Southern Oregon Real Estate Show -Rental Owner Assoc

Radio Show

Alice Lema: Well, good morning, Southern Oregon, and welcome to the real estate show, Southern Oregon's one and only weekly real estate show. Bringing you local stats information and what's happening. Pete Belcastro, Alice Lema, we're both brokers at John L. Scott, Pete. Welcome. How are things going with you this week?

[00:00:24] Pete Belcastro: Well, well, they're fine. And first of all, last week, congratulations you, your first solo show by yourself.

[00:00:31] Alice Lema: We didn't tell anybody that.

[00:00:35] Pete Belcastro: No, that'd because that's a milestone, you know, doing it by yourself the first time. You know, and you did it and you did great. So, so that's wonderful. It's good to be back with you actually. The look we're in mid summer right now, you know, that summer selling season, we always talk about it hitting the peak, you know, around the first part of August. And then it starts to kind of slowly work down the other way. So, you know, I don't know, Alice, we've talked, we've talked about plateauing in the market a little bit, and I think that's happened.

[00:01:00] We'll shared it with people in our last segment. Some of those latest stats that we've received kind of bears this out. So yeah, there's, it's just, we know that there's still a lot of demand, but it doesn't seem to be as much, homes are on the market a little bit longer than they were, although, you know, there's still it's if they're priced right. And in great condition, they're still moving pretty quickly.

[00:01:20] But overall, you know, the smoke has not helped us as, you know, a lot of people canceled this last a few weeks, but look, we got some rain this week that has been a blessing for these fires that have just plagued all around us. And you know, thanks to the firefighters who are out there and including my son who goes out there into the Bootleg fire you know so we're, maybe we're getting things under control.

[00:01:42] Maybe we're going to have a good clean August, you know, where we don't have smoke and things pick back up for people who are specially out enjoying the outdoors right now.

[00:01:51] Alice Lema: And it's interesting because we're in a slightly different cycle because we had so many delays because of the shutdowns. And I'm really curious to see if we have our normal tapering off in August and September going into the fall or if things stay pretty steady. We'll just have to keep an eye on it and see what happens.

[00:02:11] But that's why it's good to have a weekly show like this so people can be informed.

[00:02:16]Pete Belcastro:  It's easy to talk about the previous three months, because we all know what happened there. It's the,  it's the the next three months is that is of course, up in the air. Hey, today on this show, you're going to be doing an interview with Tia Politi who's from the Oregon Rental housing association. What a great time Alice talked to her about the rental market and what's happening around the state in our own communities its a timely topic. Can't wait to hear what she has to say. And then we'll come back in the last segment and update people on kind of what's going on in the market, around, around our region.

[00:02:48] Alice Lema: Yeah. And, you know with the state of Oregon legislature, legislative sessions this year she was involved in some of that. So yeah, it should be a great interview. So we're going to take a quick break right now. Thanks to our sponsors, a rogue valley association of realtors, John L. Scott, Southern Oregon, and guy Giles mutual of Omaha mortgage. We'll be right back.

[00:03:08] Well, welcome back to the real estate show folks. I'm Alice Lema broker John L. Scott here in Southern Oregon. And today I am so excited to introduce Tia Politi. She is the president of the Oregon rental housing association and the rental owners association of Lane county.

[00:03:26] She's also a landlord tenant instructor all across Oregon. She's an eviction specialist. She's not an attorney, but she's an eviction specialist. And she also operates the rental housing support services, providing consultation, education, and eviction services to housing providers. That's quite a mouthful. Welcome to you.

[00:03:50] Tia Politi: Thank you so much for having me Alice.

[00:03:52]Alice Lema:  Well, I am so excited tohave you on because in Oregon, it's it's difficult and tricky to be a landlord. It's also difficult and tricky to be a tenant. And you're just right in the thick of things with the latest information. So how about we start. What's new and changed since since January.

[00:04:12] Tia Politi: That's a loaded question. My dear, where do I start? Well certainly since January landlords have been able to terminate tenancy for all of the four qualifying landlord reasons. Prior to that, we were restricted too only two of the four reasons.

[00:04:27]I assume your listeners know what those are.

[00:04:29] Alice Lema: Why don't you circle back and go through those four real quick.

