Pending Sales Soar Higher in Vancouver WA and Clark County WA for February 2012

Following a strong surge of pending home sales in January, February produced an even higher number of pending sales: 514 (vs: 357 in Feb 2011; and 428 in Jan 2012)! Closed Vancouver WA homes for sale and Clark County again performed modestly at 315 units however, this number is more of a lagging indicator of the typically slower activity at the end of the prior year. .

With 57% of the Closed sales in the Distressed Property Categories (Short Sale Homes and Bank Owned Homes) for February, the average sales price along with the 3-month rolling average sales price fell to a new low. While the damaged and distressed properties do seem to be a drag on local housing prices, we are experiencing multiple offer situations for the homes in very good condition as the available inventory of resale homes has shrunken considerably. With resale inventory at "Seller's Market" levels, there is good reason to believe home sales prices should firm up very soon.

The Chart Below (prepared by John Slocum, our resident statistician) is based on home sales recorded in the Vancouver MLS system (RMLS), excluding sales of mobile home; and shows the purchase activity since 2009; charting the 3 month rolling average number of sales, and the 12 month rolling average. This "smoothing" of the data helps illiustrate the short-term and longer term trends in Clark Conuty's real estate market.

This next chart below shows the Average home sales price trends (3 month and 12 month) for the same time period. As the chart shows, average sales prices have slid again with such a high mix of distressed properties in the total number of sales.

Comparing the 3-month moving average for sales price; we have $199,830 for February 2012 vs. $225,879 for February 2011; a net decrease of $26,049 or -11.5%.

Finally, the Level of Available Resale Inventory is an important indicator of market health; and we show 4.8 (a decrease) months Clark County-wide; and 4.3 (a decrease) months for the sum of Vancouver zip codes -- a number that is substantially lower than last year. We are seeing a seasonal increase of listings in February and March thus, it remains to be seen if the low inventory levels will remain much longer.

Charts: For the enthusiasts that like to examine charts, we have the sales results for the Resold Inventory (excludes new homes) by Community that you may find helpful:

Clark County WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Battle Ground WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Brush Prairie & Hockinson Home Sales Results and Charts
Camas WA Home Sales Results and Charts
La Center WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Ridgefield WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Vancouver WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Washougal WA Home Sales Results and Charts

Please let us know if you have any specific questions or comments!

Recent Related Posts you may find of interest:

Disclaimer: as with any real estate statistics, we do our best to provide the best representation at the time the data was acquired. We deem the data and reports reliable but not guaranteed.

Real Estate and Homes Sales in Clark County Show Vigor Early in 2012

This snap-shot report is showing that Clark County WA real estate results for early 2012 is showing break-out transaction volume. The table below shows the approximate number of listings Active, Pending and Sold at the end of February. The columns then break out the elements by Categories: Total Homes; Short Sales and PreForeclosures; Foreclosures (Bank Owned).

The more in-depth report is due out next week (stay tuned!) however, we see that the total Inventory is still way down from prior years; with Closed Sales for February showing improvement; and the Pending Sales took a Big jump up from January's strong showing!

The Distressed Property segment, still the most challenging element in the housing recovery for the Clark County real estate market, shows consistent volume trend. However, this segment hit another high for the Percentage of the Total Market Closed Sales in February. The welcome news in February is that we see a significant increase in "Normal Sales" that went pending combined with the 510 total Pending Sales.

------

This report was prepared by John Slocum, Realtor & Broker with REMAX Vancouver WA. The data provided by the RMLS is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

In the "Good 'ol Days of Real Estate" it was said the business was all about "Location, Location, Location!" Today in the year 2012, as we recover from the Great Recession we know a more correct and contemporary rendering of that phrase is "Location, Condition and Price" will determine a proper Value for any particular person or purpose.

With Much of the For Sale inventory, being Short Sale Homes or, Bank Owned Homes we find with varying levels of problems in the "Condition" department. Common items requiring correction seen are: Carpets that are shot; Exterior-Siding decay; Roof is worn out with bad gutters; Kitchen is very dated, appliances are old and counter-tops are worn out. All items are easy enough to correct but, the seller of a short sale has no funds to take on the item(s).

How do these deficiencies affect the home's value? -- Answer: Big Time! For example: a home that needs a roof repair for $10,000 may see the price drop $15,000 to $20,000. Why? Most conventional home loans will require such an item to be repaired prior to closing, and tends to cause many buyers move on to another property to purchase.

When you undertake a home repair, it is important to use the Right Tool. Likewise, when purchasing a Fixer Home, it is important to use the Right Loan. For over 20 years there has been a U.S. Government sponsored home loan program called the FHA 203k Loan that can help with the purchase of these homes that are in need of repair. This is an excellent program and timely for today's conditions but, not very well known. In a nutshell, with a 203k loan you can both Purchase the home (owner occupied buyer); and borrow the funds to make renovations and repairs -- All In One Loan!

Recently both John and Kathryn took the opportunity take certification training in the FHA 203k home loan offered by ReBuildUSA. With support from the home improvement company Lowes, ReBuildUSA put together a Real Estate Broker Program, and a Home Lender program, to better help us in the industry have a deeper understanding of the wide range of options the 203k loan provides, and truly amazing benefits offered to today's home-buyer and our community. From the brief video below you will learn as we did, that the FHA 203k Renovation loan is so much more than the simple explanation we've provided above.

For another voice on this, here's a recent television interview:

Not long ago, one of our home buyers purchased a Short Sale home with the 203k loan. For a purchase price of $95,000; and repairs of about $12,000; the FHA Appraisal for their home loan came in at $145,000. Or, another way to do the math: for a 3.5% down payment = $3,745; Loan = $103,255; and the Instant Equity was approximately $38,000!!!

This is truly a great time to purchase a home, and the FHA 203k loan may be the very best loan going right now!

Please call us to find out more!

