October Real Estate Events & Education

October Real Estate Events & Education

Free RMLS Fall Education Summit & Trade Fair in Pendleton Highlights this Month

Here’s a quick rundown of upcoming Realtor® events & education for the remainder of October in Oregon & Southern Washington. If you have an event that is not listed here, please let us know by commenting below. For future events, please send an e-mail to communications (at) rmls (dot) com.

RMLS Fall Education Summit & Trade Fair: October 8, 2009
Sharpen your skills and learn more about the current market at the RMLS™ Fall Education Summit & Trade Fair in Pendleton, Oregon on October 8. We have three free continuing education opportunities for both Oregon & Washington real estate agents (see descriptions below):

Oregon Agents: 

  • 9:30 – 11:30 am: “Dealing with Distressed Property Market” – Matt Farmer, Oregon Association of Realtors®. Course is eligible for 2 core hours.
  • 1 – 2:30 pm: “Critical Ground Water: Water Quality, Water Quantity, The Basics” – panel includes: Teresa Walchli, Umatilla County Soil & Water Conservation District; J.R. Cook, City of Umatilla; Ken Diebel, Oregon Department of Natural Resources Division. Course is eligible for 1.5 elective hours.

Washington Agents:

  • 9 am – noon: “Current Issues in Washington Residential Real Estate” – Dian Lane. This course is eligible for 3 core hours for Washington agents.

To register for any of these classes, e-mail tradefair@rmls.com.

Other Events & Opportunities:
October 3: Salem Association of Realtors® (SAR) hosts “Talent Show – SARCF Fund Raiser”, benefits the SAR Community Fund
October 8: RMLS™ Fall Education Summit & Trade Fair
October 8: Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors® (PMAR) hosts “Navigating the Realtor® Code of Ethics: PMAR Ethics Training Seminar
October 8: Clark County Association of Realtors® hosts “Foundation Follies” – proceeds benefit Northwest Children’s Outreach
October 8: Eugene Association of Realtors® (EAR) hosts “Lane County Property Taxes
October 12-13: Washington Realtors® Education Conference
October 14: Douglas County Board of Realtors® hosts “Unusual Preliminary Title Reports & The New 2009 Title Updates”
October 15 & 22: EAR hosts “Evaluating Investment Properties I & II
October 20-23: Realtor.com® Marketing & Technology Real Estate Series presents “Survival Guide 2009”, October 20 – Ashland, October 21 – Eugene, October 22 – Salem, October 23 – Portland.
October 21-22: Earth Advantage offers “S.T.A.R. (Sustainability Training for Accredited Real Estate Professionals)” in Portland
October 22: PMAR hosts “At Home with Diversity
October 23: PMAR hosts “Homeownership Opportunities Certification Course
October 28-29: Earth Advantage offers “S.T.A.R. (Sustainability Training for Accredited Real Estate Professionals)” in Bend

Also, if you’re an RMLS™ subscriber, we have lots of FREE opportunities for continuing education credit at a location near you, click the link for your area to view the October Training Calendar:

Coos County
Eastern Oregon
Eugene
Florence
Gresham
Hood River
Portland
Roseburg
Salem
Vancouver

Image courtesy of Ayhan Yildiz

Supra Lockbox Activity – Updated Through Week of September 14-20

Supra Lockbox Activity – Updated Through Week of September 14-20

Lockbox Activity Down In Washington, Up In Oregon

When comparing the week of September 14-20 with the week prior, the number of times an RMLS subscriber opened a Supra lockbox decreased 1.2% in Washington and increased 1.4% in Oregon.


Click the chart for a larger view (Washington, top; Oregon, bottom)

Archive
View an archive of the Supra lockbox statistical reports on Flickr.

HOWNW.com Adds Section on Avoiding Foreclosure and Fraud

HOWNW.com Adds Section on Avoiding Foreclosure and Fraud

PMAR’s public service website, HOWNW.com (Home Ownership Opportunities Northwest) has a new section that offers consumers information from reliable sources such as the National Association of Realtors®, the Federal Trade Commission, Fannie Mae and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency about how to avoid foreclosure and fraud.

To explore these useful new resources, visit: http://hownw.com/consumer/avoidingforeclosure.asp

August Market Action Results Mixed

August Market Action Results Mixed

Same-month sales improve, but inventory rises in many areas

Pending sales in Clark County surpassed August 2008 & 2007 totals

Pending sales in Clark County surpassed August 2008 & 2007 totals

Sales Activity
Sales activity (pending sales & closed sales) outpaced totals from last August in several areas. Clark County continues to post impressive numbers in this category, as pending sales were up 24.9% and closed sales increased 21.4%. Portland posted a 13% increase in pending sales and 4% in closed sales.