[00:04:33] Tia Politi: Okay. So the four reasons that a landlord can terminate include a landlord who wants to demolish the unit or converted to a different use within a reasonable time. The landlord needs to occupy the unit as their primary dwelling within a reasonable time. The landlord needs to renovate the unit and their renovation will render the unit unsafe, unfit for occupancy. The fourth reason is a property sale to a buyer who will occupy as their primary residence. All of those termination notices require a minimum 90 day period and required that the landlord provide what are called supporting facts.

[00:05:08]That's a tricky thing. These termination allowances came about as part of Senate bill 6 0 8 that was passed back in February 28th, 2019. It's been quite the confusing ride for many landlords.

[00:05:21] And of course, during the emergency period of COVID. So the emergency period, for those of you who aren't aware began April 1st, 2020, and it ended June 30th, 2021. We are now in the grace period, the grace period has been extended to February 28th, 2022.

[00:05:38]So in regards to the methods of termination one of the governor's executive order, I believe it was 20-56 back in 2000, did allow for the property sale to a buyer who would occupy. Then in on October 1st, 2020, we were allowed the landlord to occupy, landlord or immediate family member to occupy. And then as of January, first of this year, the other two reasons, the demolished or convert to a different use or the renovation that will render the unit on unsafe, for occupancy.

[00:06:07] So all four of those reasons are still allowed. We, we do have some concerns for landlords who want to terminate on a on any of those four reasons, if the tennancy has been in place for less than a year. That was actually brought up to us by Michael Stout, a Medford attorney who is part of the Southern Oregon owner's association.

[00:06:26]So we really don't know because the other methods  of termination, for example, that 30 day, no, cause we're, we're prohibited until July 1st. We weren't sure what would happen if a landlord gave one of those 90 day notices for our tennancy of less than a year. So there's been a lot of confusion, even with me.

[00:06:46] I I'm on the legislative committee and I'm, I'm really aware of what's going on. I've testified again, you know, in regards to bills and on the new overlays that we're dealing with now are additionally confusing. And I'd be happy to talk about those for a few minutes.

[00:07:01] Alice Lema: Yeah. Wow. There's just so much going on.

[00:07:03] You know, when they passed all these laws, it was a really, really difficult because we had so much vagueness about how to implement and it's taken all this time to test it. And that, that, I just wish there had been more guidance and more specific implementation of the practice because it left so many of the landlords hanging and the tenants.

[00:07:28] Tia Politi: It really did. And it was very frustrating for the landlord advocates. You know, the tenant advocates basically wrote these bills with very little input from us, some input, but the bills certainly could have been better. I believe, you know, I believe a well-rounded bill includes input from all sides.

[00:07:44] You know, we're certainly working toward you know, influencing those tenant advocates to include us. We do feel that, that you know, many of the measures that were taken were necessary at the time. Right. Massive evictions help no one. We completely understood that to a point. We're thrilled now that at least under the new Senate bills, we're operating under the new overlays that lasts through February 28th of next year.

[00:08:06] That that, that the landlords have, have a better understanding of what their rights and obligations are. And right now, finally, the tenants have to prove something. I think that's been one of the most frustrating parts of the entire moratorium was tenants hadn't didn't have to do anything.

[00:08:23] Tenants didn't have to prove anything. You know, I, I hear the anecdotal stories of my tenant isn't paying. Yeah. But they're a school teacher and they're still teaching and they just have a new car in the driveway. And they, they just posted pictures of their Hawaii vacation on their facebook page.. Oh, certainly I imagine frustrating that is, especially for the owner.

[00:08:43] You know, for example, I think of myself as being pretty typical of our membership across the state. My husband and I own four rental units. Yeah. We work full time. We we do rentals on the weekends and we, we have mortgages to pay $6,000 in mortgages every month. And so for, for other housing providers, such as ourselves, that was extremely frustrating place to be when you're working so hard. You know, your tenants are still working, especially then, and, and you're not getting paid.

[00:09:13] Now having said that, one of my renters was a really great example of why these laws were needed. One of my renters my, my longest term Renter just adore her. She's fabulous. She's been with us since 2005.

