Living Beaverton - Your guide to everything Beaverton

To be honest, I don't remember where or when this picture was taken, but I do really think this is one of the best shots of my Short Stop. (It really shows the true here)



Todd Clark - Broker / Sales Coach
Palazzo Realty Group
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739

This chart below breaks down Beaverton Oregon Real Estate sales by neighborhood, for the week ending 06/26/2008. Sales have been off since last year with the pending sales in Beaverton, Oregon were down 20.4% from 2008 for the month of April when the last stats came out. The good news is that the average sales price was down only 6.6% from the same time last year, but this was a 1% drop since March We are starting to see a few more foreclosures hit the market, but things still seem to be picking up just a little.

Here is a breakdown of homes sales for the week by neighborhood. Just click on the link to your neighborhood for the complete breakdown of what the average of homes that are on the market, how long they have been on the market, how many have sold, what their average price was, and how long they were on the market.

Neighborhood                                                                                         # of Active Listings

Aloha Neighborhood, Beaverton, Oregon :	145
Cooper Mountain Neighborhood, Beaverton, Oregon :	105
Greenway Neighborhood, Beaverton, Oregon :	41
Hart Neighborhood, Beaverton, Oregon :	84
Highland Hills Neighborhood, Beaverton, Oregon :	44
Lexington Neighborhood, Aloha, Oregon :	42
Murrayhill Neighborhood, Beaverton, Oregon :	87
Sexton Mountain Neighborhood, Beaverton, Oregon :	87
Sorrento Ridge Neighborhood, Beaverton, Oregon :	57

Todd Clark - Broker / Sales Coach
Palazzo Realty Group
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739

©2009 Todd Clark - Originally posted at Beaverton Oregon Real Estate Sales by Neighborhood (06/26/2009)

This chart below breaks down Tigard Oregon Real Estate sales by neighborhood, for the week ending 06/26/2009. Sales have been off since last year with the pending sales in Tigard, Oregon were down 20.9% from 2008 for the month of April when the last stats came out. The news isn’t a good for Tigard with the average sales price being down by 8% from the same time last year, This is down more than a percent since April. Though many foreclosed homes have hit the market, the hit to average price of homes seems to be less than expected.

Here is a breakdown of homes sales for the week by neighborhood. Just click on the link to your neighborhood for the complete breakdown of what the average of homes that are on the market, how long they have been on the market, how many have sold, what their average price was, and how long they were on the market.

Neighborhood                                                                          # of Active Listings

Bull Mountain North Neighborhood, Tigard, Oregon :	84
Bull Mountain South Neighborhood, Tigard, Oregon :	128
Greenburg Neighborhood, Tigard, Oregon :	44
Mountainview Neighborhood, Tigard, Oregon :	108
Summer Lake Neighborhood, Tigard, Oregon :	38
Summerfield Neighborhood, Tigard, Oregon :	33
Tigard Neighborhood, Tigard, Oregon :	23
Walnut Grove Neighborhood, Tigard, Oregon :	33

Todd Clark - Broker / Sales Coach
Palazzo Realty Group
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739

©2009 Todd Clark - Originally posted at Tigard Oregon Real Estate Sales by Neighborhood (06/26/2009)

On May 1, 2009, the government put in to place the HVCC appraisal law which stands for Home Valuation Code of Conduct, which was supposed to help to keep agents and mortgage brokers from being able to talk to appraisers and keep them from swaying the value they put on a home.

But, within that law, there were some things put in by (I’m guessing) some very smart bankers. Now I believe they are being very predatory, almost even more than they were two years ago.

No, I don’t own a tin foil hat, but they are starting to look comfortable. You see, one of the lines in the new HVCC law was that once the appraisal is ordered it can’t be transferred to a new lender and another appraisal would have to be ordered.

What good does this do for the consumer? It keeps their mortgage broker from shopping for a better loan with a lower rate. Because even if they found a better loan, that mortgage broker and buyer would have to start the whole process over again and pay for another appraisal and ask for an extension that the seller, more than likely, won’t accept.

So, now that the buyer is stuck with a loan that isn’t the best loan for them and there is nothing they can do. They sit and wait for their close with their interest rate lock date slowly getting closer and closer.

I’ve looked at my company’s books over the past month and a half and what I discovered was of the loans that were required to use HVCC approved appraisers only one of them closed on time. All the others closed anywhere from 22-47 days later than their scheduled closed date.

Now, here is where the fun begins…

In talking to every one of the agents in those deals, every one of those buyers lost their interest rate locks during those 22-47 days and now were stuck paying anywhere from 3/8 to a complete percentage higher than they would have if they had closed on time. That, to me, is the meaning of predatory lending. The worst part is they could have possibly saved even more if their mortgage broker could have found a better loan during the time of inspection and close. But because of the HVCC law, they were unable to do that without adding additional cost and time to the close.

