Is The Oregonian Right?

Well it official, prices slip, supply is up! That is according to the Oregonian's Dylan Rivera who just published these findings today in the Business Section. The average dropped $1,200 or 0.5% from $286,200 to $285,000. In real estate terms that is nothing. Wow! We also heard the sky is falling! Is there more inventory out there than a year ago? Yes! Is that inventory taking a lot longer to sell than a year ago? Yes! Is the overall housing market in Portland still strong? In our opinion Yes! How do we know this, because we are selling a lot of homes for buyer and sellers?

Here are the simple fact campers- we are back to a more normalized sales cycle with regards to real estate. This is how it should be. Real Estate Agents are the first ones to cheer for the quick sale of any property (i.e. it's how we get paid.) This does not mean this is the way the housing marketplace should operate for a healthy long term play.

Now more than ever it becomes increasingly clear that you must price your property correctly. No more 10-20% "fluff." All home sellers and agents alike must do what is right if they truly want to sell a home. With the overwhelming amount of choice out there a buyer can take his or her time, and really look with a critical eye. They don't have to buy the first thing they see. In fact most of our buyer are taking there time and eating up our gas- just kidding. At $4 a gallon showing homes can get expensive in an SUV.

Furthermore, you property must be 110% ready to go. Clean walls, clean garages, manicured yards, no clutter, clean carpets, and the list goes on and on! These are the basic things a buyer expects when they make a home purchase. You don't want to inherit someone else’s filth or pet hair, or worse. Why should you expect to have someone want to do the same with your home? Like it or not they are buying a product. Your home is a product- plane and simple! It needs to be in excellent shape or they just move on and buy one that is.

So, is the Oregonian correct? Yes and no.... It's all a matter of perspective and perception.

March Residential Highlights

Market Activity in the Portland Metro Area seems to have slowed down when comparing March 2007 with March 2006. New listings increased nearly 24% in the past month, while accepted and closed sales dropped by 9.7% and .8% respectively.The 10,557 active residential listings at the end of March would last approximately 3.8 months at the month’s rate of sales.

First Quarter/Year-to-Date
When comparing market activity through March 2007 to the same time in 2006, the first quarter appears to be off to a slow start. The number of closed sales decreased 6.2%. Pending sales also dropped 4.8%. However, new listings have jumped 20.3%.

Appreciation
To c a l c u l a t e s a l e p r i c e appreciation, the average and median sale prices for the twelve months that ended with March 2007 are compared to the prices for the twelvemonths ending in March 2006. Using those time periods, the average sale price appreciated 12.2% ($327,800 v. $292,100). Using the same date range to comparemedian sale price we see a 12.4% appreciation rate ($275,500 v. $245,000).