http://jeffreykempe.com Blogging Portland Metro Real Estate. Mostly. Tue, 13 May 2008 22:33:11 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en For those who still doubt that all real estate is local, I thought it would help to compare two areas with approximately the same number of listings (detached single family).  The first - the southeast zip codes of 97202 and 97206, encompassing Woodstock, Eastmoreland and Sellwood - has 438 active ... http://jeffreykempe.com/2008/05/13/a-real-estate-tale-of-two-cities-and-four-zip-codes/ One of the things I love about Lake Grove Presbyterian Church is the amount of time, talent and giving that goes to worldwide mission outreach programs.  One of those is a now ten year partnership, through Worldvision, with a federation of sixteen Wolof villages in Senegal.  Not mission in the sense ... http://jeffreykempe.com/2008/05/07/while-we-worry-about-declining-real-estate-prices-there-are-villages-in-africa-worried-about-their-next-meal/ I said before I people and situation watch, because that can give early cues before the numbers catch up:  Nationally the DOW just went over 13,000 - up 13.5% since January - unemployment went down when it was expected to go up, and fresh $600 checks are taking some of the mental agony ... http://jeffreykempe.com/2008/05/03/april-numbers-theres-somethin-happenin-here-what-it-is-aint-exactly-clear/ For the third time I deleted a comment yesterday.  The first two were easy - one accused someone else who'd commented here of being active on a gay porn site, the other was a typically hysterical lefty rant - this one took a couple seconds to decide. I've said I've been ... http://jeffreykempe.com/2008/05/02/decorum/ LAUGH, and the world laughs with you... HT Bob McCarty via Hugh Hewitt http://jeffreykempe.com/2008/04/28/for-those-steeped-in-the-real-estate-doldrums/ Git reminded me what I forgot in the last post: what will reverse inertia? There are many who blame the media for much of the downturn, and think it's the media that can pull us out.  Emphasizing the negative froze buying; perhaps emphasizing the positive can inspire the thaw.  Wrong on ... http://jeffreykempe.com/2008/04/27/housing-demand-market-inertia-addendum/ [Part 1, supply, here.] Demand = the number of buyers willing and able to buy a home. Willing:  Local factors [Downtown Lake Oswego] Before we can find willing buyers, there must first, of course, be potential buyers. I admit fully to provincial bias when I say I'd rather live in the Pacific Northwest than anywhere ... http://jeffreykempe.com/2008/04/23/for-the-benefit-of-mr-git-pt-2-the-demand-side-of-housing-inertia/ [This began as a one paragraph caveat to the next installment of For the Benefit of Mr. Git, but grew.  I'll post the latter later.]  I'm not an economist.  If you want one, NAR's Lawrence Yun was named by USA Today as one of the top five in the United States.  His tables are elaborate, ... http://jeffreykempe.com/2008/04/18/forecasting-the-housing-market-presumption-projection-and-personal-observation/ The Wall Street Journal published an interactive map today that dovetails nicely with the map linked to by Ron Ares a couple days ago on foreclosure risks.  It details by state delinquency (30-120 days past due) rates of first mortgages, second mortgages, HELOCs and the overall. The good news is Oregon ... http://jeffreykempe.com/2008/04/10/oregon-mortgage-delinquency-rates/ When the RMLS rolled out a new 'green' search parameter over a year ago, and The Oregonian spent nearly its entire business section gushing about it, I wrote the likelihood of its becoming significant was remote.  Even in Portland, where global warming hysteria is matched only by what you find ... http://jeffreykempe.com/2008/04/08/greening-of-the-free-market-no-thats-an-oxymoron-freeing-of-the-green-market/