Real Estate Information

I have spoken with many of my clients over the years about the issues both with having escapable windows (meaning how to get out in a fire) in basements.   The issue has been both the height of the window sill from the floor, as well as the size of the window and there being an area well to escape from.

Here are the facts....

• In 1998, 120 children ages 14 and under died from falls. Children ages 4 and under accounted for more than half of these deaths. 
• Each year, more than 2.5 million children ages 14 and under are treated in hospital emergency rooms for fall-related injuries. Children ages 5 and under account for more than half of these injuries. 
• Nine percent of fall-related injuries associated with products (e.g., baby walkers, windows, playground equipment) result in hospitalization, more than two times the hospitalization rate of all other product-related injuries.

Now Oregon has revised the height requirement for window sills on floors that are above ground.  This is in direct relation to a series of deaths from small children falling from windows in 2008.  While this code isn't backwards enforceable, it's a good idea to review it if you have small children and make sure you have emergency escape mechanisms.   The full code can be read HERE

The state of Oregon also has a page dedicated to this and discloses the following facts.  So again, if you have small children or if you are an investment property owner, please read this article by clicking HERE

Well, the dust has settled and what are we left with after President Obama, congress and the senate fought out the stimulus package and housing bill.

For Portland its pretty good stuff.  What we didn't get is the $15,000 of assistance the Senate passed, and that's a shame because it would have applied to everyone who buys a home as a personal residence.  Its good for us because we have many good houses in the $230k - $300k range where the new credit makes sense.

What we DID get though is good.....  All first time buyers now have a one time $8,000 tax credit if they buy a house this year. This IS NOT A LOAN like last year's plan, but a true credit.  The house must have been closed between January 1st 2009 and December 31st 2009.   A first time home buyer according to the IRS is anyone who hasn't owned a home in the last three years.    It is income guided, so as a single person you have to have earned less than $95,000 or $170,000 if married, and you should check with your tax advisor to make sure you qualify.

I have already been contacted by a few of my clients who have children who are in the 21-24 year age range and are looking to buy a house.  This is a fantastic program for them to use.

Portland, Oregon has become one of the first cities in the nation to be blanketed by "Clear" - a wireless product from Clearwire.   What they have provided is what is known as 4G service (vs current 3g or 2.5g from the cell companies).  You can check out the coverage areas here.

I have been using sprint's 3G Rev-A service for about 3 years and have been delighted with it.  In fact, I am writing this article watching the USC/Washington basketball game with my tablet PC in my lap on my Sprint Broadband modem.

Yesterday I went snowboarding in the morning with a fellow Realtor and friend and while I drove he kept checking to see how far out of town he could get a reliable clear signal, and it went just past Gresham.  Pretty impressive really as the signal handed off from tower to tower as we drove and he had a signal several times more powerful than my 3g.  Coverage doesn't seam to be seamless, but its become a pretty good alternative to Comcast, Verizon or Quest - the old Portland standbys for coverage.

I do think this offers a viable alternative to Comcast, although for now I'm sticking with my Comcast cable and Sprint Modem.  The issue I have is I use Comcast at home and I can't share the Clear with a USB antenna they provide, so I dont see a way my wife and I could use it at the same time.   As for my Sprint Rev-A modem, I have to say I have been really impressed.  I use a tablet PC and visit many clients in their homes, and am continually using the service to sign and then email/efax off forms as needed.  I also travel somewhat as a real estate speaker and have yet to go anywhere in the USA where I cannot use the Sprint modem and get 3G coverage.  I'm continually impressed.

Having these services is important for Portland as a "tech" city.  So I thank Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, ATT and Cricket - and now Clearwire - for making us a leader in coverage for American cities. 

Looks like we are near the top of the list again.....   Money magazine has rated the Portland area #6 in the USA out of the 100 best places in the USA to "live and launch".

The article says we have a "thriving urban scene" and of course what are always known for, abundant outdoor recreation.  Being also ranked the #1 most sustainable city in the USA for 2006 this latest award simply adds to our continuing list of accolades.

To see the Money magazine article click HERE

To see the remaining 99 cities - the full list, click HERE

As always, you can search for homes in our fair city at any time by clicking HERE and see a map of all the homes that meet your criteria.

The reports are in, and as expected Oregon is weathering the storm much better than 42 other states.  According to Money.com's article Oregon is 43rd in the nation when it comes to home owners owing more on their homes vs. what they are worth.

This is actually skewed by the Bend, Oregon market which was rated at one point as the most overpiced market in the USA and has seen prices drop a huge amount.  While THIS article is dated, it also was written about when prices started to fall.

Bottom line;  As I reported earlier, the Portland market is doing OK.  We are down from 2-7% depending if which data you are reading (NAR-Natiional Assn Realtors vs. Case-Shiller) but people are moving here.  My team and I are doing well.  As Portland's #1 Realtor for Prudential Northwest Properties, I can report that while our sales are down from last year, we are still selling houses.  Even NAR is reporting close to 5,000,000 home sales in 2008 and while that is down from close to 8,000,000 in recent years, it is still 5m people buying and selling homes.

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.