….My Lovely video camera now seems to have a conflict with my Windows 7, thus I am flummoxed. No video this month. Cut my hair and all! I might still get it posted in time….so scroll down.

This month on the view sees a slight increase in activity, primarily around qualifying tax credit buyers. There certainly are a few of them out there.

Inventory on select properties is beginning to look thin, and (gasp!) do I sense a price uptick? Nah, not really, but there do seem to be some gaps in some areas. Unfortunately, that used to mean people would turn to properties with “flaws” and then make offers, but these days, the buyers are still waiting around…..

Many Sellers who don’t have to sell, still aren’t. That will certainly cause “select” inventory to be tight. This tightness even leads to multiple offers, which will perhaps lead to….(Gasp!) Price uptick?!…….

Nah, headfake again.

It’s a bit funny, we have Buyers, we have Sellers. Select Seller’s properties aren’t fitting Buyers filters, so we have lots of inventory that is just sitting…………Buyer thinks they should “get a deal” and wait for the best property, select Seller thinks, “I don’t really have to/want to sell” and sits on their pricing. Some Sellers, however, need to sell their property……..and eventually get there, but in the process, turn off the select Seller even more……Not sure where that ultimately leads……………Tight select inventory, soft prices. Hmmmmm.

I suspect the Tax Credit will again be extended until the end of the year, there’s just too much weakness out there still. It’s made it’s way into the HR market, but the damage is still contained…. I still have my concerns about the Balance sheets of many banks and their foreclosures, but that’s finally been picked up in the national news, so I’ll lay off that topic for awhile.

Unless there’s a giant flush of inventory on the market starting in April (an event that commonly occurs) we are going to start seeing some choppy issues in pricing with a bias towards strength. It probably wont lead to anything (see above) and there’s a school of thought that says that will be the “market action” for the entire year. I’m not that much of a doomsayer, but I’m certainly ready for it. A double dip recession is still a very real possibility………

The Reformed Good Faith Estimate forms are apparently, not open to revision for the next year. Ouch. That’s going to confuse a lot of people. Get ready for it. It will probably create a whole new way of doing business for the mortgage brokers. Currently, a few of them have attempted a run at a 30 day close…but so far, I don’t think anyone has made it…..Still, expect 40-45 days for just about any close except the most vanilla….(20% down, newer property with good comps and the inspector waiting to do the inspection the day you ink the deal….and I think 30 days is doable)

Summer looks to be reasonable for us, and for Hood River. Early season warm days have brought everyone out of hibernation, and it’s good to see the snowbirds returning….Nice to get out in our garden too! See you next month when we’ll have a good idea of the Summer inventory levels. If they are low, prices will stiffen. If they are high………..look out below! (Select Inventory depending…..)