Portland Metro & Clark County: Top 5 Areas – Inventory

Top 5 Areas with the Lowest Housing Inventory in September, Portland & Clark County

Below are the five MLS areas with the lowest supply of housing inventory for September 2009 for the Clark County and Portland metro areas. Inventory measures how long, in theory, it would take to exhaust the current supply of housing. We arrive at this number by dividing the number active listings by the number of sales for the month.

Clark County

Area	Area #	Actives	Sales	Inventory
Lincoln/Hazel Dell	14	34	10	3.4
Five Corners	25	89	18	4.9
East Orchards	26	90	18	5.0
Cascade Park	24	105	20	5.3
Evergreen	22	276	51	5.4

Portland Metro

Area	Area #	Actives	Sales	Inventory
Beaverton/Aloha	150	1,007	204	4.9
NE Portland	142	1,016	185	5.5
North Portland	141	455	75	6.1
Southeast Portland	143	1,396	228	6.1
Hillsboro/Forest Grove	152	880	142	6.2

Become a Local Hero

Rid the Neighborhood of Pests and Save the Pets

Nothing puts a damper on a showing like a rat running around the house or a trail of ants marching across the counter. Naturally, as a showing agent you may want to use some form of pest control to remove these unwelcome intruders. But would you use rat poison?

I don’t know how common the practice is, but a concerned subscriber recently wrote in to ask that we post a message discouraging the use of rat poison around the parameter of a home or other building for sale because of the fatal effect it can have on neighborhood pets.

Tater And Pumpkins While it’s not my place to take a formal stance on an issue like this, I do have a little black pug named Tater and I know I would be devastated if he died from eating someone else’s pest poison. So I did a little research and I thought I’d pass along the information I found as something to consider.

According to About.com these types of poisons can be especially dangerous because “they are made to be attractive and tasty, even to the curious pet.” This goes for all pest removal baits: rat, slug, snail, mice, and ant. It also means that hiding them in the ivy may not be enough to keep other animals from getting into them.

About.com goes on to say it’s best to “make sure that they are safely out of any pet’s reach (and that the pets aren’t able to chew through something to get at them).” The aforementioned subscriber suggests strategically placing traps or poison inside the for sale structure away from other neighborhood animals.

Thanks for considering the nearby animals and their owners when dealing with pest control issues. For more information on poisonous substances for pets see the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center.

Supra Lockbox Activity – Updated Through Week of October 5-11

Activity Slides in Oregon & Washington

When comparing the week of October 5 – 11 with the week prior, the number of times an RMLS™ subscriber opened a Supra lockbox decreased 7.7% in Washington and 10.4% in Oregon.

Click the chart for a larger view (Washington, top; Oregon, bottom)

Archive
View an archive of the Supra lockbox statistical reports on Flickr.

RMLS Market Action Recap – September 2009

Residential real estate sales tick up in several areas, inventory down

This month’s RMLS™ Market Action report showed a trend of increasing real estate sales & subsequently lower housing inventory in many areas of Oregon & Southwest Washington.

Sales Activity:

Closed sales rose in the following areas this month, compared to the same month in 2008:

Area	Closed Sales
Curry County, Oregon	100%
Columbia Basin, Oregon	36.6%
Lane County, Oregon	23.2%
Clark County, Washington	20.2%
Portland Metro, Oregon	9.8%

Third Quarter Sales Up:

September marked the end of the third quarter and compared to Q3 in 2008, Coos County, Curry County, Douglas County, Lane County, Portland and Clark County all saw sales outpace Q3 in 2008. Clark County led the pack at a clip of 18.7%.

Inventory:

Ten of eleven areas that we cover in the Market Action report saw housing inventory drop from August. This can be attributed to rising sales in several areas and as we head into the slower fall & winter seasons, fewer homes are being listed as well.

Both the Portland and Clark County areas saw inventory drop to 7.6 months. Lane County has the lowest inventory of the areas we cover at 6.8 months.

Supra Lockbox Activity – Updated Through Week of Sept. 28 – Oct. 4

Real estate showing activity up in Oregon & Washington

When comparing the week of September 28 – October 4 with the week prior, the number of times an RMLS™ subscriber opened a Supra lockbox increased 1.9% in Washington and 3.4% in Oregon.

Click the chart for a larger view (Washington, left; Oregon, right)

Archive
View an archive of the Supra lockbox statistical reports on Flickr.

Wrap-Up: RMLS™ Fall Education Summit & Trade Fair

Eastern Oregon & Washington agents enjoy day of education & networking

We just finished up with our Fall Education Summit & Trade Fair, held in Pendleton, Oregon this year. About 120 agents joined us for free core education opportunities & a chance to see new products and services offered by exhibitors. This is the first time we’ve done a show in Eastern Oregon & we really enjoyed seeing some new & familiar faces!

Pendleton Show

Matt Farmer of the Oregon Association of Realtors spoke on distressed properties, which remains a hot topic these days. In fact, First American CoreLogic just reported that the foreclosure rate was still rising in August, as it reached 1.8% in Oregon.

Dian Lane with Prudential NW Properties presented on several topics specific to Washington real estate, giving the Washington agents that joined us an opportunity to earn core credit hours.

And finally we had an interesting panel discussion on critical groundwater & water rights, which seems to be an increasingly important topic here in Eastern Oregon.

Thank you to all of you who joined us – we hope you found the information beneficial!

Thanks also to all of the presenters & exhibitors that participated – we couldn’t have done it without you!