So, is your bank taking advantage of your clients by using the HVCC law and other underwriting delays to make buyers lose their lock?

Todd Clark - Broker / Sales Coach
Palazzo Realty Group
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739

©2009 Todd Clark - Predatory lending is now even easier and banks are taking full advantage!

This statue of Paul Bunyan was a big controversy a couple years back because he was almost lost to "Progress" but thanks to public suport he was moved about 200 feet and saved!



Todd Clark - Broker / Sales Coach
Palazzo Realty Group
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739

I’ve been getting calls from sellers that are happy to hear that the market is turning around in Beaverton, Oregon, and they want to put their home on the market now. They have been watching the news for the past couple months so they know pending home sales are up in Beaverton and since summer prices normally rise, as do sales, they are ready to sell their home.

The local media took a lot of bashing over the past two years for bashing the real estate market and now that they found a bit of good news they are all over the band wagon of giving good stats. The one statistic they found that was good was pending sales are up… way up, almost up 1/3 over the past three months

There is only one problem with these statistics being brought to you by your local media. Though pending sales are up, actual closed sales in Beaverton haven’t changed. Meaning more people are putting offers in and more of these offers are being accepted, but I believe because of all the new government regulations like the new appraisal law and underwriting guidelines, these pending sales are not getting to the closing table.

I went back trough the statistics for the past three months and sure enough each neighborhood had pending sales up 10 to 15 homes per week more per neighborhood than in the previous three months, but the number that didn’t increase was the closed sales. They still were averaging 1 to 2 per week.

The government that is there to “HELP” is actually hindering sales and making it harder and harder to close. Even the best buyers are having problems with just ridiculous guidelines that have been put in place. If the government wants the market place to fix itself, then they need to get out of the way and let sales happen.

What have you seen your market place? Has the new government guidelines hindered your sales or even caused sale fails? I would love to hear your stories of the government trying to help actually hindering sales.

Todd Clark - Broker / Sales Coach
Palazzo Realty Group
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739

©2009 Todd Clark - You have to love the good news about Beaverton, Oregon, real estate, but what aren’t they telling you?

Hyland Forrest Park in Beaverton, Oregon, is certainly one of the hidden gems of Beaverton. How hidden? 15 years ago, I lived two blocks from this park and didn’t even know it was there. Now, there is a possibility that 15 years ago it wasn’t an official park, but I still wish I had known about the walking trails.

This park isn’t one with a play structure or bathroom, but it does seem to have endless walking trails. My kids loved this park and if it wasn’t coming up on dinner time, I’m not sure we wouldn’t have stayed another hour.

We started out what looked to be the middle of the park and we had a choice to go left or right. We choose right and then it was a park with what seemed to be endless choices of left or right. (We always let the kids decide, until it was time to get back to the car.)

We were walking close to an hour and a half, and until we started heading back to the car at an hour, I don’t think we duplicated our path at any point. I know for a fact that we still hadn’t visited a big section at the west end of the park. That would have been the section if we had chosen to go left when we entered the park instead of right.

Most of the trails were made of wood chips so there wasn’t any mud, I think you can walk this park year round.

Todd Clark - Broker / Sales Coach
Palazzo Realty Group
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739

©2009 Todd Clark - Beaverton Oregon Parks: Hyland Forrest Park

You’ve either bought a home or sold a home in the past and you start to enter the real estate market again and you expect this time to be no different. Unfortunately, in today’s real estate market, that will only set you up for disappointment.

You see, today appraisers are being tougher and underwriters are saying no a lot more often. So what is the outcome in today’s market economy? Sellers are getting far less than they expected, heck, even less than their agent told them to expect. Buyers, are finding homes, putting in offers and when the appraisal comes back low, the sellers back out and decide not to sell. Even if they decide to sell, then the buyer has to pray that every thing is perfect so the underwriter doesn’t kick it back saying they won’t fund it.

Let’s look at two examples of a home that is put on the market at $265,000, the 3^rd lowest price home in the neighborhood for the square footage, out of 12 homes. The other two are short sales and this one is not, so the sellers and their agent are confident that it will sell quickly and for top dollar because it is in far better condition than those short sales, and the seller needs to move out of state quickly to their new job.

The agent and the seller are very happy when 3 days later they get a full price offer and no contingencies. The pre-approval letter even says they qualify for $280,000. This is looking like a slam dunk! It’s a great deal for everyone involved. BUT WAIT! Here comes the appraiser that prior to May 1^st, couldn’t get a job because the banks didn’t like to use him. But because of the new law of appraisal clearing houses, he gets to work for that bank again but now he holds a grudge! Let’s appraise this house at $240,000 and because you can’t question the appraisals anymore, it gets to stand, and you can’t change banks without paying for another over priced appraisal.

