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Portland Market Action – April 2019

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Portland’s market is staying strong as we head into our summer months. We had a huge push of new listings coming on the market with 700 more homes being listed in April than in March. The inventory didn’t change in the city though because we also had 400 more homes go pending and 300 more homes sold. This means that while we are seeing lots of homes coming up, there are tons of buyers in the market purchasing everything new that is being listed.

Average and median home sale prices both increased this past month which is further evidence that our market, though slowing, is not crashing. We continue to put out strong numbers and are heading into a neutral market with steady growth. The Days on market lowered slightly as well with some hot homes selling very quickly. In most close in areas we are seeing market times of about 7 days and typically one or perhaps 2 offers on a property.

I expect these numbers to be slightly softer in the month of May and to continue to plateau as we head through the summer. If you are thinking about selling, now is really the best time to do so as we may experience a slower than normal fall and winter. If you want any specific data about how pricing and what strategies will work bet for you, please reach out to us!

5 Tips for Determining Resale Value

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While you are out searching for your new home, selling that home is probably the farthest thing from your mind but it should be an important factor in your new home

Check out this great video to learn more about what you should be looking at in terms of resale. If video isn’t your thing, read on down below!

1 – Neighborhood

This is likely already on your list of top things to consider when buying, and it should be! This is the only thing you truly cannot change about a home. While looking at neighborhoods you want to consider how close the home will be to important amenities, what school district it is in, and what the crime statistics are. It is no surprise that homes in highly rated school districts with low crime rates will have the highest appreciation year over year.

2 – Layout

The layout of a home is more important that you might think. People need to LIVE in their homes, so having some open space to do so is important. Whether that is an open concept living area, or a large family room, you need to consider where people will be gathering. Bedrooms and Bathrooms are of course important as well, you want to make sure they are proportional to each other. No one wants a 5 bedroom home with only 1 bathroom, on the other side a 1 bedroom home with more than 1.5 bathrooms will seem like overkill. You also want to consider the flow of the house. Are the bedrooms near each other? How close is the bathroom and laundry to the bedrooms? Do you have to travel through a bedroom to get to another room? You want to be certain that you have a home that is livable for any family.

3 – Storage

This is one of the most overlooked features of a home, but it is also one fo the most important. Everyone has stuff, and you need somewhere to put that stuff. Closets in each bedroom, storage in the bathroom or hallway for linens, and plenty of kitchen cabinets come in most houses, but where will you store your christmas decorations? Or your bikes and kayaks? Make sure you are looking beyond the room sizes so you know you can comfortably move in to your new home.

4 – Maintenance

This one is pretty simple, the less that needs to be done to a home, the more that home is worth. If the furnace, water heater, siding, and roof are all maintained while you are living in the home, you will have less projects to do down the road. You also want to look at the areas that are easily forgotten. Things like retaining walls in the yard, mortar around the chimney, Flushing the sewer lines, and keeping your gutters clear. These are all good things to ask the seller to fix while you are house hunting so you don’t have to do it when you decide to sell.

5 – Number of Levels

This is a personal decision for most people, maybe you love foursquare style homes, with all the bedrooms up stairs, maybe you love split levels with a lower level family room. But the fact is, a single story home will always sell for slightly more than a comparable home with more levels. While this shouldn’t be the deciding factor in what home you decide to buy, it is something to consider!

BONUS – Outdoor Space

Outdoor space is a huge selling point, especially here in Portland. This doesn’t need to be a huge yard to add value, it can be a simple patio or deck. As long as there is some room for someone to enjoy the fresh air, you will be getting a value boost! Even if you are looking at condos, having a balcony will make your home more desirable.

I hope you enjoyed this tips! As your realtor I will help you look out for all of these things during your next purchase. If you have specific questions, or want to start looking at a new home, please reach out to me!

Be sure to follow this blog for lots more real estate tips, community events, and neighborhood hot spots!

Portland Market Action – February 2019

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It’s statistics time! February’s stats came in right where I expected them to. We saw a slight softening in median home price, slightly less homes come onto the market, and slightly less inventory. This is all very typical for the end of winter here in Portland. Here is a quick glance at what the market is doing. Keep reading if you want a more in depth take!

The first thing you likely see on my graphic is that the median sales price is down nearly $15,000 in one month. That may seem like prices are tanking, but the average sales price actually went up by just over $6,000. There is such a difference in these prices because of what is happening in the lower price ranges. There were quite a few “fixers” listed in February that are really dragging the median price down. If you look at the homes that are selling throughout the Portland area, it is hard to find anything under $400,000.

