Market Update

Q4, 2018: A Welcome Return to Normal

The vibe from the Portland housing market is that it’s slowly settling into normal, which is a welcome reprieve for buyers. Between skyrocketing prices and low inventory, it’s been tough for them for the last while. So, let’s break down the most important things from the end of 2018.

Price

The median sold price for homes in Portland was just over $375,000, which is actually down from the nearly $425,000 mark we saw during the summer months (part of this drop is a seasonal price decline from the slower pace of winter). Prices are still climbing, but it’s at about half of the rate they were climbing a year ago.

Part of the reason for high prices has been the fact that there just aren’t as many homes to choose from. However, that is starting to change, too. At the end of December, there were 6,034 homes on the market. That’s a thousand more homes on the market than there were at the end of December 2017 and fifteen hundred more than there were at the end of December 2016.

Interest rates are also slowly rising (though they’ve been fairly flat here around 4.75% through the holidays and into the new year). Of course, this limits how much buyers can afford.

Days on Market

More listings mean that homes are sitting on the market a little bit longer (about 10 days longer than they were in December of 2017). Including closing time, that number is now 64 days. However, many homes do still get multiple offers, and go fairly quickly. It’s still a good time to be a seller!

Homes Sold

This was also the slowest December for number of homes sold since 2013! 1,846 were sold in December of 2018 compared to 2,350 in December of 2017 (a 21.4% drop). That number is 13.9% down from November of 2018, when 2,144 homes were sold.

Ready to Buy or Sell?

Buying or selling in a market like ours comes with plenty of good and bad. If you’re wanting to do either one in the near future, give me a call! I’ll be happy to sit down with you and help you come up with a game plan.

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Words of Praise

My wife and I recently had Marika Feibel do a comp check for our house in SE Ladd’s Addition and were very satisfied with her help and assistance during the process. Marika is a great communicator and helped walk us through the process in a way that was very easy to follow and understand. The comp check that she ran came in very close to the appraiser’s value and we left feeling good about the agreed-upon sale price. Marika was also the real estate agent that helped us find the house back in 2010 and we’ve also selected her to help us with the sale of our condominium on SW Jefferson St. We would highly recommend her to anyone.

Tony Tranquilli

During the summer and early fall of 2017, Marika was my real estate agent for the sale and also purchase of a house in Portland. What impressed me the most about Marika is that she was very responsive and available when needed or a question came up. Marika’s list pricing strategy was wise and resulted in many over asking offers. Marika was on site and arranged many of the details needed to get our house sold. She is efficient and keeps the ball moving forward and remains calm and professional throughout the entire process. Marika did a great job keeping me informed about the details and what to expect next. I would not hesitate to use Marika’s services again.

Sylvia Baltzer

Marika came to us as a reference from a close friend who moved to Portland from the LA area late last year. Being in a similar circumstance to him (eg. No strong connections to the area, no idea as to reputability, first-time home buyers), we were grateful for the reference for someone he obviously trusted impeccably. Any and all expectations/preconceptions we had were entirely blown away. Marika was a paragon of professionality. She remained patient, amiable, flexible and always smiling despite the grueling amount of properties and questions we threw at her. She even took the time to scout out potential listings up to 3 months before our big listing visit days to better direct our focus and optimize yield for a limited time frame. When we finally found a property, Marika held our hand each step of the way: from offering to escrow. She was there during the inspection, and there for the assessment. She was always there for us and our future home.

Finding a home can feel like a pitched battle. Everything has weight. Everything is time sensitive, urgent, and profound. It’s easy to stress out to the point of shutting down. Had it not been for Marika’s organizational skills, advice, and guidance, my wife and I honestly don’t know how we would have found our way through this process.

So, with all of that being said, I would recommend Marika without hesitation to any and all potential clients. She really made it a good experience.

Eric Schub

I highly recommend Marika and her team. We had an aggressive time frame in which to sell our home and Marika Feibel absolutely crushed it! From market analysis to open houses and everything in between, Marika was a true professional and always available to communicate via our preferred medium. We will definitely look to her for our future real estate needs.

Steve Inaudi

Marika has worked with our family on several projects. In each instance, she has demonstrated that she is Professional, Knowledgeable, and Competent. She has the ability to communicate in a clear and concise manner addressing all of our concerns. The very first time that I was able to work with Marika she was assisting our family with a difficult situation. Her guidance and direction were key to bringing about a quick and positive resolution for our family. The most recent instance involved providing research and guidance concerning the selling of our family home, her input allowed us to understand what we should expect for our property and what to expect from the process ahead of the family. I do not and would not hesitate to use Marika Feibel as my Principal Broker.

John Mikkelson

I highly recommend Marika and her team. We had an aggressive time frame in which to sell our home and Marika and her team absolutely crushed it! From market analysis to open houses and everything in between, Marika was a true professional and always available to communicate via our preferred medium. We will look to her for our future real estate needs.