Real Estate Information Archive

Metro, the regional government for the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area recently released their projections for population growth in the area for both 2030 and for 2060.

Given the population from the 2000 census being at 1.93 Million, projections are there is a 90% chance that in the year 2030 (only 21 years from today) the population could be as much as 3.2 Million (between 2.9m and 3.2m), and in 2060 between 3.61 & 4.38 Million.

The forecasts are for the seven county area of the Portland-Vancouver(WA)-Beaverton MSA and include the counties of Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington, Yamhill & Columbia in Oregon and Clark and Scamania in Washington.

With our urban growth boundary, the question remains... Where do we put them all ?  But the bigger question from Portland's top Prudential Realtor's point of veiw is what do I tell my clients when they ask me to look inside my crystal ball and predict where prices will go in the next several years.  Clearly with our land use restrictions, booming population and UGB (urban growth boundary) our prices have no place to go but up in the long run.  In fact even in our slower market, the last 8 weeks have been very busy for us on the Rob Levy team to the extent we just hired a new assistant / office manager to keep up with all the sales.

Clearly in my mind, both from my personal and professional experience, there has not been a better time to invest in the future of Portland.  Prices are down,rates are down, inventory is high and we know the future is bright.

That really is the million dollar question.  Should I buy a house now, or should I wait and see if prices fall ?  But what if interest rates go up (per Bernanke's 60 Minutes interview in March, 09) then where do I stand ?   This chart REALLY shows the benefits of buying a home now vs waiting.

For more information or to find some homes that really make sense to buy now, give us a call.  As Portland's top selling Prudential Real Estate team for two years running and with over 20 years experience.

I sold a house this week that made me really think.....  A young couple were buying their first home, and they bought the house for more than $50,000 less than what it first went on the market for, and got the sellers to pay some closing cost assistance.   The net out of pocket for the buyers will be about $7,000.   Then - the US Government will pay them $8,000 as first time home buyers meaning they actually make $1,000 when the house closes!   Add to this the 4.875% interest rate they locked in and could there really be a better time for a first time home buyer to buy a home ?

Please listen to my podcast all about the $8,000 credit at http://www.roblevy.com/agent_files/talkrealty/player.htm

CLICK HERE to see the actual IRS form to claim the credit

We had a busy few weeks at the RobLevy team and again were #1 in the Portland area for Prudential Real Estate.  In fact, we have written more offers in the last 10 days than in the last 90 days.  It does seem to be picking up and the information above validates this.

If you know of anyone who could qualify as a first time home buyer (generally meaning someone who hasnt owned a home in more than three years), please

Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR (National Association of Realtors) spoke recently about the stimulus package, and that it might be too confusing in buyers minds not knowing what is, and what isnt available for prospective home buyers today.

Here is a direct quote from Mr. Yun....   . “Given so much stimulus package discussion in January, some would-be buyers simply sat out for clarity and certainty on the nature of housing stimulus,” he said. “The housing market will soon get a lift from very favorable buying conditions – not only from improved affordability, but also from the stimulus of an $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit, and higher conforming loan limits that will allow more people to tap into 50-year low mortgage rates.”  The entire article can be seen by clicking here.  

As Portland's top Prudential Realtor, we are (finally) starting to see some movement in the starter home market which has been slow of late due in part from buyers not knowing about what is available to them, and also from investors not being able to buy due to the new limits on loans available for owners of more than four homes.  Both these issues have been alleviated somewhat in recent days.

For more information on the Portland, Oregon real estate market or to receive a list of homes available that meet your needs, or even a list of bank owned homes, contact us today.

Yet another accolade for Portland, Oregon.....

Forbes Magazine has listed Portland as the 5th best city to buy a house in the United States for 2009.   Its an interesting list in that they excluded many cities where prices have plummeted such as Phoenix, or Las Vegas as they want areas where buyers can build equity in a stable area. You can read the Forbes article here.

To see the actual index, click on this link  and you can scroll through the cities listed.

The Portland area continues to win awards or be selected from everything as the greenest city in the US to the best city to raise a family.  Recently Portland was listed as one of the fastest growing cities from in-migration particularly from the educated early 30's crowd.

If you want more information on the Portland area and are considering a move here, email me and I will send you a link to our relocation guide.

Sales seem to be soaring in some parts of Southern California - so why am I writing about this when I am a Realtor in Portland, Oregon?

Well, a large percentage of our buyers come from California. after all our population is about 3.7M and California's ( our next door neighbor) is almost 37M.  Historically a lot of people sell homes there and move here, but recently they have been unable to do so.

Recent posts indicate a change.  For example in the Palm Springs area sales are up a whopping 94.3% October 2008 vs. October 2007.  Some sites are reporting an 83.9% increase in sales in Orange County.  So you can see, we are directly affected.   Granted, when looking closer as much as 70% of the sales are "distressed" properties - meaning bank owned (REO), short sales or pre-foreclosures but the bottom line is the inventory is selling which means it is lowering.

