I wanted to take a moment to talk about some numbers in Lane County. We all know that the market has gone up, so I took a look at how the market has changed since last July over that one-year period.
Here is how much each area has changed:
Santa Clara - 3.6%
River Road - 7.7%
East Eugene - 3.7%
Southwest Eugene - 5.5%
West Eugene - 7.5%
Danebo 9.7%
North Gilham - minus-4.5%
Ferry St. Bridge - 6.7%
Coburg - 23.6%
Venita/Elmira - 8.6%
Junction City - minus-2.9%
Cottage Grove Creswell - 8.6%
Pleasant Hill - minus-.6%
Thurston - 4.4%
Hayden Bridge - 7.2%
Springfield - 8.2%
Mohawk Valley - minus-12.5%
McKenzie Valley - 1.5%
All in all, we've gone up almost 10% throughout the entire year. We'll be back next month with a new report for you. In the meantime, if you have any questions or you're thinking about buying or selling a home, give me a call or send me an email and we'll talk soon!
That question depends primarily on what type of loan you’re taking out, or if you’re paying cash. If you’re paying cash and you don’t need an appraisal, you can have it ready to close in as little as a week. But since most people take out a loan and need an appraisal, it usually takes a little longer than that.
After your offer on the home has been accepted by the seller, you should do your due diligence and order an inspection. You will be granted a certain amount of days specified in the contract - usually at least 10 - to complete this inspection.
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On average, 45 days is a good turnaround time for a sale to close.
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After the inspection comes the negotiation process. This is where you negotiate with the seller about any issues in the home that need to be fixed and determine how they can be rectified. Once that’s done, your lender will order the appraisal as quickly as possible, because this is where the possible hang-up lies. The appraisal process, depending on your area, can take anywhere from one to five weeks to be completed.
That being said, you can expect 45 days to be a good ballpark figure to span the time you sign until the time you can theoretically close on the property.
If you have any questions about certain things in the real estate world, just give me a holler or send me an email. Take care!
A lot of people have been asking me lately what a fair offer is when buying a Eugene home. The answer to that question is simply, timing.
What I mean by this is that if a home has been on the market for more than a month, in a hot market like the one we have right now, you can probably start off by making an offer that’s about 5% below asking price. The seller won’t be offended by the offer because they’ll be happy to have one, but don’t be surprised if they come back with a counteroffer. You’ll have to negotiate with them on the price.
Now, if a home has just been listed on the market, it’s a whole different ball game. The current market in Eugene is hot for sellers. You’re likely going to have to compete against other offers, so you’ll need to switch up your strategy. You’re going to have to be a lot more aggressive, and that starts with making an offer of at least their asking price, or maybe a little more. There are also other things you can do to help your offer stand out.
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Interest rates are still incredibly low right now for buyers.
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One thing you can do is be flexible about the closing date. Sometimes the seller will also be buying a house at the same time. If you’re more flexible, it helps your offer stand out.
Another strategy to use is appealing to the seller’s emotions by writing them a personal letter about how much you’d like to buy their home. This strategy works well with families, because sellers want to pass their home on to other families.
At the end of the day, you may feel that the advantage is tipped a little bit towards the seller in this market. That’s true, but as a buyer you have a distinct advantage as well. Interest rates are still incredibly low right now for mortgages. They haven’t gone up yet and if you can buy while they’re this low, it will save you a lot of money on payments in the long run.
If you need any more information, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. If you have any questions about real estate or any topics you’d like to learn more about, let me know about those too. I would be happy to do a video on it. I look forward to hearing from you!
