Economic Forecast from the National Assoc. of Realtors

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has recently released its economic forecast. NAR acknowledges a 4.8% decrease in sales of existing homes nationally in 2010, but reportedly expects a 7.9% rise in 2011, growing another 4.5% in 2012. After a 12.9% drop in the median sales price in 2009, the Nation did see a slight rise of .3% in 2010. Again the National Association of Realtor (NAR) expects the median home price to rise .5% this year and another 2.4% in 2012.

The sale of new residential homes is expected to rebound faster than those of resold homes. New construction is expected to see a 17.7% increase in sales in 2011 after experiencing a 15.5% drop in 2010. It is anticipated that the sale on newly constructed homes would climb up to 30.9% in 2012. That said the forecast predicts that the new-home median price will climb 1.8% this year after seeing a 2.2% increase in 2010.

NAR reported that the average 30-year-fixed mortgage rate averaged at 4.7 % in 2010, and is expecting them to gradually rise to an average of 5.1% in 2011 and 5.9% in 2012.  The economic Forecast also cited that they expect the U.S. unemployment rate to fall from 9.7% in 2010 to 9.4% in 2011 and 8.7% in 2012. I don’t have a crystal ball, but I hope that this economic forecast is reliable. We are seeing stable real estate markets nationwide and I suspect that Eugene and the rest of Oregon are not too far behind.

Eugene Oregon Real Estate

Just Released: 2010 Eugene Real Estate Stats

The final 2010 RMLS stats are in. When we compare the market activity for 2010 with that of 2009, we can see that close sales were up 1.8%! That is great news given that if we were to compare December 2010 to Dec 2009 closed sales were down 6.1% New listings fell to 19.2% and pending sales decreased to 2.2%. If I led with that one could get a false impression. I’m not sure if it will be true for other offices or not, but at my office, Hybrid Real Estate, we have seen a large uptick of “paper” coming in. That to me says that buyers are writing offers this January. They may not all close, but at least the conversation is being started.

Back to statistics. If you compare the average sales price over the last year we can see that it is down 3.9% for the year (2.1% if looking at the median price). When comparing the average sales price of December 2010 with that of November, we can see that the average sales price grew from $202,900 to $205,800 a 1.4% increase. When looking at our inventory we are up from last year at 8.1 months. With that said we did decrease from 9.2 month of inventory the month prior.

The bid appreciation winners of December 2010 were Mohawk Valley at 23.2%, West Lane County Properties at 4.8% and the Coburg Area at 4.4%. We were down overall this month and these areas do not have a lot of volume exchanging hands right now so these numbers to me are a little misleading. Who was hit the hardest with depreciation? Junction City with a 16.6% depreciation (ouch), Pleasant Hill area down 13.3%, Danebo down 9.8%, and River Road down 7.1%.

My beloved Ferry Street Bridge remains consistent at .2% appreciation. Neighboring Gilham continues to suffer down 8.2%. Springfield is hanging in there down just .7% in December. I expect more of the same in 2011, but only time will tell. Consumer Confidents (in the real estate market anyway) seems to be getting stronger. With that said real estate loans are getting harder to obtain and I expect interest rates to start creeping back up. As I have stated in the past, if you can financially afford to do so “Now is the time to buy!” I hate owning rentals (although I have owned several over the years). If I am looking to invest in some cash flow properties again you better bet that there are some deals out there that are just too good to pass up.

Eugene Oregon Real Estate

20 ways to take your office mobile

Chris Smith, co-founder of real estate tech blog Tech Savvy Agent, has a best friend who is an attorney in Miami and just bought his first home. What did the friend like best about his real estate agent? That he never had to meet her.

Two speakers at Inman News' Real Estate Connect conference today helped attendees sort through the best tools and applications available to help real estate professionals take their business mobile: Smith and Adam Hirsch, a former brokerage director of business affairs and now chief operating officer at technology news site Mashable.

Smith outlined the physical parts of an office that smart phone and tablet applications and other mobile tools can now replicate for free or at a low cost:

Continue Reading Here: 20 ways to take your office mobile Inman News