The outlook for the Portland area remains the same with Metro Regional government still thinking there will be between 800,000 and 1,000,000 more residents moving to the tri-county area in the next 12-15 years.  They expect a huge majority of those people to come from California.

So lets hope those distressed properties keep selling, and then the folks who want to sell their homes and move up here start selling.  Then we will be back to normal.  With the recent huge drop in mortgage rates - currently 5.35% according to Shawn Headlee with Columbia Mortgage, this should start happening !

Enjoy the rest of your thanksgiving weekend !   ROB

 I recently got back from the NAR show - the National Association of Realtors trade show in Orlando, Florida.  I was honored to be asked to speak to two large groups of agents but the best part is I got to hear what is going on around the country, and I am now trying to figure out how that will affect our market here in Portland, Oregon.

On the one hand, I understand that in some areas of California, particularly Orange county sales are up, way up.  Many of them are REO (bank owned) homes.  This is a good thing in that it eats up all the inventory and then people will buy owner occupied homes next.  It is also good as it could be signaling a bottom.  In some areas such as Las Vegas and areas of Florida and the California central valley as much as 75% of the homes sold of late are either bank owned or short sales, but they ARE selling now.

Indications are with the new administration there will be SOMETHING done to get people more comfortable about buying homes, and with the inventory lowered and builders out of business, it could get busy.  Here in Portland, we are down about 7% on our number of Realtors for the year, and indications are another 15-25% will not renew their license January 1^st 2009.

I want you to know that I AM here, that sales are down from last year but we are selling homes, more than any other Prudential agent in the greater Portland area, and that we WILL be here to help you with all your real estate needs.

John Mitchell a Portland economist thinks that the recent uptick in sales if it continues could signal an end.  His recent article in the Portland Oregonian can be found by clicking HERE.

As of this writing I am now about 6 weeks into my iPhone 3G and using it as my primary phone as well as email and web device.  I have to say having been a TREO fan for many years, I am now a solid iPhone guy.

As Prudential's top Realtor in the Portland, Oregon area and as a technology speaker travelling around the USA and Canada speaking to Realtor groups, I rely heavily on my phone as well, a phone  AND as an email device.  Using Microsoft exchange server I am able to see my emails in full HTML.  But the best part is the way PDF files are shown - its like looking at them right on my computer, I can even turn the phone sideways and see the file horizontally.  I just now reviewed a 47 page home inspection in full living colour, and then forwarded it on to the listing agent to review, all while taking a day off on the Oregon coast.  I get my faxes as PDF files and many agents now send documents via emailing PDF files so I truly dont need to drag along my laptop computer anymore.

Other features of the phone include applications such as Trulia's home search program where it uses the GPS function of the phone to locate itself and then show all the homes for sale around you.   There are also several mortgage calulators and more to dowload, and of course the Safari browser is a full-fledged internet browser.

For Realtors, or for anyone I can very strongly reccomend the iPhone 3g from Apple.

I was honored as one of the top 100 Prudential Realtors out of over 68,000 nationwide to attend the 17th annual Prudential Summit held this year at the Century City, in the West Los Angeles California.

Interestingly (and with NO relation to real estate) when I arrived Sunday night in the lobby of the hotel, there was an Emmy award party going on.  I have never seen so many people dressed in such amazing gowns and tuxedos in my life !  And here I was in my travelling Khakis ( at least I wasnt in jeans :-) )

This year we heard from several speakers including John VanDerWall and Laurie Keenan the CEO and President of Prudential Real Estates Affiliates talking about the real estate market around the country.  Again, I count my blessings as we are very very lucky to live where we live.  There are many areas in Florida, California, Nevada and other states where people have lost their entire life savings in house devaluations.  In fact I did not know that 60% of all the foreclosures in the land are in two states - California and Florida.

The fundamentals in the Portland area remain the same.......  (1) We are an in-migration state where Metro (www.metroregion.org) is expecting somewhere from 750,000 - 1,000,000 more residents here within the next 12-15 years.  (2) Our economy is tied strongly to both the Asian and Canadian economies - both strong. (3) We were again voted the "Greenest" city in the Country.  (4) We are the #1 in migration city for the educated 28-40 year old group.   All of these factors and more equate to Portland is a place many people want to be.

The final results are out and I am proud to announce that in 2007 our team was #1 in sales for Prudential Northwest Properties in the entire Portland area.   Since then, we have been also #1 in sales for all of Oregon for the first quarter of 2008.

I want to thank my team in this forum for it may say "Rob Levy" on the sign, but its Sandy, Sandra, Kate, Clinton and Alicia that really help make this happen.  So thanks to my team and thanks to the well over 100 people in 2007 who entrusted us with either helping them find a new home, or selling their exsisting one, or in many cases both!

As the Realtor population is shrinking, its more important now than ever to use an experienced Realtor in selling your home, or buying a new one.  Parade Magazine recently said to not hire a Realtor with less than 8 years in the business.  I have almost 20 - all with the same office - and when you add up the years my team has been in the business we are well over 50 years combined.