Ultimate Open House

With home prices decreasing and interest rates holding at historically low levels, the number of potential home buyers nationwide who can afford to buy new and existing homes has reached the highest level in more than four years, according to the National Association of Home Builders’ Housing Opportunity Index (HOI).

According to the latest HOI readings,  56.1% of all new and existing homes that were sold during the third quarter were affordable to families earning the national median income of $61,500, far higher than the 40.4% of families who could afford homes at the peak of the housing boom.

“If there is a silver lining to this crisis, it would be that some housing markets have become more affordable with a larger inventory to choose from,” said NAHB Chairman Sandy Dunn. “But this is undeniably a crisis and Congress needs to act on a housing stimulus to get the market moving again.”

The Oregonian, By John Kirkland

Dustin Micheletti said he and his wife Kesia moved to Oregon from California partially because of the lower housing prices. Still, he said would not have been able to afford a home had it not been for a program that will save the couple more than $150 in property taxes per month.

The program is the Single Family New Construction Tax Abatement program. Administered by the Portland Development Commission (PDC), it was designed to encourage home ownership in distressed parts of the city. The neighborhoods eligible for the program, called “Homebuyer Opportunity Areas,” are located throughout north, northeast and southeast Portland. Builders can apply to the PDC to have their new homes or condominiums qualify for the program, and buyers must do the same.

Generally speaking, the sales price of the home must be no more than $275,000, and the buyer’s annual income must be no more than $67,500. If all qualifications are met, the buyer pays property taxes only on the land the building sits on, not the building itself — a considerable savings, since the building is typically valued much higher than the land.

Ann Johnson, PDC loan production supervisor, said those who participate in the program usually pay a third or less of the normal property tax on a detached single family home. The tax abatement lasts for 10 years after purchase. After that the homeowner begins paying taxes on both the land and the building.

The PDC also offers tax abatement programs for certain multifamily developments along transit corridors, and for low-income housing held by charitable, nonprofit organizations.

Read the rest of the story here.  Learn more about the Portland Development Commission’s tax abatement programs here.

From The Oregonian by Connie Potter

After years of writing a check to a landlord each month, Adrienne Livingston decided to invest in herself instead. Last fall she bought a new two-bedroom condominium a couple of blocks from Clackamas Town Center.

“I didn’t want to pay another person’s mortgage anymore,” she said.

It’s a decision that a growing number of single women are making. One-fourth of all first-time homebuyers were single women, according to the National Association of Realtors’ 2007 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. Single women make up more than one-third of the growth in real estate ownership since 1994.

Even today’s volatile economy and uncertain housing market aren’t deterring women from having a goal of home ownership, said Michelle Puggarana, program manager for the Portland Housing Center, a nonprofit organization that helps first-time home buyers.

Single women come to the closing table with a variety of life experiences. Some have never been married; some are divorced or widowed. Some live alone, some live with children, friends or partners. But they share some common preferences in housing. According to the NAR, single women buyers tend to:

• Prefer two bedrooms or more
• Choose resales over new construction
• Buy in city rather than suburban areas
• Be unwilling to compromise on location or quality of neighborhood
• Prefer condos or townhomes with well-run homeowners’ associations
• Desire security and/or gated access
• Want proximity to stores, shopping and fitness centers

Read more….

Then reward yourself with ice cream…Visit a participating Ben and Jerry’s scoop shop on today from 5-8pm, and you’ll get a free scoop of ice cream.  Democracy never tasted so sweet.

From the Daily Journal of Commerce 

Mayhem in the credit, stock and housing markets may look like bad news, but it actually presents some great opportunities for young adults.

The turmoil is bringing prices down to levels that might afford them an economic toehold and, perhaps, a house. By buying low, young people may decide to start a decades-long investing habit. They can take their medicine early and flourish later.

However, serious challenges await the generation that will be asked to repay the loans that the federal government is taking out now. College seniors are graduating into a recession that economists predict will last for a year or longer, and jobs are hard to come by. Benefits like health insurance and 401(k) plans are even scarcer.

If there is one word that best describes how twentysomethings can navigate these waters it is “invest.” Invest, invest, invest. Put money into retirement accounts and the stock market. Build a down payment and get into the housing market. Invest in yourself by continuing to add skills and knowledge. It’s hard to invest all over the place at once, especially if you’re earning a lousy salary, but it will all bear fruit.

It is good to take a long-term view. Everything you do now may seem small, but it will change where you are when you turn 30, 40 and 50.

Here are some specific ways that young adults can make the most of the current mess.

• Invest automatically. If your company has a 401(k) plan, participate to the fullest amount you are permitted. If it doesn’t, create your own automatic retirement savings plan by opening a Roth Individual Retirement Account (IRA) and authorizing a set amount to be deducted from your checking account every month. You won’t miss the money, and down the road you’ll be happy you have it.

• Put that money in the stock market. Recoveries always come after a fall, and they often move quickly. The market crashes of 2008 allow you the opportunity to buy in at low prices. You don’t have to learn to pick stocks; simply find a low-fee, broadly-based index fund from a no-load mutual fund company such as Fidelity Investments or Vanguard Investments and you’ll participate in that recovery.

