Eugene Real Estate Blog | Lane County Oregon Blogs 
Florence Oregon Rhododendron Festival - Rhody Days
Sunday, May 4th, 2008 at 1:05am. 1387 Views, 2 Comments.
The Rhody Days Festival is held the 3rd week of May every year in Florence Oregon on the amazing Central Oregon Coast. The festivities this year run May 16th, 17th and 18th, 2008.
This year makes 101 years of this springtime festival that first started in 1908 and that has seen many changes over the years. From the remote logging and fishing town of less than 500 residents to a tourist and retirement destination of roughly 9,000 residents with paved roads and a bridge spanning the Siuslaw River. Florence is now on the Scenic Coastal Highway 101 and only an hour from Eugene on Highway 126.
The annual Florence Rhody Days Festival has grown to over 100 parade entries and attracts an estimated 15,000 visitors for this fun and exciting 3 day…
Oregon Home Buyers Have Another Week Of Low Mortgage Rates
Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 at 3:35am. 565 Views, 0 Comments.
The Labor Dept takes the spotlight today, as it always does on the first Friday of each month. The unemployment figure dropped from 5.2% to 5.0%, and there were only 20,000 jobs lost during the month of April. That's 20,000 people who don't see this as a good thing at all, but never-the-less the figure was way below the expected loss of 75,000 jobs. This means that from an employment standpoint, the economy is not as bad as many had thought. However, there are no predictions for the future that can be drawn from this.
Another significant figure that came from this same report is the average hourly earnings increase of 0.1%, well below the 0.3% that was forecast. Though that doesn't seem to be a good thing either, it does ease the threat of wage…
Oregon Mortgage Rates - Great News For Real Estate Buyers
Friday, April 25th, 2008 at 8:58pm. 605 Views, 3 Comments.
Rates are about the same this week as last. They did, in fact, go down a bit during the first part of the week, but the ongoing fear of inflation keeps bumping rates back up. The biggest underlying factor keeping this fear alive is the anticipation that the Federal Reserve will change their strategy for rate cuts at their next meeting on April 30 th . It is believed that they will either make a smaller cut (.25% instead of the .50% we've last seen), or possibly make no cut at all. Bond investors are sure this would be a mistake, and inflation would increase dramatically.
The Federal Reserve seems to want to take a wait and see approach; allowing the Stimulus Package and the previous Fed cuts to actually take effect before cutting more. I think this is…
Oregon Real Estate Buyers Should Make Move While Mortgage Rates Remain Low
Sunday, April 20th, 2008 at 1:25am. 646 Views, 1 Comments.
Another bumpy week, but this time it's been more ups than downs. As shown below, mortgage rates have increased across the board by about .25%. This in spite of several economic reports that again paint the economy in a rather dim light. Investors are definitely accentuating the positive in terms of the stock market. They have been pulling funds from the bond market in fear of the “I” word. Rightfully so, in current conditions, sense inflation erodes the value of bonds, and inflation is most certainly a concern.
The Consumer Price Index came in showing an increase of 4% in retail prices over March of 07. Most of the increase was due to energy, transportation, and food costs, which are usually not heavily considered because of their ongoing volatility.…
Mortgage Rates - Good News For Home Buyers With Lower Rates
Saturday, April 12th, 2008 at 1:13am. 885 Views, 8 Comments.
Bond market pricing went up today, after being down yesterday, and up the day before, and down the day before that, and so on. But, today's monthly report out of the University of Michigan , formally known as "The Index of Consumer Sentiment", showed a reading of 63.2. Don't worry about the number itself, what matters is that the number came in well below what the analysts were expecting, and means consumers are far more worried about their financial well-being than previously thought, by people who are well paid to know. The concern about personal finances, tend to keep consumers from spending as much, and re-thinking any large purchases.
This matters to the bond market, and particularly to mortgage rates. Because, since consumer spending makes up…
Oregon Real Estate - Mortgage Up-Date For Week End April 5, 2008
Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 6:42pm. 615 Views, 0 Comments.
The employment figures for March were released today by the Labor Dept. Not so good on the national front. The unemployment figure rose to 5.1% with 80,000 jobs lost during the month. These numbers are certainly not good, and once again point toward the likelihood of a true recession. I think, however, that not near enough time has passed to accurately judge the effects, of the actions taken by the Federal Reserve and the administration's Stimulus Package. Over-correcting can bring a more disastrous result than a slightly bumpy off-road experience with minor damage.
It's important, in these uncertain times to keep our eyes focused on the local market, and the things we can actually control. Locally, we're not seeing a major slowing of the economy,…
Mortgage Up-Date Report Affecting Oregon Home Buyers
Friday, March 28th, 2008 at 7:38pm. 655 Views, 5 Comments.
“Volatility”, is the not-so-secret word for today. With 
everything the Federal Gov't is trying to do to stimulate the economy and control inflation, it's not surprising that the markets and rates are on that virtual roller coaster. The first effects of any one stimuli will most likely not hit at the same time as any other, and likewise the end result of all these things will not be known for many many months. Therefore, we all just try to work within, and enjoy, whatever short periods of calm may come about.
A more important piece of information that I'll pass on is this; the Oregon Bond program has suspended it's “Cash Advantage” product as of 12:01 am March 26th. This product allowed the buyer to utilize 100% financing, and provided 3% of the…
Florence Again Rated "Coastal Gem" For Retirees
Saturday, March 8th, 2008 at 8:30pm. 16296 Views, 1 Comments.
A National Magazine names Florence a prime spot for condo living.
Two weeks ago an article featuring Florence condominium living was published in the February/March issue of Where to Retire magazine.
The magazine article is unlikely to influence growth in Florence the way the highly publicized book Retirement Places Rated did in 2004 and 2005, but it might help the currently struggling condominium market.
“Eight Coastal Gems for Condo Living” by Mary Beagin describes coastal communities in California, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Maryland and Oregon, and features Florence. The magazine has a readership of approximately 500,000.
Mary Lu Abbott, Where to Retire editor, said the publication's readers tend to be “well-educated adults in…
Eugene Oregon - Greenest Cities In America
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008 at 12:35am. 1107 Views, 13 Comments.
Eugene focuses on Green Living and ranks the 5th Greenest City in a National Study by Popular Science. This study was done on cities with a population over 100,000 people. Oregon has three cities that meet that criteria and two of them are in the top 5 with Portland at #1, Congratulations Portland. Those of us that live in Oregon realize that many of the smaller areas are just as focused on Green Living, but because each city in this study had to have a minimum population of 100,000 people, Oregon's only city that that did not make the cut was Salem.
This study looked at four separate categories and gave them a points rating system with a total of 30 possible points. The categories are; Electricity, Transportation, Green Living and Recycling.…
Thinking About Buying a Condo?
Friday, February 29th, 2008 at 2:10pm. 752 Views, 2 Comments.
written by Eric Bramlett
I have had a number of people asking me lately about purchasing condos. It seems that there are still plenty of people out there that really don’t see the purpose of buying a condo. The reality is that, depending upon your lifestyle and personal needs, a condo can be a great investment and an excellent purchase.
The way I see it, there are five main reasons for purchasing a condo. These include:
- Making upkeep easy
- Enjoying amenities
- Serving as an investment
- Getting more spacing
- Socializing
If you are someone that doesn’t like to mow lawns or perform other maintenance duties associated with having a home, a condo is a good choice. When you live in a condo, these tasks are…
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