Hood River Real Estate and Columbia Gorge Real Estate

****This is a repost of an entry from last year. It explains why people keep on showing up, expecting a bloodbath, and then not finding one. Remember, the reason so many people love Hood River is because, by and large, we move along at our own, simple, easy pace. This can hurt us in times of expansion, but is very helpful in times of contraction.****

…Ok, My phone rang immediately upon that last post with a disgruntled Blog reader. This is what an “underwater Lock Down” is.

In Hood River, your average person buys, or owns a house. They get caught up in some of the market run up hype, but not in the way you might expect. Usually, they take out their new found wealth in the form of a refinance at the higher valuation, but they do not sell. Many of them don’t do sub prime but some do. (Figure more than 60% don’t) and here’s what happens.

Market corrects, but the total negative impact on these people is that their payment is high and they’ve lost money….but only if they sell their home.

They decide that it’s easier to sit tight and pay a couple hundred more dollars a month and wait for the market to recover…..so, they drive their cars a little longer, go out to dine a few less times per year, and generally trim back a touch….but they don’t sell.

What does this mean to Real Estate? The these houses do not come to market…..which is effectively a return to the Real Estate market of 1996-2001………general upside pressure, limited inventory, very little speculation…..

More or less…………….

Check our website. We just turned on streetview, and satellite view through google. Now you can see your property from space, or from just in front of the property itself.

Our Website is probably the single most useful tool in the Hood River real estate market at the moment! Click here to check it out…..

Or:

http://www.copperwest.com/

I have an alternative version of the View From here for the month of August, and I typed it a couple of weeks ago. This one is different from that one. I’m still feeling a bit whiplashed!

Buyers came back with a vengeance earlier this month. It was, seriously, crazy. There were a bunch of offers written, and you know what happened?

The Sellers told them (well, not all) but alot of them to go away. I called it “Revenge of the Sellers.” The Buyers came in with discounted offers, and the Sellers rejected, or countered at full price.

Now there are some upset Buyers out there. And some upset Sellers.

The Buyers think that the Sellers should be happy for any offer, and many (but not all) of the Sellers (and a few quite foolishly I might add) are saying “I don’t REALLY have to sell” or ” I just can’t take less!” (The Latter, I’ve learned from personal experience, BTW, being a terrible reason to reject or counter an offer in a declining market…..)

For some of the deals we were able to put together, (and this is incredible) A much higher percentage of them were unable to obtain financing! Anywhere!

…And now…..Appraisals are coming in low! Yikes. Never has a Seller been able to exert so little control over a transaction in this town (check out hood river real estate).

The future looks really uncertain, but the Buyers keep piling up, and the market data keeps supporting it. YTD pending sales (Although this is now becoming an inaccurate metric, because more deals are flying apart than ever before) are the same in the Hood River Market, year over year. Average price is up (but this is an anomaly, there are a few, very expensive homes that have sold, and then a flock of lower priced homes, skewing the average price slightly higher.)

Outside the Core Cities, it continues to be rough. Skamania County is down 57% In number of pending sales, with a 3.4% decrease in median sale price, and more to come, I’m sure.

Klickitat is down almost 30% in pending sales with a 4% decrease in median sale price. Some of this could be the composition of the units (More cheaper properties selling because of the difficulty of Buyers qualifying) But it sure looks rough.
There are so many transactional challenges to closing a deal right now, that the only way to compensate is through Seller concession. Right now, it’s having less and less to do with the property, and everything to do with the team. And the Down payment. Oh, and the FICO, and the Appraisal.

Have I made my point? See you next month.