Market Talk - S Oregon Real Estate Jan. 9, 2019 - The Real Estate Show with Alice Lema

Happy New Year! It’s official 2018 was a year divided into two halves. The first half and into July continued the robust sellers’ market of prior years with low inventory and high buyer demand. The latter half saw rising interest rates and growing consumer uncertainty, which led to a shift in the market that was mirrored nationwide. 2019 could be a pivotal year for many aspects of our local housing market.
With that in mind, do folks still think home ownership is a good investment? Check the latest stats:
That’s good news for the coming year. Best of all it’s true. What does the rest of 2019 look like? Take a look at these predictions from Keeping Current Matters. The biggest reason for optimism is that inventory is expected to rise appreciably this year.
As more inventory comes on the market — it means there is more competition for sales. One way to stay ahead of the competition is by staging your home. On last week’s Real Estate Show, Karen and Terry Toner, from Team Toner at John L Scott, shared their experiences about various ways staging a home can take place.
L-R Terry Toner, Karen Toner and Pete Belcastro at KCMX.
According to staging association stats — a staged home brings in an average 9% more for the seller. Staging is worth taking a look at.
S Oregon’s Real Estate Market enters January with an uptick. See last week’s stats below. For the first week of January they show new listings and pending sales that kick off the new year with a solid start.
I am personally sad to see State Rep. Sal Esquivel and his wife Jan leave the Rogue Valley for Idaho. Sal retired after 14 years serving in Salem as a Medford Rep. You may not know this but Sal, for many years, was the only licensed real estate broker serving among 90 state lawmakers. He gave us his final interview and shares his unique perspective to real estate related issues Salem lawmakers face from rental issues to land to use issues to housing issues to real estate taxes. Watch Sal and Jan share their final interview with us.
L-R, Jan Esquivel, Pete Belcastro and Sal Esquivel at KCMX Studio.
Thank you Sal and Jan for your years of service. Best of Luck in your future in Idaho.