These days, sellers in Grants Pass all seem to be asking the same question. Has the Grants Pass housing recovery started yet? They ask this question because for a lot of sellers in the Southern Oregon real estate market, they’d love to sell their home for a fair price and move forward with other life choices, like relocating for a better job or moving into larger or smaller digs. Unfortunately, the answer continues to be “maybe.”

Statistically, after three years of intense price declines, the nationwide recovery for the housing sector appears to have begun. The Case-Shiller housing index for the top twenty cities in America reported Continue reading The Grants Pass Housing Recovery and the Southern Oregon Real Estate Market

I’ve been blogging for months now about the Southern Oregon housing market recovery by focusing on Grants Pass real estate and Medford real estate, as well as homes throughout the rest of the country. Now there is evidence both from my personal sales in the Southern Oregon real estate market and from the Case Shiller home price index that we’ve finally turned a corner.

It seems that 15 of the top 20 markets in the country have seen either price increases or no declines at all for the month of May. In some of my previous blogs, I wrote that the bottom of the housing market was June 2009. Interestingly, Jim Cramer of CNBC’s Mad Money feels the same way. Admittedly, we’ve all been wrong before but on his July 28th show Jim told his viewers that those who wait for evidence of a turnaround in the housing or stock markets will be missing out on the great buying opportunities.

Now, to be fair, Jim actually called the bottom of the market in Continue reading Grants Pass Real Estate, Medford Real Estate, and the Southern Oregon Housing Market Recovery

In the course of watching the Southern Oregon real estate market recover from the housing crisis that was initially launched by the crash in sub-prime loans and the subsequent unprecedented surge in foreclosures, it becomes increasingly clear that the housing sector is in a “trickle up” recovery mode. It is mid-summer of 2009 and we are finally beginning to see a slow down in the inventory numbers for both short sales and foreclosures in the Southern Oregon real estate market and nationwide as well. The price range dominated by foreclosures and short sales is at the low end, and as the inventory is reduced we’ll begin to see an increasing number of homes listed for sale in the higher price ranges.

It is fairly safe to predict that as the lower priced homes are removed from inventory, the housing recovery will begin to “trickle up” because there are many home owners in the price range of $400,000 and above who would like to sell their home but see no point in listing with the market dominated by discounted property. At the first sign of a sustained recovery, the market for higher-end homes may well be flooded by owners anxious to sell. Unfortunately, the laws of supply and demand will dictate that as the inventory of higher-end homes grows, the price a buyer is willing to pay will decrease, and as we’ve already seen, when buyers have a lot of choice, prices drop.

So where’s the good news in the “trickle up” forecast of housing recovery for the Southern Oregon real estate market? The good news is that those homes currently listed and priced above $400,000 have a better chance of selling right now at their listed price than they will when the recovery begins to “trickle up” driving prices down.

So if you’re a higher-end seller thinking about making a move, the time to list your property for sale may well be right now.

Michael Masters

A Socially Conscious Real Estate Consultant

The stats are in. Sales activity for June, 2009, suggests that while its pulse rate may be low, the real estate market is still alive and its condition is stabilizing. Housing recovery for the national and Southern Oregon real estate market is bouncing off the bottom. For the last two months, consumer confidence rose, but in June consumer confidence took a slight dip.

Meanwhile, the number of homes listed in June on our local MLS has fallen to 1,142 from one year ago where the number of homes on the market was at 1,409. Additionally, Josephine County is working its way through its distressed property inventory as evidenced by the number of foreclosures on the market, down to 156 from a month ago where the number of distressed properties was at 165. Anyway you interpret the statistics, it seems the housing recovery for both the Southern Oregon real estate market and the national real estate market points to a reduction in value by 1/3 compared with the real estate market’s peak in the second quarter of 2006. The good news is that the values are unlikely to drop any further. Continue reading Housing Recovery and the Southern Oregon Real Estate Market

It wasn’t that long ago that first-time home buyers figured they’d never be able to afford to buy a home in the Southern Oregon real estate market. That was back in May of 2005 when prices were at their highest, but no one knew that at the time. Fast forward to today.

Now, according to statistics, the first time home buyers with good credit are the most likely group to find a home they can afford with financing that suits them. The situation has completely reversed itself within 4 years, thanks to a financial meltdown and a housing inventory swollen with foreclosures. Which takes us to the National Association of Realtors Housing Affordability Index which shows the month of December, 2008, at an all-time high.

Admittedly, many real estate experts have been calling for a housing rebound for the last two years only to watch from the sidelines as prices dropped and inventory surged. But this time there may be a real reason to believe that a shift in the market is forthcoming. Continue reading Housing Affordability and the Southern Oregon Real Estate Market