Portland Market Report for March 2009

Market Action Report , Source : RMLS Oregon for Residential Listings

The Portland Metro market activity continues to grow in 2009 although it is still slightly behind 2008 levels for the same reporting period last year.

March 2009 closed sales grew by 382% pending sales were up 28.3% over February 2009.

Inventory levels also dropped to 12 months, it’s lowest since October 2008. Average and Median sales price however continued to drop by 11.8% and 14% respectively for the month of March as compared with February.

                                Current Month                        Year to Date

New Listings                141                                         477                   Area141 ( North Portland )

                                    355                                        1,064                 Area 142 ( Northeast Portland )

                                    423                                        1,376                 Area 143 ( Southeast Portland )

Pending Sales                82                                            193                 Area 141

   2009                         180                                            430                 Area 142

                                    230                                            573                 Area 143

Closed Sales                  68                                            132                 Area 141

                                    117                                            303                 Area 142

                                    169                                            423                 Area 143

Average Sales          $216,600                                   $232,000            Area 141

Price                        $290,000                                   $296,000            Area 142

                               $237,400                                    $239,000            Area 143

Median Sales                                                              $229,600            Area 141

    Price                                                                       $260,000            Area 142

                                                                                   $210,000            Area 143

Days on The                                                                    114                 Area 141

    Market                                                                         130                 Area 142

                                                                                        149                 Area 143

All information is deemed to be accurate but not guaranteed and is only a partial amount of information provided by RMLS. Use of this information is for entertainment only and should not be used as a basis for conducting real estate activity.

Comments

It’s Really Pretty Simple

Some of us seen it coming. Some of us even predicted that it would come. Yet many of us did not even notice while even more didn’t seem to care.

Yet from that very first step the handwriting was on the wall. That first step towards cheaper goods. That first sale that caused your jaw to drop. Wow what fantastic bargains those seemed to be.

Fast forward to today. I stepped into a local retailer known for there periodic sales on clothing goods. Thinking to myself that it might be a good time to pick up on a few good long sleeve dress shirts before the rush towards summer attire.

My jaw hit the floor. Oh there were sales all right. 40% off or more for these modest shirts most made in Pakistan, India and China. Today’s price after discount $29.00.

Are you kidding me? That’s your sales price? Even adjusting for inflation the standard American Made shirt today would only retail out at about $19 to $25 before any sale.

Ahh but now I seem to remember. Back in the day when those manufactures were shutting down the factories while shouting to the rooftops ” It’s really pretty simple Americans want a bargain.” That’s corporate speak for we can make a greater profit by buying goods and products over seas.

So what happened? Well as I said some of us seen it coming and even predicted it. As the economy went into a tail spin the American Dollar was devalued. With the spiraling downward trend of the dollar goods, products and services offered by these over seas nations became more expensive. Hence the $29 dollar bargain.

My corporate rant for the month.

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Top Ten Must Ask Questions Before Listing With an Agent

The one thing that most Attorneys , Medical Dr.’s and Real Estate Brokers have in common is expertise in their fields with very little Star Power.  I am talking about the type of Star Power that gives you instant recognition and authority. Certainly yourTitle presumes you have the knowledge and ability to carry out the work. How many of us though have been terribly disappointed in the performance of someone we had hired and presumed that they would perform the way we anticipated?

Of the many questions you could ask while interviewing a Real Estate Agent to List and Sell your home, these TOP TEN are a must have for your list.

