by RMLS Communication Department | Jul 16, 2009 | Clark County, Coos County, Curry County, Douglas County, Lane County, Market Trends, Oregon Real Estate, Portland, Statistics, Union County, Washington Real Estate
The latest issue of the RMLS™ Market Action for June 2009 shows increases in accepted offers, closed sales and a decrease in inventory in several regions.
Accepted Offers
The five county Portland Metro Area saw a month-over-month increase in pending sales (8.4% comparing June 2009 with June 2008) for the first time since December 2006. Pending sales also increased for the third month in a row in Clark County, Washington. The following regions also saw an increase in pending listings in June 2009: Coos, Curry, Douglas, Lane, Mid-Columbia and Union.
Closed Sales
Closed sales in Clark County increased14.8% comparing June 2009 with June 2008. This is the first increase since September 2008.
The following regions also experienced increases in closed sales: Columbia Basin, Curry, Douglas and Mid-Columbia.
Inventory
Inventory in all three of our largest service areas (Portland Metro, Clark County and Lane County) dipped to the lowest it’s been since August 2007. In addition, the following counties experienced drops in inventory from the previous month: Columbia Basin, Coos, Curry and Douglas.
by RMLS Communication Department | Jul 14, 2009 | Realtor Safety
We’ve received reports of an alleged scam targeted at real estate agents. In this particular case, an e-mail is sent to the agent & the sender says that they want to schedule a showing, but that they want the agent to call them at their foreign phone number because they are only checking e-mail periodically.
Before you pick up the phone, do some research if an unsolicited client approaches you directly. Image courtesy of Steve Zazeski.
It appears that the phone number is a “premium-rate number”, where the dialer of the number is charged for the phone call, while the owner of the number receives a payment for each call that is made. Needless to say, the potential client is non-existent.
Please be wary of any new contacts that approach you and verify as much information about them as possible. Report any similar incidents to Kelly McKenna at kelly.m@rmls.com .
*Tip: If you ever find an e-mail or phone call suspicious, try entering information or a phrase about the scam (or directly from the e-mail). Victims, or near victims of scams will often post their experiences on the Internet so others won’t fall victim.
by RMLS Communication Department | Jul 7, 2009 | Lockbox, Market Trends, Statistics
As you know, we’ve been tracking the number of times RMLS™ subscribers open Supra lockboxes in Oregon and Washington. Here’s how it looks mid-way through 2009.
In Oregon, May was the high point with nearly 109,000 opens. For the year so far, total, there were 520,900 lockbox opens. 
The same held true in Southern Washington, as May was tops with over 20,000 opens. The total for the year so far was 97,100 lockbox opens.
These numbers should be interesting to watch as we head into the typically hot summer months of July and August. Follow all the latest lockbox activity on our Flickr page.
by RMLS Communication Department | Jul 7, 2009 | Lockbox, Market Trends, Statistics
Comparing Supra lockbox openings by RMLS™ subscribers between June 15, 2009 and June 28, 2009 there was a 7.7% increase in Oregon and a 1.4% increase in Washington from the previous week.
Click the chart for a larger view (Oregon, left; Washington, right)
by RMLS Communication Department | Jun 22, 2009 | RMLSweb
I think one of the coolest things about our upcoming release for mapping on RMLSweb is that you’ll be able to save custom Map Ranges & use them in several different searches (including Advanced Search, Hotsheet Search, Open House Search, Broker/MLS Tour Search, Actual Expired Search and Prospecting).
What does that mean to you, though? I think it will mean different things to different agents, but here’s one scenario:
You have buyers that absolutely want to buy in a particular neighborhood, let’s say St. Johns in Portland. You can set up a Prospecting profile for them and draw the custom map around JUST that area. Now the Prospecting results will only send them listings from the St. Johns neighborhood (as you define it).
Your buyers then find the house of their dreams. They’re ready to put in an offer. Since you’ve saved your Map Range for St. John’s, you can now use it to find comparables through Advanced Search when you are putting together the offer.
Here’s a quick demonstration from John Ayers, our Help Desk Manager:
To schedule a training session on this new release, call your local RMLS™ office, or e-mail training@rmls.com.
