Living in Portland

I have been showing homes in Forest Grove and Cornelius the last couple of weeks.  We have been looking for a three bedroom two bath homes and hoped to spend around $170k.  What we found was a couple of nice new construction homes in Cornelius for $190-$195k. A few 1990’s built homes in so/so condition for around $185K and a few nice homes for around $195K.  The two best homes in the last category sold within hours of us looking at them (multiple offers). This is surely a good sign for the overall market and economy.  The last group of nice  homes are  older, built in the 1970’s and priced around $200K which is high for the market.  These Sellers are clearly not aware of the current conditions or their competition.  Our options at this point would be to make an offer in the $170-$180 range for one of the nicer overpriced homes, or to wait and see if anything else comes on the market.  My buyer is having trouble with the idea of paying full price for one of the newer nice  homes, but with the last two selling with multiple offers he may not have a choice.

Winter is coming and home prices always drop this time of year recession or not, so I don’t see prices increasing over the next three  months.  Since my Buyer does not qualify for the First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit, time is on his side.

PS.  We didn’t look at Short Sales but did include Foreclosures.