Closed Sales Slow While Pending Sales Soar in Vancouver WA and Clark County WA for January 2012

The Year 2012 didn't exactly start with a bang with respect to Closed Sales in January but, Pending Sales took off like a rocket! Closed Home Sales in Vancouver WA and Clark County performed modestly as in any typical January, as the purchasing activity in December usually slows and results in a lower volume month for January. Coming in at 288 units closed, this is 4 more than the same month in 2010, and 10 less than in 2011. The big news however, is that Pending Sales for January came in at 464 units -- this is 127 units higher than the 337 Pending sales in January the year before! The expected results from the high Pending sales should be a higher number of Closed sales for February and March.

One trend we seem to be stuck in is the falling average sales price, with the 3-month rolling average sales price fell to another low as the overall market exceeds 50% of Foreclosures and Short Sales. While the damaged and distressed properties do seem to be a drag on local housing prices, we are experiencing multiple offer situations for the homes in very good condition as the available inventory of resale homes has shrunken considerably. With resale inventory at "Seller's Market" levels, there is good reason to believe home sales prices should firm up very soon.

The Chart Below (prepared by John Slocum, our resident statistician) is based on home sales entered into the Vancouver MLS system (RMLS), and exclude sales of mobile home; and shows the purchase activity since 2009; charting the 3 month rolling average number of sales, and the 12 month rolling average. This simple "smoothing" of the data better helps illiustrate the short-term and longer term trends in Clark Conuty's real estate market.

This next chart below shows the Average home sales price trends (3 month and 12 month) for the same time period. As the chart shows, average sales prices have slid again with such a high mix of distressed properties in the total number of sales.

Comparing the 3-month moving average for sales price; we have $205,259 for January 2012 vs. $227,772 for January 2011; a net decrease of $22,514 or -9.9%.

Finally, the Level of Available Resale Inventory is an important indicator of market health; and we show 5.3 months Clark County-wide; and 4.8 months for the sum of Vancouver zip codes -- a number that is substantially lower than last year. We also start to see a seasonal increase of listings in February and March thus, it remains to be seen if the low inventory levels will remain much longer.

Charts: For the enthusiasts that like to examine charts, we have the sales results for the Resold Inventory (excludes new homes) by Community that you may find helpful:

Clark County WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Battle Ground WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Brush Prairie & Hockinson Home Sales Results and Charts
Camas WA Home Sales Results and Charts
La Center WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Ridgefield WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Vancouver WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Washougal WA Home Sales Results and Charts

Please let us know if you have any specific questions or comments!

Recent Related Posts you may find of interest:

Disclaimer: as with any real estate statistics, we do our best to provide the best representation at the time the data was acquired. We deem the data and reports reliable but not guaranteed.

Real Estate and Homes Sales in Clark County Still Challenged with Distressed Properties

We are now far enough into February 2012 to take a snap-shot look at the Clark County WA real estate results for January 2012. What you'll find in the table below are the approximate number of listings Active, Pending and Sold at the end of the month. The columns then break out the elements by Categories: Total Homes; Short Sales and PreForeclosures; Foreclosures (Bank Owned).

Without too much analysis in this report (the more in-depth report is due out next week - stay tuned!) we see that the total Inventory is way down from prior years; with Closed Sales down (typical for January) to a near-term low; although the Pending Sales were quite strong.

The Distressed Property results are the most challenging to the housing recovery for the Clark County real estate market. With Short Sales and Bank Owned properties combined running at 53% to 54% for Pending and Sold listings, the ability to heal the market quickly faces some tough hurdles.

For Home Buyers with a good source(s) of income this is probably the best time to purchase a house or investment property in decades.

For Home Sellers, this type of market is the near-term "normal." Do you want to sell now at the market price or, bet that that the market prices won't slip further? -- not an easy call.

------

This report was prepared by John Slocum, Realtor & Broker with Vancouver WA REMAX. The data provided by the RMLS is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Here in Vancouver WA (just next to Portland) it is big news when the Weather Service expects a big snow storm to come through the area. We don't have snow on the ground often enough, and for long enough, for the local road crews to budget adequately for the rare large snow storm.

When I know a big storm is on its way I like to make certain we have a week's worth of supplies on and be ready to stay real close to home for a few days. This time around I felt we we ready BUT, saw no need to start the "hunkered-down" phase just yet -- if we did I know the onset of the dreaded Cabin Fever would happen sooner! So, even though there was a slight drizzle outside (and most home buyers were getting ready for the storm) I felt I better get a bike ride in.

Thankfully the signed bicyle routes in Vancouver and parts of Clark County have improved greatly over the years. When I lived in Everett many years ago while working for GTE, Everett and Snohomish County had been very progressive with Bicycle lane and separate path deployments, and was at that time many years ahead of Southwest Washington in this regard. I think we've caught up quite a bit now.

The Destination this time was the Renaissance Trail on the Columbia River Waterfront. Okay, so this trail is several miles long, and it takes me several miles just to get there -- this turned out to be a two hour ride! Some of the sights included:

First Stop at the Western part of the Trail we find: The Angry I-5 Bridge over the Columbia River -- could it be upset that its days are numbered?

A couple of miles up the trail I stopped at the boat basin used by the Christensen Luxury Motor-Yacht (they make these awsome yachts here in Vancouver WA) company. Today the Aghassi ccan be seen, awaiting a new owner perhaps?

Another mile up the trail and the turning point for my ride is the tip of the break-water at Tidewater Cove. This can be a great place to see Mt. Hood or watch the planes landing at PDX across the Columbia River. Today, it was too blustery to linger...

Well, I had better pedal back home and get back to work. Hope you enjoyed this winter ride! /p>

Purchase Your Clark County Home with No Cash Down Financing, Backed by the US Government

An always popular reason for people wanting to move to Clark County has been the opportunity to either live in one of the several fine small towns near Vancouver or, own a home on acreage in the country, and perhaps slow down just a little bit. A lesser known fact that there still are livliehoods taking place with work and jobs available in the rural parts of the County. To make purchasing a home in a rural town or, a rural property more feasible, the US government as a part of the mission of the Department of Agriculture (USDA) offers the USDA Rural Development Single Family Guaranteed Loan Program.