1. How long have you been in the business? This speaks to experience. Although everyone needs to get their start and experience some where. Do you really want someone practicing on you?
2. Do you work with Buyer’s and Seller’s or both, what percentage? Showing property to Buyer’s is very time consuming. I want to know my Agent will have the time to market my home.
3.  How many Listings do you have. Having other listings can be a good thing as it allows the agent to rotate advertisements from listing to listing so as to not give your home that over advertised feel. Buyer’s can recognize ads that they have called on before. An Agent having to  many listings can cause the Agent to become lazy and concentrate marketing only the easiest of the listings. ( Tip : be sure to call the Agent about a listing they are currently marketing. The length of time and how they respond will tell you allot about how they will market your home ).
4. Will you reduce your commission. Beware of a yes response. An Agent that is willing to reduce commission may be saying to you that they do not believe in the value of their service. How well do you think this Agent will fight for you when negotiating any offers made on your home, especially low-ball offers or those with special conditions attached.
5. What methods will you use to market my home? What is the track record of success for each of those methods? Putting 1 ad in a paper that gets 50 calls and 10 showings is far better than 100 ads in a publication that gets no results. It is definitely not the Cost of advertising but the Results of advertising that matters.
6. Do you have a Web Site and or a Blog Site ? A personal Blog or Web Site is not the same as a generic Web Site owned by the company where the agent works. With 75 to 85 % of all Buyer’s begining their home search on the Web today it is imperative the Agent has a strong web site with the ability to capture Buyer prospects. ( Tip : Log on to the Agent’s site and try it out. How many clicks until you can see a property for sale. Are there lead capture forms on the site asking you to leave your information. Or is the site just a brag sheet and personal promo for the Agent? )
7. What is the Agent’s Sale to Fail ratio, also known as expired listings. Just because the Agent is capable of filling out a form to list the property, does not mean they have done their job. One of the most important factors governing the potential marketing of your home is to get the Listing/offered sales price right.
8. What is the Agent’s Sale to List price ratio? Did they ask you to reduce the sales price during the term of the listing? A good Agent will stick with their convictions and not take over priced listings ( called buying the listing ). That technique ( Tell the Seller anything to get the Listing ) is still taught throughout the industry. It does not stay true to the agents obligations to you their future potential client that of telling you the truth.  Remember this, Buyer’s are not stupid, they are willing to pay a fair price and they have the tools to verify it.
9. How far do you Live from my Home. It is important to get a sense of the Agent’s ability to show your property on a moments notice should the occasion arise. An Agent having to drive over 45 minutes to your home may be less inclined than an Agent living within 20 minutes or so. ( Tip : It is not however, important at all where the Agent’s office is located. Buyer’s are concerned about the location of the house not the Agent’s office. Most of the Top Producers today will not be spending significant amounts of time in their Principal Broker’s office.  Many Agent’s today work from a home office. )
10. Herb, what time can you come out today to list my home? If you are going to choose to work with the best you should check my schedule first for I am always out marketing my listings for Sold.

www.househuntportland.com  Let your next home find you!

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The Confused Dog Look

Pardon ME if I give you the confused Dog look . But I ran into something a while ago that definitely was perplexing. Do you have your ears perked up!

I was doing a little Surfing on the Net. I was looking for Real Estate agents web sites hoping to find some that would be interested in exchanging links. A great way to get additional Exposure for your Listings by the way.

I came across what appeared to be someone advertising a couple of properties for sale in an area that I really like. The odd thing is thAT IT appeared to be a real estate add but no mention of a company name. I made a quick enquiry by email and sat back to wait. The following day I received by email a list of about 20 properties for sale including the ones that were in the add.

The add included such things as Price, descriptions, and address. It looked as if the email message had been sent from somewhere in the Midwest. And because I am in Portland Oregon I immediately thought ” Ahah! Must be and Investor dumping properties.” But wait a minute, I think  I recognized a couple of the addresses. I quickly checked our MLS and found that about 1/3 of the properties on the list were Listed for sale with a variety of different local real estate companies. In fact of those that were listed, they had been on the market for quite some time. I then checked the tax records and noted that all of the Owners were different. No where in any of the MLS listings was there any mention of the person who sent me the email.

The email that I had recieved was somewhat like the following. ” Thanks for inquiring about the properties I have for sale. Read them over if you want more information about 1 or more please do not hesitate to contact me. Thanks Martha ”

Anybody run on to this before? What do you Think? And don’t just give me that Confused Dog Look either.

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www.portlandrealproperty.com  Looking for more Portland Oregon Information?

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Becky the Bomb

I guess we all know how difficult a busy RE/MAX_Office  can be and ours is certainly no exception. It has to be a tedious job coming into a Real Estate office daily just to handle the phones. As Agent’s I guess we all get so busy it is easy to overlook all the wonderful things these hard working people do for us to keep the machine running.

