Yesterday I went over the first of three critical elements if you want to generate a quick sale in today’s Astoria housing market. You see, contrary to the belief of some Sellers today you want your house “sold” not “for sale”. The second ingredient is product. Our local market on the Oregon Coast is very competitive, especially in Clatsop County. We were cruising along at 8-10 months of inventory, but in the last three months residential inventory has nearly doubled. How does that effect somebody with an Astoria home for sale? It means instead of 20 homes directly completing with yours in terms of price and location, you would now have 35. That’s right, a Buyer for your home would have 35 other homes that also meet their search criteria. What now? If you priced your home correctly, you... 03/20/2008

Most sellers, if given a choice of when to sell their home, would pick a much hotter coastal market than we have today. Here in Astoria, we’re much better off than many parts of the country but it doesn’t mean your home will sell itself. In my opinion, there’s three critical elements to generating a sale in today’s Astoria, Oregon real estate market. The first and most important element is…. price. A wise man once told me any home in any market will sell quickly if you price it correctly. It’s true for most items, even non-housing related if you think about it. Read the rest here.   03/19/2008

Late last week in a segment on retirement destinations, Barbara Corcoran tells Ann why Astoria is among the 5 best places for retirees. In the segment, Barbara pretty much nails the high points of Astoria living, including a revitalized downtown and excellent health care. She does completely miss the mark on housing prices. You won’t find much more than a wood shed for $150,000, as the median home price in Astoria is over $250,000. The market here starts in the low $200k’s, and mid to high $200k’s gets you an average home. Maybe even a Columbia River view home. 03/17/2008

A quick look at the real estate market here in N. Clatsop County, more specifically Astoria, Oregon. I believe we're looking at the market continuing to improve as we move into spring, likely the rate will be dependant on what rates do.In the last 30 days, the area of Astoria:Active- 85Sold- 4Under Contract- 10Back on Market- 4Expired- 20 02/29/2008

It's amazing how a person's attitude changes with the weather. We've had a couple of bright sunny days here in the last week, and you'd think everybody just won the lotto. People are out and about, in a pleasant mood and thinking towards the future. After a long, harsh winter I know I'm ready for spring to get here. I think this preview of what's to come will brighten the Astoria real estate market as well.    02/20/2008

Delinquent Home Owners Get HopeI think the biggest problem with foreclosures is the the borrower thinks as soon as they get behind that it's to late. That is in fact far from the truth. There's probably several Astoria area homes for sale right now for the simple fact the owner is getting behind on payments or is behind. In my experience as a Real Estate Professional, most borrowers get into a pickle and just give up. This has led to Loss Mitigation Consultants becoming more and more popular. You see, the Lender still looses after a foreclosure is complete and the property re-sold. First, it takes several months after the borrower is in default for the bank or asset manager to get legal possession and ability to sell the property. While this is going on, the lender has to maintain the p... 02/12/2008

The change in the real estate market here that began Jan. 2nd has been incredible. It might just my business, but the attitude of Buyers seems to be better and more confident in the market. I thought I might pull some stats from the Clatsop MLS to back up my theory, but the numbers are to the contrary. I only pulled solds for the 97103 zip, which includes not only the city of Astoria proper but also Knappa, Svensen, Olney, Walluski, Lewis & Clark, Youngs River and John Day.Residential Solds for 97103:November '07- 20December '07- 15January '08- 5One thing to keep in mind is there's a 30-45 day lag in activity from contract to close. So, the low number of closed transactions in January would coincide with the very slow and storm ravaged December. My instinct tells me that February will b... 02/07/2008

Astoria has received it's share of publicity these past few weeks for a sizeable landslide.  It's kinda' crazy to see all the news vans in town keeping an eye on it for the evening news!  I thought I'd post the link to the City of Astoria website for anyone who's curious about it. www.astoria.or.us.  There are updates throughout the week including photos.  The slide is just up the street from our office so everyday as I arrive at my office I look up the road to see how much the hillside is in the street today.  Thankfully the bulk of the slidezone is in an area that the city had the foresight long ago to restrict development in.  The before and after photos are pretty incredible!  The city's website has several good links but be sure to check out my fave- the riverfront trolley link!  T... 03/23/2007