The seller says, “For that, I can’t sell my home. That would be a short sale and I know I have equity.” This home is worth far more than that, the buyer, the listing agent and the selling agent all agree and individually send letters to the bank saying this appraisal is way off and they may want to check why they banned this guy from doing appraisals in the first place. (Because he didn’t know what he was doing.)

Now, the buyer with an 800 credit score, 10% down, and has been at the same job for 7 years, is back looking for a home. Well, we find another one, this time we don’t take anything for granted with the appraiser and boy were we smart not to. Yet another bad appraisal, not as bad, but bad. These sellers decide to sell anyway, but won’t sell it for appraised value, they want more. The buyer actually agrees and says they will bring the funds in to close and sign the letter saying they realize they are paying more than appraised value for the home.

Everything is going well and the underwriter clears all conditions and docs or ordered. The seller moves out and 48 hours later docs arrive at title. But while printing them out the underwriter calls and decides she is having second thoughts. She decides that because they are paying more than appraised value that the funds they are using can’t be from the 10% down. She wants the 10% plus the additional amount over the appraised value as a down payment. WHAT? You couldn’t have told us this two weeks ago? Now we have a homeless buyer, a seller that can’t afford to stay where they are staying because they were using the funds from the sale to stay where they were going to stay.

This topsy turvy real estate world is not going good and I’m worried that the report from last month that pending sales were up is only good if they actually close. But being I’ve seen 2 sale fails in less that 3 weeks because of our government trying to step in and “HELP” we could be in real big trouble. House prices are going to continue to fall and those who thought they had equity won’t sell because they suddenly don’t and those that thought they could buy, can’t because of underwriters won’t buy, and those pending sales won’t mean a thing to the housing market.

I hope I am wrong and both these are isolated cases, but from talking to other agents, this could become the norm for awhile. So even if you have bought or sold a home in the past, this isn’t the same market it used to be, so don’t go in expecting it will be the same. I’m betting your agent may even be in for a few surprises along the way.

Todd Clark - Broker / Sales Coach
Palazzo Realty Group
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739

©2009 Todd Clark - Selling or buying a home in Beaverton today can be filled with obstacles so be prepared

For as long as I can remember I have been reading to my kids as they go to bed. But what amazed some is I went out of town for the first time in their life a couple years ago so I could get my GRI. I left all the parties to go read to my kids over the phone. (This amazed some of the other agents I was staying with.)

Now, my kids are already planning to read to their kids as they get older and they all enjoy reading. I’ve basically given them the gift of fantasy by making them enjoy reading. (Sometimes I even add my own story to their story if they know the book, to make it funnier.)

I think reading is very important, it was something that I hated doing as a kid, but I don’t let my kids know that. I now make my kids read a book, if there is one, before they see the movie. My daughter really wanted to see “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” and “Harry Potter” so we told her, when she finishes the book, she could see the movie. She has gotten so good at reading that she will easily finish these books in couple weeks. She has finished the entire Harry Potter series and can’t wait until the next movie comes out.

My son loves baseball and wants to see movies on Joe DiMaggio and Babe Ruth. We told him he had to at least read a book on them first and he couldn’t wait to get to the library. He read those books in less than a week and then we got the movies and he is in heaven!

So, give the gift of reading to your children and read to them. If you don’t have kids, or even want to do more, you can do something that I also do and join S.M.A.R.T. (Start Making A Reader Today) at your local school and help kids that are needing some support with reading and make them great readers also.

I’ve begun to enjoy reading and writing thanks to Activerain and other blogging sites, something that 20 years ago I never thought I would say. If someone told me that I would become a writer, I would have told them they were crazy, but now I’m published in newspapers, magazines and even been interviewed on the radio because of my writing. I can thank all of you for your support over the past two and a half years for making it fun for me as well.

 

Todd Clark - Broker / Sales Coach
Palazzo Realty Group
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739

©2009 Todd Clark - I’ve taught my kids to enjoy reading while learning to enjoy reading and writing myself.

Beaverton is full of many great parks and Sexton Mountain Park would be no exception, with a play structure, some sort of track for parent to exercise on and even a basket ball court.

But, there is one thing that Sexton Mountain Park lacks, and that is parking! There is NONE! So unless you live within walking distance of this park, don’t bother even driving to it, because the streets are very narrow and every one of them has a no parking sign.

I ended up not even taking my kids to this park because of the parking situation. I had to have my wife drop me off so I could get the pictures and then she came back 5 minutes later to pick me up after driving around the park to see if we were just missing a place to park.

So, if you live in the Sexton Mountain neighborhood, enjoy your park, but if you live farther than say a quarter mile, I would say skip this one and drive to Greenway Park.

 

Todd Clark - Broker / Sales Coach
Palazzo Realty Group
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739

©2009 Todd Clark - I spent $8.95 and bought myself a Father’s Day gift and 46 minutes of one on one time with my son