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It’s that time of year already! One of my favorite North Plains events, The Elephant Garlic Festival, is celebrating it’s 13th year. The Festival will run from Friday, August 6th through Sunday, August 8th.

Admission is free and event activities include:

Food Vendors

Arts and Crafts Vendors

Garlic Festival Car Show

10K and 2M Run/Walk

Parade

Battle of the Bands

Festival Hours:

Friday: 12:00PM to 11:00PM

Saturday: Parade at 10:00AM and Festival grounds open 10:00AM to 11:00PM

Sunday: 10:00AM to 6:00PM

The Festival will take place at the Jessie Mays Community Center located at 30955 NW Hillcrest North Plains, OR. 97133.

For more information and to visit the website click HERE

Filed under: Uncategorized on July 27th, 2010 | No Comments »

June’s sales numbers are in and our local market is showing some signs of being able to hold its ground despite the completion of the federal first time homebuyer tax credit expiring.

It’s true that sales under the program had until June 30th to close, and the statistics are not in for July, but here are some numbers that give some optimism to the market.

• Compared to May of 2010 the average sales price increased 5.2%.
• Overall inventory is holding relatively steady at 7.3 months.
• Comparing the second quarter of 2010 with that of 2009, sales rose 34%

Source RMLS, note: numbers reflect the overall Portland Metro Market.

Our area, Northwest Washington County added 197 new listings for June with 624 active listings on the market. There were 105 closed sales during June for an average sale price of $374,800. Overall prices in our area are off -7.5% from June of 2009, however this is slightly lower than the Portland Metro average of -8.2%.

When July’s numbers come out in mid August, I will be interested to see what changes in overall sales volume and closings are, as well as overall inventory and changes in the average sales price. Stability in these important numbers over the next few months will give a strong indication as to our markets overall recovery.

Click HERE to view June’s full Market Action Report

Filed under: Uncategorized on July 20th, 2010 | No Comments »

Average New home Size:  2,438 Square feet

As we arise from the recession, the real estate market continues to change.  One noticeable change is the average size of newly constructed homes.  After increasing for nearly three decades, the average size of a single family home has dropped.  After peaking in 2007 at 2,521 square feet, the new average size dropped to 2,438 square feet.

The number was released recently by the National Association of Home Builders and is according to recently released data by the US Census Bureau.

In keeping with their slightly smaller size, new single-family homes completed in 2009 had fewer bedrooms than previously. After increasing for almost 20 years, the proportion of single-family homes with four bedrooms or more topped out at 39% in 2005; it was 34% last year. The proportion of single-family homes with three bedrooms increased from 49% to 53% between 2005 and 2009.

New single-family homes completed last year also had fewer bathrooms than previously. The proportion of homes with three or more bathrooms was 24% last year, a decline from the peak of 28% in both 2007 and 2008. The percentage of single-family homes with two bathrooms increased from 35 to 37 last year, and the percentage with 2 1/2 bathrooms was at 31% for the third consecutive year. The proportion of single-family homes with 1 or 1 1/2 bathrooms has been below 10 percent for more than a decade.

In 1973, the first year for which the Census Bureau reports characteristics of single-family homes completed, most single-family homes (67%) had only one story.  23% had two or more stories, and 10% were split levels.

The proportion of one-story homes declined steadily for more than three decades, dropping to a low of 43% in 2006 and 2007. At the same time, the proportion of single-family homes with two or more stories increased, rising from 23% in 1973 to a high of 57%.

Nationwide, 62% of new single-family homes completed in 2009 had two-car garages, and 17% had garages for three or more cars. Interestingly enough, three car garages were found in only about 11% of homes in the Northeast and South. In the Midwest, 30% of all homes had three-car garages, and in the West, 26%.

Filed under: Uncategorized on June 15th, 2010 | No Comments »

I commonly get asked, “If I am going to spend money to remodel one room in my home, what room delivers the best return on investment?” The answer is easily the bathroom.

While many home remodeling projects return only pennies on the dollar spent, money spent on your bathroom remodel have a national average of a 90% return. The amount will vary depending on the remodel you are doing, but if your going to select a room to spruce up, select the bathroom.

When you think about it, it makes perfect sense. One can live without a theater room or home office, but any house worth buying must have a bathroom. Aside from the kitchen, there isn’t a a more necessary room in the house.

