Great track record by Good Samaritan Hospital in Corvallis!   http://media.oregonlive.com/health_impact/photo/infectionsjpg-b3b38e1c987fde8c.jpg   05/16/2011

The growing trend (pun intended) is to start a garden. While this is easy when you are outside of the city limits, have a few acres and no HOA, living downtown on 1/4 acre or less, makes this task a bit more challenging. Looking at tomatoes and kale instead of roses and peonies will not disturb most people, especially in Corvallis. But there are things to think about first. Your home has a sunny spot, great soil and space - in the front, not in the back. So your food producing activities will attract more attention by by-passers of different species, means humans and deer (and other four legged friends). So here is the first crux: do you need a fence? If yes, the local ordinance will tell you what you can erect, and it makes sense to get the information before you invest in the lumber a... 05/16/2011

What a fabulous childhood our children have! Last Saturday, Mid-May, lower 60s, no rain, both of our sons had a "date". One was at a friend's home spending the day and sleeping over. The other one had a friend at our house for the whole Saturday. Both vanished with their friends for a few hours.  At our house, our younger son and his friend took off to explore the woods behind our property. They came in for a snack and  played on the trampoline, did some ball kicking and chased the chicken, caressed our newborn kittens and held the Gecko. Then out again.  Around  5pm the father of the friend came to pick his son up. We are very good friends and share the attitude that children need some freedom and time off any schedule. So when he asked where they are and I answered I had no idea we bo... 05/16/2011

Yes, it is true, the overall RE market is getting worse. 28+% of home owners nationwide are now under water and my bet is, as with our official unemployment rates, the truth is closer to 1/3 of all home owners. I wrote in several blogs before that just the math says that we cannot start to recover before 2015, I stand corrected and think it will be rather 2018. NOW: as we all are aware, all markets are local. So where does this mess leave Corvallis. The answer is, in a comparably good spot. We still do not have foreclosures in amounts that are staggering. Limited growth in the past has not allowed oversupply. So now we are not facing subdivisions with rows and rows of empty homes. Yes, our prices are down. But a) not anywhere close to how lowe they are elsewhere and b) it appears that i... 05/13/2011

I never quite got this: Pretty often I read about a foreclosure and look at the numbers and they are not THAT bad, the house would sell for this or even a bit more. Nevertheless they are already deep into the foreclosure process and in 6 weeks they are out of their home. No attempt of a sale. Just sitting there, staring at the snake. Or they owe 360K and have their house, worth about that, on the market for 1.5 years for 450K all while the market is going down further, making sure they will not even be able to pay off the loan once this hits the fan. So is this stubbornness? Ignorance? Bad Advice? Poor agent? Head in the sand? Denial? All of the above? Why not facing the music and exit gracefully? The information is out there, not even hidden. Plain sight information, tools, support. If... 05/11/2011

Better get that big home sold ASAP or find a buyer with cash. This will all but kill the high end market until prices are down further and supply has hit demand:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/business/11housing.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2 At the end of the day it is correct to do that. And actually the government should (and will) get out of the mortgage business completely. There are mortgages by the US Department of Agriculture... PLEASE.... With the government and with the taxpayer withdrawing from mortgages, expect higher interest rates, tougher qualification requirements and higher down payments. After all, private money is taking over and would you lend somebody 300K for 30 years for 4.5% with 3.5% down?? 05/11/2011

I am clearly and outspokenly NOT cheerleading about the current market. My last blog showed that we are still and for a long time to come walk through the valley of tears of a deteriorating market. Nevertheless, there are areas in town that are experiencing multiple offers on property now. College Hill, anything close to university, if it is in decent shape and appropriately priced it sells very fast. I have a client who lost out on three homes now, too late each time, by the time they were ready the house was gone. Lesson learned, we will be good this time. So has the market bottomed out in Corvallis. As usual it depends but there are signs of life and we certainly have great traffic. Thinking about buying for the college kid, investment.... It's the season! And the way it looks now th... 05/10/2011

