Betty Jung's Blog

During these holidays we get so busy, we are always in a hurry, and we don't take the time to enjoy some of the simple, and best, life has to offer.

When I first started writing this blog, I wrote a post "In Awe". I had written about the simple things I really enjoy...the things that take my breathe away such as the smell of fresh grass, a rainbow, lights shining on freshly fallen snow, etc. The following is a reposting from another blogger in San Diego (San Diego Blog by Gary Glaser), that pretty much talks about the same thing I did in my post and it made me stop and think again. I took some time to dwell on what he said.

This week marks the start of the holiday frenzy. Don't forget to take some time for things that don't cost any money and could be the jewels of your day during this holiday season.

LOVE - LIFE - LIVE - PERCEPTION

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007.

The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approximately two thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:

The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:

A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:

A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:

The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:

He finished playing and silence took over.
No one noticed.
No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world.
He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.
Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a true story.
Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.

The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?
Do we stop to appreciate it?
Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made…. How many other things are we missing?

ALL ABOUT.....Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws. Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to http://www.bettyjung.com/).

Portland

Here is Part 2 about our Portland, Oregon real estate market for Q3 2009:

OREGON HOUSING PRICES

OregonLive recently reported that Oregon will see 5th worst housing market in the next year:

Oregon's single-family home prices will fall another 1.8 percent between September 2009 and 2010, the fifth biggest decline projected in the First American CoreLogic Home Price Index. The states expected to do worse than Oregon: Michigan (-6.8 percent), Arizona (-4.8 percent), Washington (-4.2 percent) and Wyoming (-3.3 percent). Looking back, Oregon had the sixth-biggest price decline between September 2008 and September 2009 at 12.6 percent. Ahead of Oregon: Nevada (-25.5 percent), Arizona (-20.3 percent), Florida (-17.7 percent), Michigan (-15.1 percent) and Idaho (-14.9 percent). In both cases, Oregon is doing worse than the national average. First American's national forecast projects housing prices will bottom out in most markets by March 2010, then turn positive. That obviously won't be true for Oregon or Portland. First American's forecast for the Portland market calls for prices to fall 1 percent between September 2009 and September 2010. Here's a spreadsheet with First American's forecast for the 50 states.

DISTRESSED PROPERTIES IN PORTLAND

21.9% of listings distressed in PDX

The AP reports that homeowners’ inability to keep up with payments is now more due to unemployment, rather than the sub-prime loans that contributed to the initial increase in foreclosures.

The latest report from the Mortgage Bankers Association indicates that the rate of foreclosure for people with fixed rate loans and good credit is on the rise.

A quick search on RMLSweb reveals that in the Portland Metro area, distressed properties currently make up 21.9% of active residential listings (this number takes into account listings that require third-party approval, as this typically indicates a short sale and those that are marked as bank-owned).

During the third quarter, Oregon had the nation’s 44th-highest rate of homeowners who were late on their payments, and the 21st-highest rate of homeowners in foreclosure, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Oregon has a lower-than-average number of homeowners with sub-prime loans, but a higher-than-average number of homeowners with alternative or “Alt A” loans. Those include interest-only loans, Option ARM loans, or “stated income” loans, where there was no required documentation of their ability to pay.

Alt A loans, like sub-prime loans, are falling disproportionately into foreclosure. However, the Mortgage Bankers report does not track Alt A loans as a separate category.

ALL ABOUT.....Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws. Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to http://www.bettyjung.com/).

Portland

Here's Part 1 about the housing market in Portland, Oregon for Q3 2009.  Part 2 will appear on Sunday. 

HOUSING APPRECIATION

Portland State University issued their Third Quarter 2009 Real Estate Report indicating which areas showed appreciation during the most recent quarter of 2009 - Q3:

SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL

The National Association of Realtors® reports that 80% of the housing markets across the U.S. had falling prices in the single-family residential housing sector.

Portland, Oregon was not immune to those falling prices, and NAR® reports that Portland for the third quarter of 2009, had prices dropping by -12.2%.

"During the third quarter, 123 out of 153 metropolitan statistical areas reported lower median existing single-family home prices in comparison with the third quarter of 2008, while 30 areas had price gains.

The national median existing single-family price was $177,900, which is 11.2 percent below the third quarter of 2008; the median is where half sold for more and half sold for less. Distressed sales – foreclosures and short sales – accounted for 30 percent of transactions in the third quarter, which continued to weigh down median home prices because they sell at a discount relative to traditional homes. (Portland's median sales price dropped by -10.7% from $280,000 to $250,000 in October 2009).

