Th
is Week’s Lockbox Activity
For the week of October 29-November 4, 2012, these charts show the number of times RMLS™ subscribers opened Supra lockboxes in Oregon and Washington. Compared to last week, the numbers decreased in Washington, but increased modestly in Oregon.
For a larger version of each chart, visit the RMLS™ photostream on Flickr.
This Week’s Lockbox Activity
For the week of October 22-28, 2012, these charts show the number of times RMLS™ subscribers opened Supra lockboxes in Washington and Oregon. Compared to last week, the numbers increased modestly in Washington, but declined in Oregon.
For a larger version of each chart, visit the RMLS™ photostream on Flickr.
The Pacific Northwest gets a lot of rain, and stormwater runoff can be challenging to manage. Many cities in the region are starting to build green street facilities in residential areas to reduce the risk of flooding and provide other benefits.
The City of Portland recently released a guide for REALTORS® and homeowners called “Buying or Selling a House with a Green Street Facility.” The guide outlines basic information about these facilities, including how to report a need for maintenance.
Additionally, the caretakers of these facilities remind REALTORS® and homeowners of the following:
• Place “for sale” signs in yards rather than green street facilties or between curbs and sidewalks.
• Inform clients that green streets are publicly owned stormwater management facilities.
• If a green street facility near a property on the market needs maintenance, contact the City of Portland.
Facilities like these exist outside of Portland as well—REALTORS® in other areas may equally benefit from reviewing these materials.
This Week’s Lockbox Activity
For the week of October 15-21, 2012, these charts show the number of times RMLS™ subscribers opened Supra lockboxes in Washington and Oregon. Compared to last week, the numbers declined in Washington, while Oregon saw a marginal increase.
For a larger version of each chart, visit the RMLS™ photostream on Flickr.
Here’s a quick rundown of upcoming real estate events & education for March 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.
Save the Date:
-April 1: RMLS™ hosts the 2010 RMLS™ Trade Fair at the Oregon Convention Center, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Events around the Region:
-March 4: The Eugene Association of Realtors® offers “I Have My License, Now What?” course
-March 6 & 7: Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland hosts Tour of Remodeled Homes
-March 11: Women’s Council of Realtors® – Portland Chapter hosts Business Resource Breakfast: Referrals & Networking
-March 11: PMAR® –Recognizing Fraud in Today’s Marketplace educational event
-March 17: PMAR ® hosts Navigating the Realtor® Code of Ethics training seminar
-March 25: Clark County Association of Realtors® hosts RPAC Dessert Auction at The Heathman Lodge
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 March Training Calendar:
– Coos County
– Eastern Oregon
– Eugene
– Florence
– Gresham
– Hood River
– Portland
– Roseburg
– Salem
– Vancouver
Start the year off right with a real estate refresher
Here’s a quick rundown of upcoming real estate events & education for the remainder of January 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.
– January 6: Clark County Association of Realtors® (CCAR) hosts Get Connected 2.0
– January 14: Women’s Council of Realtors® – Portland Chapter hosts Real Estate Business Resource Breakfast Series: Economic Forecast featuring Mindy Sullivan – reservations due January 12 – e-mail wcr.portland@gmail.com for reservations.
– January 14: Oregon Association of Realtors® hosts International Relocation Services from Start to Finish
– January 14: Eugene Association of Realtors® (EAR) hosts Contract Organization
– January 20: East Metropolitan Association of Realtors® hosts 4th Annual Super Meeting featuring Oliver Frascona
– January 21: Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors® (PMAR) hosts From Surviving to Thriving
– January 21: EAR hosts Good Record Keeping
– January 27: Douglas County Board of Realtors® hosts Let’s Just All Be Friends – Antitrust and Social Media Issues
– January 27-28: Earth Advantage offering classes for S.T.A.R (Sustainability Training for Accredited Real Estate Professionals) program
– January 28: PMAR hosts Navigating the Realtor® Code of Ethics: PMAR Ethics Training Seminar
– January 28: EAR hosts Disclosure & Risk Management
– February 4-5 Seattle King County Association of Realtors® hosts CRS205 – Financing and Tax Advantages for Agents & Clients Seminar in Vancouver
Also, if you’re an RMLS™ subscriber, we have lots of FREEopportunities for continuing education credit at a location near you; click the link for your area to view the December Training Calendar:
– Coos County
– Eastern Oregon
– Eugene
– Gresham
– Hood River
– Portland
– Roseburg
– Salem
– Vancouver
Image courtesy of redstamp.com, available under a Creative Commons – Attribution-Share Alike license.
