The Oregonian Hosts Top Realtors for 2009 Real Estate Summit

July 7, 2009 11:19 am

2009 was the third year that I have attended the Real Estate Summit hosted by the Oregonian and Summit Funding. This year’s attendees are a “who’s who” list of Portland’s finest real estate professionals. In addition to Lee Davies, attendees included Sherry Francis, Craig Reger, and Marcia Kies of the Hasson Company; Mary Jo Avery and Tim Hardy of ReMax; Billy Grippo of Windermere; Morgan Davis of Keller Williams Realty; Justin Harish, Becky Jackson, Sarita Dua, Kathy MacNaughton of Realty Trust; Rob Levy of Prudential NW Properties; and Brian Bellairs of Meadows Group Realtors.

The round table discussion was facilitated by Bruce Hammond, the editor of the business section of the Oregonian. Here were some of the highlights from the discussion.

Homeowners who have owned their homes for more than 5 years and have not taken their equity out through re-financing, are in an exceptional position to upgrade their home and capitalize on the falling home values.
Trading homes has for the first time become a rather probable solution to allow buyers who need to sell first make the move. By buying the more expensive home from a seller who wants to downsize; if a match can be made, the seller can purchase the buyer’s home and thus facilitate the whole process. Lee Davies Real Estate has completed two such transactions like this in the past year.
Closings are not longer easily completed in 30 days. With today’s new underwriting standards and appraisal process prepare for most closings lasting upwards of 45 days.
Present your client’s offer to the seller in person and build rapport with the cooperating broker. Today’s transactions are tough and it takes teamwork and face to face meetings to give everyone the best opportunity for success.
All of the downtown condominium talk is negative; however, the fact is there will not be more new high rises built for many years and today you can live in many of these exceptional buildings for less than the cost was to build the unit. When one realizes that the next round of new construction will most likely boast a substantially higher cost to build; getting in a new project at today’s pricing will eventually prove to be a great investment.
It’s tough to sell homes right now and one way to remove some barriers is by having sellers complete a home inspection prior to listing the property for sale and completing the repairs in advance. By doing this, buyer’s have one less obstacle.
Short sales are a tremendous amount of work and a exhausting process for all parties. That being said, it is better than having a foreclosure in one’s name, so homeowners in this position should work hard to see what can be accomplished before completely giving up.
One way to make short sales potentially easier for lenders to strive to work faster is if the buyer is willing to risk the cost of their inspection and their appraisal, by having that work done prior to bank approval. By doing this, the bank can be assured that if they fast track the approval process, the transaction could close within a week or two of their acceptance as the buyer has removed the financing, inspection, and appraisal contingencies. Most short sales, buyers would not do this as they do not know if the will gain the bank’s approval; thus, once the bank does provide an approval, it will be a minimum of 30 days to complete the inspection and financing due diligence.