Is now the best time to buy a Portland home?

According to many Portland Realtors, buying a home may never get any cheaper than right now. Prices are down 34% nationally and even more than that in Portland. In Portland prices have dropped in luxury homes as much as 50% in the last six years (generally speaking the higher the price of a Portland home, the greater percentage of loss in a down real estate market). Other homes in Portland have seen 40% to 20% losses. Mortgage rates are historically low, holding right now at high 3% or 4% depending on your credit.

This will not last. We already saw mortgage rates climb in Portland briefly this spring and then plummet down again. Very soon rates are likely to raise past their amazingly low numbers. Personally in 2012, as a Portland real estate agent, I’m seeing a lot of homes under 200K receive multiple offers and go into bidding wars. Since it is now cheaper to buy than to rent and mortgage rates have dipped yet again, the Portland buyers are already out there in force. (As I’m writting this post I just answered the phone to a Portland Realtor telling me his new listing in Oregon City for 199K already has eight offers in and it is the second day of his new listing!)

You have one more chance (perhaps). No one knows the future, but I can tell you there are more Portland foreclosures ready to hit the market this fall (2012) than any year prior. The banks have resolved their robo-signing scandals with the federal government and are ready to release a huge number of foreclosures onto the market. This fall and winter might be the best chance you’ll ever have to get a deal on a Portland home. Anything can happen and again, no one knows the future, but things are looking bright for Portland real estate buyers. Contact your Portland real estate agent today!