Vancouver Real Estate: Of Crystal Balls and Market Bottoms

Loyal readers of this blog (yes, both of you    ) know that I have been rather skeptical of the propaganda distributed by local real estate organizations and pimped out through the Columbian. For most of the past two years, I have doubted their calls for a real estate rally and dismissed the five or six market bottoms they called.  But now, my analysis of the numbers finally says we actually may be on to something.

As you know, I am a fan of the old stock market axiom that numbers don’t lie, people (with agendas) do. So I have been…

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Market Stats so Scary they were Released on Friday the 13th

The local Vancouver Clark County Real Estate market report, as generated by RMLS, came out Friday the 13th of all days,and whether you are a Triskaidekaphobiac or not, these were some scary numbers.

While Months of Inventory (of houses for sale) was down January to February, it was up year-over-year/February. There’s enough real estate data points, ratios and percentages to give anybody wiggle room to spin this report. Really, with enough paint, you can paint this report any color you’d like… as for me, my favorite color has always been transparent.  I know lots of folks can simply throw out the…

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Vancouver Real Estate Market Cools… Inside the House

While I’m not about to equate showing houses to the physical hazards of, say, working on an oil rig or handling nuclear waste, the upcoming cold streak and the number of vacant houses without electricity are going to make for some interesting real estate showings in the Vancouver and Clark County market this next week.

One of the things I tell my home selling clients all the time is that we want the buyer to stay as long as possible during their visit. Heck, hope they pull up a chair and start redesigning the kitchen and then measure the living…

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Vancouver Real Estate: Why an Offer Won’t Pay off Your Mortgage

While I “get” the concept of “limited representation” (you know, those flat fee listing options) to help sellers get some MLS exposure and find a buyer, it’s what you do AFTER you find the buyer that really matters.

I tell my selling clients all the time – finding the buyer is actually the easy part (although it has gotten to be a tad more challenging in the past year).  The hard part is keeping the deal on track and getting it to the closing table so a seller can actually maximize that equity.

Just try cashing an “offer” at the bank.

It’s that…

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Vancouver Real Estate: Where Priced Right Really is Half Sold

If you’re going to have go there eventually, why put off the inevitable?

I’m talking, specifically, about those two words sellers fear and buyers expect “Price Reduced”.

It doesn’t HAVE to be that way though.  I’ve recently had the chance to dig deep into some data.  I did a dissection of some Real Estate stats from the Vancouver, Clark County real estate market during September, 2008 that puts a huge exclamation point on the old adage “Priced right is half Sold!”

I took a detailed look at the sold Single Family Residential homes in September, 2008, specifically looking for correlation between Sales…

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A List Price that Would Make P.T. Barnum Proud…

Finally, RMLS – our local multiple listings service for real estate in Vancouver and Clark County – has caught wind of a tricky tactic that was happening way too often.

Recently, we noticed some real estate listings that simply looked too good to be true.  I mean, I realize short-sales are all the rage, and there have been some screamin’ real estate deals for smart buyers out there.  But the “List Price” on some of these left me scratchin’ my head and searchin’ for my checkbook.  (Right, like I could have done any damage with the latter of the two,…

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Veteran’s Day: From the Mind of a 10-year old

We’re a little off-topic today, being Veteran’s Day, but there will be plenty of days to get back to Clark County’s real estate adventures.

Let’s not have today become the forgotten holiday. Too many people died face down in the mud so we could live our lives in freedom.  Sure, there are days when we may be frustrated with work or our government leaders or other complexities of life; but we live in a country where we have freedoms that billions of others world-wide only long for.  When you think of that, it provides more meaning to the day.  This…

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Election Watch: Clark County Real Estate Style

Mercifully, we are down to the final hours of a 700+ day election campaign.  And two things come to mind.

First, ever thought it strange that someone campaigns two solid years for a position that may only last four years.  Doesn’t seem like a very good ROI there… just sayin’.

And secondly, is there any more appropriate ending of a word for what these election cycles put us through than camPAIN.  Pardon the Freudian slip on the spelling.

Anyway, as most of us will be away from the TV, (again, maybe mercifully?) throughout the day, I came across a great set of…

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