Later this month we will be adding mapping to several searches in RMLSweb including Advanced Search and Prospecting. This will allow you to choose between searching via custom Map Ranges or Area Numbers in the future.

To schedule a training session on this new release, call your local RMLS™ office, or e-mail training@rmls.com.

Rumor has it that first time buyers (thanks to the $8000 tax credit) and investors are making the bulk of home purchases these days. Like all savvy shoppers, I’m sure they want to make sure they are getting a good deal.

While, ultimately this is extremely personal calculation (because it depends on the buyer’s income, mortgage rates, how well the house will meet their needs, etc.) there is one generic indicator that we can use to get a sense of where the market is at overall: the Affordability Index.  

This graph shows the affordability index for the Portland Metro Area by quarter since Sept. 2003.

According to our calculations (which are based on a formula we got from the National Association of Realtors a while back) houses have been becoming increasingly more affordable since September 2008. But what does that mean?

Let’s look at the index rating for April, which was 1.41 (see graph above). In theory, someone making the median family income $70,000 according to HUD (surprisingly it’s up this year) would earn 41 percent more money than they would need to be able to afford the monthly payment on the median priced home in the Portland Market ($246, 400 according to the April 2009 Portland Market Action–of course).

That is IF they got a loan at the 4.81 percent average interest rate per Freddie Mac in April AND they had a 20 percent down payment (which we all know isn’t all that common for first time home buyers these days).

Question is: what will happen now that interest rates are starting to creep back up? We’ll let you know in the July issue of Market Action—that’s the next time we calculate and report affordability in the newsletter.

We sometimes get reports of homes being entered into RMLSweb as detached homes, when they are in fact, attached (or vice versa).  We realize this can be confusing at times, so let’s briefly review the attached v. detached question. 

Let’s start with the textbook definitions:

“Attached: An element of the residence’s construction (such as a wall, ceiling, or floor) is shared with another property. Condominiums excluded.” 

“Detached: A stand-alone residence, excluding manufactured homes, for which the sale includes the land on which the residence is located.”

Now – remember how your teachers would have you come up with acrostic poems? It’s when you take each letter of your name or a word & you have to use it as the first letter in each line of the poem (here are instructions on how to write an acrostic poem… in  case you wanted to know).   

We came up with one each for Attached & Detached houses to help you remember the difference!

ATTACHED: 

Adjoined

To 

Things, such  

As

Ceilings and walls of other

Houses,

Especially  

Duplexes

DETACHED: 

Disconnected from  

Everyone, especially from

Those

Adjacent buildings,

Construction, and 

Housing. But, connected to

Earth and

Dirt 

Ok, I’m aware that acrostic poems probably won’t be particularly helpful in remembering what’s attached v. detached, but just let this silly attempt at a mnemonic device serve as a reminder to be cogniscent cognizant of the issue when entering listings. And if you’re ever unsure, feel free to give us a call!

Oh, and in case you want the original poems, I wrote them on this cool writing paper I found online: 

My originals, missing is the "F" for poor penmanship.

June is National Homeownership Month and if you read the blog, you probably know I am a new member of the homeowner community.

After getting through my first transaction, I can say that I definitely understand how some first time homebuyers can be intimidated by the process of buying a home. Per the old adage, “nothing good comes easy”, and I emphasize the good.

Between choosing a Realtor and a lender, finding the right home, negotiations, inspection and the mounds of paperwork at each step, it can make your head spin when you have no experience with it. Fortunately, Realtors help alleviate all of those concerns and lend understanding to each stage of the process.  

However, for those first time buyers who may not have chosen a Realtor yet, or a just looking for more information, our friends over at the Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors® (PMAR), have put together a great website for potential buyers –  HOWNW.com (Homeownership Opportunities Website Northwest).

The website features a very helpful Home Buying Process section. I peeked at the site a few times before I decided to buy and found it very helpful. The site also includes a section that allows potential buyers to search for homeownership programs that may fit their needs.

Even though I had a good Realtor, along with friends, family & colleagues around me that are knowledgeable about real estate, I still found it stressful at times (I’m a worrier), so I think any other resources that can shed some light on the process are worth highlighting – here are a few others I was able to find: 

American Bankers Association – National Homeownership Month Resources

CNN Money: Money 101 – Buying a Home

Portland Housing Center: Schedule for Homebuying 101 Classes

Image courtesy of John Salazar

We know you’re curious how the market is doing. We are too! We’re guessing that you’ve probably had buyers asking if “we’ve hit the bottom yet” and sellers asking you how much longer it will take to sell their house. We don’t have a crystal ball, but we’ve been trying to provide you with more information to help you answer your clients’ questions.

 You may have noticed Supra lockbox access graphs and charts. These stats should give you a sense of how many lockboxes are opened on a daily and weekly basis. Plus, we’ve added a graph to show you how that activity has changed through 2009.