“The decline in the national median price has moderated recently, and a shrinking supply of unsold inventory suggests we are getting closer to price stabilization in many areas, but we need a steady stream of financially qualified buyers to further reduce inventory and get us to a self-sustaining market,” Yun said. “Foreclosures will continue to come on the market, but rising sales from the expanded tax credit should stabilize home prices by next spring and help to stem future foreclosures."

In another recent report, across the entire Portland metro area, the market as measured by inventory, is the strongest in the $150,000 to $299,999 price range. That market segment has seen a robust sales pace over the previous 12 months (a 58% share) which has been propped up by the government's $8,000 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit.  Homes price in the $350,000-$499,000 range have seen significant inventory increase in recent years, up to roughly 9-10 months of inventory in the Third Quarter of 2009 from only 7-9 months during the 2007 peak.  However, it is a marginal improvement over 2008 at the same time.  The most significant change in the market has been the houses over the $500,000 price.  Inventory at the peak of our housing market for that price point was at 12.6 months to over 20 months for Q3 2009.

CNN recently reported that we still have too many houses on the market for sale.  According to their recent report based on numbers from the Census Bureau:

"...a full-fledged housing recovery will remain elusive until the market can absorb all the houses and apartments that were built during the housing boom. And on that front, progress has been slow.

About one in seven housing units was vacant in the third quarter, according to the Census Department. This year has registered the highest reading since the government began collecting such data in 1965.

Part of the glut comes from a rash of foreclosures as strapped borrowers fall behind on their mortgages.

But rental apartments are emptying out at a record clip as well, as a spike in the jobless rate and a decade of subpar wage growth have sent many Americans back home to live with Mom and Dad."

ALL ABOUT.....Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws. Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
Portland

No longer can you text while driving.  A new word  according to this year's Oxford American Dictionary, is driving while being intexticated and it is banned after January 1, 2010 in Oregon along with talking on your cell phone.

The other day while waiting for my light to turn green, I was watching people make left turns to see how many drivers were on their cell phones while driving.  All but one that I saw was talking on their cell. This is all about to change and will, perhaps, be harder on some folks than others.

The cell phone ban was approved June 24.  If you're planning on visiting Oregon after January 1, 2010, it will cost you $90.00 if caught texting or talking on your hand-held cell phone.  Hands-free is allowed.  Oregon is only one of 7 states that bans talking on a cell phone while driving.  In fact, there's talk the ban will go nation-wide soon.

I wrote a post a while back about the studies that have been done on the driving habits of those talking and driving.  Granted, there are others that don't need cell phones as an excuse to drive recklessly.  However, when I get a call I always try to pull over to the side of the road or I won't answer the phone.  I had a near miss not too long ago with someone else driving while on their cell phone and I don't want to be placed in danger nor do I want to place others in danger.  There are enough crazy drivers on the road already.

ALL ABOUT.....Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.  Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).
Portland

Guest Author:

Changes to FHA Condominium Guidelines

FHA has made changes to the condominium guidelines as indicated in Mortgagee Letters 2009-46A and B. These changes are effective as of December 7, 2009. I have outlined the positives and negatives of the upcoming changes. First there are a couple of definitions:

There are two (2) types of project review:

1. HRAP (HUD review and approval process).
2. DELRAP (Direct Endorsement Lender Review and Approval Process). Direct Endorsement (DE) Lenders now have the option to submit projects under this process or HRAP if they choose. They must have the staff that has the capabilities to review and approve projects. Or they can use an experienced consultant to review their projects for compliance.

Positives:

