Happy Friday!  This week has been incredibly busy, what a blessing!  I wanted to get a second today to put this post up to spotlight a new listing in south Salem.  I've personally seen the recent improvements and am absolutely blown away by the beautiful place.  If you have a moment check out the link www.5250parker.com.  If you're interested call James Hauge @ 503.510.4005.

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The Bosie Cascade "Triangle Building" is now completely demolished.  Each day on my way to work I could see the demolition progress.  Today I snapped the final picture showing only a pile of stone.  I'm very much looking forward to the future of this site as it will greatly improve the downtown neighborhood.

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Today the US Senate advances the new Stimulus Bill which includes an increase in the current home buyer tax credit.  Currently a home buyer purchasing a home from April 2008 to July 2009 may be entitled to a tax credit up to $7,500.  Currently the credit is to be paid back in increments of $500 each year thereafter.  The new Stimulus Bill proposes an actual tax credit of 10% of the sales price with a maximum of $15,000.  This provision may rid of the requirement to repay the credit, making it a true benefit for the home buyer.

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A report of existing home sales showed an unexpected rise in December.  Purchases grew 6.5% at the end of 2008.  As foreclosures have forced existing home sales down throughout most of 2008 it was nice to see a gain on board.

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With so much media attention on the economy and real estate markets in 2008 I am asked daily by clients what the current home values are in the Willamette Valley.  As a loan officer real estate values play a very important role in opportunity to work with a client, regardless of whether it is a purchase or refinance.  I do my best to use available resources on each and every inquiry and conversation I have with a client.  We've all heard the doom and gloom of what the media has to say about the real estate market in the U.S., but it's very important to focus on the Willamette Valley when we're talking about our own homes.

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Many of you heard that mortgage rates were good last week.  Many of you also heard that rates may go even lower.  The fact is that last week rates were great and today the trend has followed through on this chilly Monday morning.  Rates actually held a trend around or below 5.5% for the better part of 7 working days.  In the recent market a steady trend of anything is unexpected.  The announcement of the Treasury willing to buy additional mortgage backed securities was the cause of our low trends.  The short term future of rates is still something that cannot nor should be forecasted.  The market doesn't allow us to follow traditional trends and driving indicators of where rates will go.  With that said, it is better to take advantage of an opportunity of already low rates when you can rather than waiting for something that may never happen.

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I mentioned in my post on Friday that the report for US existing home sales came in higher than expected at a gain of 5.5% over 2007. The number is encouraging considering the current state of the economy. According to Willamette Valley MLS, local home sales prices are showing a small decrease of 2.5% from 2007. With a gain in home sales and a small decrease in value, the numbers show that people are beginning to take advantage of the opportunity at hand.

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The real estate market across the country has had so much negative media lately that it is rare to hear anything positive.  With depreciation of home values at the top of the list it is hard to know how to have perspective on the information fed to us daily.  The Salem housing market obviously benefited from the housing boom in recent years – seeing double digit appreciation.  Fortunately, the appreciation numbers were not too abnormal and now the benefit shines through the negative attention towards the market.

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