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re:PDX is presented by Claire Widmark, broker affiliated with M Realty LLC in Portland, Oregon.
Phone: 971-275-3691
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Dohh! Even Homer is Not Immune
Homer Simpson loses his home to foreclosure, due to home equity loans financing his annual Mardi Gras parties.
Courtesy of Marlow at 360Digest.
Some Camera Time with KATU and the Hounds of Baskerville
I nearly forgot to post this, but I recently had some camera time with KATU News in Portland, shortly after the dismal January real estate market results were released by RMLS. (Sorry to take you offsite, but KATU does not have embeddable video clips.)
The KATU crew met me down by the Encore condos, ironically right after I had written an offer for some clients that live nearby. Right in the middle of the interview, a couple dogs came running at us from out of the foggy mist, and gave us a good sniff and pawing before being shooed off. A little unnerving to say the least…
Down Cujo, down!
Portland Home Sales, Prices Tick Upward Slightly
Early analysis of Portland’s real estate market performance for February 2009 shows a modest increase in home sales volume and a stabilization in sale prices, compared to previous months.
While RMLS will publish its official report around the 15th, at ~843 units, home sales are up about 15% over January’s disastrous results.
The median price will come in around $259,000 — about 3.5% higher than in January. It is the first increase in median value since October 2008. Average prices were about even with last month.
By no means does this signal recovery of any sort. The sales volume in February is half of the average of the past five years. Pending sales, a leading indicator of future months’ sales volume, is less than half of the past 5-years’ average.
Photo by thespeak, used under Creative Commons license.
re:PDX Home Search Page Now Available
It thrills me to no end to announce the availability of my long-awaited (awaited by me, anyway) real estate search page here at re:PDX. The software developers and designers in my company have been dealing with my persnickity preferences in incorporating a map-based search into the site, but here it is.
Serious shoppers and real estate junkies (you know who you are) alike will like it. Features:
- It’s Google map-based.
- It’s neighborhood-defined.
- It contains all homes for sale in the Portland MLS that are approved for internet display.
- It’s free to use and no registration is required to use the map.
- If you would like to save homes to a Favorites list for future viewing, you can do so by setting up an account.
- You can even request a showing of any listing with just a click.
To see it in action, just click the Home Search in the top menu.
Misery Loves Company in PDX
Break out the Prozac, PDXers.
Recent articles and awards by the NYTimes, greenability authorities, and travel mags gush glowingly about the city. But if you want to see Portland show up on all those great Top 10 lists, you’ve got to take the bad with the good.
Of the top 50 metro areas, Business Week proclaims Portland to be the Most Miserable City in the U.S. Why? Here is their rationale:
- Depression rank: 1
- Suicide rank: 12
- Crime (property and violent) rank: 24
- Divorce rate rank: 4
- Cloudy days: 222
- Unemployment rate (December 2008): 7.8% (now closer to 10%)
(I would add Greg Oden’s knee injuries to the list.)
Kari Chisolm over at BlueOregon has the best retort so far. What say you?
Photo courtesy of Meredith Farmer, used under Creative Commons license.