Background: America's Rural areas have a long history of quality programs available from the US Government to promote and improve the quality of life and affordability to live in a rural area. The Rural Electirification Administration (now the Rural Utilities Service - RUS) and Rural Housing Administration (RHA) were spawned from the New Deal programs from the Great Depression and Dust Bowl days, and provided financial assistance to rural areas for housing and to deploy electrical distribution and telephone infrastructure to rural communities. To be sure, a big driving force behind these programs is to better ensure the health of US Agricultural areas and the primary food supplies for our nation. The government department handling these programs is appropriately enough, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA Rural Development Home Loan has been around about the same length of time, and has evolved over time to its current modern form.

How Does the USDA Home Loan Work in Clark County?

Here are some of the Key Financial Elements of the USDA Home Loan:

• Home must be in an eligible area.
• Zero Cash required for the Down Payment. Even some or all of the Buyer's Closing Costs may be financed if eligible.
• Low to Middle-Income Households are generally eligible - If the Household Income is too high, you may be ineligible.
• 30 Year Fixed Term Loans at Today's Low Interest Rates -- these are fully amortized loans with no gimmicks.
• Qualifying rations are 29% for Housing and 41% for total debt.
• Guarantee Fee applies, and may be rolled into the loan.
• Flexible Credit Guidelines, where non-traditional histories may be accepted.
• Eligible properties include: Existing Homes, New Construction, New Manufactured Homes, Modular Homes, and eligible Condos!
• Eligible Repairs may be included in the loan as well!
• Applicants apply with an approved lender of their choice (we know several good approved lenders).

Where in Clark County Can We Purhase Using the USDA Home Loan?

With Clark County being a part of the Greater Portland / Vancouver metro area, the USDA has provided a map of the Ineligible southern part of the County which means, the remaining northern part of the County is eligible. Here is the map courtesy of the USDA (click on the map for a larger version):

From this map we know these areas should qualify:

All of Amboy, La Center and Yacolt;
The Clark County Portion of the Woodland zip code;
Ridgefield north of 179th Street;
Battle Ground except for the portion south of Meadow Glade and west of SR-503:
most of Brush Prairie and Hockinson;
Camas and Washougal north of Blair Road and the Washougal River Road.

Are There Any Other Important Elements to This Loan Program?

Here are a few more items to check off before looking into this loan or at a particular property:

• Must be Owner Occupied as the Primary Residence;
• 30 year fixed rate of interest with no down-payment required (repeat from above);
• Home must be structurally sound and in reasonably good repair.
• Home must not be used to produce Income, nor can there be Income Producing Buildings or other Accessories that produce Income on the property;
• Probably won't be a Mansion or Castle.

Thus, this loan cannot be used for a Rental Property or, be a major fixer. Otherwise, a relatively high percentage of the rural Clark County homes should qualify.

If you have an interest in this type of loan and home purchase please give me a call (John) at 360-258-2494 or Kathryn at 360-258-2363.

Foreclosure and Short Sale Transactions Challenged the Real Estate Recovery in Vancouver for 2011

In late 2010 many real estate economists expected most areas to experience the start of the Third and largest wave of Foreclosures. We have gathered the home sales dataˡ from the Vancouver MLS for the year 2011, and summarized it in a form that will let us illustrate the depth of this challenge to our local economy.

Vancouver WA Housing Inventory -- Composition and Volume Level

The level of homes listed at any one time is often referred to as the Current Housing Inventory available for sale. A level considered "Normal" is about 6 months of supply (calculated by dividing the Active Listings by the Sold listings for that month). In Clark County we started January 2011 with 11.7 months of supply (also known as a Buyers Market with abundant inventory relative to the number of home buyers); and ended the year with a 6.5 month level -- which is a substantial drop off during the year. When we remove the inventory of listings categorized as "New" the level is more like 4.8 months (nearing the range of a Sellers Market)!

Even though the greatly reduced level of housing for sale appears to be a Sellers Market, the continued falling of prices is 2011 shows how powerful the Distressed property segment has been.

Distressed Property Sales Make Up Over Half of the 2011 Vancouver WA Home Sales

In 2009 the Vancouver MLS was updated to allow the tracking of Foreclosures and Short Sales, which we can report on here. Another Distressed Property element are the homes purchased at the Foreclosure Auction by Flippers. Many but not all of the Flipped homes (Flips) were listed and sold; as some were pre-sold and won't be tabulated here. The Flip segment is also harder to gather all the data within RMLS thus, we'll only have an estimate for the Flips that were listed and sold.

The total Vancouver home sales increased by 202 units (6.4% -- 3,335 in 2011 vs. 3,122 in 2010). However, the Distressed Property segment came in at 1,720 (includes the estimate for Flips), a whopping 51.6% of total sales. This percentage compares to 50.2% County wide.

From our review of the homes sold through the Vancouver MLS for the total year 2011, we believe that prediction of the Third and Largest wave of Foreclosures came true. It is also a fact that a good number of Short Sales are still awaiting their offers to be approved by the bank from the Second Wave, and even the First wave!

Prices and Interest Rates Head Down While Affordability Hits an All Time High

The early part of 2011 saw home loan interest rates in the mid-4% range, and even hitting 5% for a moment; until they turned and fell to new historic lows just under 4%. Combining the low lending rate with the falling prices, the Housing Affordability Index as reported by the Washington Center for Real Estate Research shows Vancouver and Clark County's housing as one of the most affordable areas in Washington's I-5 corridor!

Searching for Equilibrium and the New Normal

With any Recession, and more so in a major housing led Great Recession, the real estate market seeks out a new equilibrium -- which often seems like that mythical place (will we ever get there?) where the supply of houses will match the demand for them; with prices back on a slow and steady upward path.

For 2011 the transaction activity, as evidenced by this chart, shows a much more typical rise and fall of activity throughout the year. We view this as some sense of purchase normalcy returning as buyers are being motivated to purchase based on their basic needs, and not by at artificial federal incentive program. (more charts and statistics available by clicking on the chart).

During the year, only two months saw the Median Days on Market go slightly above 100 days; and in the summer the median came close to 50 days. Little by little, many of the key indicators of market health are showing improvement.

