The Keizer Oregon real estate market has been one of the most stable markets in the Salem metro area for most of the year.  While it has had it’s woes, really that market seems to have corrected for the most part. Inventory, which is an important statistic in the world of real estate, is a gauge of the supply and demand in an individual market. The more in line these are, the healthier that real estate market. You can see that the huge spike in inventory at the start of the year has ste... Read Full Story

Anyway who has been around me for the past month knows that the water pipes that run above my son’s room just gave out and damaged his room.   I have a 1960’s home that needs a lot of work and so I believe that if you have to open up walls, upgrade at the same time.  So we added better insulation, redid some wiring etc for this unanticipated remodel project. Then the hard part came…agreeing with my son on a new paint color.  This is his room and I wanted to respect that, but... Read Full Story

I’m trying to come up with a pithy title for my monthly real estate reports and realize I have very little creativity in the literature department…I feel bad for my AP English teacher in high school…I appear to have fallen off the creativity wagon a bit… While I try and come up with something catchy, I will forge ahead with my monthly data… So do you want the good news, the good news, or the good news first… You pick the good news?  Cool. It’s no secr... Read Full Story

Earlier this year I “lost” a listing.  That’s what we agents say when a home seller chooses to go with another company.   I am a call it as I see it type of person, and with this seller I said the words “you home needs to be staged to sell. It won’t photograph well.”  I said it because it was true.  The sellers decided that they didn’t have time to stage and went with another agent.  I lost. It’s always hard when you are honest with people and t... Read Full Story

For those of you that have read my blog in the past, you know that I had an iPhone app that I was trying out for  local Salem Oregon home searches. I wasn’t pleased with it so I discontinued using it.   No more is this true. This new app is cool for iPhone users, and don’t worry blackberry and android users…you’re next.   If you click on my sidebar and go to get a FREE…yes FREE, home search app for the Salem Oregon area.  This app rocks. The homes come up on the ... Read Full Story

For those of you that have read my blog in the past, you know that I had an iPhone app that I was trying out for  local Salem Oregon home searches. I wasn’t pleased with it so I discontinued using it.   No more is this true. This new app is cool for iPhone users, and don’t worry blackberry and android users…you’re next.   If you click on my sidebar and go to get a FREE…yes FREE, home search app for the Salem Oregon area.  This app rocks. The homes come up on the ... Read Full Story

It was well known in the real estate world that banks didn’t like to take deed-in-lieu of foreclosure from sellers in trouble. Any seller that has tried to negotiate one of these in the past two years has gone up against a brick wall. It is well known in the real estate world that there are a lot of foreclosure. Any moderately active real estate agent here in Salem Oregon has done deals with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fannie Mae, in an effort to control the flow of its foreclosures, ... Read Full Story

It was well known in the real estate world that banks didn’t like to take deed-in-lieu of foreclosure from sellers in trouble. Any seller that has tried to negotiate one of these in the past two years has gone up against a brick wall. It is well known in the real estate world that there are a lot of foreclosure. Any moderately active real estate agent here in Salem Oregon has done deals with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fannie Mae, in an effort to control the flow of its foreclosures, ... Read Full Story

Ten years ago or so now, we decided to leave our beloved West Hills of Portland and head down to Salem for a great opportunity for my husband.  I was not thrilled, which is an under statement, about leaving Portland because everyone knew that Salem was ugly and that it sucked. Never mind that I had never lived in, or even visited Salem, but everyone knew that it was ugly. It took me a while to adjust to the slower pace of Salem, and I have learned to love the fact that I don’t sit in tr... Read Full Story

Ten years ago or so now, we decided to leave our beloved West Hills of Portland and head down to Salem for a great opportunity for my husband.  I was not thrilled, which is an under statement, about leaving Portland because everyone knew that Salem was ugly and that it sucked. Never mind that I had never lived in, or even visited Salem, but everyone knew that it was ugly. It took me a while to adjust to the slower pace of Salem, and I have learned to love the fact that I don’t sit in tr... Read Full Story