Here on the Summa blogs, we’ve repeatedly pointed to the foreclosure mess when assigning blame for the current housing slump, regularly observing that the huge delay in processing foreclosures has resulted in an unwillingness to buy new and non-foreclosed homes due to the price disparity, driving down overall home prices. But just how bad is the situation? Well, according to Lender Processing Services, very; although it is steadily improving. Read More +
There are a number of reasons that home sales should be seeing a prolonged downturn, such as extremely strict lending standards (although very low interest rates), a spike in contract failures and unemployment rates that continue to be higher than ideal. However, despite all that, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports that home sales actually saw an uptick again in October. Read More +
For the first time in a while, new reports released regarding the economy show almost all good news. According to data that came out today, claims for unemployment benefits dropped to the lowest level in seven months in October. In that same month, new housing construction permits jumped to the highest level since March of 2010. Read More +
A couple weeks ago, the federal Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) announced a forthcoming change to their rules that would offer refinancing options to many paid-current homeowners who owed more on their mortgage than their house is worth. If some recently released data is any indication, those rule-changes may be especially helpful in the Portland metro area. Read More +
While recent modifications to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) hope to help prevent some foreclosures, another federal organization is offering recourse for victims of wrongful foreclosures. Read More +
The widely anticipated Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index was released today, tracking home prices in 20 large US metropolitan areas, and the data are a bit of a mixed bag. Read More +
In an interesting and sure to be much-talked-about move, Congress is considering a proposed measure that would offer a visa to any foreign national making a cash investment of $500,000 in residential real estate (a single-family house, condo or townhome), according to the Wall Street Journal. The investment could go entirely to one residence, or it could be split between at least $250,000 on a primary residence and the remainder on another residential property, which could then be used as a rental. Read More +
Real estate-tracking website Zillow released their list of the 10 most searched US neighborhoods for September and, be it due to curiosity, comparison to one’s own home, or genuine buyer’s interest, Portland placed three neighborhoods in the top 10, including two in the top 5. Read More +
We’re starting this week and month off the right way: with great news! The Summa Real Estate Group is proud to announce two huge additions to the Summa team, Dave Hopkins and Patti Mitchell. Both know the industry as well as anyone, thanks to nearly 40 years of experience between the two of them. Read More +
Updating a previous story, it’s looking more and more like downtown Hillsboro is on the verge of undergoing some major changes. Last night, the Hillsboro Planning Commission unanimously approved a resolution to recommend to the city council that the streets in downtown Hillsboro be converted from one-way to two-way. The goal of the conversion is to stimulate business for the commercial storefronts in the area, revitalizing a downtown district that has grown stagnant in recent years. Read More +