What's in store for 2012? We'll be exploring that in a future installment -- Stay Tuned!
--------

Note 1: The type of Residential Homes reviewed are Single-Family Detached; Attached (Townhome-style); Condos and PUD. Excluded are In-Park; Floating and other types.

This week at the Vancouver Business Presenters Club meeting we all became better acquainted with Gary S. As a first time visitor to the Club we gave him an "Icebreaker" topic, and asked what brought him to Vancouver and something he was passionate about.

As a retired Engineer from Boenig's Everett WA Facility (where they make 747's, 767's and 777's) he had led many presentations but wanted to try out our local club to refresh his skills. Thus, he confidently gave his story that about 5 years before retiring while still living in Bothell, he had purchased an older El Camino automobile as a restoration project. While looking for replacement parts one of his associates advised him to avoid the plastic after-market body parts as they would cheapen the restoration, and just wouldn't last. That person also recommened he visit All American Classics auto parts yard, in northeast Vancouver WA on NE 4th Plain Road.

Gary took his associate's advice, and he and his wife came to Vancouver and found many fine replacement parts for his auto restoration. When the trip was over both he and his wife were pleasantly surprised by the Vancouver environment and how friendly the people were.

Fast forward a few more years and closer to retirement, Gary and his wife made several trips to many of the more well-known retirement states in the West, such as Arizona and Nevada; as well as other parts of Washington such as Spokane, and those places weren't clicking with them. Then they remembered how friendly the people were that they met in Vancouver on their previous visit so, they made a return visit to do a more thorough investigation to see if this would be a good landing place. They found the climate to be pleasant and similar to the Puget Sound area (a little bit Warmer; Spring comes a week or two sooner; and Autumn a week or two later; AND with at least 7 more Cloud-Free days than Seattle! -- editors embellishment). They also found the people they met to be just as friendly as before.

On a second scouting visit they viewed a few homes, and found one that just came on the market that also had a shop and garage space for the El Camino -- that sealed the deal! In fact, they liked their new home so much that Gary spent the last 2 months commuting to the Everett plant until he retired from Boeing!

As Realtors® working for REMAX Vancouver WA, we've seen variations on this story many times, such as the business person that has traveled to Vancouver and other cities, and found this to be a great community to retire in; or, it may be grandparents wanting to move closer to their children and grandchildren and have found that Washington does not have a state or local income tax (no tax on retirement income or on earned income), along with lower property prices and taxes when compared to nearby Portland Oregon.

If you or someone you know is looking for one of the best kept secret retirement locations in the USA, give us a call or check on homes for sale in Vancouver WA to see what this community has to offer!

For Senior 55+ Communities, the golf course community of Fairway Village is very popular.

Home Sales Do Well in Clark County WA for December 2011

With the year 2011 coming to a close, Home Sales in Vancouver WA and Clark County surged ahead beating out November's numbers and the prior year's results, with Closed Volume moving up to 382 units. However, the 3-month rolling average sales price dropped to another low as very few higher-end homes saw sales action. Pending Sales were off slightly as well - at 360 units (402 the month before). With the 4th Quarter sales volume coming in stronger that last year, we clearly beat last years sales level by 136 units: 4,847 sold in 2011 vs. 4,711 sold in 2010.

Currently, the Affordability Index for real estate and Homes in Vancouver WA is at a year high for this generation; and with continued low interest rates and lower price levels, this index has improved even more! Thus, our near-term to medium-term outlook for home buyers is Very Positive in 2012.

The information charted below is based on home sales entered into the Vancouver MLS system (RMLS), and exclude sales of mobile homes.

The Chart Below (prepared by John Slocum, our resident statistician) shows the purchase activity since 2009; charting the 3 month rolling average number of sales, and the 12 month rolling average. This simple "smoothing" of the data better helps illiustrate the short-term and longer term trends in the Clark Conuty homes / real estate market.

The next chart below shows the Average home sales price trends (3 month and 12 month) for the same time period. As you can see, with the extended higher level of purchasing activity we are clearly seeing support for home sales prices, with the outlook as "Firming up."

Comparing the 3-month moving average for sales price; we have $208,197 for December 2011 vs. $228,461; a net decrease of $20,264 or -8.9%. The increased level of Distressed properties on the market in 2011 were clearly a strong driver causing the lower prices; combined with the noticeably few luxury home sales (one luxury home sale can move the average up by several thousands of dollars in any particular month).

Finally, the Level of Available Resale Inventory is an important indicator of market health; and we show 5.5 months Clark County-wide; and 4.8 months for the sum of Vancouver zip codes -- a number that is substantially lower than last year.

Charts: For the enthusiasts that like to examine charts, we have the sales results for the Resold Inventory (excludes new homes) by Community that you may find helpful:

Clark County WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Battle Ground WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Camas WA Home Sales Results and Charts
La Center WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Ridgefield WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Vancouver WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Washougal WA Home Sales Results and Charts

Please let us know if you have any specific questions or comments!

Disclaimer: as with any real estate statistics, we do our best to provide the best representation at the time the data was acquired. We deem the data and reports reliable but not guaranteed.

One of the "Presents" the real estate downturn has given us in Vancouver Washington and Clark County, is that we now have Home Affordability at a very high level. In fact, the data provided by the Washington State University's Washington Center for Real Estate Research (WCRER) is showing we are at a High not seen in at least two decades!

The Quarterly Report prepared prepared by WCRER (Third Quarter 2011 Report can be seen --> Here) is an accumulation of data by County within Washington State, allowing us here in Clark County to see how our real estate market has tracked over time; and to see how we compare to other Counties and the State Average. Since the public report is only in tabular form for any given quarter, we thought it would be fun to prepare a graph that would visually show over time just how amazing the current position is. The result is the chart below that starts with the Second Quarter in 1994 through the Third Quarter of 2011:

Reading the Chart: The Housing Affordability Index (HAI) measures the ability of the Median Household Income (as currently reported by the US Census Bureau) for Clark County to purchase a Median Priced Clark County Home. The home purchase will be made with a 20% down-payment at the current rate of interest. A benchmark number of 100 means that the Median Household Income equally matches the requirement to purchase a Median Priced home. Numbers above 100 mean improved Affordability; while numbers below 100 indicate decreased Affordability.

