	#147 Lake Oswego /West Linn	#148 West Portland	#151 Tigard
Cash	22	39	27
Conventional	59	109	71
FHA	8	26	46
Other		1	5
VA		1	8
# Houses Still for Sale	832	1,018	1,024
# Condos Still for Sale	171	817	123
Source: RMLS

With the large number of houses and condos for sale in these three areas, I still feel that a tax credit should be extended, increased and open for all buyers.

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).

A Sunny Weekend

Typically it always seems we have nice sunny weather on weekends when I have to work.  As a Realtor® here in Portland, I work most weekends.  Today with the sun shining I am asking myself -  why am I working today? With the sun shining it gets me thinking about why I’m a Realtor®.  I’d much rather be out in the yard gardening.  Typically you’ll hear a new real estate agent when they get their license excitedly say the want to sell real estate because “they love to look at houses” or “they love people”.  Funny, that’s isn’t why I love selling real estate nor the reason I have stayed in this profession for 34 years. I have many stories to tell but one by way of explanation goes like this.

Many years ago I had a customer (in an upcoming post I’ll explain the difference between a customer and a client), call me about a listing in a neighborhood where I’ve had 44 properties for sale.  Unfortunately, this young man who was under 21 at the time, wanted to buy a house there.  After pre-qualifying him, I found out he really couldn’t afford the house he had called on nor could he afford anything else that was on the market in this particular neighborhood.  Admittedly, I brushed him off and didn’t take him seriously.  After a while, on a face-to-face meeting, he looked me in the eye and said “Betty, I’m serious, I want to buy a house”.  At that moment I remembered when I was 19 and became a first-time home buyer and I was determined to help him.  The only house I found that he could afford backed to the freeway and was a for sale by owner.  I wound up selling him that house, eventually relisted that house, it sold and wound up selling him another house with his new wife.  During the time they were looking, the news was given that a baby was going to be born who would be joining them in their new home.  I felt as if I had become a part of his family and cared about him and his new family greatly.  There was an extreme sense of pride I felt in his accomplishments.  That story has been repeated over and over in my career.  It’s never been about making the decisions for you, it’s always to provide you with the best and most current information I have to assist you in making the best decisions you can for yourselves.  It’s been about caring for my clients and wanting them to succeed.  I’ve watched their successes over and over again all these years.  It has always been about the relationships I have with my clients.

When I get up in the morning, 99.9% of the time I’m still excited about going to work, learning something new, meeting new people.  With this blog, I’m trying to do the same by providing you with the latest news or information, with what is pertinent in our local real estate market, and to establish a long-time relationship with you the reader.

When readers leave comments or suggestions I appreciate the input and I hope you continue to feel free to do that.  I appreciate all the readers of this blog. Thanks!  So get out there and enjoy this sunshine we’re having this weekend.

©Copyright Betty Jung 2008-2009.  All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

(For more national and local real estate information, go to my website at www.bettyjung.com)

The People Who Impact Your Life

The last job I had before moving to Oregon 34 years ago, was the most demanding job I’d ever had. During that time period I needed an assistant and hired a very young gal who worked for me for about 8-9 years.  Actually we were both pretty young and I was the youngest person to have ever held that particular high-level job. After leaving that position, and moving to Oregon, I only saw her once when she came to visit me.  I had just started selling real estate at that time.

This gal was so very young, worked hard, was extremely dependable and never sat around.  She always looked for work and came up with things to keep herself occupied and to help me get the job done.  She always “covered my back”.  She became like a sister and best friend to me over the years but, like many people, we lost touch. Over the holidays and when we were all snowbound, I guess I got a bit nostalgic and decided to see if I could find her.  After only one attempt via the Internet, I found her.  She hadn’t changed her name which made it easier.

She too is selling real estate, and she too had worked for the exact same company I did when I first started out.  It has been so wonderful to be in touch with her again.  Today, I got an email from her telling me what an influence I had been in her life, that she looked to me as her mentor and through the years she called upon my strengths to pull her through her tough times.  It made me cry.  It made her cry too and she needed to end the email.

What struck me was how much we influence the lives of others and don’t even realize it.  I never knew I had that much of an impact on her or how much I had helped shape her into the woman she is today. What she doesn’t realize is that she had all those strengths within herself and perhaps I just helped bring them to the forefront is all.   She is, and will always be, a life-long friend.  Our lives have paralleled each other in other ways as well without even having been in contact with one another.

Growing up I went to an all girls’ Catholic High School.  One of the Dominican nuns, one of many of my favorites, was my geography and history teacher.  She was all of 4′7″ or shorter and she would jump up and down with her pointer teaching us.  She put enthusiasm and excitement into a class that could be boring.  To this day, I love the history, the story, etc.  She recently passed away.  Many times while writing this blog, I have thought of her and thank her for sharing her love of history with me.

Who had the greatest influence on your life?  Who helped mold you into the person you are today?  I had surrogate grandparents as a child who helped raise me and who had the most profound affect on me.  Even to this day, I know they are watching over me.  Be mindful of who you talk to -  one smile, one word of praise, one word of thanks, may impact that person more than you will ever know.

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate by Betty Jung is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).

Stinkin Thinkin

This is my second post today, I normally don’t post more than one a day.  However, this “scandal” here in Portland somehow has hit a nerve.

The title of this post came to me when I was thinking about Portland’s Mayor Sam Adams.  I had a real estate trainer who in the 70s always spoke about  “stinkin thinkin”.  Today instead we say  “garbage in-garbage out”.  That’s pretty much how I feel about this situation.

If you haven’t heard, Portland lately has had a “mayor” problem.  Inasmuch as I don’t live in the city limits, I don’t have a say.  However, this post is not a political post as much as it is a post about lying.  It seems that the people who want to keep Sam Adams in office don’t care whether he lied or not.  Aren’t political figures held to a higher standard of the law?  Shouldn’t we demand that our leaders tell the “truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”?

There’s so much outcry today about “transparency in government” and “holding people accountable”.  What happened to that thinking here in Portland?

Lying has never brought about a greater good.  Lying in fact has gotten this country into the likes of war, disgrace, scandals, etc.  No one is perfect, but shouldn’t telling the truth be a basic attribute of any political official?

I’m not a part of the politics in Portland, but as a Realtor®, I took an oath and have principles and ethics to live by.  Shouldn’t we expect political leaders to live by the rules they said they would?  Since when has lying become “ok” in our society?  If it’s ok for a mayor, president, congressman, then it becomes ok for you and your children to do so too?  Shouldn’t honesty be a sought-after characteristic in an elected official or in anyone for that matter?  What happened to leading by example?

Here’s a time-line of the supposed “relationship” or “sex scandal” of the Mayor.  If in fact his aide was 17, isn’t that a criminal offense?  What is happening to the values and morals of our country?  I know in the whole realm of things perhaps you’re thinking this isn’t important, but I ask, since when is honesty not important?  I don’t know if I’m more upset with Sam Adams for lying or with the people who approve of it.

ALL ABOUT…..Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.  Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).