That’s why it was such a shock to us all that morning when we came into the office and found that Sandy ( dear dear Sandy ) had quit to pursue other career opportunities. ( Translation was offered more pay somewhere else ) I didn’t even have a photo of Sandy after all these years and all the parties and gatherings. I felt like a schmuck.

The following weeks were tough. Temporary staffing were sending people out daily and sometimes 2 per day.( I told you we are a busy office.) After 3 months of this I was greeted one morning by Becky. I had been a little late getting in and apparently she had already introduced herself to the rest of the group.

” Hi I’m Becky, your new Receptionist ” she said. Before I could stop myself I blurted out ” For how long? ” Becky was quick to respond. Yes she had heard about the last 3 months and all of the turmoil that it had caused in what normally was a smooth running operation. ” Get used to this Face ” Becky declared . Yep she definitely intended to be here for the Long haul.           

” Great ” I exclaimed. I didn’t know what Becky’s skill levels were but I presumed if Management had hired her, she must have had a good resume. Besides , anybody was better than a constant daily change of temporaries . With that Becky promptly sat down at her station and I went into my office to get a little work done.

I guess it was a good three days before I got back to the Real Estate office again. I was eager to see how Becky was fitting into the job. To my surprise I was met by a Young lady who introduced herself as Jenny. I was just starting to form the question when the Broker came around the corner so I asked him. ” Where’s Becky? ” I don’t know he said she went home for lunch and she never came back!

Till this day we have never heard from her again. Talk about Over Promise and Under deliver!

Comments

Who Loves Short Shorts

It had been over a year since I had talked with Joe and Rita. I had met them at an Open House on RODNEY  in the PIEDMONT_NEIGHBORHOOD in Portland Oregon. I remembered that Rita was a type A personality backed by a Let’s get Going attitude. I also remember from last year that they had an abundant amount of enthusiasm but not much money. A year ago I had sent them to my lender  TAMMY_WITTREN of Northwest Mortgage. Tammy is very good at sitting people down, analyzing there problems and structuring a game plan for them to follow. A sort of road map to Real Estate Financial success.

As Rita began to speak I sensed that something was up. With a little prodding Rita began to unravel like a ball of yarn. Both Rita and Joe had been so impressed with the work done by one of my rehabbers a year ago that they became convinced that they could do the same. 

( Step 1) was to call Tammy . True to form Tammy quickly determined that they were not in a position to purchase. She gave them a game plan to follow and of course in their minds that was not acceptable as it would just take too long. So they went out on their own and found a FSBO to purchase.

They had been working on the FSBO for about 6 months when they out of the blue gave me a call. It sounded over the phone as if they were stuck on a solution to a plumbing question and wanted some advice and asked if I would come over and take a look. I agreed. 

When I arrived I was greeted with a Horrible sight. I tried to be positive but everything I seen indicated that they had bought a major Money Pit. Not the worst thing in the world, that of getting a little in over your head. However the Seller was now threatening  to foreclose on their contract of sale and he wasn’t interested in thier problems or solutions. He just wanted paid off and he wanted it now!

To further complicate matters for Joe and Rita they had put up their Cars and household possessions as collateral. I advised them to see an attorney as there was nothing that I could do for them. They were totally buried in this house and it still needed at least 60 days worth of work to get it in to a financible state.

A month went by and Joe called. After beating around the bush for a while he said that they had lost the house and their cars. The Seller had felt sorry for them and let them keep their personal possessions. Rita was too embarrassed to call but they wondered if I could come out to their home for a talk. It turns out that they had purchased a second FSBO just after they had bought the first Fixer. The Home was of course leveraged beyond belief and they were not even sure of the payoff amount.

They had borrowed from several family members enough money to buy the home from the bank using a no-income no-doc loan. Their theory was that they would pay off all of the family members after they refinanced. Big problem was the home needed a lot of work and they had not been making the full house payments. Just making enough to keep the bank at bay while they continued to poor more and more money into the other Money pit neglecting this home.