As we can see the most recent peak in the HAI was at the time of the previous housing recession in the early 2000's. Once that recovery turned to Boom, and then on to Bubble, the HAI dropped to it's lowest level. Of note, even at the peak of the Bubble, the HAI for Clark County was just under the 100 benchmark level.

For the current heights of the HAI, we know that soft home prices and falling home loan rates have weighed in significantly. On the Household Income measure, apparently Clark County on whole, has not had enough of a drop in income to keep the HAI from rising up.

Our word to Wise Home Buyers: we do not expect Clark County and Vancouver WA Homes and Houses to be any more affordable than they are right now! We've already started seeing home prices firm up, and no one expects home loan interest rates to stay below 4%. Clark County is also more affordable than most other metro areas in Washington; and we are seeing inbound moves from the Seattle area, for example, as they take advantage of such a move!

We'd love to hear your questions or comments on this topic!

-----
The above information was assembled from data provided by the WSU Washington Center for Real Estate Research, and is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. The chart was created by John Slocum, Broker with REMAX Vancouver WA using this data.

Home Sales in Clark County Show Seasonal Slowing for November 2011

With the arrival of the cooler weather, Home Sales for Vancouver WA and Clark County have shown the typical seasonal slowing, with Closed Volume slipping to 338 units, and the 3-month rolling average sales price now below the 12-month rolling average. However, Pending Sales were again very strong - at 426 units. With the strength of the Pending Sales, combined with a high level of home refinancing activity occurring (to be sure, the-now-sub-4% home loan rates are causing a Refi Boom!), we are clearly on track to beat last years sales levels.

Currently, the Affordability Index for real estate and Homes in Vancouver WA is at a 25+ year high (we'll report separately on that soon)! Thus, our near-term to medium-term outlook for home buyers is Very Positive.

The information charted below is based on home sales entered into the Vancouver MLS system (RMLS), and exclude sales of mobile homes.

For the first 11 months of 2011 we show 4,447 closed sales; compared to 4,359 for the same period in 2010. If this trend continues for the last month of 2011 (and it should), we are confident 2011 will post a higher sales volume compared to the total real estate sales in 2011.

The Chart Below (prepared by John Slocum, our resident statistician) shows the purchase activity since 2009; charting the 3 month rolling average number of sales, and the 12 month rolling average. This simple "smoothing" of the data better helps illiustrate the short-term and longer term trends in the Clark Conuty homes / real estate market.

The next chart below shows the Average home sales price trends (3 month and 12 month) for the same time period. As you can see, with the extended higher level of purchasing activity we are clearly seeing support for home sales prices, with the outlook as "Firming up."

Finally, the Level of Available Inventory is an important indicator of market health. When we remove the statistical "noise" of the "New" homes listing in the MLS, we find a more meaningful inventory estimate. The result is our best approximation of a Resold Home Inventory calculation of 5.6 months Clark County-wide (4.9 months for the sum of Vancouver zip codes) -- a number that is substantially lower than last year, and another indication that home prices should remain firm with a similar level of demand. In contrast, the RMLS is using a a number drawing from both the Resale and "New" home segments, and showing a total Inventory of 6.8 months. Clearly, removing the New Homes provides a better picture of move-in ready homes on the market.

Charts: For the enthusiasts that like to examine charts, we have the sales results for the Resold Inventory (excludes new homes) by Community that you may find helpful:

Clark County WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Battle Ground WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Camas WA Home Sales Results and Charts
La Center WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Ridgefield WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Vancouver WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Washougal WA Home Sales Results and Charts

Please let us know if you have any specific questions or comments!

Disclaimer: as with any real estate statistics, we do our best to provide the best representation at the time the data was acquired. We deem the data and reports reliable but not guaranteed.

RSS Feed Directory - Search and read RSS Feeds without any RSS reader.

Home Sales in Clark County Cool (just slightly!) for October 2011

With the arrival of the Autumn Season, Home Sales in Vancouver WA and Clark County cooled, with Closed Volume slipping below 400 units, and the 3-month rolling average sales price turning lower again. On the positive side, Pending Sales were very strong - at just under 500 units. Given the strength of the Pending Sales, along with the high level of home refinancing activity occurring (to be sure, the ~4% home loan rates are causing a Refi Boom!), it is highly likely some of the closings that may have made it by the end of October instead, got pushed into early November.

We've discussed previously the impacts to home sales in 2010 caused by the Federal Home Buyer Tax Credit -- the first half of 2010 Boomed; while the second half collapsed. The big positive drivers for the 2011 home buying rally have been much lower home loan rates, along with lower home prices. Thus, Affordability for real estate and Homes in Vancouver WA is at a 25+ year high!

That said, on to our report. This information is based on home sales entered into the Vancouver MLS system (RMLS), and exclude sales of mobile homes.

For the first 10 months of 2011 we show 4,084 closed sales; compared to 4,047 for the same period in 2010. If this trend continues for the last 2 months of 2011 (and it should), we expect that 2011 will post a measurably higher sales volume what was recorded for real estate sales in 2011.

The Chart Below (prepared by John Slocum, our resident statistician) shows the purchase activity since 2009; charting the 3 month rolling average of sales, and the 12 month rolling average. This simple "smoothing" of the data better helps illiustrate the short-term and longer term trends in the Clark Conuty homes / real estate market.

The next chart below shows the Average home sales price trends (3 month and 12 month) for the same time period. As you can see, with the extended higher level of purchasing activity we are seeing some support for home sales prices, while the outlook is still "soft."

Finally, the Level of Available Inventory is an important indicator of market health. We have found that a very high percentage of the "New" homes listing in the MLS are merely prospective homes to be built and thus, we have no good way to scrub out the phantom homes from the actual finished or near-finished product. Therefore, in search of a meaningful Inventory Statistic, we run the report excluding homes built in 2011. The result is our best approximation of a Resold Home Inventory calculation of 5.6 months -- a number that is substantially lower than last year, and another indication that home prices could rise with a continued higher level of demand. In contrast, the RMLS is using a a number drawing from the "New" home segment, and showing a total Inventory of 7.2 months. Clearly, removing the "new homes" that don't truly exist from our analysis provides a better reporting of this statistic.

