Clients and Friends,
We have maintained that Yamhill County is at least 2 years behind Portland’s housing sales dynamics. Right on schedule, the Newberg/Dundee area is experiencing multiple offers and immediate sales predictably on most kinds of properties. We expect this trend to spread throughout the county this year and by next year to be commonplace in all wine country.
Portland has experienced such a rapid ascent in the past 2 and 3 years that their numbers are already leveling out. That does not mean things are slowing down or declining. When we compare this year to last year- which already had sky-rocked over the previous year, it is just impossible to keep that trajectory! Portland’s inventory remains at the low point but the volume of sales still remains the largest in the past 10 years.
Fueled by stunningly low interest rates (under 4%), the marketplace is ideal for buyers to lock in rates as low as 3.73% for the next 30 years! It is a good time for sellers to get their properties moved quickly and at a price that can make up for the losses over the past 10 years. No one should be underwater on mortgages anymore in our area.
Our industry is changing rapidly because technology is a great leveler of people, and sets us free from dependence on others for our own accomplishments (yes, I can also wax eloquent against technology!). Just 10 years ago the Justice Department leaned heavily on our industry to try to force/intimidate diversification and greater competition. It had no effect- as nothing had for the better part of 100 years! However, technology and a horrifying housing crash actually accomplished what nothing else could! The proliferation of local brands and an explosion of experimental business models has been healthy for our industry and good for the public. My view is that the national brands are ‘walking dead’. They had their era, but there is nothing they provide that everyone cannot get independently now for less money. But of course change comes with the price of some chaos and messy failures on the way to fine-tuning what is really going to work. Some of the local brands are growing too fast (a common cause of business failure in any industry), and many of the experimental new business models with novel ideas will fail in the coming years because they just do not work, or the marketplace rejects them, or more commonly- poor management. However, competition is producing a radically different industry with more and better choices for its professionals and for the public.
It is the best listing season for sellers. It is also the time that more buyers will buy than any time of the year. Learn about your choices; interview several agents, ask probing questions, and make sure you are not paying too much for the services you receive.
Bella Casa Real Estate Group was one of the early adopters of new technologies and local branding. Our ‘professional cooperative’ business model offers our communities superior, more independent and autonomous professionals, knowledgeable of and responsive to our neighbors- and we keep the commission money in our local markets! We have been tested and tried by the flames of the past 9 years and have proven to be among the most productive and stable options in our area for the public.
All we ask of you is an interview! When we have served you well, we will ask for your referrals so we can show your friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers why our Realtors are the best in the business.
Included in this report is:
1. Market Action Reports for March
2. Home Sales Reports for March – Yamhill County
Best Regards,
Randy
Randy McCreith, Principal Broker
Direct: 503-310-9147
Bella Casa Real Estate Group
[email protected]