After arriving they took me though the home and we discussed potential market values. I left and returned the following evening armed with a full market analysis. A review indicated this house to be worth between $240,000 to $248,000 with 20 very relevant comps in the same subdivision and roughly the same condition.

After spending some more time on the comps I once again asked if they had those payoff figures from their lender that I had asked about. They did and it turns out that they owed a total amount of $270,000. Further more the payoff letter was accompanied by a foreclosure notice. I looked at them and asked if they new what a Short Sale was. They did not. It means Rita and Joe that you have no equity in this home at all. You will need to get permission from the lender to market the home at a sales price of less than you owe.

They finally got the message a few weeks later. I had presented the market analysis to the Lender along with a marketing plan. I listed the home and we were able to sell the home for $245,000. The bank forgave Rita and Joe the difference and let them walk. I wonder when I will here from them again and under what circumstance.

Comments

Whats the Purpose of Advertising

Sometimes I have been called “ The King of Cheap Advertising “. My competitors often remark how Spartan my ads seem. (They are normally not more than 3 or 5 lines in length.)  In fact a Large ad for me would be a whole 6 lines. I have even written many ads that were only 2 lines long. How do you keep your Seller’s happy with ads like that, they ask?. If only they new. Do you know?

                                            What’s the Purpose of Advertising ?

The Old man had worked for the OREGONIAN Newspaper in the real estate advertising department for most of his life. He went on to say “ I recognize many of you who have signed up for this class in advance by the poor examples you have submitted to the paper for us to publish. You guys and gals just don’t get it. ” That was soon to change.

The Old man went on to explain how we should look at advertising as if we were looking through the eyes of an unemployed worker who half heartedly is searching through the help wanted section.

You first must thing like the consumer. Contrary to popular belief they are not there to find anything. In fact just the opposite is true. Let me demonstrate how the average consumer reads the classifieds. ” Nope I aint no brain Surgeon so I cant do that, I don’t have a college degree so I cant do that, I sure don’t have over 10 years of experience so that wont work for me either. ” And so it goes with those many Buyers who are afraid of finding the right house as well. ” Nope not enough bedrooms, Nope to small of garage. Nope not my kind of neighborhood.”

You need to stop giving your Buyers the ammunition to shoot your AD down. “So what kind of ad will work you say?” I’m glad you asked he answered before anyone could say a thing. Try something like this.

Caption :  ” Owners Sad.”

Body : Their Loss can be your gain. Be sure to call Herb today for this Charming home with Spacious rooms and a Great yard. ( Add the Price and Contact info and your done.

Here are some additional Captions ;

• Big Ugly House   ( for fixers )
• Call Now or Kick Yourself In the Morning
• Anthony Renaldo Smithe once Slept Here ( use any name of a previous owner )

“Obviously”, the Old man said “ the Caption is there to draw attention.“ You cant sell anyone anything who wont stop long enough to hear your message.

When it comes to the Body be a little vague. Build a story or emotion. Stop telling all of the details. Use descriptive phrases to make your point. Let’s say your listing is a Bungalow home with hardwood floors and French Doors  etc.

Here is an example for the body :

The moment you step into the sun-filled room you can feel the warmth sweep over you. Your pace quickens as you pass over gleaming hardwood floors, past the shimmering glass panels of the French doors until your standing on the edge of a SECRET GARDEN.

I left the seminar Full of ideas. I couldn’t wait to get back and employ my new found techniques. That weekend my first ad debuted. I went with the Owner’s Sad headline.  I had tried on multiple occasions to sell this house without success. My previous ad attempts had pulled in about the normal response rate, 3-5 calls.

The ad was set for Sunday. I received my first call on Friday afternoon from the Typesetter at the Newspaper who was placing my ad. By Monday Morning I had received over 75 calls. By Wednesday I had a backlog of 125 Buyer’s who had responded to the Owners Sad ad.

What truly amazed me then and still amazes me today is that People will make up the Story if you don’t tell them. In my Owners Sad ad people were sharing there sympathy’s with the Seller for their Catastrophic Illness, or loss of a Loved one. Some people even were wondering about the Divorce. How they ever come up with those ideas from my little ad I will never know. What I do know is, What’s The Purpose of Advertising!

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