Comments on: Portland-Area Real Estate Market Activity – November 2007

By: Ron

Ron — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 00:49:35 +0000

Thanks Jeff. By the way, these posts were written without the benefit of performance-enhancing drugs. Of course, we’ve heard that before…

By: Jeff Johnson

Jeff Johnson — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 00:24:16 +0000

Ahhh, the Asterisk.

Did you hear that the guy who bought the Barry Bonds home run record breaking baseball (that beat the Hank Aaron record) wanted to give the ball to the Hall of Fame, but only if he could brand an ASTERISK on the ball.

Officials at the Hall of Fame didn’t have a problem with him doing it.

I sure like this BLOG. Keep up the good work. The effort is appreciated.

By: Ron

Ron — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 19:22:24 +0000

It is a fair statement. I would prefer to publish CDOM (cumulative days on market) stats, but they are difficult to track without significant data wrangling, which I don’t have time to do — ergo, the asterisk.

By: Jeff Johnson

Jeff Johnson — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 19:07:40 +0000

Let me start out by saying that I am a generally optimistic guy.

The error in the DOM numbers are that the general realtor community does not want to publish the Total Days On Market (TDOM) numbers. The DOM (Days on Market) numbers are easily manipulated by simply canceling the old MLS number and opening a new number, thereby resetting th DOM. It is a big fat lie. The DOM number doesn’t mean squat.

If you indeed did TDOM, (when with the same realtor name listed), then you would get a true representation on how long it takes to sell a house on average regardless of price. It would set realistic expectations for all parties. Buyers, Sellers and Realtors.

The statement that it only takes 67 days to sell a house right now is misleading when it is manipulated so much and I think hurts the overall market.

However, we are a drive thru, over caffeinated society that wants everything yesterday. None of us never want to wait for anything. Especially if you are a speculator…