 Today, we’re releasing some brand new information: the number of new saved searches and the number of new prospects by RMLS™ subscribers per week since January 1! We hope these stats will be useful in helping you get an idea of when new buyers are joining the house hunt.

Saved Searches 5-24-2009

New Prospects 5-24-2009

We welcome your ideas of other stats you think might be useful. We can’t promise that we’ll be able to gather them for you, but we will try to incorporate those ideas whenever we can.

Just wanted to quickly plug an upcoming event hosted by PMAR on June 8: “Internet Networking Survival Skills”.

David Gibbons from Zillow will share his experience with social media and help you learn how to avoid common pitfalls.

Natalie and I, along with a few other folks from the team attended REBarCamp PDX (Real Estate Bar Camp), a fantastic “unconference” that was held in April and David was one of the speakers. He, along with the other great presenters, gave a lot of helpful advice that we are keeping in mind as we venture into the social media sphere.

So, if you’ve been using, or are thinking about using sites such as Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, but aren’t sure where to go with them – check out this event! 

Image courtesy of ilco

REALTORS® have a tough job in trying to accurately & positively portray their listings, while also trying to set them apart from the pack (especially with a high-level of inventory), and I imagine it’s probably hard at times to find the right word (I can sympathize). With that said, I thought it might be interesting to see what adjectives are commonly (and not so commonly) used.

I did a quick survey of  adjectives on active listings in RMLSweb; the survey was of words that appear in the “comments” (private or public) fields in RMLSweb.

The winner was “great” at 34%, followed by “beautiful” at just over 20%. However, I should note that I do have some suspicion that the term “great room” may have affected the outcome. 

Here are the Top 20 results:

Click on the graph for a larger view

Those are the top 20, but I also spent a lot of time in the old Synonym Finder book by J.I. Rodale that we have sitting around the office. I checked out 65 words total in this highly UNscientific study (I had to stop somewhere!) Here’s the full list.

I probably missed some other common ones, but one can only spend so much time… let me know if you noticed any omissions!

Looking for Unique Language for Your Listing?

If you’re looking to be unique in your listing language, here are some words that I didn’t see in any listings:

Bewitching
Prodigious
Winsome
Wondrous
Tip-top
A Number 1 (ala Frank Sinatra)
Bang-up

Also, if you want to reach out to the younger generation, check out the Online Slang Dictionary – some very good stuff there.

This is what it looked like when I tried:

“This crib is totally fresh. It is in a bomb diggity location just outside of Portland. The kitchen is totally bonkers, with choice granite countertops & bumping hardwoods.”

DISCLAIMER: I don’t actually recommend that you use any of the aforementioned adjectives in your listings… However, if you want to, more power to you.

Are first-time homebuyers making an impact on the real estate market?

I recently received a statistical request from a writer at the Oregonian who wanted to know if over the last year the percentage of buyers in lower-price ranges has risen. As it turned out, in Portland, those buying homes in the $0 – $499,999 range now make up nearly 4% more of the market of homes that sell compared to 2008, while those buying homes from $500,000 – $1+ million has dropped off about 3.6%.

This influx could be attributed in part to first-time homebuyers who are jumping at the opportunity that is being presented to them, given the $8,000 tax credit, historically low interest rates and significantly lower purchase prices.

You can count me among the many first-time homebuyers taking advantage of the opportunity and I am seeing friends taking advantage of the deal as well. If they have some money saved, jobs they feel secure at, and a desire to own – they are looking to buy.

Temper Expectations

You’ve probably dealt with first-time homebuyers who expect amazing homes for their money. Sure, maybe they’ll get one, depending on their price range, but my experience was not as such.

In my price range ($200k – $230k), what I found in the areas that were attractive to me, was generally good, but older homes that may need some updating (and in fact, that’s what we bought).

My point is, remember to manage the expectations of these buyers, as they may have grand ideas in their head due to some reports in mainstream media. Obviously they should buy a home that they’ll be happy in, but also remind them that this is an amazing opportunity right now to make a sound investment for the future.

Image courtesy of bellemedia.

We realize you don’t always have time to login and scan the RMLSweb newsletter page for the latest updates when you’re busy running your company, developing your personal brand, listing property and meeting with clients. We get exhausted just thinking about it. So we’ve decided to try and bring this information to you in the virtual worlds where you already work and play.

For example, you can subscribe to our new blog with your RSS reader and you’ll be able to easily see when we post something new. Then you can choose to read it on your own schedule.

Plus, this blog allows us to talk about other industry related information that may be interesting to you, but wouldn’t normally be appropriate for the RMLSweb newsletter page or a direct e-mail from us. 

We’ve also created an RMLSweb Twitter account to keep you updated with quick bursts of information. Follow us @RMLSweb.

We hope you will find the information we post here to be interesting and useful. Please don’t be shy. We welcome your comments, questions and suggestions.

P.S. I almost forgot! Just for fun we’ve created a Facebook fan page. Hope to see you there.

Image courtesy of Billy Alexander.