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Contact: (503) 460-7992
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Mr. & Mrs. Too-Much Homebuyer – Real Financial Heroes
A little cynical….sometimes a little too true. A tragic tale of being house-poor…
One of three in a series of Real Financial Heroes on YouTube.
Hat tip to The Real Estate Bloggers.
[tags] home, buyers, mortgage, debt, video, parody, comedy, YouTube [/tags]
Watch Your Wallet (and your FICO score)
Oh, if all we had to worry about were light-fingered petty thieves….
A recent Identity Theft seminar given by Ryan Zink of Home123 reminded me of the breadth and ease of identity fraud and the impact it has on your credit, especially when it comes to big-ticket items like getting a home loan.
There are many painful stories of individuals whose credit scores and reputations have been harmed, and as a lending officer, Ryan shared about a couple clients whose home-buying plans were nearly crushed due to identity theft (including one about a mother that stole her own kids’ identity!).
For some reason, Oregon ranks as the 13th highest in the nation for identity fraud. Ryan suggests that we check our credit score (FICO) every 6 months, among other security measures.
Ryan also left behind a reference card on what to do if you discover you’ve become a victim:
- Place a Fraud Alert on your credit rating by calling Equifax (800-525-6285), Transunion (800-680-7289), and Experian (800-397-3742).
- File a report with local law enforcement to document that an actual crime has occurred.
- File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (1-877-IDTHEFT)
- Notify your current credit card companies.
- Visit www.ftc.gov for the complete ID Theft Information booklet.
- Keep records of all conversations and actions.
Ryan is available to provide this seminar to companies and civic organizations. You can reach him at (503) 701-8213.
[tags] identity, theft, fraud, mortgages, scam, FICO, credit [/tags]
Guest Post: You Can’t Take It With You
Today’s post comes courtesy of Mark Fallon of Sunset Mortgage. Mark touches on a mortgage option for homeowners over age 62.
You can’t take it with you. But a reverse mortgage may present the next best option.
With a reverse mortgage, you can get a loan for cash based on the value of your home, and you do not have to pay the loan back for as long as you continue to live in the house. A reverse mortgage does not have to be paid back until you die, sell your home, or move out of your home permanently. If you pass away, the loan is paid back from your estate; however, your estate will not owe more than the home’s value.
The reverse mortgage is very useful for senior citizens who may have a low, fixed income and need more to live on, or need a large amount of cash for an unexpected expense. This tool allows the senior citizen to get the funds they need without losing their home, going into debt, or taking on payments that are unmanageable. A reverse mortgage takes your home equity and lets you leverage it by giving loan advances to you, paying all loan costs associated with the loan, and providing the leftover equity at the end of the loan to you or your heirs.
Quite notably, the reverse mortgage has become very popular, and during 2004, a record 37,829 HECM (Home Equity Conversion Mortgage) reverse mortgage loans were originated, over twice the number of HECM reverse mortgage loans originated during 2003.
If you have an existing mortgage, you may still qualify for a reverse mortgage based on the amount of equity you have. It is not necessary to own the home free and clear to qualify for a reverse mortgage, but you must continue meet your obligations such as property taxes, insurance, and maintenance.
Contact Mark at Sunset Mortgage for more information on reverse mortgages:
Mark Fallon
Mortgage Banker
Sunset Mortgage
(503) 635-7393
[tags] mortgage, reverse, lending, housing, homes, seniors, elderly, equity [/tags]
Portland’s Pipes for Voice, Data, and Video
The sound of chattering jackhammers and other heavy machinery in my neighborhood recently signalled the arrival of the next wave of telecommunications and Internet buildouts since the DSL and cable system upgrades over 8-10 years ago.
My neighborhood in Tigard is receiving Verizon’s fiberoptic service to the home (FiOS), a service capable of up to 30 megabit per second speed–about 5 times faster than the area’s fastest cable modem Internet access.
Of course, these ‘pipes’ aren’t intended just to make our web browsing faster, but rather to carry video content and allow Verizon to compete with the cable and satellite providers. In our neighborhood, the disruption wasn’t too bad. Verizon’s subcontractors were friendly and tidy, although I lost a 6-foot square section of my yard to a junction box. (I better get a discount!)