Remember when everyone was worried about Y2K in 1999? Well, this year is nothing like it, but you might be curious to know what will happen with listing IDs on RMLS™ when we leap into 2010.
As you may know, the first number currently indicates the year (ex: 9000002) but what will happen when we hit the new decade? It will still indicate the year, but the listing IDs will increase from seven digits to eight. So, for example, in 2010, listing IDs will start at 10000002.
For our subscribers with IDX feeds, we have notified your providers about this change, so they should be prepared and you won’t need to stock up on emergency supplies like I did for Y2K.
Photo courtesy of jagarts.
We all know that FHA Loans have increased in the past few years with the changing market, but how much? I recently ran some numbers on financial terms, a required field in RMLSweb, that may shed some light. These numbers are for the Portland metro area (Clackamas, Columbia, Multnomah, Washington and Yamhill counties).
As you can see, sold listings with the financial terms “FHA” have increased in the RMLS Portland market area from just 1.2% in 2007 to 28.1% of sales through October 2009. These numbers are closely in line with national levels; a recent report stated that FHA loans are up to 30% this year from 3% in 2006.
Do you think we’ll continue to see FHA loans grow in popularity, or will it change if plans to make some FHA loans require a down payment higher than 3.5% go through? Realtors, let us know what you’re seeing out in the field – leave a comment below.
It’s our favorite time of year, a time for family, succulent turkey, delicious pies, stuffing… well, we could get carried away about the food… more importantly, though, it’s a time to give thanks.
To our subscribers, we want to thank you for:
– Cooperation. The network of more than 12,000 real estate professionals that subscribe to RMLS™ have assisted 31,122 people in Oregon and Washington with a real estate transaction in 2009.
– Your feedback. You’ve provided lots of feedback about our services this year. We received more than 2,100 responses alone in our first ever customer satisfaction survey. While we evaluate the survey results, we encourage you to continue to provide feedback and suggestions on RMLSweb – just scroll over Toolkit and click on Questions/Comments. We serve a diverse group of customers, each with unique business needs. While it might not always be possible to meet each need, we’re doing our best to listen to all of your ideas and work toward making them a reality.
– Your patience. We’re proud to say that, aside from planned outages, RMLSweb has officially been available 99.9% of the time this year. But sometimes we have to close up shop to make changes or additions and, on rare occasions, something goes wrong. Thanks for understanding when we aren’t available for you.
– Our subscribers who serve. RMLS™ Realtor®-subscribers comprise our Board of Directors, Service Advisory Committee, Technology Committee, Forms Committee and Rules & Regulations Committee and also serve on other task forces as needed. Thank you to all who generously contribute their time and efforts to helping guide our decisions.
– Reading this blog. We’ve had over 10,000 visits since we launched this blog in June and we’re starting to have some great conversation about RMLS™, market trends and other industry news. Thanks also to the hundreds of followers and fans of our Twitter & Facebook accounts. We hope you’ll continue to make these a part of your online activities and that you’ll join in the conversation.
– Attending our classes and events. Approximately 4,000 of you have chosen to take an RMLS™ class or have attended an RMLS™ Trade Fair this year. We hope that you’ll continue to take advantage of these free educational opportunities.
We’re thankful for being able to work with such a great community of Realtors® and real estate professionals and we wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving and holiday season!
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Dickert, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
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 |