As we patiently await the passing of the Great Recession, our position is unique. Like wading in the mighty Rogue River that runs through the center of the Southern Oregon real estate market, we find ourselves floating in the middle of a roaring financial river, unsure if we’re in the middle of the waterway or how far it may be to the other side before we can pull ourselves out of this housing crisis. The Great Recession continues to be plagued by the great number of foreclosures currently on the market as well as the large amount of time and patience necessary to close either a short sale or a bank-owned property.

Looking back, we now realize that 2003 marked the beginning of an aggressive surge in Southern Oregon real estate prices driven by the ease of available credit. Today we cringe at the very mention of the term “adjustable rate mortgage,” but back in 2004, an ARM meant cheap money that could buy real estate escalating in price before our very eyes. A buyer could re-sell the property and roll the dice again, or take the equity out of the home and amass a collection of cars, trucks big-screens and computers, all purchased with money borrowed against home equity and supported by the indisputable appraisal.

We all know what happened. Continue reading The Great Recession and the Southern Oregon Real Estate Market

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

As someone who always views my glass as more than half full, it delights me to share some positive news with you about the Southern Oregon real estate market as well as the entire domestic housing sector. The good news is from an association known as the Business Roundtable which is made up of CEO’s from leading U.S. corporations. It seems the Business Roundtable has recently made recommendations to both the White House and Congress regarding the recovery of the struggling housing market. In a nutshell, here is what they recommend: Continue reading Business Roundtable and the Southern Oregon Real Estate Market

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