Specifically, thanks to: American West Bank, Bear Printing, Director’s Mortgage, Eastern Oregon Real Estate and Homebuilders Guide, Fair Housing Council of Oregon GE Security, Oregon Real Estate Forms, LLC, Superior Schools, Scent Synergy, Suncatcher Studios and Fine Crafts, Top Producer Systems, US Cellular, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage; and Matt Farmer & the Oregon Association of Realtors; Dian Lane; Teresa Walchli, Umatilla County Soil & Water Conservation District; J.R. Cook, City of Umatilla; Ken Diebel, Oregon Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Division and the wonderful staff at Wildhorse Resort & Casino!

Now it’s time to start thinking about the 2010 RMLS™ Trade Fair in Portland – it’s scheduled for April 1. Look forward to more great educational opportunities and some great exhibitors!

Supra Lockbox Activity – Updated Through Week of September 21-27

Activity down in Oregon & Washington

When comparing the week of September 21-27 with the week prior, the number of times an RMLS™ subscriber opened a Supra lockbox decreased 1.7% in Washington and 3.1% in Oregon.

Click the chart for a larger view (Washington, top; Oregon, bottom)

Archive
View an archive of the Supra lockbox statistical reports on Flickr.

October Real Estate Events & Education

Free RMLS Fall Education Summit & Trade Fair in Pendleton Highlights this Month

Here’s a quick rundown of upcoming Realtor® events & education for the remainder of October in Oregon & Southern Washington. If you have an event that is not listed here, please let us know by commenting below. For future events, please send an e-mail to communications (at) rmls (dot) com.

RMLS^™ Fall Education Summit & Trade Fair: October 8, 2009
Sharpen your skills and learn more about the current market at the RMLS™ Fall Education Summit & Trade Fair in Pendleton, Oregon on October 8. We have three free continuing education opportunities for both Oregon & Washington real estate agents (see descriptions below):

Oregon Agents:

9:30 – 11:30 am: “Dealing with Distressed Property Market” – Matt Farmer, Oregon Association of Realtors®. Course is eligible for 2 core hours.

1 – 2:30 pm: “Critical Ground Water: Water Quality, Water Quantity, The Basics” – panel includes: Teresa Walchli, Umatilla County Soil & Water Conservation District; J.R. Cook, City of Umatilla; Ken Diebel, Oregon Department of Natural Resources Division. Course is eligible for 1.5 elective hours.

Washington Agents:

9 am – noon: “Current Issues in Washington Residential Real Estate” – Dian Lane. This course is eligible for 3 core hours for Washington agents.

To register for any of these classes, e-mail tradefair@rmls.com.

Other Events & Opportunities:
– October 3: Salem Association of Realtors® (SAR) hosts “Talent Show – SARCF Fund Raiser”, benefits the SAR Community Fund
– October 8: RMLS™ Fall Education Summit & Trade Fair
– October 8: Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors® (PMAR) hosts “Navigating the Realtor® Code of Ethics: PMAR Ethics Training Seminar”
– October 8: Clark County Association of Realtors® hosts “Foundation Follies” – proceeds benefit Northwest Children’s Outreach
– October 8: Eugene Association of Realtors® (EAR) hosts “Lane County Property Taxes”
– October 12-13: Washington Realtors® Education Conference
– October 14: Douglas County Board of Realtors® hosts “Unusual Preliminary Title Reports & The New 2009 Title Updates”
– October 15 & 22: EAR hosts “Evaluating Investment Properties I & II”
– October 20-23: Realtor.com® Marketing & Technology Real Estate Series presents “Survival Guide 2009”, October 20 – Ashland, October 21 – Eugene, October 22 – Salem, October 23 – Portland.
– October 21-22: Earth Advantage offers “S.T.A.R. (Sustainability Training for Accredited Real Estate Professionals)” in Portland
– October 22: PMAR hosts “At Home with Diversity”
– October 23: PMAR hosts “Homeownership Opportunities Certification Course
– October 28-29: Earth Advantage offers “S.T.A.R. (Sustainability Training for Accredited Real Estate Professionals)” in Bend

Also, if you’re an RMLS™ subscriber, we have lots of FREE opportunities for continuing education credit at a location near you, click the link for your area to view the October Training Calendar:

– Coos County
– Eastern Oregon
– Eugene
– Florence
– Gresham
– Hood River
– Portland
– Roseburg
– Salem
– Vancouver

Image courtesy of Ayhan Yildiz

Supra Lockbox Activity – Updated Through Week of September 14-20

Lockbox Activity Down In Washington, Up In Oregon

When comparing the week of September 14-20 with the week prior, the number of times an RMLS subscriber opened a Supra lockbox decreased 1.2% in Washington and increased 1.4% in Oregon.

Click the chart for a larger view (Washington, top; Oregon, bottom)

Archive
View an archive of the Supra lockbox statistical reports on Flickr.

Open House Info Coming to RMLS.com & IDX Feeds Soon

Look for it on October 1

Effective October 1, open house data will be available on RMLS.com and in IDX feeds to your personal websites. What does this mean?

IDX feeds: your IDX provider now has access to these fields. They may be able to set up an open house search feature for you – ask your IDX provider about what they can do with the new data.

On RMLS.com: users will not be able to search exclusively for open houses, but if there is open house information for a listing, it will be displayed in the listing information. So, if someone sees a house they like, they can look to see if there are any open houses coming up for it.

Benefits? Get more exposure for your open houses! Make sure to enter specific open house data on RMLSweb – here’s how:
1. Go to Listing Load on RMLSweb.
2. Find the listing you want to enter an Open House for and click on the OH/BT button (Open House/Broker Tour).
3. Click “New Open House”.
4. Enter all of your Open House details & click Save.