• If the project has started construction prior to submission to FHA an Environmental Report will not be required. This means that if the plat or development plans and any delineated phase have been reviewed and approved by the local jurisdiction and construction of the streets, sewers, and utilities have proceeded to a point that changes cannot be made to the building an Environmental is not required. Not required under DELRAP reviews.
• Site condos (single family detached under condominium ownership) no longer require project approval.
• Project approval not required for FHA to FHA streamline refinance or FHA/HUD REO sales.
• Condominiums that consist of 2 or more units are now eligible for FHA financing. Previously FHA only considered condominiums consisting of 4 or more units.
• Right of First Refusal now acceptable as long as it does not violate discriminatory conduct under the Fair Housing Act Regulation.
• 30% pre-sale and 50% owner-occupancy down from 51%. That means in a 100 unit project only 30 percent will need to be under contract and only 15 units sold to owner-occupant/2nd home purchasers.
• 1 year waiting period for apartment conversions is eliminated. Previously, outside purchasers in an apartment conversion with tenants, had to wait for 1 year after the Declaration had been recorded in order to close on a unit.
• 10-year warranty not required on new construction as long as the local jurisdiction provides a building permit to start construction and also provides a certificate of occupancy prior to closing.
• Attorney’s Certification no longer required.
• Vertical Phasing in single building new construction or condo conversions is now acceptable. The floors must be legally phased in groupings of no less than 5 floors. At least a temporary Certificate of Occupancy has been obtained and all common areas and amenities have been completed.
• Increase in FHA loan concentration from 30% to 50% for new construction and condo conversions. 100% for existing condos that meet the following:
  • Project has been completed for over 1 year
  • 100% of the units have been sold
  • No entity owns more than 10% of the units
  • Budget has a 10% reserve contribution
  • Control has been transferred to the homeowners
  • 50% of the units are owner-occupied.
  • Reserve Study not required on existing condo projects. It may be required if the budget doesn’t meet FHA’s 10% reserve requirement.
  • FHA will now accept temporary/conditional Certificates of Occupancy for new construction and conversions under the following circumstances:
    • All common areas and amenities for the project must be complete
    • The temporary/conditional Certificate of Occupancy that was issued clearly indicates that the unit his habitable and eligible for immediate occupancy.
    • The jurisdiction that is issuing the temporary/conditional Certificates of Occupancy have a standard protocol for this procedure.
    • Vacant or tenant-occupied REO’s including properties that are bank owned maybe excluded from the required owner-occupancy percentage.
    • Unrecorded documents are acceptable when a project is submitted for review. However, no loan can be insured until the recorded documents are received.
  
  

Negatives:

• No “spot” loan approvals. Existing condominiums must be submitted to FHA for their review and approval as of February 1, 2010. However, I can help with this process.
• No more than 10% of the units may be owned by a single investor. FHA is saying that this will apply to builders/developers that subsequently rent vacant or unsold units. In today’s market, developers are staying afloat by renting units until they can be sold. Now they cannot do that for more than 10% of the units.
• Developers will have to provide a certification that states that:
  • The eligible condominium project complies the all applicable FHA requirements addressed in Mortgagee Letter 2009-46B.
  • All condominium documents meet all HUD requirements, and state and local requirements.
  • Projects consisting of 3 or less units will have no more than 1 unit use FHA financing.
  • The 30% pre-sale requirement is indicated to be temporary, to be re-evaluated at the end of 2010. Hopefully, they will decide to keep it.
  • FHA concentration level of 50% is temporary as well.
  • HO-6 policy now required on FHA condominiums following Fannie Mae’s requirement.
  • FEMA Flood Map required for all projects to verify whether or not a project is in a Flood Zone.
  • Project approvals expire two (2) years from the date HUD issued their approval of the project. I can assist realtors, homeowner’s associations, and management companies with the recertification process.
  • Projects that received approval prior to October 1, 2008 will require recertification on or before December 7, 2010. If they are not recertified by that date, they will be removed from the FHA approved list and have to reapply which requires a full document submission.

  
  

ALL ABOUT.....Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws. Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to http://www.bettyjung.com/).

Portland

On my photo blog Lake Oswego Living. A Photo Blog, on Wednesday there's a new picture entitled "Waiting". I posted the new picture because if you are a move-up buyer wanting to purchase under the new Home Buyer Tax Credit program, you have roughly 5 months and 2 weeks (i.e. approximately 163 days) to sell and close your existing house, plus find and write an offer on a replacement house. That's about 5 months plus some change. Frankly, that's not a lot of time left.

Lake Oswego/West Linn's average time to sell a house in October was 201 days, Tigard it was 141 days and West Portland 197 days. If you put your house on the market today, you might be too late to get your house sold and closed in time plus close on your new house. As an example, if the average time to sell in LO is 201 days, and depending upon the type of replacement home you purchase, such as a short sale, it could take up to an additional 180 days just to close your replacement house. You can see you're already too late to take advantage of the $6500 move up buyer tax credit available to you if you haven't put your house on the market yet.

Granted, you don't have to sell in order to buy and get the tax credit. However, if you need the proceeds from the sale of your home, why are you waiting to list your property?

If you need some help, give me a call, I'd love to be your Realtor®.

ALL ABOUT.....Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws. Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).

Portland

Guest Author:

Bob Chiodo, CFP

Equity Home Mortgage, LLC

www.ResCommLending.com

Apply Here

(Click on Image for Better View)

ALL ABOUT.....Portland.Oregon.Real Estate, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. © Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.  Based on a Blog at WordPress.

(For more local and national real estate information, go to www.bettyjung.com).