Charts: For the enthusiasts that like to examine charts, we have the sales results for the Resold Inventory (excludes new homes) by Community that you may find helpful:

Clark County WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Battle Ground WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Camas WA Home Sales Results and Charts
La Center WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Ridgefield WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Vancouver WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Washougal WA Home Sales Results and Charts

Please let us know if you have any specific questions or comments!

Disclaimer: as with any real estate statistics, we do our best to provide the best representation at the time the data was acquired. We deem the data and reports reliable but not guaranteed.

How do the Prices for Vancouver WA Bank Owned Homes compare to Short Sales?

In Vancouver Washington and Clark County the number of Distressed Properties - Foreclosures (aka Bank Owned Homes) and Short Sales Homes; is a significant part of the available housing inventory. A Big Question arises at this time: for Home Buyers - what is the best Deal? - will Foreclosures or a Short Sales be the better home to buy; or, is it a regular Owner Occupied Home for sale?

In trying to come up with an answer, we decided to take a sample of Vancouver and Clark County homes sold this year to see if any trends emerge. For this sample the main components were: Year Built: 1990 to 2010; Size of Home: 1,800' to 2,200'; Lot Size: less than 1 acre; Sold: between May and October, 2011.

This property search screen resulted in a total of 297 Closed Sales; 152 of the houses sold were non-distressed; 57 were Short Sales; and 88 were Foreclosures (already foreclosed by the bank). Since not all short sales homes listed actually close, seeing fewer total short sales closed vs Foreclosures is not surprising.

We were also concerned that there are a good number of homes being purchased at the Foreclosure Auction, Rehabbed, then Flipped (listed and sold) as a "normal" sale. So, we went back to the list of 152 "normal" sales from the original screen and found 22 homes that were either Flips (16) or, HUD Foreclosures (6) homes that should have been listed as Bank Owned Homes. Revised Totals now show: 130 Normal Sales (43.8%); 57 Short Sales (19.2%); 94 Bank Owned Homes (31.6%) and 16 Foreclosure-Flips (5.4%). Below is a simple chart prepared to compare key elements:

From this chart we see Short Sales are sold on average $2 per square foot lower than Bank Owned Homes. However, the Average Days on Market (DOM) figure for bank owned homes is much lower. Thus, it makes sense that home buyers that can be patient will be in a better position to pursue purchasing a short sale home.

Are you currently in the market for a home in Clark County or Vancouver WA? Whether you want Short Sales, Bank Owned Homes (including Foreclosures and HUD Foreclosures) we'll be glad to provide the assistance you need!

Home Sold in Steamboat Landing Vancouver WA

Steamboat Landing Vancouver WA, an outstanding Columbia River Waterfront Gated Community in Vancouver Washington, is a favorite of ours. Recently we had the pleasure of placing our clients into a "Stratford" model.

Some of the great fetures of this home besides curb appeal include: Master and Den on the Main Level; Great Room concept with vaulted ceiling. Given the great condition of this home, along with the desireability of this design, we quickly found ourselves in a multiple-offer situation and the listing was only a few days on the market!

Since my clients found this neighborhood and home to be the best for them, they upped-their initial offer, and literally won by the slimmest of margins. In fact, it was so close that it came down to an All-Cash offer beating out a financed offer.

As one of the largest waterfront community in Vancouver, Steamboat Landing is relatively unknown by most home shoppers looking to live in Fishers Landing, Fairway Village or Cascade Park. One of the reasons is that much of the residential real estate located between the SR-14 freeway and the Columbia River is much higher priced than much of the rest of Vancouver. Add a gated entry to the neighborhood, and you have a combination making this place one you must "know where to look!"

Although many of the homes right on the Steamboat Landing waterfront will often be priced over $1,000,000; there will also be found a good selection of homes in the lower price ranges -- down to the mid-$200's (as of 2011, the time of this writing). A fine Marina is also located on the river behind the gate but, owning a boat is not a requirement of owning a home here!

As Realtors with Remax Vancouver WA we always enjoy showing our qualified home-buyers the amenities and homes found in the Steamboat Landing!

Clark County Home Sales Rally of 2011 Continues with a Relatively Strong Showing in September

Since the beginning of 2011, Real Estate and Home Sales volume in Vancouver WA and Clark County have shown steady improvement, either on a month-over-month basis; or, when compared to the results of 2010. However, sales prices have taken a while to respond but, have finally done so in a positive manner.

One very important consideration we must take care of early is the impact the Federal Home Buyer Tax Credit had on the sales volume and prices during 2010, and perhaps into 2011. With the eligibility for the tax credit expiring in the first half of 2010, we saw many home shoppers move up their purchases from just a few months, and on up to a year sooner for others. This created an artificially higher volume of sales in early 2010; high enough to provide support for the otherwise falling home values; along with a much lower volume of sales for the six or more months following the expiry.

With the tax credit incentive in-place, homes purchased effectively cost less to the eligible purchaser. Today, the removal of the Incentive caused home prices to fall so that home prices are Less; probably so much lower that it may be that those who waited until this year obtained a much better net price.

That said, on to our report. This information is based on home sales entered into the Vancouver MLS system (RMLS), and exclude sales of mobile homes.

For the first 9 months of 2011 we show 3,702 closed sales; compared to 3,722 for the same period in 2010. If this trend continues for the last 3 months of 2011 (and it should), we expect that 2011 will post a higher sales volume than in 2011.

The Chart Below (prepared by John Slocum, our resident statistician) shows the purchase activity since 2009; charting the 3 month rolling average of sales, and the 12 month rolling average. This simple "smoothing" of the data better helps illustrate the short-term and longer term trends in the Clark County real estate market.

The next chart below shows the Average home sales price trends (3 month and 12 month) for the same time period. As you can see, with the extended higher level of purchasing activity we are finally seeing some support building in the past 3 months for home sales prices.

