Eugene Oregon Real Estate Blog by Craig Tomlinson » Eugene Realty Listings

2010 Distressed Property Stats: Lane County

craigtomlinson — Sun, 22 May 2011 00:55:16 +0000

With all the interest in short sales and foreclosed properties in Eugene – Springfield, I decided to take a look at the sales statistics for 2010. Normal, non-distressed, sales comprised about 3 out of 4 sales in Lane County.

Bank owned properties, also called REO (real estate owned) and foreclosures, were a little more common than 1 in 6 sales in Lane County. Short sales were 8 % of last year’s sales, or fewer than 1 in 10.

With distressed sales making up 1 in 4 sales in Lane County in 2010, it still makes them far more frequent than in years past. It was and still remains a buyers market in Eugene and Springfield, Oregon.

1 in 4 Sales in Lane County were Distressed in 2010

Eugene: A Pipeline Runs Through It

craigtomlinson — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 04:44:35 +0000

Many Eugene residents don’t realize it, but we have our own 8” petroleum pipeline extending from Portland to Eugene at the tank-farm off Prairie Road. The pipeline brings in 1.8 million gallons per day to Eugene, and was completed in 1962 at a cost of $7 million.

The tank farm has a capacity of 700K barrels, or nearly 30 million gallons. Oregon neither refines nor produces liquid hydrocarbons so all that gasoline and diesel has to come from somewhere—and a lot of it comes from Portland to the Eugene terminal. Portland is fed by marine deliveries and two pipelines from refineries inNorthwestern Washington.

In fact, 90% of the petroleum used in Oregon comes from just four refineries in Washington State, which get 80% of their crude oil from the Northshore of Alaska.

If your property has the pipeline running through it, your title policy should show an easement from about 50 years ago. However, if your property merely has the pipeline near it, local knowledge is about the only way to know it—that and pipeline warning signs.

Carrying petroleum to a town near you.

Eugene’s Cash Real Estate Sales

craigtomlinson — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 03:27:26 +0000

According to CNN, more homes are being purchased with cash these days. Obviously, if you’re purchasing a house with cash, you’re either well-off or, at the very least, not feeling the crunch of the Great Recession.

I took a look at the recent sales in the Eugene Springfield area as reported by RMLS to see if the trend held true to us. In the preceding month’s time period, about 20% were, indeed, cash sales.

That’s pretty high.

The homes did tend to be lower priced though. The most expensive listing sold during that month was my own listing—weighing in at nearly ¾ million dollars. It was not sold for cash, though; but rather a conventional loan was used.

High-end homes are still selling in Eugene.

Green Buildings Are Worth More

craigtomlinson — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 03:10:00 +0000

Cap rates for LEED certified commercial buildings are ½ percentage point better than for standard, non-green buildings. Green building is a nice concept, but the marketplace’s acceptance will really help it take hold.

In Eugene and Springfield, there are very few LEED certified buildings so it’s hard to know how they’ll fare in the marketplace. One problem with both commercial and residential green buildings is that appraisers don’t yet value them appropriately. Of course, that will change—but for now it can cause problems if lenders are involved.

More buildings are going green these days.

Eugene Springfield Condos

craigtomlinson — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 03:25:17 +0000

Many look at condos as an affordable option to home ownership. In Eugene and Springfield that’s true—you can find decent condos under 100K locally. The rub is financing. Condos can be difficult to borrow against.

Within the last year, over ½ of The Farm condos on Cal Young sold. Unfortunately, probably 90% of them will have to sell before they are easily financed. And they’re hard to sell without financing—lenders aren’t making this any easier.

A condominium project in Eugene.

Short Sales in Eugene and Springfield

craigtomlinson — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 05:54:38 +0000

Short sales in Eugene and Springfield are becoming increasingly commonplace. While difficult, both buyers and sellers put up with them. Why? For sellers, short sales damage their credit less than other options. For buyers, they represent great values.

Even expensive homes aren’t immune to short sales. Below is an example of a short sale I recently did. It sold for nearly ¾ of a million dollars. At 8 acres and 1/8 mile of McKenzie River frontage it was a great buy.

If short sales in Eugene or Springfield intrigue you, get a hold of me.

Distressed Property in Eugene and Springfield

craigtomlinson — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 03:37:03 +0000

Sales of distressed property nationwide represent over 1/3 of recent sales. While the exact numbers for Eugene and Springfield aren’t available, the nationwide trend is representative of our local conditions. Many of these properties are being bought by investors—surprisingly for all cash. Tight credit is keeping a lot of buyers out of the market for these distressed properties.

Below is an example of a recent all-cash sale I made for a buyer in Springfield. It was a good bargain and will produce great cash flow. The house sold for $66,000. If you’re interested in rentals in Eugene and Springfield, get in touch with me.

Eugene’s UGB and Affordability

craigtomlinson — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 23:50:09 +0000

Increased density and more multi-family housing in Eugene is what the powers that be see in our future. We’re still a few weeks off from learning if the Urban Growth Boundry (UGB) will grow. My guess is not, but we shall see. The unintended consequence of a tight UGB is higher land cost, and therefore less afordability, but this is often overlooked.

Springfield housing development back on track

craigtomlinson — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 21:51:45 +0000

This housing development that I wrote about earlier in the year is finally in the process of being completed. Despite being repossessed, developer Hayden Homes is on track to build 100 home sites, with the first one, the model home, being completed around July 17th. The first phase of the development, consisting of about 10 homes, will be completed in around August or September. Reservations are being taken for the 10 initial homes, with an opening price of around 140K. There are seven home plans, ranging in size from 1,041 square feet for a 2 bed, 1 bath to 2,192 square feet for a four bed, 2.5 bath home.

Housing shortage could be on the horizon

craigtomlinson — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 23:12:44 +0000

A housing shortage could be looming in the not too distant future. While it may seem impossible now, over the last 3 years too few new homes have been built, creating a deficit of over 1.5 million homes, that could climb to a shortage of over 2 million next year. Some 1.6 million homes must be added each year to keep pace with demand from population increase and old house demolition. This should prop up house prices over time.

These trends are heavily reflected in Eugene and Springfield, where new building has slowed to a near stop. In 2009 and 2010, there were probably fewer than 100 new houses built. This means that house prices in Eugene and Springfield should increase, along with the national market.

New construction has slowed severely in the last 3 years.