There are two main factors to consider: what specific upgrades will enhance your life and how much money can you afford to spend? Here are some general tips to creating the perfect space: Make it bigger, build for two, add a designer touch, invest in a spa-like experience, and have fun with it!

Filed under: Uncategorized on June 3rd, 2010 | No Comments »

April is proving to be a positive month for real estate! According to figures released today by the U.S. Commerce Department, nationwide housing starts rose 5.8% in April as the deadline for the home buyer tax incentive arrived.

While some of the activity reflected stats from the tail-end of the tax credit program, the rest can possibly be attributed to builders replenishing their inventories in preparation for the post-tax credit era.

Surveys have indicated that builders are anticipating that factors such as low mortgage rates, attractive prices, and the recovering employment market will replace the tax credit as an incentive to buy.

On another interesting note, permit issuance, which can be an indicator of future building activity, declined by 11.5%.

To view the complete article click HERE

Filed under: Uncategorized on May 19th, 2010 | No Comments »

April turned out to be a good month and sales activity in the  area continued to improve when compared to the same month a year ago. Comparing April 2010 with April 2009, closed sales increased 49.1%. Pending sales also jumped 60.8% and new listings rose 23.8%.

Here are some highlights:

The average sale price for April 2010 decreased 3.1% compared to April 2009, while the median sale price went down 4%.

Month to month, there were minimal changes in prices. The average sale price rose just 0.6% and the median sale price went up 0.5%, when comparing April 2010 to March 2010.

North Plains:

Our Northwest Washington County saw 101 closed sales, with the average sale price being $345,700.

Other key numbers: There were 571 active listings and 218 new listings in April. Pending sales in our area were up 43.5% from 2009 and the year to date median sale price is $343,000.

Click HERE to view the full report.

Filed under: Uncategorized on May 19th, 2010 | No Comments »

I just read an interesting article: According to the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes rose for a second consecutive month, which is the highest level in more than two years.

The article points out that the encouraging part of this is that sales expectations for the next six months continued to gain, despite the expiration of the home buyer tax credits at the end of April. The positive factors for buying a new home (low interest rates, great selection etc.) are taking the place of tax incentives, which means that the market is truly beginning to recover.

To view the full article click HERE

Filed under: Uncategorized on May 17th, 2010 | No Comments »

This Saturday (May 15th) at 11:00am the North Plains Louie Wence Memorial Park will be formally dedicated.

The quiet corner open space contains benches and peaceful landscaping. The park honors Louie Wence, who from 1946-56 repaired cars in the building that now houses the Abundant Life Community Church. From 1956-76, Wence worked as North Plains’ Postmaster in the small building that Tri-Star Properties now occupies.

Wence served city residents by driving seniors who needed transportation and as a member of the Knights of Pythias. He helped protect citizens as police chief and as a volunteer firefighter. He was instrumental in securing the area’s first firetruck and station. His many activities helped create a city feeling in the area, which was not incorporated until the 1960s.

Louie Wence Memorial Park was named after a lifelong resident by Billy Terry, who won $100 for his winning entry in the Name the Park Contest. Other winners, Kathy Broome and Tim Tanner won $50 and $25 for their suggestions, North Plains Serenity Park and Elephant Walk Park.

The park is located at 31794 N.W. Kaybern Street North Plains, OR 97133.

Filed under: Uncategorized on May 12th, 2010 | No Comments »

Check out this article on CNN Money.com:

http://money.cnn.com/2010/04/22/real_estate/foreclosure_credit_score/index.htm

The article highlights how delinquencies impact your credit score. Interesting stuff considering that up until recently the credit bureaus have been tight lipped about this topic….

Filed under: Uncategorized on May 11th, 2010 | No Comments »

This just in: Foreclosed homes owned by banks (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and other mortgage investors) topped 480,000 at the end of February, Barclays Capital estimates in a new study.

Barclays expects housing inventory to rise further over the next 20 months, peaking at 536,000 homes in January 2012. Barclays also predicts 1.6 million sales of distressed properties in 2010 and 2011, declining to 1.5 million in 2012, with about 30 percent of all home sales this year and next foreclosure related. Normally, only 6 percent of sales are related to foreclosures.

Barclays also expects home prices to fall another 3 percent to 5 percent over the next two years, assuming that unemployment will decline to 8 percent within the next two years.

Filed under: Uncategorized on May 10th, 2010 | No Comments »