In Southern Oregon, Curry County saw a big jump in pending sales, a 75% increase over last August. Coos County, the Columbia Basin region and Baker County also saw pending and closed sales grow.

Housing Inventory
Inventory, on the other hand, rose in many areas this month. However, most of the increases were modest and inventory remains well below 2008 levels.

Portland saw inventory rise to 7.8 months, up from 7.3 in July, but was still 21% below where inventory was in August 2008. Clark County, similarly, was at 8 months in August, but that was 37% lower than August 2008, when inventory stood at 12.7 months.

Baker, Curry, Douglas & Lane counties and the Mid-Columbia region all saw inventory increase in August, but in all cases, it was still lower than 2008.

Days on Market
You may have noticed that this month we have comparable data for the “Total Market Time” (TMT) statistical category. This is the amount of time that it takes from when a property is listed to when an offer is accepted on that same property. If the property is re-listed within 31 days, TMT continues to accrue; however, it does not include the time that it was off the market.

We started tracking this stat in August 2008, so we finally had comparable data this month. As you may recall, we used to measure “Current Listing Market Time” instead, this measure was less accurate as it only tracked the amount of time that a listing was on the market, it did not track the property address (so if it was re-listed, it would reset).

Overall, it appears that it is taking more time to market properties, all of our market areas saw increases compared to last August, with the exception of the Columbia Basin region and Union County.

In Portland it took 135 days to sell a property, up 11.5% from last August when it took 121 days.

October Real Estate Events & Education

September Real Estate Events & Education

Find Real Estate Classes & Events Near You in Oregon & Washington

Here’s a quick rundown of upcoming Realtor® events & education for the remainder of September in Oregon & Southern Washington. If you have an event that is not listed here, please let us know by commenting below. For future events, please send an e-mail to communications (at) rmls (dot) com.

September 10: Greater Portland chapter of Women’s Council of Realtors® hosts “How to Create a Business Plan in Times of Chaos & Craziness

September 10: Portland Metropolitan Associaton of Realtors® (PMAR) hosts “Death of the 30 Day Close

September 12: Salem Association of Realtors® Food Drive

September 17: Oregon Association of Realtors® (OAR) hosts “A Taste of Portland”, a benefit for the OAR HOME Foundation 

September 17: Clark County Association of Realtors® (CCAR) hosts “Barns, Bottles & BBQ

September 18: Eugene Association of Realtors® (EAR) hosts “FHA:  Client Mortgage Options

September 21: PMAR Luncheon, “Preserving Homeownership

September 21-22: ABR Course from OAR

September 23: Education event good for 3 required hours, hosted by Douglas County Board of Realtors® – several topics, read more here.

September 23: CCAR hosts “Make the Phone Ring with Referrals

September 24: PMAR Owner and Manager Forum “New Twists on Old Environmental Issues

– September 24: EAR hosts Oregon Legislative Update

COMING NEXT MONTH: RMLS™ Fall Education Summit & Trade Fair in Pendleton, Oregon – October 8 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Wildhorse Resort & Casino.  The event will feature a session on distressed properties from OAR, a panel discussion on water rights, and more! Visit http://tradefair.rmls.com for more information.

Also, if you’re an RMLS™ subscriber, we have lots of FREE opportunities for continuing education credit at a location near you, click the link for your area to view the September Training Calendar:

Coos County
Eastern Oregon
Eugene
Florence
Gresham
Portland
Roseburg
Salem
Vancouver

Image courtesy of Ayhan Yildiz

The $8K Tax Credit and its Effect on Portland Metro Real Estate

The $8K Tax Credit and its Effect on Portland Metro Real Estate

There’s been some encouraging news lately in the RMLS™ market areas. The number of sales and pending sales are finally outpacing the totals from the same month in 2008.  How much of it might be a result of the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit, though?

I recently put together some statistics for the Oregonian on the Portland metro area, and thought I would share them with you.

There is no question that home sales in the lower-end of the market have seen a big jump this year. In 2007, homes priced between $0 and $249,999 only made up 35% of all sales in the Portland metro area. In 2009 so far, they make up 49.6% of the market. 

As you’d expect, coinciding with the increase in lower-end homes is a drop in high-end homes. Homes priced $500,000 or above have dropped from 13.5% of the market in 2007, to just 8.2% of the market this year.

PDX Home Sales by Price Range

Click on the graph for a larger view

The question is: what will happen when the $8,000 tax credit expires on December 1?

I know the tax credit definitely got me off the fence & I can literally think of 15 of my friends and acquaintances (off the top of my head) who have bought or are actively looking to buy. 

So in my humble opinion, there’s little doubt that the tax credit spurred people to buy. But as the deadline for the credit approaches, it should be interesting to see where sales go.