What does this have to do with real estate, you ask?
For some homebuyers (particularly the growing trend of remote workers or telecommuters), the availability of broadband services is a critical housing criterion, and for the most part, the Portland area is well-covered. For many years, there were ‘DSL deadzones’ where the telcos could not (or would not) provide DSL service over their wires. In most cases, the telcos cleared up their networks, or just let the cable company take the business with their coax-based service.
Most big cities have a single residential phone company that installed all the copper wire under the streets that lead to our homes, but Portland has two providers that cover the metro area, Qwest and Verizon. These companies are artifacts of the telecommunications acquisition binge (Qwest bought US West, and GTE became Verizon) of the 90’s. Now, they are battling it out with Comcast to rule the content delivery pipes to Portland-area living rooms. I should note that Qwest has not announced any fiber-to-the-home plans to date. (Funny, their tagline used to be “Ride the Light”.)
Although cell phones and Internet phone services have eroded the residential phone business over the last several years, many still subscribe to communications services from the local ‘monopoly’. For a basic residential landline (with E911 service) and DSL, you’ll need to call Qwest or Verizon. Below are the areas of town they operate in:
Telephone and DSL Service
| Provider |
Area Served
|
| Qwest |
Portland
Oregon City Lake Oswego West Linn Milwaukie Gladstone Woodburn St. Helens North Plains |
| Verizon |
Aloha
Beaverton Hillsboro Gresham Happy Valley Tigard Tualatin Forest Grove McMinnville Newberg Sherwood Sandy Wilsonville |
| Independents |
Canby – Canby Telcom
Redland – Clear Creek Telephone & Television Beavercreek – Beavercreek Telephone Molalla – Molalla Communications Colton – Colton Telephone & TV |
Note, broadband users are increasingly moving to digital voice services (VoIP) that use the Internet to carry their calls, instead of local telephone companies. Vendors like Vonage, AT&T CallVantage, SunRocket, and Packet8 are such companies. You might save some money if you make lots of long distance calls. These voice services sometimes suffer from poor call quality, so test it out before canceling your landline.
Cable TV and Internet Service
Comcast is the million-pound gorilla in this category, covering nearly all Portland and suburban areas. Comcast offer 3 to 6 megabyte per second service in most areas, plenty fast for YouTube and iTunes downloads. You can also buy Comcast digital calling over your cable TV and Internet service and avoid using the telephone company altogether. It does not come cheap, though.
In some of the rural suburbs, a handful of telcos provide cable TV in addition to their local phone service. And, Canby is a national leader in TV over DSL service.
Satellite TV
You can get Dish Network and Direct TV just about anywhere in the Portland area.
I’ll write a future post on Portland’s wireless Internet coverage. For reviews of various providers of Internet services and VoIP, check out BroadbandReports.com.
[tags] Portland, Internet, service, telecommunications, telecom, DSL, cable, modem, broadband, fiber, Qwest, Verizon, Comcast [/tags]
Portland Real Estate Market Activity for September 2006
The state of Portland’s real estate market did not change dramatically from July to August. Home appreciation values continue double-digit gains, but overall sales volume in 2006 is down 13.5% year-to-date. It is important to remember that these comparisons are made to the record-setting values of 2005.
The average sale price year-to-date in the market is now $320,600 (vs. $275,700 for 08/2004 through 09/2005). Half the homes in the metro area sold for more or less than the median price of $269,900 (up from $230,000 last year).
Over the past 12 months, Portland-area properties averaged 16.4% appreciation over the previous 12 months. The median price is up 16.9% over last year.
New listings are up 15.7% over August 2005, but pending and closed sales were both down about 20%. At the current rate of sales, the current inventory of homes would sell out in 3.6 months, the highest ratio of active listings to closed sales since February 2004. The average time on the market for properties year-to-date is 41 days, versus 45 days this time last year.