One final statistic we'll discuss here is the Level of Inventory. Here we find that a very high percentage of the "New" homes listing in the MLS are merely prospective homes to be built and thus, we have no good way to scrub out the phantom homes from the actual finished or near-finished product. Therefore, in search of a meaningful Inventory Statistic, we run the report excluding homes built in 2011. The result is our best approximation of a Resold Home Inventory calculation of 5.8 months -- a number that is substantially lower than last year, and another indication that home prices could rise with a continued higher level of demand.

Charts: For the enthusiasts that like to examine charts, we have the sales results for the Resold Inventory by Community that you may find helpful:

Clark County WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Battle Ground WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Camas WA Home Sales Results and Charts
La Center WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Ridgefield WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Vancouver WA Home Sales Results and Charts
Washougal WA Home Sales Results and Charts

Please let us know if you have any specific questions or comments!

Disclaimer: as with any real estate statistics, we do our best to provide the best representation at the time the data was acquired. We deem the data and reports reliable but not guaranteed.

Selling Homes in Fairway Village, a Golf Course Retirement Community in Vancouver Washington, is one of many neighborhoods we have fun working with. As Realtors in Vancouver WA it is particularly pleasing when our clients are happily placed in an updated home right on the Fairway Village golf course!

The Fairway Village Community is in the Southeast part of Vancouver Washington, just West of the Fishers Landing area.

As the largest and most well known active Senior 55+ community in Vancouver, our clients had a good number of homes, mostly one-level ranch style, to choose from. However, not all of the homes in this community are right on the golf course.

One of the key points they realized when reviewing the homes, was that a location on the golf course could cost from $30,000 to $50,000 more, which has been an axiom from the inception of this development.

The home our client's chose has many fine updates including: new flooring, paint, roof and kitchen cabinets and appliances. All that was left is to move in and decorate the way they wanted to!


Can you see yourself here? If you'd like to know about this excellent active retirement community please give us a call! Kathryn: 360-281-4150; or, John 360-241-7232.

For a list of most of the currently available homes for sale in Fairway Village, we've provided this IDX search from the Vancouver WA MLS:

Note: to qualify as an owner in Fairway Village, at least one of the owner-residents must be 55 in age or older, and all permanent occupants of the home must be over 18.

Real Estate and Home Sales Work Through the Dog-Days of Summer for Vancouver and Clark County Washington in August.

With the cool and cloudy part of summer behind us, August sunshine and heat broke through to put Residential Home Sales for Clark County and Vancouver WA into a slight slowing mode, although the Home Sales Rally of 2011 is very much alive with 450 homes sold! Key drivers for keeping the sales activity up are: 1) the favorable price of the homes available; and 2) the home loan interest rates keep going down, if ever so slowly. With a status-quo report on the jobs front, this has meant the Affordability of Vancouver and Clark County's homes is at the highest level seen in over 20 years.

The Data we are using comes from the Vancouver MLS (covers Clark County Washington also) to obtain a comprehensive view of real estate sales within the boundaries of Clark County Washington (Vancouver USA is the major city -- right next to Portland Oregon). In a continuous effort to provide more meaningful information to the community the Rules Committee for RMLS published a significant "Clarification" on the status of Short Sale homes and how they are to be classified when an offer has been placed on them. The RMLS has made clear that a short sale home with an offer on it must by marked pending if the seller is only going to allow one offer at a time to be sent to the short-sale bank. Until now this rule had very sparsely been applied. As a result, this month about 200 or so short sale listings have been marked as Pending. As we have reported previously, these particular short sale homes should not be counted in the Active Inventory to provide a better view of the condition of the real estate market. For August 2011 Clark County now shows 6.2 months of available Inventory.

We have also run another screen to remove "New Homes" that have not actually been built; and the result shows the truer level of Home Inventory is at 5.3 months! One reason this metric is important is to gauge whether we are in a "Buyer's Market" (aka high levels of Inventory); a "Seller's Market" (aka low level of Inventory) or a "Normal Market" (aka balanced level of Inventory). At a reading of 5.3 we are in a Normal Market level of Inventory but, getting very close to a Seller's Market.

The chart below is the condensed version we have prepared from Vancouver MLS data:

This month the level of Active homes is down substantially, due to both the good level of home sales, and the move of many short sales listings to the Pending status. The Average Sold price is $212,207 - up from $216,806 the prior month; while the Median Sales Price edged up slightly to $185,750.

These final charts graphically represent the home sales results for Clark County and Vancouver WA in summary form:



As these charts show the real estate sales rally for 2011 is still going reasonably strong, with the sum of the last three months higher than the previous three months. We are also seeing some firming up of sales prices, although we may be too early to see a solid trend in that regard..

Clark County Washington's largest city is Vancouver Washington. Other towns include: Amboy, Battle Ground, Brush Prairie, Camas, Ridgefield, Washougal, and Yacolt.
-------

Disclaimer: this information has been prepared by the Alexander ~ Slocum Team from data obtained using custom search parameters from the predominant MLS system covering Vancouver Washington and is subject to change as new data is added daily.

• Clark County and Vancouver WA Real Estate | Market Update Report for August 2011
• Vancouver WA Real Estate | Market Report for August 2011
• Battle Ground Real Estate | Market Report and Statistics for August 2011
• Camas WA Real Estate | Market Report and Statistics for August 2011
• La Center WA Real Estate | Market Trends and Statistics August 2011
• Ridgefield WA Real Estate | Market Trends and Statistics - August 2011
• Washougal WA Real Estate | Market Report for August 2011

• Clark County and Vancouver WA Real Estate | Market Update Report for July 2011
• Vancouver WA Real Estate | Market Report for July 2011
• Battle Ground Real Estate | Market Report and Statistics for July 2011
• Camas WA Real Estate | Market Report and Statistics for July 2011
• La Center WA Real Estate | Market Trends and Statistics July 2011
• Ridgefield WA Real Estate | Market Trends and Statistics - July 2011
• Washougal WA Real Estate | Market Report for July 2011

The above real estate and home sales information has been prepared and provided by John Slocum and Kathryn Alexander, recognized as one of the top teams at REMAX Vancouver WA. We hope you find useful information and opinion related real estate and Homes for sale in Vancouver Washington and the rest of Clark County.

