‘Buyers Feel The Power Swing To Their Side’: S. Oregon
The Mail Tribune has this update on southern Oregon. “As more and more ‘For Sale’ signs sprout up along with May flowers, Jackson County homebuyers are displaying temerity unseen in recent years. For every four houses on the market this time last year, there are 11 for sale today. In west Medford, nearly four times as many homes are for sale than the same time last year, while Central Point and east Medford have three times as many on the market.”
“The growing number of houses on the market comes even as several high-end residential developments take shape. ‘Buyers are asking for more as they feel the power of the pendulum swing to their side,’ says (agent) Ron Galbreath. ‘They’re asking for more for repairs, carpet and appliance allowances, and help on closing costs and down payments.’”
“The tug of war has led to reduced prices and lengthy market times. April had 168 completed transactions, down from 321 in April 2005. ‘We’ve gone from where realtors were order takers, could take a house and wonder three days later why it hadn’t sold, to 80 days on the market with price reductions,’ Galbreath says.”
“That trend will likely continue. Citing Southern Oregon MLS figures, (broker) Bill Allen points to White City, where there were 12 residences listed in mid-April 2005 and 115, including new construction, last month. ‘That right there should tell you it’s a buyer’s market,’ Allen says. ‘I think the median is higher because there are fewer buyers in the lower range right now.’”
“The sheer volume of listings has taken house-hunting from a 100-meter dash into a marathon. One recently completed deal for a Bailey Avenue residence illustrates his point. Two months passed from the first time the eventual buyer made her first offer on the 1,580-square-foot house. ‘In between her first and second offer, her agent told me she looked at 37 houses,’ Galbreath says. ‘She had seen so many houses that she didn’t remember the first time she had seen it.’”
“On Monday, the SOMLS site showed 25 new listings in the previous 24 hours, reduced prices on 25 others, eight sales and 12 pending sales. Two price increases were logged as well.”
“‘If a house is priced wrong or something is wrong with it,’ Allen says. ‘Usually, the only thing you can do in real estate is adjust the price. If a house is still on the market after 30 days, then you’re going to be making price adjustments. Then somewhere around 60 days you’ll make another price adjustment. That’s the historical norm.’”
I’m glad to have some news for the folks in this under-reported area.
I am from the bay area but I have been very active in the Medford metro over the past 5 months….We just aquired 1 property several weeks ago…
Still NOT a buyer’s market in the Bubble Markets. Don’t catch a falling knife.
David
http://bubblemeter.blogspot.com
OT but:
AOL to Cut 1,300 Workers In U.S.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/09/AR2006050901644.html?referrer=email&referrer=email&referrer=email
…closed its Jacksonville, Fla., center yesterday and laid off all 780 employees there and more than 100 others in Ogden, Utah. About 300 employees in Tucson are to be let go in June…
May the force be with you, buyers, and even more force with you, renters…
GS - post that again next year on May 4, but this time say,
May the 4th be with you
I am waiting to buy in Ashland, Oregon, and this article in yesterday’s Medford paper is good news. The local paper finally goes on record calling Jackson County a buyer’s market. Southern Oregon is largely dependent on the money flow from California (where I live) and Florida, since the locals don’t earn incomes in line with housing costs.
Ahh Ashland;…The Berkley of Southern Oregon…Prices have gotten way out of hand…I would also look into the schools Lisa…I understand there have been some significant cut backs..
Yeah, just like the NASDAQ was a buyers market after dropping the first 5%.
OT:
LA Times article on Boomer’s getting hosed in Mexican RE deals.
We are clearly on the other side of the boom with media stories like this.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mexlandwoes10may10,0,1193582.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Yeah, I helped some friends build a place in Panama and had a local tell me that just because the deed to their property was transfered locally doesn’t mean it was transfered in Panama City.
Not the kinda risk I like to take on.
SC Dave,
Yep, Ashland has closed two public schools due to declining enrollment, as more & more local families can’t afford to raise their kids there. Once the CA & FL money machine starts to slow, I think the tide will turn. I’m hoping so -); I sold my house in Marin County and am sitting on the money. I can’t imagine throwing money at a house in Oregon.
LISA;…Be very paitient right now…Things are starting to come unraveled…
Very true, there are no teaching jobs in San Diego right now, schools are closing, but in other destinations where priced out families are moving you can get a teaching job without even a credential.
Kirk, where would one of those areas be that people are moving to who are priced out of SD?
What makes it all sad is that this whole economy seems to be just a big game for the money movers, i.e. Wall Street, the Fed, bankers. We should just go back to the 1800s and live simply. All I want is a modest home, free and clear, with some land. My kids can be educated at home and we might all get to learn how to survive again. This may come in handy when the economy truly goes into deep recession, if not outright depression. You can only print money so long while continuing to go into greater debt with no real products being sold.
Ah yes, but how then would the banking industry inject itself into everyone’s day-to-day commerce via inflation and debt? They need us serfs.
Yes and the revenuers (IRS) need a way to figger your income.
YOu sound like my kinda guy. Too bad we’re both married
OCDan, you’re in the wrong country.
http://www.harpers.org/MostRecentCover.html
It has been blogged already.
I have a long time friend who moved to Lower River Rd in Medford last August . I told him to rent for the time being as the market was over bought. Noooo. He promptly bought in September and endured a long wet winter and now the spring has delivered a soft RE market. He says he paid about 385,000 for a 5 acre place . I do not know that market bu I know the market will drop sooooon.
There has been rampent land speculation in the greater medford region…The building department has been overwelmed…The pubilic works deptartment is working out of portables I assume because they had to hire staff and did not have the room. The planning department has a sign that says “be prepared with note & pen” the time limit is 10 minutes…Ton’s of California money has poured into that market…NO WAY the market there can absorb the current inventory along with whats in the pipeline…
But they have got you covered with hospitals.
2 in Medford and 1 in Ashland.
If you aren’t medical, logging or retirement or a starving OR Shakespeare Festival actor….NO JOBS
Sunset;…You forgot gas station attendant Pal…In Oregon, you CANNOT pump your own gas…Their version of inclusionary jobs…
Every state could use a program like this to teach their welfare losers to get a life. No more beer with the Lucky Charms and cartoons, it’s time to shove off to work!
Southern Oregon (Ashland-Medford-Jacksonville-Grants Pass) and Central Oregon (Bend-Redmond-Prineville-Madras) are big bubble zones. If/when the money inflows from out-of-state slow down, the market will snap back to fundamentals, i.e., the level where locals can afford to buy. Biggest source of jobs? Housing construction and sales. An area poised for a real estate market meltdown, which is sad because the housing boom gave a much-needed boost there in the ’90s on, after the collapse of the timber industry, and it’s not clear what will replace real estate.
Yes,
Ashland and the Rogue River Valley are way overpriced. And we just can’t wait for another person from Marin to move to town with equity to further the disconnect between prices and reality.
Who the hell wants to live in southern rural Oregon, unless you have the BENDs.
Yes,
Poison oak capital of the universe!
Yes,
Southern Oregon. California prices, Oregon wages.
The Mexican hosing article had me in stitches. What a fitting end to someone’s beach dream. Bye, bye nice twilight years. LOL.