Higher inventories (due to an increase in listings and a slower pace of sales) have given prospective buyers more choices and perhaps more negotiation leverage than this time last year. Home sellers should take heart that, on average, properties selling in a little over a month on the market.
For further analysis, I’ve posted the year-to-date market activity by community area for the Portland metropolitan area on my Market Activity page.
Appreciation percentages are based on a comparison of average price from the last 12 months (09/01/05 – 08/30/06) with 12 months before (09/01/04 – 08/30/05).
Source: RMLS, September 2006.
Photo by S Ryo, used under Creative Commons license.
[tags] Portland, real, estate, market, activity, appreciation, median, average, prices, homes, housing [/tags]
J.D. Power Rates Portland Home Builders
J.D. Power and Associates has released their 10th annual New-Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study, including rankings for Portland.
Their research includes satisfaction ratings of builders in 34 of the largest U.S. home building markets. The top 10 factors for customer satisfaction are (in order of importance): builder’s warranty/customer service; home readiness; builder’s sales staff; construction manager; quality of workmanship/materials; price/value; physical design elements; builder’s design center; recreational facilities; and location.
Out of the 34 markets surveyed, Portland’s overall homeowner satisfaction for new construction ranked only 29th. To qualify for the study, Portland-area builders had to have have closed 150 or more homes in Clackamas, Clark (WA), Marion, Multnomah, Polk, Washington and Yamhill counties in 2005. In their press release, J.D. Powers states 452 local homeowners responded and ranked 6 companies for the Portland area–4 local and 2 national builders.
Here are the builders Portland buyers seem to be most happy with:
| Company |
Quality Workmanship & Materials
|
Price & Value
|
Home Design
|
| CENTEX (national) |
*****
|
*****
|
*****
|
| Legend Homes (local) |
****
|
****
|
***
|
| Arbor Custom Homes (local) |
****
|
***
|
****
|
| JLS Custom Homes (local) |
**
|
***
|
**
|
| Don Morrissette (local) |
**
|
**
|
**
|
| D.R. Horton (national) |
**
|
**
|
**
|
Ratings: (*****) Among the best, (****) Better than most, (***) About average, (**) The rest.
Nationally, Pulte Homes and Centex Homes were the highest rated volume builders. Pulte, which builds under the Del Webb and DiVosta brands, ranked highest in 14 of 34 markets included in the study. Centex Homes was highest in 13 markets, including the Portland metro area.
“New-home builders today are facing challenges unlike any they’ve experienced in recent years,” said Paula Sonkin, executive director of the real estate industries practice at J.D. Power and Associates. “Over the past few years, home builders have often been in an order-taking mode, enjoying record closings and enthusiastic buyers. However, as the market softens and inventories rise, builders now find themselves in more of a selling mode, forcing them to negotiate prices and offer incentives at the same time they struggle with labor issues and increasing building material costs. As builders fight for every sale they close in this downturned market, a reputation for customer satisfaction becomes more important than ever, as it helps builders differentiate themselves from the competition.”
Specifically about Portland, the report said:
“In addition to the intense market conditions faced by builders, the number of construction problems experienced by new-home buyers is on the rise. The study finds that the typical buyer experiences an average of 14 problems with their new home—a 7 percent increase from 2005. In Portland, new-home buyers experience an average of 16 problems. More than 90 percent of new-home buyers report experiencing at least one construction problem. The most frequently occurring construction problems in Portland involve landscaping; nail pops/exposed nails in the drywall, and kitchen countertops.”
The J.D. Power and Associates press release can be found here.
[tags] new, homes, Portland, builders, construction, housing, rankings, satisfaction, JD Powers, poll [/tags]
You Can’t Hide Your Pryin’ Eyes
Real estate voyeurs may soon have more dirt to dish.
Homeowners in Multnomah County might be surprised to hear that sensitive personal information contained in county tax records may soon be accessed online at portlandmaps.com. It’s a move prompted by a recommendation from the county’s assessment and taxation department to make public records more user-friendly. Multnomah County would be the first in the tri-county area to make such data available.
