Filed under: People and Business, Uncategorized | Tags: eweb, Lane County, Veneta, West 11th
As with any city, there are several local disputes occurring in Eugene that you might not have heard about. Though they both remind me of some of the benefits of living here.
The first dispute concerns EWEB supplying water to Veneta, a bedroom community of Eugene. Essentially some Veneta residents don’t want EWEB to begin supplying water, as it will encourage sprawling growth. I thought this dispute brought up one of the great aspects about living in Lane County. You can choose whether you want to live in an urban or country environment, without living hours from the nearest town. Eugene and Springfield both have various bedroom communities that exist just outside the city. No long drive into town, and no traffic or neighbors as well.
The second issue concerns the expansion of west 11th, a major road through Eugene. There is a question whether west 11th should be made more friendly to foot traffic, or whether a proposed bus line should be included in a redone west 11th. This too, demonstrates another benefit of living in Eugene, its infrastructure is rapidly developing as the city does in order to meet its needs. No matter what you’re looking for, Lane County probably has it. The city of Eugene is seeking to restructure West 11th
Filed under: Uncategorized
According to a recent WSJ article house prices are starting to rise nationally, with projections showing average home prices rising about 12% in the next 5 years. Earlier this year, I predicted that Eugene Springfield houses would soon increase in prices. While I have not yet seen rising prices locally, the national trend means they’re probably on their way. Housing is still affordable in Eugene, this clean nice house is listed by me at 169K. Housing in Eugene remains affordable
Filed under: Eugene Realty Listings, Loans/Financing/Credit, Real Estate, Uncategorized | Tags: affordable housing, housing eugene springfield, mortgage rates
Mortgage interest rates continue to be very low, below 5%, which are some of the lowest rates most home owners have ever seen. Concerns over European finances caused investors to buy U.S. bonds, which pushed the price down; mortgage interest rates follow the 10 year Government Bond.
Longer term trends are less clear. The Government will begin selling its portfolio of 1 trillion dollars worth of home mortgages, acquired in 2009 & 2010, which will push interest rates up. And, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to need cash infusion, a sign of a weak national housing market. So far, Fannie has lost $145 billion dollars, a sum more than the combined profit it made in the last 35 years.
Home sales around Eugene Springfield were brisk in April, which seemed to be correlated to the expiring tax credit at the end of the month. The big question in the industry was: would sales grind to a stop? They have not and continue to be in keeping with the busy spring season. Prices have remained stable.
This listing of mine sold received an accepted full priced offer within a couple of days of going on the market. Affordable housing continues to be hot in Eugene.
Affordable houses fly off the shelves.
Filed under: Real Estate, Uncategorized | Tags: amazon.com data center, cloud computing, facebook data center, google data center, oregon, server farms
It’s no secret that Oregon is the home to clouds, with the western part of the state getting more than it’s fair share of rain. Now a different kind of clouds are moving in–cloud computing–a broad term to describe a trend in the computer industry of large data centers, or server farms.
When you Google search for “data center” your request goes up to the clouds, or in more concrete terms, is processed elsewhere, namely in one of Google’s many data centers, which house perhaps 500,000 servers in total. And there’s a fair chance that your request was routed through The Dalles, Oregon, then back to you. All at rates close to the speed of light.
The Oregon cities of Prineville, The Dalles, and Boardman are homes to data centers for some of high tech’s most recognized names: Facebook, Google and Amazon.com, who have chosen this area for it’s cheap land and cheap electricity. Washington State is also seeing a surge in these types of facilities, hosting companies as prominent as: Microsoft, Yahoo, Intuit, Ask.com and Sabey.
Industrial land in Central and Eastern Oregon ranges between $1.50 and $3.50 per square foot, compared to $3.50-$5.50 in Eugene. In San Jose, CA, Industrial dirt can go for $25/s.f and up. So, the dirt could be 10 Mm cheaper on a 10 acre parcel. The price paid for electricity is speculated to be about ½ of the market rate, perhaps some 1/4 million dollars per megawatt per year. This can translate into savings of 10 Mm dollars per year on a large server farm. Ten million here, 10 million there starts to add up.
In Oregon, nearly ½ billion square feet of structures will be built for these server farms, which is a welcomed boost to our economy. Cheap power, cheap land, and a favorable climate–the makings for success in the new information age.
Beatiful scenery abounds in Eastern Oregon.
