It seems that lately messages about the real estate market are mixed. Some messages are reporting signs of a rebound in some of the nation’s large metropolitan areas, while other messages are much more cautious, predicting a turnaround in metropolitan real estate to arrive somewhere around 2012. Meanwhile, the Southern Oregon real estate market is a far-cry away from the definition of a traditional metropolitan area, instead falling into the category of a rural area with big-city benefits.

According to the Adversity Index from MSNBC.com and Moody’s Economy.com thirty-three of the nation’s top 300 metropolitan areas are experiencing optimistic signs of a real estate turnaround. In Vallejo, California, housing starts are up 440 percent compared with a year ago. Longview, Texas is showing a 263 percent increase. Significant increases are also being reported in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Clarksville, Tennessee, and Lawrence, Kansas. While the Southern Oregon real estate market is not nearly as aggressive in its recovery as some of these aforementioned metropolitan areas, we too are beginning to experience an uptick in new housing starts.

And then there are the doomsayers. A featured article in Business Week for the week of June 29, 2009, Continue reading Metropolitan Real Estate Rebound and the Southern Oregon Real Estate Market

In my last post, I wrote about the need for hope and patience during the difficult economic times we face both nationwide and in the Southern Oregon real estate market. Whenever there is a need for patience, you can almost guarantee there is a hearty dose of impatience lurking nearby. And it is at times like this when the concept of “tough love” needs to be revisited.

Part of our challenge in hanging onto hope as we await improvements in the real estate markets is that we need to quell our anger and frustration at the events that created the difficult situation we find ourselves in. Often, the immediate inclination is to find someone or something to blame. It is much easier to Continue reading Hope, Tough Love, and the Southern Oregon Real Estate Market

As we find ourselves moving through what is turning out to be the Great Recession, a stirring clarity is beginning to form about the financial recovery for both our local communities and the global community as well. The world, it seems, has averted a horrific global depression that would have seen global political destabilization. Instead, we have all come to experience more than just a tightening of the belt, but a recognition that the key to recovery for the Southern Oregon real estate market lies in a strong dose of patience and an even stronger belief in hope.

According to the dictionary, hope is Continue reading Hope, Patience, and the Southern Oregon Real Estate Market

These days, the sale of vacation homes in the Southern Oregon real estate market has slowed considerably given the overall difficulties in the real estate market at large. Second homes, Investment homes, and Vacation homes have primarily been considered a “discretionary” purchase and when the belt tightens, the vacation home is one of the first purchases to fall by the way side. Yet despite the slide in the number of second home purchases, economists continue to believe that projected demographic trends for the future point to increased sales in the coming years. And for Baby Boomers who are fast approaching retirement age, a vacation home in the Southern Oregon real estate market is a powerful lure.

As the market recovers, the demand for a vacation home will increase as the Baby Boomers choose to spend their accumulated wealth in the pursuit of the good life in their golden years. One of the major questions the Boomers will ask themselves is Continue reading Vacation Homes and the Southern Oregon Real Estate Market

At our June 4th office meeting for ERA Prestige Homes in Grants Pass, we were visited by two loan officers from the newly opened branch of Golf Savings Bank, formally Sterling Bank. The visitors were Rachelle McMahan and Kelly Rankin-Trapp, Golf Savings Bank loan officers, and they served as a reminder to us in attendance about the tools available to assist in the Southern Oregon real estate recovery.

As they spoke about their bank and their lending programs, I was reminded that when the Southern Oregon real estate market recovers, Continue reading Golf Savings Bank and the Southern Oregon Real Estate Recovery

As a specialist in Grants Pass real estate within the Southern Oregon real estate market, I am well aware of the distress many home owners currently feel regarding the significant drop in real estate market prices, both locally and nationally. I am writing these words to assure readers that the wealth of the American family will continue to be provided by the ownership of real estate, be it ownership right here in Grants Pass real estate, in the Southern Oregon real estate market, or nationwide.

Here’s why the recovery is working all across America. Yes, the wheels of recovery have been slow to turn because they found themselves at a dead stop, churning to free us from the worse financial mud hole since the Great Depression. But consider this Continue reading Grants Pass Real Estate and the Southern Oregon Real Estate Market

Are you a homeowner over 62 years of age who either owns their home free and clear or has reduced the mortgage to a small amount? You may well qualify for the benefits of a reverse mortgage in order to assist you with the financial demands of retirement. During my career as a real estate consultant in the Southern Oregon real estate market, I have discussed the advantages of the reverse mortgage with many seniors and have encountered many misperceptions about the program. I write this blog to help with the basics of the reverse mortgage. Perhaps it is right for you.

Let’s begin with the qualifications. You must be 62 years old (or older) and you must own either a single family home or a 1-4 unit home in which you occupy one of the units. If you live in the Southern Oregon real estate market and you live in a condominium, it must be HUD approved. And if you live in a Continue reading Consumer Confidence, Foreclosures, and the Southern Oregon Real Estate Market

For the those of you who may not have heard, for the past 3 months the Consumer Confidence Index has risen, and while that may not make front-page headlines, the message to me is clear — the Southern Oregon real estate market has nowhere to go but up.

For real estate Sellers obsessed with the inflated inventory of foreclosures driving down prices, news about increased consumer confidence is the news they’ve been waiting for. And for Buyers obsessed by the belief that everyone is in trouble and real estate prices will only continue to plummet, its time to rethink their beliefs and decide whether or not to make that offer. After all, buy low, sell high.

But whenever I scan the classified ads in our local newspaper, the Daily Courier, I can’t help but notice that the pages continue to contain large numbers of legal declarations regarding impending foreclosure actions. But the Consumer Confidence numbers are at their highest level in 8 months.

What gives? Could the Consumer Confidence data possibly be misleading?

To answer my own question regarding the Southern Oregon real estate market, I ran a comparison of the overall numbers of foreclosures on the market for the last 2 months. Lo and behold, the numbers of foreclosures on the open market are shrinking, indicating that the worst may actually be behind us. Factor in recent legislation that encourages banks to modify mortgages in order to keep homeowners in their homes and we have positive signs that Southern Oregon real estate market recovery, like the stock market, is on the rise.

Michael Masters

A Socially Conscious Real Estate Consultant