Real Estate Information Archive

Move Up or Downsizing Homebuyers

Saturday, January 30, 2010

by Liz Warren

If you have lived in your home for five of the past eight years in the Mt. Hood area from Welches, Rhododendron, Brightwood to Government Camp, opportunity is knocking and you should take advantage of it! Say you want to move into a larger home and take advantage of today's lower prices or you are ready to retire and want to downsize, a unique opportunity is at hand. Not only are you able to take advantage of today's incredibly low interest rates, there is a stimulus bonus of $6,500 if you purchase before April 30, 2010 and then it goes away!

There are income limits but most people in our area will meet those limits. I've already had one set of clients take advantage of this. They sold their home on the mountain and relocated to Bend to purchase a foreclosure. Not only did they reap the tax free gain on their primary home, they will get the $6,500 tax credit in the purchase in Bend.

Time is wasting, ACT NOW to get this tax credit!

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Mt. Hood Move up or move down buyers

Mt. Hood Land Swap Update

Sunday, December 20, 2009

by Liz Warren

The time frame for the land swap in Government Camp could take at least two to five years to complete according to the USFS. This was swap was passed in the Wilderness Bill by the Obama administration this year but the 64 steps of paperwork could take a long time.

Sen. Ron Wyden, Rep. Earl Blumenauer and Rep. Greg Walden are trying to get the head of the Forest Service to speed up the process. A "speedy" process at the Forest Service is two to three years. It will take around $2,000,000 to complete the process and the issue is money to do the work and fulfill the 64 steps the agency needs to complete.

For anyone who does not know what the land swap is, this is a trade between Mt. Hood Meadows LLC who own 770 acres near Cooper Spur, for 120 acres adjacent to the existing Government Camp boundaries to environmentally protect sensitive areas near Cooper Spur. This debate had been going on for over 20 years.

For details on the process visit this article in the Oregonian.

This link will take you to the 27 page GAO report by the Government on the land swap and their investigation of the process back in 2006.

Eventually, there will be more land for building either single family or multifamily units in the Government Camp area as Mt. Hood Meadows acquires this land for development. The question is, how long will this process take and how quickly will Mt. Hood Meadows start the process for development.

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Mt. Hood Land Swap

Mt. Hood RMLS Summary for 11/09

Sunday, December 20, 2009

by Liz Warren

The Multiple Listing service has published their numbers for the Mt. Hood area November statistics. The good news is that compared to this time in 2008, sales are up 55%. The devastation of the stock market crash took its toll on real estate sales as shock set in and credit tightened.

Many sellers "tried" to sell this year with 312 properties for sale but only 91 have been successful so far. Marketing times are longer with an average for the November sales at 131 days.

Mt. Hood has plenty of great inventory for sale with the best interest rates for purchase. Predictions are that they will remain low through the beginning of 2010. The first time home buyer market will drive the majority of sales for the first half of 2010. If you wish to talk about the current market and where it's going, give me a call or shoot me an email.

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Market Action for Mt. Hood November 2009

Mt. Hood Market Statistics 11/09

Sunday, December 20, 2009

by Liz Warren

The good news is that the numbers are still strong for sales through Novemeber this year for Government Camp, Welches, Rhododendron and Brightwood. Since June things have picked up since a major lull starting in the fall of 2008.

Fourteen sales happened in November with a surprising large group of forest service cabins on leased land leading the pack. Five forest service cabins sold this month! One Government Camp chalet sold in November. This is a bit surprising since fall is often the most active time of the year for buyers picking up their winter landing spot for winter activities.

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Mt. Hood sales for November 2009

Mt. Hood Home Values

Friday, December 18, 2009

by Liz Warren

How do you decide what to do when you are underwater on your mortgage payment? Do you go for a short sale, deed in lieu of foreclosure, Just walk away, what do you do? Probably the number one thing to do is talk to an attorney! Find out the implications and financial obligations any choice will give you in these turbulent times.

Here is a web site that was recently put up which may help you figure out what to do prior to visiting your attorney for advise. Visit www.payorgo.comto plug in the numbers. This is not a site with legal advise but if you want to play around with numbers and different senarios of future value, it might help.

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Mt. Hood Home Values

Foreclosure Facts From Mortgage Bankers Association

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

by Liz Warren

Here are some recent numbers from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

1 in 7 loans are delinquent right now.

1 in 22 families in the US. are in the process of loosing their homes right now. (last year 1 in 34)

There will be 2.9 million foreclosure starts this year based upon these numbers.

This info comes from the Center for Responsible Lending. This is a great website that has information on credit cards, fees, lending and money matters.

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Foreclosure Facts on Mt. Hood

Mt. Hood Area October 2009 Sales

Thursday, November 12, 2009

by Liz Warren

The Portland Metro RMLS has just released the market stats for October 2009. Our area from Rhododendron, Government Camp, Brightwood and Welches saw a total of nine sales close this month. This brings total mountain sales up to a total of 77!

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Mt. Hood Sales for October

Mixed Bag of Mt. Hood Sales in October

Thursday, November 12, 2009

by Liz Warren

October sales were a mixed bag of sales. Two foreclosures closed and two forest service cabins on leased land. A big surprise were the upper end properties which closed this month. After a major drought and tightening of financing over the past year a few came to fruition. One of these properties had been for sale nearly FOUR years.

Government Camp totaled three sales as folks were gearing up for this winter of skiing! The number of second homes selling this month show improving economic conditions!

Here are the sales for October