• Create a savings account and stash something in it each time you get paid. Consider this your down payment/grad school/new car/wedding account. Keep it in the same bank as your checking account so you can easily transfer money into it.

• Start building your career, even if you don’t have a good job. Start networking in your field by joining a professional association and going to meetings. Take extra classes or learn skills on your own that will give you an edge over other job candidates. Apprentice yourself to a mentor.

• Build a solid credit profile. If you don’t have a credit card, get one. If you have one, make sure to make payments on time every month. Use the card only for items you can afford to pay in full at the end of the month, or for true emergencies. Check annualcreditreport.com to see your credit profile.

• Buy your own health insurance, if you don’t get it at work. Even a broken leg can wipe you out if you’re living hand to mouth. You’ll get better care when you do need it. And health insurance is typically cheap for young people. Shop at ehealthinsurance.com.

• Get real estate savvy. This may not be the best time to buy a house, but it is a good time, and that’s likely to last for a while. Start scouting neighborhoods and then use mortgage calculators to determine what you can afford.

• Get money savvy. If you start in your 20s, you’ll still be behind Warren Buffett, who was investing in his teens. But you could become a financial whiz by the time you’re 35, with plenty of time left to put that expertise to use. Start slow and learn a little bit more all the time.

• Defer gratification. You may feel like you’ve already delayed ‘real life’ and grown-up things long enough. But a few more years of living with student-caliber furniture, an older car, fewer restaurant meals and Netflix instead of movie theaters will pay off down the road.

• Get help. Even tightening your belt may not leave you enough cash to invest in a house, a career and a retirement all at the same time. But presented with those worthy causes, your parents or grandparents may be able and willing to help a bit.

The National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales rose 5.5 percent in September compared to August. More importantly, sales volume was 1.4 percent higher than the 5.11 million-unit pace in Sept. 2007, the first year-over-year gain posted in existing home sales since November 2005.

NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun: “The sales turnaround which began in California several months ago is broadening now to Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and Rhode Island. The South was hampered by much lower home sales in Houston in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.”

Calculated Risk points out that September 2007 sales were impacted by the credit crisis that started in August 2007. The current wave of the credit crisis will probably impact sales reported in October and November.

Also see Orgonian Article from from today Incentives bring gains in new home sales

From Forbes 

Money goes further some places in the United States than it does in others.

Housing, in particular, has remained most affordable in the South and the Midwest. That’s because of less stringent building, an abundance of land and growing populations in the South, says Daniel McCue, a research analyst at Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

To determine the cities that offer the best quality of life for the least amount of money, Forbes magazine calculated the ratios between a city’s median home price and its median household income. It also factored in projected job growth. And it compared median income to Moody’s Economy.com’s cost of living index.

Here are the 10 cities that it found to offer the best value.

Cities Where Residents Get the Most for Their Money

1. Austin, Texas
2. San Antonio, Texas
3. Indianapolis, Ind.
4. Houston, Texas
5. Charlotte, N.C.
6. Columbus, Ohio
7. Dallas
8. Minneapolis/St. Paul
9. Denver
10. Portland, Ore.

Home buying and homeownership professionals will lead workshops for future homeowners, current homeowners and seniors. Free ice cream and activities will occupy the kids. Emanuel Hospital Atrium (501 North Graham), Saturday, October 25, 10:00 am to 2:30 pm. For more information, visit the event website.

Also, don’t forget about the Remodeling 101 seminar which is also tomorrow, Saturday, October 25.

From the Portland Tribune by Peter Korn 

You can call it the New Seasons Effect, or the Whole Foods Effect, but developers and city planners have talked about it for years. In short, nothing says you’ve arrived as a neighborhood quite so emphatically as a New Seasons specialty grocery store down the block.

And now there’s evidence showing how much that upscale grocery means to Portland-area property values – an extra 20 percent or so for homes within a block and a half, according to a study by local economic consulting firm Johnson Gardner.

Everything else being equal – same home, same neighborhood – if a specialty grocery store sits within a block and a half of your house, your property values should be 20 percent higher than if you don’t have the store nearby.

And specialty groceries aren’t even No. 1 on the list of shops that will elevate the value of nearby homes. That distinction belongs to small neighborhood movie theaters, according to the Johnson Gardner report.

All things being equal, a small movie theater can raise property values somewhere between 14 and 30 percent, according to the study. Wine bars and garden shops also provide a boon to homeowners. Bookstores, fitness centers and bike shops do the same, to a lesser extent.

Read the rest of the story at the portlandtribune.com.

Read more about the Johnson Gardner urban living study.

First-time home buyers are primarily concerned with affordability when choosing a new home, but their expectations may be too high relative to their current financial buying power, according to a recent Coldwell Banker® survey conducted among its brokers. While nearly half of the Coldwell Banker broker respondents reported that affordability was the No. 1 concern for this group, 81 percent said today’s first-time home buyers consider move-in conditions to be very important when searching for homes. In contrast, only 7 percent are looking to purchase “fixer-upper” homes that they could buy at a lower price and renovate themselves. 

Read more of the report here….