There’s nothing like a recession to make you count your money, or what’s left of it. And if you’ve got your eye on retirement, well… you’ll be counting every dollar. For those who’ve had a dream of retiring in Southern Oregon and owning real estate in Grants Pass, Medford or Ashland, that dwindling amount of cash must be spent wisely. The good news is that it now appears to be a time for action if you want to buy a reasonably priced home in Southern Oregon.

In 2004, Time magazine declared Grants Pass in Southern Oregon to be one of the top ten towns in the United States to retire. Some of the reasons behind the attraction of the Grants Pass real estate market cited in the Newsweek article were affordability, recreation, the clean environment of Southern Oregon, and low taxes. With 70 million-plus Baby Boomers perched to retire, Grants Pass and surrounding communities became a retirement destination and the Southern Oregon land rush surged to new heights. With tens of thousands of new home buyers in Grants Pass, Medford, Rogue River and Ashland, real estate prices rose to record highs as Boomers grabbed for their retirement dream homes before it was too late. The prevailing attitude was to buy property before the prices rose even higher — and then the bubble burst and the party ended with a resounding thud. But not for everyone.

Reviewing the bottom line, the reasons for choosing a retirement home in Southern Oregon communities like Grants Pass, Medford, Rogue River or Ashland hasn’t changed. All the positive factors remain. It is still a great place to live with a clean environment, lots of recreation and low taxes. And now with interest rates dropping and an expanded inventory of homes due to short sales and foreclosures, the attractiveness of Rogue Valley real estate Continue reading Grants Pass and Southern Oregon Real Estate Owners and Retirees Rethink Their Options

As a socially conscious real estate consultant from Grants Pass, Oregon, when I look at the choices of homes out there I sense that two different markets will emerge out of the ongoing economic upheaval. One of these markets will be a rebound or stabilization of prices for existing homes everywhere, including Grants Pass real estate. This will lead to modest or flat appreciation in the local Southern Oregon real estate market and elsewhere in the country. The other trend will be the market for new homes in Oregon and throughout the country. Ultimately, this trend will become the hot new market that will drive a resurgent new economy. This market for new Green homes and hybrid green homes has huge potential since it has revealed many of the unspoken culprits of the economic melt down, including our vulnerability to the shock of rising energy prices as well as our dependency on imported commodities.

As we have recently experienced in Grants Pass and throughout the country, , the rising cost of fuel and it’s effect on commodity prices along with land shortages and cheap financing created a perfect economic storm. As the price of real estate falls and affordability improves on every level here in the Oregon real estate market and everywhere else, most buyers are beginning to think hard about homes in the same way that they looked at owning an SUV. Is it practical? Continue reading Socially Conscious Real Estate Consultant Offers Advice for Grants Pass Real Estate Buyers

There is an emerging realization that the economy as a whole may recover in a way most folks would never have imagined. There may, in fact, be two economies that develop throughout America in the next few years. The Southern Oregon real estate and Grants Pass real estate markets are a case in point. As in all parts of the country, homes in Grants Pass are not selling like they once were. The same is true for all of Southern Oregon, including the Medford real estate market which is the neighboring community. These two towns represent Southern Oregon and are a microcosm of what is happening in Oregon real estate and America. Grants Pass and Medford foreclosures have risen as homes sold from 2004 through 2006 are going back to the banks in record numbers. These homes are being sold for about 2/3 of their sales price 3 years ago. Builders and developers in Grants Pass and Medford cannot compete with foreclosed homes so they have quit building until the market improves, and to add fuel to the fire, media pundits are analyzing the economy and telling buyers and sellers alike that Southern Oregon real estate is not going to get better soon. Yet, these are the same experts that said there would be no end in sight to the appreciation of real estate values here in the Southern Oregon and Grants Pass real estate market or throughout the country. The reasons behind the rapid rise in appreciation at the time were the booming California market and a desire for Californians to cash out and take advantage of more affordable Southern Oregon real estate prices, not to mention the additional benefits of the Oregon lifestyle. So Southern Oregon built and built to accommodate the endless waves of anxious immigrants from California to Grants Pass and Medford — and then the music stopped! Grants Pass new homes and Medford new homes stopped selling. It was then that we realized that the experts were wrong and they only predicted what they thought would materialize based on what had already happened. These same folks told us that oil would be $200 per barrel by the start of 2009 and that gold would be $2000 per ounce by now. I also heard predictions that the DOW would rise to 20,000 by the end of 2008. All of this forecasting was based on what was going on at the time without taking other local factors into account that would effect the Southern Oregon and Grants Pass real estate markets. Hardly anyone saw the crash coming. So now the experts see what has happened and they are telling us to expect more of the same. But once again they don’t take into account the variables that actually have the greatest impact on the economy and world trends.

Here in the Grants Pass real estate business I try to identify trends for builders, developers, buyers and sellers. Some of these local trends are serving as indicators of where the future of the Southern Oregon real estate market is headed and probably the greater national picture as well. Here are some of the facts that matter: Continue reading Grants Pass Real Estate Market Points The Way Out Of The Crisis