These days there is no shortage of predictions, statistics, and opinions about the future of the RE market. At the end of the day there is only one thing that does not lie and is actually really not interpretable: MATH! If you have X amount of homes in foreclosure plus X amount of homes in current default which reliably will come to the market within a certain time frame and you have an absorption rate of Y you know for local, statewide and national markets how long it will take to get to a new market equilibrium. It is that simple. So cheerleading, opinion, etc are really not necessary. All you need is do the math to paint a simply realistic, not optimistic of pessimistic, picture. A seller needs to know this. Armed with this knowledge they usually understand that there is no "recovery... 05/09/2011

After a showing last night where I again answered the question why Corvallis is so "expensive" compared to (wherever this person came from), it is time to blog about this:Corvallis is comparably stable. Yes, prices have gone down here. But not anywhere close to what happened even in Albany, just a few miles from here. The reasons:1: we had limited growth. There were no 20 subdivisions with 50 houses each during the boom. Supply never exceeded demand to the extend we see in NV, FL etc. The subdivisions we have are not huge. They are not 15 miles from the next shopping opportunity. They are not a suburb, they are still part of town. While growth limitations are hard fought during booms, they are a blessing during busts.2:The desirable areas in Corvallis are pretty much fixed in size. You ... 05/07/2011

A few weeks ago I listed a property that had been on the market for literally years. I took a fresh approach, had pro pictures made, video, staging and of course a really nice sign and - directionals. Those directionals where constantly gone when I drove to the home to check on flyers, had showings, Open Houses etc. Literally every time I went up there, the directionals were gone. At one point I started to be really frustrated. After all they were on public property and I had no intention to abandon them after closing. My client was very unhappy, thinking somebody at the are where he had lived for over 20 years was so against him to sabotage the sale. So I kept putting new ones up and then one day I get a phone call, here is the verbatim of the caller: "This is somebody from (subdivisio... 05/07/2011

Corvallis           Price Range Active Listings as of 4/29/2011 Sold Listings Last 6 Mos. Average Sold Per Month Months of Inventory Av. Days on Market Solds $0 - $99,999 1 2 0.33 3.00 129 $100,000 - $149,999 8 9 1.50 5.33 145 $150,000 - $199,999  31 24 4.00 7.75 115 $200,000 - $249,999 47 47 7.83 6.00 134 $250,000 - $299,999 37 30 5.00 7.40 156 $300,000 - $349,999 26 16 2.67 9.75 146 $350,000 - $399,999 31 7 1.17 26.57 150 $400,000 - $449,999 18 11 1.83 9.82 211 $450,000 - $499,999 11 3 0.50 22.00 197 $500,000 - $599,999 11 3 0.50 22.00 163 $600,000 - $699,999 10 4 0.67 15.00 171 $700,000 + 13 * 0.00 * *   244 156   9.38 156 05/02/2011

When you sell your home most brokers will categorically tell you NOT to be home for any appointments concerning the home, be it a showing, an inspection, an appraisal or anything related.Sellers often do not understand this measure. After all it is them who really know the house inside out, so why not giving the buyer, broker, appraiser, inspector the benefits of this knowledge?Here are the reasons:Buyers will inevitably struck a conversation with a present seller. It might start harmlessly but there is always the point when things get a bit too cozy and in no time the seller has revealed the he is selling because of pressing financial problemsa nasty divorcean illnessto tend to an elderly parent who urgently needs support and right there he has given a buyer a reason for a lower offer ... 04/26/2011

The scenario is always the same and usually filled with anxiety, often from both sides. The deal is struck, agreements are reached about price and contingencies, and now it comes - the inspection. Everybody hopes it turns out nothing serious. The seller thinks his home is perfect, they put great pride in good maintenance. The buyers have found their dream home and really do not want to deal with leaky faucets. The report comes back and now the back and forth starts. For the buyers it was all rainbows and unicorns - dry rot under the deck puts sort of a sobering damper on the fairy tale. The sellers are miffed that the buyers are coming back with a laundry list of "peanuts" while they feel they already have given in so much. Perception is reality. So both sides retreat to the trenches an... 04/20/2011

