Comments on: West Linn Real Estate Market Activity, June 22-28, 2009

By: Ron Ares

Ron Ares — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:50:54 +0000

I believe the lots at Maxfield have reverted back to Legend Homes’ lender.

By: david

david — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:49:07 +0000

Jody, I am so sorry. I just realized that I typed Judy in my two previous comments!

And thank you for the reply. I wish that there was a similar web site for tracking Lake Oswego real estate data on a weekly basis like yours for west linn. I’m very much interested in LO as well.

By: Jody McLeod

Jody McLeod — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:55:18 +0000

David,
I can’t seem to find out much information either, although Legend did sell one home on Winkel Way back in January 2008 (3154 Winkel Way). I’m would imagine all building on developments would be on hold until everything gets figured out, but as of yet, no sales data on RMLS.

Oh, BTW, my name is Jody, not Judy. No worries – it happens more than you know!

By: David

David — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:27:29 +0000

Ron or Judy, do you know what happened to Legend Home’s development on Winkel Way? DR Horton is on the other side of the street still building and selling.

I saw some data showing Legend missed one or more payments on a 2.2 million dollar loan. Legend’s web site doesn’t show Winkel Way as a “future community” Did they bail out of the Winkel Way development?

What’s going to happen to their lots?

Curious,

David

By: Stuart

Stuart — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 18:21:41 +0000

Yahoo: “Where not to buy real estate” – “5 Housing Markets That Have Further to Fall ”
Detroit, New York City, Phoenix, Portland, Ore. Minneapolis:

“The Pacific Northwest bubble was among the last to burst, which could mean the market will be among the last to recover.”

http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/5-housing-markets-that-have-further-to-fall.html;_ylc=X3oDMTFuNTBiYnQ0BF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEX3MDOTc2MjA0NjUEc2VjA2ZwLXRvZGF5BHNsawNmdXJ0aGVyLXRvLWZhbGw-

Maybe I’ll be on the high side with my $140/sqft estimate. Maybe. Although I think I am seeing a little compression in the sub $400K point now, possibly leading to values stabilizing a little (at least in West Linn). Perhaps it will be the “splendiferous” properties that start tanking to drag the averages down. There just aren’t that many truly wealthy people in Oregon, who want to live in West Linn and take on the costs of living in the city.

By: Ron Ares

Ron Ares — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:44:11 +0000

Interestingly, DR Horton appears to be the only production builder that is putting up spec homes right now. The local builders like Renaissance, Legend, and Arbor are all requiring deposits first. I’m not sure what Centex is doing, but Horton must be feeling bullish enough to build, even at greatly reduced margins.

By: david

david — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:29:06 +0000

Judy, thanks for the explanation. So DR Horton is now selling brand new houses for $150 a square foot. I don’t think they’re selling these at a loss, but they are making substantially less money per square foot than before.

I would guess that their cost including the lot to be somewhere near $100 a square foot or less. Probably less. A local builder’s cost will be less as they have less overhead. So they’re still making about 100K per house for these 3000 sq foot houses. Not bad, but way less than before.

By: Jody McLeod

Jody McLeod — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:23:41 +0000

David- RMLS has different sales data than what you found for Lancaster. It only shows that it was sold in November 2006 for $265,000. At that time, it was a small, 1950’s home. However, when I delve a little deeper into other sources, it looks like half of the lot (was orginally two joined lots) was sold off for $165,400 in April of 2007. Then I see the sale you mention in October 2008, and it looks like the purchaser was a bank and would be considered a private sale (therefore not on RMLS).

As for the two homes on Winkel Way, they are new homes that haven’t been built yet. They will be built “on spec” for the buyers. They are DR Horton homes.

By: david

david — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:17:45 +0000

2675 LANCASTER ST. This one is interesting. It looks like new construction that was last purchased on 10/30/2008 for $418500.
It must have been purchased by an investor wanting it flip it. But
instead got stuck holding the bag and had to sell at a loss for $360K.

The two houses on Winkel Way I don’t quite understand. The CMAP web site doesn’t show any prior sales. So are these BRAND NEW homes from DR Horton? Or are they existing home sales?

Thanks.