I have been slow to post and the posts that I have done are posts on The Blazers and other non real estate things. There has been almost no good news. Where I can easily post about the importance of demossing your roof or talk about not plugging all of the foundation vents because that can cause mold, they almost all seem trivial when daily I hear of friends being laid off, others missing payments and close friends being foreclosed on because they felt so ashamed that they didn’t contact someone to try a short sale or loan modification.
I have noticed that posts are down on some of the real estate blogs that I read and there are very few heartwarming stories. I have had a failed short sale which seems partly due to no one listening to me that there was a deadline but they were all very dissapointed and desperate two days later when they wanted to write an offer. Three of them wanted to write an offer.
There are other depressing stories and unfortunately I hear these more than the ones where everyone is doing fine much like a therapist who must feel everyone in the world has emotional problems. I did have a client contact me to ask how I was doing and said that she had two neighbors that seemed to sell their home. I did have an agent ask to see one of my expired listings because, “it exactly fit what her client was looking for.”
A bright spot, which I will probably talk about later if it continues, is how low interest rates are right now. If you look to the right you will see the chart. You can look at the week, month or last three months. I don’t expect this to really matter except for the people that already are looking. If you aren’t looking, I doubt you will change your mind during the holidays.
I feel that the first 6 weeks of the year will set the tone for the year (barring any unforseen events or government actions). I have had showings on homes that hadn’t really been active and I showed my $775,000 listing yesterday. That person will see 4 homes Sunday, with someone else as I don’t do dual agency.
So I will get back to writing here and on the Portland Real Estate Network, writing about useful hints and practical ideas for people in tough situations that I hope will help many people as we get through this rough time. Lastly, one thing I learned, or was reminded of this holiday weekend, only ask questions that you want to hear the answers. I asked my grandfather about the Depression. Enough said.
New photo via http://www.flickr.com/photos/mukluk
Previous photo via http://www.flickr.com/photos/seatbelt67/502255276/sizes/s/ which was nice but there was some confusion so I took it down.
4 thoughts on “Thoughts On Real Estate Right Now”
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Approve.And you're chipper because you got to deliver some keys. :)I called that the Blazers would be 4th in the Conference. They are 3rd in the league as of last night and won tonight with typical scrappy play.
You're just depressed because your NAR/Realtor fees are due in a few weeks…. :)And, by the way, if you're looking for good news, the Blazers are 8-2 in their last 10 games, and 3 for 3 on their latest road trip.
Hang in there! It's going to be a tough 2009, no doubt about it, but forces are in place to help us get through the times. Hopefully the mortgage rate drop will come through for new home buyers. 4.5% is going to attract some buyers!
Approve.Contrary to what some may think this isn't a woe is me post. I was tryingto say that it seems trivial to talk about the mundane things like demossingyour roof when so many are asking me about short sales and avoidingforeclosure. Home maintenance and staging tips just seem out of place when1 out of 10 is at least one month late on their mortgage.My posts have been sparse for the above reason and talking about the baddoesn't help many.