We all have come across homes with alarm systems, in some areas more often than in others, but there are some everywhere. More than once I have set them off. At one home showing instructions did not mention an alarm system at all, I noticed that there was one after opening the door and hearing that sound, scrambling to find the number (was stuck in the lock box, key pad to disarm was three rooms away in a closet with the door stuck.....) At another one the number was wrong. At yet another one the key pad numbers stuck. Setting off an alarm system is horrible. It is extremely noisy, makes the agent look like a total fool, takes time because you often have to stay there and wait for whoever is connected to it to arrive and it is worse if nobody is actually connected and you have to get ho... 04/19/2011

Q:  I suggested simple home clean-up and easy repair items to a client recently who is thinking of placing her house on the market.  She replied that she had read on the internet that she would only re-coup  a percentage  on the dollar for all monies spent on home repair and fix-ups.  So why not just place on the market 'as is'? A: Simply not true.  If you are looking at a total kitchen re-do or bath re-do, that might be true.  If you are looking at paint, cleaning and repairs you could be many, many dollars ahead when you go to sell.  Even changing out old single pane windows for new vinyl windows will put you money ahead.  Windows are often the first thing potential buyers look at when viewing a home.  They expect a discounted price if they are not done.  They will often take the list... 04/18/2011

So you bought a home. Totally happy - with most things. Unless there are some serious repairs the average new home owner spends about 3% of the purchase price in the first year on changes, adaptations, updates etc. Budgeting for maintenance is another issue all together. There will always be something, that is one of the beauties of home ownership. The hot water heater goes busters, you decide on drip irrigation for the yard, your 3 year old tries out how many dinosaurs he can stuff down the toilet or whether the garbage disposal can crush coins. (it can't, mine tried it...) From salt for the water softener and deck staining to a leaky faucet, have 1-2% of the replacement value of the house (which does not need to coincide with your purchase price), depending on age and condition of you... 04/13/2011

Spring is beautiful nearly everywhere and all of us are happy to see those Easter colors in nature after a long winter. The Northwest has a few unique features that we really love in the winter, especially having lived in Upstate NY before. The Oaks are living in a symbiotic relationship with Lichen and Moss. When all the leaves are down and it is getting wet, the Lichen and Moss thrive, giving a lot of old Oak trees the look of a true Rainforest. When the tree is really old, often ferns are growing on the moss. When you are hiking in McDonald Dunn Forest you see a lot of them but they are often simply in the neighborhood like this one at Skyline West: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=46117&id=100001038699385&saved#!/photo.php?fbid=190944580950164&set=a.190944514283504.46117.100001... 04/13/2011

Always moving ahead of the crowd we offer QR codes for our listing publications. QR codes are black ad white square code fields that can be scanned and read by smart phones to obtain information about whatever they contain.  Buyers driving by our listings can take a flyer, scan the code and will have the complete information right on their screen.    At my last Open House I had business card size cards that showed the house picture and the code. A lot of people took them and do not need a long flyer anymore. Being up to date with technology and offering the latest and best is what sells your properties! The times when my dog could sell RE are over :-) Hard work, dedication and optimal tool use will sell. 04/13/2011

As usual, it depends. If you have true repairs to do that will lead any buyer either to run before they even enter or latest after the inspection - fix it, or you will need to overadjust the price, in other words not just for the value of the repair but for the hassle to get it fixed. If you have mold, a leaky roof, corroded plumbing, non performing HVAC, blind windows, big cracks - fix them. The reduction in price will not be anywhere close to what you will pay to get things in order. If you have not changed the wallpaper in 30 years and it is a rather specific taste and definitely cannot count as neutral, take it out and paint in a neutral color. It is a tiny investment but fresh paint does wonders. Then it also really depends on the price range. If your house is in basically decent c... 04/11/2011

They take us for a ride, once more. The Deal is reached, this morning, with big fanfare, perpetual shoulder clapping and chest pounding, they have really made it, cutting 38 Billion from the budget. Wonderful. Only, that the deficit on 1 years budget currently is over 1.6 TRILLION, 1600 Billion. That is only the deficit. Nowhere in sight paying down the debt, currently 11.4 TRILLION, in other words 11400 Billion. And we are celebrating 38 Billion in lesser spending??? Think about this: You earn $100000 a year and spend $130000 a year. You are doing this for years and years and by now you have raked up over $700000 in debt. You are spending $21000 per year, nearly 25% of your income in debt service alone and that only because you are enjoying really really low interest rates. Once this i... 04/09/2011