The days on market dropped by only 1 day. 75 days seems like a long time to be sitting on the market, but if you are in a “hot” neighborhood and the home is move in ready under $500,000 or so, the homes are still going pending in a matter of days. Pricing is still really important in this market because buyers are well educated on the market and know when something is priced well.

March has been off to a super strong start and I expect that the average sales price will go up, inventory will go down, and we will see a ton of new listings. Subscribe to the blog to stay up to date with all the latests stats and for fun things to do around town!

January Market Update

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The January market stats are in! Everyone knows I am not much of a statistics girl, but I love these ones. They come in halfway through the next month so it allows me to reflect on whether the trends I was feeling were taking place across the metro area, or just in localized neighborhoods. For January, my market predictions were pretty accurate! The simplified version for those of you not wanting to read on: There are lots more listings, prices are still normalizing, and the market is still leaning toward a seller’s market.

For everyone wanting to get a bit more in-depth, here is my breakdown: We saw the median home price drop just slightly from December, which is something we expect after the holiday season. Almost every year between October and January we see prices fall. Seasonality effects even the strongest markets and this is certainly not a sign that the market is crashing. Despite this slight drop, we had a huge surge of new listings come on the market, more than double what we had in December. There are likely many reasons for this big push but my guess for the biggest reason is that sellers are scared. The media has been stating over and over that we are in for a crash, another recession is imminent, and housing is doomed!! Well, the good news is that nothing that drastic is going to happen. If you have been a buyer, or known a buyer in the last 3-4 years, you know that everyone has been hoping the market would slow down, pricing would stop skyrocketing, and that multiple offers would be a thing of the past. The good news is we all got what we hoped for! I find the best analogy for this is that the market is slowing like a car, we were going 100 miles an hour and now we are going 60. We are still moving forward, just not accelerating. The bad news is, we are on our way into the spring market, and things are going to pick up quickly again.

The average days on market is the most surprising number for me. 76 seems like an exceptionally long time for something to sit on the market, especially when we are seeing so many homes sell on the 3rd day. Truthfully, this number should be much lower, it is skewed primarily by homes that are overpriced with sellers who aren’t willing to negotiate. I’m looking at you, home that needs to be torn down but is listed over 600k! If a home is priced well, “pinterest perfect,” and in a neighborhood close in on the east side, expect it to be pending by the end of its first weekend with multiple offers.

I anticipate we will be in a seller’s market through the rest of our busy season and then we will see the market slow through the end of the year. We may even have a bit of time where we shift into a buyer’s market right around the end of summer. If you are thinking of buying, I would still recommend doing it now. Interest rates are low, but expected to climb, and they affect your affordability more than a slight increase in home prices. If you have questions about affordability, talk to your lender, they have lots of info and stats for you!

Why preapprovals matter

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Chances are if you have ever had a conversation with a Realtor you have been asked “are you pre-approved?” A pre-approval is a letter from a lender that states you have the ability to purchase a property within a certain price.  They take a quick look at your debt, income, and what you want your monthly payment to be. Then they are able to give you an accurate price range. Not only does this give you criteria for your home search, but it allows you to shop confidently without wondering whether the house payments will be too high.  While your peace of mind is important during the real estate transaction, that isn’t the main reason that pre-approvals matter.  We will get to that in a moment.

In Portland houses are selling faster than hotcakes!  If you are looking for a home in a desirable neighborhood, that is move in ready, you are going to have a lot of competition.  statsAs an example, here are the stats for the Richmond neighborhood.  As you can see, the average days on market before a home went pending (upper box) is 10 days.  That is less than 2 weeks on the market before the seller has negotiated and accepted an offer.  If you look at the closed sales (bottom box) you can see that the average is only 3 days!  While I did select a specific neighborhood, this trend continues into almost every neighborhood of Portland.

So, Back to the importance of the pre-approval. Say we are out looking for houses and you fall in love with one of these cute homes; 47th 30th

if you didn’t already have that pre-approval on hand, you wouldn’t be able to write an offer in time to even be considered. There are a lot of people out looking for the same homes and the only way to win is to be more prepared than your competition is.  The first home that you lose is always the hardest, and while sometimes there really is nothing more that you can do, if you lose a house because you missed a step in the beginning, you will always regret it.  Calling a lender and talking numbers for 20 or so minutes may not be the most fun thing in the world, but it is a lot more fun than losing a house.

If you are getting ready to enter the real estate market and need some referrals to lender, I would love to help you out. And as always, if you or anyone you know has any real estate needs, I am never to busy to help!