A brief article in the Oregonian highlights some of the privacy concerns surrounding the publishing of information like homeowner name, address, and tax balance. The county recommendation would allow for a search on property address, but would not provide a lookup by name–a safeguard against stalkers, identity thieves, and other miscreants.
As it stands today, interested parties can get this public information by telephone or visit to the assessor’s office. From the Oregonian:
“If in fact it’s a public record, then there is no reason it shouldn’t be as easily accessible as possible,” said Duane Bosworth, a media lawyer and board member with Open Oregon, which fights for greater access to public records. Bosworth, who said he was not speaking for the organization, said he saw no safeguard to providing information over the phone but not the Internet.
I was surprised to see this story buried on the inside of the metro section. Perhaps we are getting numb to our lives being databased and searched. I suppose it’s the trade-off we get for Internet immediacy.
No word as to when the final decision will be reached by the county’s Board of Commissioners.
Photo by Von Hutchins. Used under Creative Commons license.
[tags] privacy, tax, records, Multnomah, country, portlandmaps, assessor, Portland [/tags]
It’s Getting Easier Being Green
With all due respect to philosophical frogs, being green in Portland is a pretty popular thing to be, and will soon be getting support from the real estate industry.
Sometime in the first quarter 2007, your Portland-area real estate broker will be able to search for homes that feature construction methods, home designs and building materials that are earth-friendly, according to local and national standards.
While green building certification results will be limited to new construction only, new fields will also be available for existing homes that have high-efficiency furnaces, solar systems, etc.
According to the RMLS (Regional Multiple Listing Service):
The new search form will allow real estate agents to select one of the following green building certification programs from a pull-down menu: Earth Advantage, Energy Star and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for homes. In addition, agents will be able to indicate other home features that can contribute to energy efficiency and ecological design such as a high-efficiency furnace, cork or bamboo flooring and partial solar power.
Coverage in the Oregonian :
“The green building data will enable real estate professionals to search for houses that have met green building standards as easily as they search for houses for sale by high school or ZIP code. The RMLS’ recent decision makes Portland the first — and likely the largest — metropolitan area where a real estate listing service will make green building information available as part of standard search capabilities.
Green building groups called the new search ability a testament to Portland’s status as a leader in environmentally friendly practices in home construction and commercial buildings. It shows the rising popularity of energy efficiency standards, they said, and could help promote awareness and higher property values for homes that have such qualities.”
Like Kermit says:
I am green and it’ll do fine, it’s beautiful!
And I think it’s what I want to be.
Brian Libby at Portland Architecture touched on this and other sustainable design topics recently.
[tags] environment, green, sustainability, Portland, construction, MLS, listings [/tags]
Oregon home appreciation in top 5 nationally
Although the pace is decelerating, the Northwest (and west in general) shows better-than-average home appreciation results. Today’s Oregonian reports that home prices in Oregon rose 19.5% over the previous 12 months with the quarter ending on June 30, 2006.
A report from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight shows the national average appreciation rate to be 10.06% compared to the 2nd quarter last year.
The top 5 states and their 1-year appreciation rates:
- Arizona – 24.05%
- Florida – 21.28%
- Idaho – 20.14%
- Oregon – 19.47%
- Hawaii – 18.09%
With seven spots in the top 10, Western U.S. states dominated the top 20 positions, including Washington, New Mexico, Utah, California, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Nevada above the national average of 10%. Colorado was the only Western state in the bottom half, weighing in at 4.20%.
However, more recent data from the local multiple listing service suggests that we aren’t immune to slowdown effects. The median price for a Portland-area home actually fell between June and July, the first time since 2002 that the June/July period had a decline. Inventories and interest rates are up over this time last year, suggesting some price softening, especially for anxious sellers. Analysts expect home sales nationally to drop by about 10 percent this year.
The fastest growing prices are found in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Washington state. Interestingly, the Bend-Redmond area showed 36.7 percent appreciation over a year ago, the highest appreciation rate of the 275 areas ranked in the report.
Resources:
Photo of Salmon Street Springs by taminsea1. Used under Creative Commons license.
[tags] appreciation, trends, housing, Portland [/tags]