Filed under: Loans/Financing/Credit, Uncategorized | Tags: goverment sponsored enterprise mortgage backed securities, GSE MBS, mortgage backed securities, mortgage rates
The Federal Government stopped buying mortgage backed securities yesterday. From 2009 until 31 March, the Gov purchased 1.25 trillion dollars worth of mortgage backed bonds. This kept interest rates on home mortgages at near record lows. Now that the government isn’t buying, it will give more room for private investors to step up. As of yet, interest rates haven’t spiked, and remain around 5%. If the economy continues to improve, rates will probably rise, though.
People are starting to watch interest rates.
Filed under: Real Estate, Uncategorized | Tags: MacIntosh Manner, new homes eugene oregon, New houses eugene oregon
It’s been so long since I’ve heard the sound of compressors and nail guns, I nearly forgot what they sounded like. New building in subdivisions in Eugene has slowed to a crawl. Difficult financing, low demand, and a shaky economy have all but silenced the builders’ hammers.
The developer of MacIntosh Manner, however, is doing some building. Apparently, on spec, too. The subdivision is located in the lower River Road area, and is visible from the Northwest Expressway, when you drive by. Their product is attractively priced at under $150/s.f., but demand is unknown. Whether this will be the tail end of the previous boom or the start of the new recovery will become apparent in time.
McIntosh Manner is one of Eugene's few subdivisions being built in 2010.
Filed under: Real Estate, Uncategorized | Tags: 2010 house prices eugene oregon, 2010 housing prices eugene oregon
Well, the drop in housing prices seems to be over for some Oregon Cities, at least according to Money Magazine. Housing prices in Eugene, Corvallis and Bend are expected to increase, making them among the top 25 appreciating housing markets in the United States this year. For Eugene to make the top 25 it has a predicted increase of 1.6%.
The 8K tax credit is still available until the end of April, and there are some really good buys out there. Get ahold of me if you’d like to see something before the prices go up.
There's usually something to do in Eugene. Photo by Craig Tomlinson, III
Filed under: Real Estate, Uncategorized | Tags: cal young, condos, eugene oregon, the farm
Condos from The Farm on Cal Young will be auctioned, with sealed bids due 21 April. Minimum bids will start around 80K for the studios and 175K for the one bedroom units. The auction is being handled by a Portland firm. Until now, no units have sold. Even though you can bid without a realtor, I’d certainly talk to one before I bought–it can’t hurt.
This 30 unit condo complex in Eugene never really took off. The Farm on Cal Young, was built in 2008, but no units were sold. The units were originally marketed as high as 420K, or some $300/s.f., which was expensive. Asking prices were lowered, but to no effect–still nothing sold.
The project was most recently up for sale for 4.2 Mm dollars. The debt on the project was said to be at least 6.1 Mm, or 203K per unit; this would have been a short sale, meaning the bank would have receive less than it was owed.
So, what’s the project worth? As condos, it depends on what price and at what rate you think the market will absorb the units; that is, what folks will pay for them, which is bound to be less than they were previously marketed for, and how quickly they’ll sell. Neither is apparent to me.
As apartments, you can make some assumptions, and come up with a price. If you assume an average monthly rent of 1.2K, which may be on the low side, operating expense of 50%, and a cap rate of 7.25 %, that gets you a price of about 3 Mm., or 100K/unit. Will it sell that low? That decision is probably up to the lender and/or its regulators. To justify a price of 4.2 Mm, average monthly rents of 1,700. are probably needed.
I looked at the project when it was just bare-dirt for sale, but never saw how I could make it work. I tend to be conservative, though, and a lot of stuff gets built that surprises me. The project will eventually be successful–it’s just a question of price and time. There are many good condos in Eugene
Filed under: Loans/Financing/Credit, Real Estate, Uncategorized | Tags: condo eugene springfield, condominium eugene springfield
The FHA, along with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have made loans for condominiums harder to get. The FHA rules kicked in 7 December, and the Fannie and Freddie changes occurred earlier in the year. The rules change frequently enough, that it’s frankly hard to keep up with them. Still, condos are selling and people do get loans on them. The solution: work with a loan officer and realtor that understand condos.
In Eugene Springfield, plan on spending between 100K and 150K for a condo. There are units for more or less, but those are good budgetary numbers. Make sure to look at the HOA dues–some complexes are pretty high. If you’re interested in condos, give me a call at 517-6543. A condominium project in Eugene.
