Hood River Real Estate and Columbia Gorge Real Estate

(This is a repost from Spring of 2008. Get your Last three years Taxes ready, along with a nice heapin helping of patience if you want to buy a home this spring. 60 days to get a loan….ouch)

Ever heard the one about the mortgage broker who blew the financing so that they wouldn’t have to honor the lock?

Or how about the one where the lender went bankrupt at closing?

….Or, how about the one where the bank approved the loan, then pulled back at the very last minute, while the parties were sitting in the closing, waiting for documents to be e-mailed in?

Yes, these, and other horror stories are making their way around the offices these days. while some of them will surely become urban legends, we have been noticing an uptick in alternative mortgage strategies. Here’s a list of a few of them. (These are actually, very very similar to pre-1998 best practices, BTW, for people who can remember Real Estate from back then.)

1. Find a co-signor. This one is a classic, and becoming back in demand. By co-signing with a family member (usually parents) a young buyer gets to get the credit score of a sibling or parent, and then makes the payment. This was a very common arrangement in years past, and we are seeing it come back.

2. Private Money. Sound Exotic? hardly. It isn’t exactly at the bargain basement prices of some mortgages, but you’d be surprised how many people are out there looking to lend money against a Real Estate Asset. Be careful when doing private money deals, because things like remedy, and evidence of payment, etc. can all hurt you alot. Best to get a lawyer to help out, but once everyone is on the same page…..well, these things tend to work out pretty well.

3. Your local bank! Yes, your local bank used to be the only lender in this area, and it is looking like a return to that time is a-comin. get to know your bank manager better. You know how you used to complain about not ever being able to speak to a human at those large mortgage companies, well, now you can speak to a human, only problem is, that human now knows alot about you, so you’d better make sure your payments are current!

Every thirty days it seems to change, doesn’t it?

The buyers are still here, but they are pooling….waiting for the all clear signal. Unfortunately, no such signal is in the offing.

This month has seen an increase in inventory, (slight) of nicer properties in the Hood River County markets. Some have come off of contract (deals from last fall that cannot find financing) Some are new. In the Mid Columbia as a whole, listings are about the same as last year.

January was brutal from a sales standpoint. Median price in Hood River was still steady, but the Buyers have trickled off. In the region, pending sales are off by a bunch, 40%. In Hood River County that number is just under 30%

In short, we need some confidence boosters.

And speaking of short, I’ll keep it short this month. Prices are soft, interest rates are low, the weather is warming up. I can’t imagine better conditions to spark some interest, but everyone seems frozen. What will it take?

See you outside! Next time I post a view, it will be warm….Thank goodness, at least we’ll all be able to exercise….

Happy New Year!

This month has been quiet from a deal point of view, but we sure have been busy with Buyer’s activity. Other companies seem to have picked up too, but still others, no sign of any action. My sense is that there’s been a shift in the sourcing of our Buyers, and it is disproportionately affecting some companies, and not others in the Hood River Realtors market.

The inventory prediction is coming true. Units are dropping, and the pickings are slim. Nice properties are tough to find. Very few Sellers are coming onto the market because of the weak pricing.

One of the bright spots (and this is twisted) is this. The downturn is starting to hit across so many different sectors of the market that properties that are coming to the market seem to be because of something else, and no longer associated with sub prime.

Commodities trader? Markets have collapsed, sell the home in Hood River. Exporting overseas? Market has collapsed, sell the home in Hood River. Auto dealership closed? Sell your home and move away. Get the drift?

How does that all pan out? decent inventory, but hitting in waves unassociated with sub prime resets, etc. Varied drivers as to motivation, but an interesting selection……I heard the other day, the following comment. “Last year, it was Real Estate that was seen as dragging on the economy. In 2009, The Economy is now dragging on Real Estate”

It’s a subtle difference, but it’s a big one.

I was talking to a friend this morning as we drove through town. You can’t buy a new car in Hood River anymore. All the dealerships are gone. I remarked that we might be returning to the sleepy days of Hood River again (I actually said it wistfully, since I really liked those days) He looked at me and said “I don’t think so. I fear that the quieter it gets, the more elite it will get.”

There’s some truth in that, I’m sure…..

Ok, by the numbers, our values are hanging in there. Down only slightly. There’s been an increase in traffic out on the west side, but this seems to be cyclical. Units sold, however, are still down year over year…..by over 30%

This month the Mid Columbia Association of Realtors fees are due. I expect that there will be an exodus of agents and that it will begin this month.

Stay Tuned.