Who do you know Thinking of selling your home in this market? We have the insight and passion for selling homes to get them (or you!) moving!

Visit our use-friendly website to learn more about Vancouver Washington, Camas WA real estate or Battle Ground WA real estate. No sign-up required.



PS - Nobody sells more real estate than RE/MAX. Look to John Slocum and Kathryn Alexander for Vancouver WA Homes For Sale

For your Smart Phone and Tablet PC Home Search visit:

Real Estate Washougal Washington, Market Statistics and Trends for July 2011

Washougal Real Estate remains at a higher pace this month, with a continued improvement in the overall level of Inventory, with more Distressed Properties being processed through...

Earlier in July we logged into the MLS for Vancouver and Washougal to obtain a quick snap-shot view of what happened with Washougal Washington Real Estate market trends and statistics, in Clark County Washington 98671. Here is what we have to report:

From this quick view we see six fewer Pending transactions compared to last month, and about a six month's supply of resale-inventory available at the end of the month (projected based upon Sold Homes). This month the 3rd Party + Pre-Foreclosures + Foreclosures combined are still running at a slightly lower level (26.8% this month vs 31.6% last month), although we are starting to see within that mix a continuing new dominance of short-sales vs. foreclosures being sold.

This next Table shows the sales activity for the past 3 months in Washougal from the MLS
(you may right-click on the image and follow your browsers instructions to see the larger image):


The Chart Below shows Washougal Washington Home Sale Prices and Inventory Trends; along with "Days On Market" trends over the past 36 months. Of Note: the Median Days on Market Statistic is currently quite low!



The Price Trend for Washougal Homes and Real Estate suggests the market has been doing well with the absorption of the distressed properties, and we should be starting to see a firming up in prices in this part of the recovery cycle.

If you are looking to sell your home in Washougal, Vancouver or another part of Clark County Washington in this challenging market time please call or e-mail us with the details of your situation and we'll customize a marketing plan to get your Clark County Home Sold!
-------
Definitions:
1) 3rd Party = the sales contract requires the approval of a third party; and includes Short-Sales, Trust Sales, Relocation Company sales, etc.
2) PreForeclosures = aka Short-Sales are homes where the lending bank(s) agrees to take less, allowing a sales transaction to take place.
3) Foreclosures = aka REO's and Bank Owned Homes, already Foreclosed by the Lender(s).
4) PENDING = listed homes that have been marked as under contract by the listing agent during the past 30 days.
5) SOLD = listed homes that have been marked as closed sales by the listing agent in the past 30 days. Note: some of these sold homes may have been "pending sales" for far more than 30 days!

Disclaimer: this information is drawn using custom search parameters from the predominant MLS system covering Vancouver Washington and is not guaranteed to be accurate.

• Clark County and Vancouver WA Real Estate | Market Update Report for July 2011
• Vancouver WA Real Estate | Market Report for July 2011
• Battle Ground Real Estate | Market Report and Statistics for July 2011
• Camas WA Real Estate | Market Report and Statistics for July 2011
• La Center WA Real Estate | Market Trends and Statistics July 2011
• Ridgefield WA Real Estate | Market Trends and Statistics - July 2011
• Washougal WA Real Estate | Market Report for July 2011

• Clark County and Vancouver WA Real Estate | Market Update Report for June 2011
• Vancouver WA Real Estate | Market Report for June 2011
• Battle Ground Real Estate | Market Report and Statistics for June 2011
• Camas WA Real Estate | Market Report and Statistics for June 2011
• La Center WA Real Estate | Market Trends and Statistics June 2011
• Ridgefield WA Real Estate | Market Trends and Statistics - June 2011
• Washougal WA Real Estate | Market Report for June 2011

The above information was provided by John Slocum and Kathryn Alexander, recognized as one of the top teams at REMAX Vancouver WA. We hope you enjoy the information in our posts, including videos on real estate and Living in Washougal Washington and the rest of Clark County.

Thinking of selling your home in this market? We have the insight and passion for selling homes to get you moving!

For Clark County Washington homes and Real Estate in Vancouver WA visit Vancouver WA Real Estate. If you have an immediate need to search the MLS for Vancouver WA please visit Homes For Sale Vancouver WA .

If your interest is in foreclosures, pre-foreclosures (short-sale homes) and Bank Owned Homes in Vancouver Washington we have a special search set up for you at Bank Owned Homes Vancouver WA.

Real Estate Ridgefield WA Performed Well for July 2011

Ridgefield WA Home Sales turn in reasonable Summer-Season results, with Short Sales and REO's still a shrinking part of the mix...

As one of Clark County's hardest hit areas for Distressed Properties, Ridgefield Washington has shown improving ratios of normal sales vs. distressed property sales when compared to the County overall. Also of Note: about 82 of the Active Inventory are "New" Homes (or, to-be-built homes) from the home builders -- who we surmise are bullish on Ridgefield's future.

We've logged into the MLS for Vancouver and Ridgefield to obtain a quick snap-shot view of what happened during July with Home and Condo sales within the confines of the Ridgefield zip code 98642, in Clark County Washington. Here is what we have to report:

From this brief view we see that the number of Pending transactions this month jumped to a total of 20, compared to only 12 last month (May was unusually high); as well as about six (6) month's supply of Resale inventory (based on adjusted-Solds -- removing "phantom" new homes) available at the end of the month. This month the 3rd Party + Pre-Foreclosures + Foreclosures combined are about 40.0% of the Pending Ridgefield homes listed for sale (still much lower than the County Average of 43.1%).

The table below is the last 3 months of activity from the Ridgefield MLS
(right-click on the image and follow your browser's instructions to see the full-size image).


The Chart Below shows Ridgefield Washington Home Sale Prices and Trends over the past 36 months, comparing Average and Median Sales prices compared to List prices (July looks good for improved prices!); and Days on Market trends: