The housing market nationally seems to be an area of great interest, and locally, here in Portland, a lot of home buyers are wondering whether they should make the move or not. I decided to take a look at the current real estate market in Portland by asking Randall Palazzo, of Palazzo Custom Homes, a Portland Living Smart Developer.
First of all, don’t believe all the media reports you read on the housing markets these days. If you look around and ask a few questions, the answers may surprise or even shock you.
Here’s an Example of a Portland Foursquare Home:
I was out researching the market here in Portland this last weekend to see if how much truth there is to all the media reports on housing. I focused on the inner neighborhoods of Portland to see how they compared to the doomsday reports we have been reading about in Clark County, Happy Valley, and other “burb” locations.
While doing my research, I came across a builder that appears to be breaking the mold. Actually, he is not only breaking the mold, he is crushing it. This builder had signs up everywhere in these areas, and most of them said “sale pending”….Windermere signs with Debi Robertson and Shauna White plastered on the side. Extreme curiosity at this wonder caused me to call the President of this company. When I called, a deep voice of what sounded like a younger gentleman answered, on the 1st ring! “Palazzo Custom Homes this is Randy”.
I disclosed that I was simply a curious statistics hound, not an agent, appraiser, buyer or seller. He immediately said that he would be pleased to tell me all about the inner Portland neighborhood market.
I asked him to give me his view of the current market conditions. In a matter of fact tone, he told me that “there is nothing wrong with today’s market at all. I have been working in these areas for over 20 years. The market of 2004 and 2005 was an absolute nightmare waiting to happen. The principles that were heavily pronounced for so many years simply vanished. Buyers were getting ridiculous loans, properties values were skyrocketing, and no one was acting realistic. I had to step back and wait until we went back into a normal market. Back in the late 80’s to early 90’s, you couldn’t get a conventional loan without a minimum 10% down. The market was good, and interest rates were at 12% in 1988, and when they dropped below 10% in the early 90’s, we thought that we all had won the lottery. Then, the conventional loans changed; you could now get one with 5% down! Over the next 10 years, I saw some pretty ridiculous things happening, peaking when anyone with a pulse could get a loan. I saw the demand for housing go through the roof, and knew that supply would eventually exceed demand if the loan programs tightened up. Sure enough, they did. Read More…
