It's was another busy week in Real Estate in the Gorge. Not that houses are flying out the door but there is a steady stream of sales and new listings.

I'm sure you have all heard about the recent foreclosure debacle, it seems that many were not

processed correctly and now they are halting the ones in process to review documents to be sure that they have been done correctly.

This is going to extend the timeframe for getting these properties on the market, sold and out of the inventory so the recovery can commence.

Good news for buyers is that it will keep prices down and give them more time. Interest rates are so low right now too. This is really a great opportunity to buy in The Gorge, there are great deals in Hood River, White Salmon, The Dalles and tremendous opportunities in Cascade Locks and North Bonneville.

I don't know if words can describe the feelings we have enjoying the last few days of late summer. The trees are just turning, the sun is lower in the sky and is lazy getting up in the morning. But she still smiles on us all day long, while we work and play through our day in the Gorge.I feel melancoly, knowing that soon it will be wet and cold. We take solice in the fact that this means SNOW!! and many of us love to play in the snow or just look out at it. So pretty and full of sparkles.But I'm a summer junkie....and though I love winter too I will miss the warmth of the sun and her beautiful rays of gold...
The saying goes, "absence makes the heart grow fonder" and I certainly have more of an appreciation for summer now than I did growing up in California :)

Real Estate is so interesting these days, it's full of suspense and drama. The latest with the foreclosure situation is that some banks are having to take a second look at properties that they have foreclosed on to be sure the files were propertly processed. Yikes!! Tens of thousands of them.

Some states are holding off on processing any more for the time being, checking their processes and procedures to be sure it's all up to snuff.

What does this mean for us trying to sell real estate and make a living? Well it takes approximately 400 plus days to process a foreclosure. And figure there are hundred of thousands to be processed so best case sceniro is to process them asap and get them sold and off the books and inventory lists so the the market will get back to a more balanced place.

But this sceniro delays that, and keeps us in the declining market longer.

Which is not so bad if you are a buyer. But if you are a seller it means your home could be on the market for another year.

September update:

Fall always makes for beautiful sunsets.

And we are getting some really spectacular ones.

It's harvest time and the pears are coming in, juicy and sweet :) For people on low carb diets this must be a tough time of year. I have a hard time resisting tree ripened fruit of most any kind. It's just too good. Plus it's good for you too.

The economy in Hood River looks to be chugging right along. Town is busy , lots of traffic, resturants are full of people, the merchants downtown say they are doing better than last year

As for the Real Estate Market it is making a slow but steady recovery. We are still down in sales

close to 50% from 2007. That's dollars in. So if in 2007 real estate sales were $10,000,000

today they are $5,000,000. (Thoses are not accurate figures) And 2010 is up from 2009 just a little, but up.

There are deals to be had and I think that if you are thinking about getting into Real Estate, buying a rental or a first or second home now is really a good time.

Market Update August 2010

With the summer moving on, we are moving into the busier season for Real Estate. Visitors that are considering buying are now winding down their vacations and focusing more on Real Estate. This is why we have seen more showings and offers in the past two weeks than in all of July. This has been a typical pattern for many years now.
Sellers are lowering prices in an effort attract those buyers and get an offer. With interest rates so lows and seller motivation high we are seeing a nice third quarter rally.
There is still a lot of inventory which will continue to keep prices down for at least another 6 to 10 months. At least.
The market is seeing a steady stream of Short Sale Properties and Foreclosed Homes coming into the maket place. I predict that this will continue for some time to come in our market.But that is not really such a bad thing. The market is great for the investor and first time home buyer. If you are looking for deals on rentals or that first home you never thought you could afford now might just be the time and USDA 100% loans are available to low income families whose household incomes (1 to 4 people) do not total more that $78,000 dollars. . HUD also has a Home Buying program for those who qualify.
So it’s not all bad news. After all, every cloud has a silver lining..
More soon...Ruth

Last day of July 2010

It was a very beautiful and windy day. I went to the Hood River County Fair for a little while this morning to check in on some friends whose kids are 4 H rock stars!

Hood River is such a wonderful place for kids and big kids too :0)

Though it has been a fairly slow month the last week picked up and we ( the office) have

finished the month pretty well with new deals in escrow.

This is typical for July. The next two months will

tell the real story for the summer selling season.

I'm sticking to my story though, it's better than last year!

Gorge Real Estate News: State of the Market July 2010

Gorge Real Estate News: State of the Market July 2010

State of the Market July 2010

Ahhh ,summer in The Gorge. I believe this to be the best place on the planet in the summer.
Summers here are pretty short and maybe that is why we treasure them so.

So now that you know how perfect the summer is, how about the Real Estate Market?

Well, far from perfect, but better than last summer. Better, is pretty much it in a nut shell,
if you live here in town you may have noticed that there is building going on out on May Street.
The homes are priced between $225,000 to $245,000. That is the hottest price range right now.

And they are selling. Not like hotcakes, but they are selling.

Under $300,000 is moving too. About 3 to 4 a month.

Prices continue to come down, meaning that buyers are still getting the sellers to come off of their last listed price by 5% to 6%.( before the Boom/Bust the average was 2% to 3%) Sellers are often times coming down anywhere from 10% to 20% from their original listed price. We see this mostly in the higher priced properties.

All in all though, life is good in The Gorge.