[00:09:25] She takes great care of the property. Always pays rent on time, very communicative and all the things you want in this business relationship. But she, she works in the medical field and her son and her were both thrown out of work immediately in March of 2020. She immediately notified me. I told her, don't worry, we'll figure this out.

[00:09:42] You know, I will give you whatever time you need. And let's hope that rent assistance comes through. And certainly it has for her. She and her son have received rent assistance. That covered June of 2020 through October 20, 2021 of this year.

[00:09:56] Alice Lema: Wow.

[00:09:56] Tia Politi: Really, really helped her and it's helped us. I would hate to have thought ending up at the end of this crisis with this giant debt hanging over her head. So we're certainly very grateful for the money that the federal government has given to the states and that the state has distributed to, to renters who are truly in need.

[00:10:17] Alice Lema: And that does make sense cause that's the human thing to do. But boy, that's really, that's really tough when you've got people with good jobs and they're spending their money and you're really lying awake at night because you don't know how you're going to pay your bills and you might actually end up losing the property to a foreclosing bank because of all that.

[00:10:35] And I know the forbearance and all that was supposed to help, but it all seemed a little too, too little too late.

[00:10:42] Tia Politi: It, it's it's helped us certain segment. I'm sure. I also, one of the things I do as part of my business, I stopped by five landlord help lines around the state. And you know, the, the stories I've heard from, from people around the state includes stories about having to refinance the property so that they could continue to pay the mortgage and pay their own bills. Many of our landlords across the state are elderly and like my husband and I built up a port small portfolio of rentals to support them in their retirement. And this is their source of income and it is, you know, they, they still have mortgages to pay taxes, insurance, maintenance.

[00:11:17] We were not relieved from any of the requirements to maintain a habitable dwelling unit to, to, you know, keep addressing the big ticket items that fail like roofs and heat pumps and, and all sorts of things like that. And so, yes, it created a severe hardship for, for housing providers in some cases, certainly, you know, I think there's a great perception that, that landlords are all these rich people.

[00:11:39] And certainly certain segments of housing providers who were quite wealthy and may own their units free and clear. So I know it's hard to, to engender and gender sympathy for those folks. But, but for our smaller private housing providers, it was extremely painful. Yeah.

[00:11:56] Alice Lema: Yeah. Do you know what the percentage of tenants during the shutdown did not pay their rent? Do we have any numbers yet?

[00:12:04] Tia Politi: You know, they've, they've ranged, you know, varied, widely wildly, excuse me anywhere from 14% to 20% which was actually better than we thought. And we were really expecting a huge,  a huge jump in renters who aren't paying, but by and large, the majority of renters continue to pay their rent in full. You know, one of my renters, even though she continued to work, ran into some financial difficulties with medical bills. And so she still owes us a couple of months rent from the emergency period.

[00:12:34] And unfortunately we were not able to apply for assistance on her behalf because we're related. She's my niece by marriage. And that was a, you know, kind of a, a barrier, which, which was unfortunate. We had really, really hoped strongly that Senate bill 330 would have passed this session, which would have allowed housing providers to take a dollar for dollar tax credit.

[00:12:54]And, and forgive that rent owing you know, many landlords are gonna end up in a situation where, they never got paid they're tenants gone. They can't pursue them in collections until March 1st of next year. And then the tenants going to declare bankruptcy and wipe out the entire debt. Many, many thousands of dollars.

[00:13:12] I am aware that there's a few lawsuits pending around the, around the state regarding things like that. Where many, many housing providers saw this as an illegal taking under the U S constitution. We'll see how those lawsuits play out.

[00:13:26]Alice Lema:  any idea when those are going to go to court?

[00:13:28] Tia Politi: No, but you know, the courts were extremely delayed.

[00:13:31] There was enormous backlog because the courts were virtually closed for four, let's see, in Lane county where I am ,courts were shut down in April of 2020. And we did not weren't even able to get back to court before September 1st. So that's, you know, April, may, June, July, August. That's five months that the courts were shut down.

[00:13:50] And that was really challenging, especially when you were dealing with for cause terminations, especially 24 hour notices for harm or substantial damage where the tenants committed an egregious outrageous act, drug dealing, things like that. We couldn't get them out. And, and that was extremely challenging, not only for housing providers, but for law enforcement.

[00:14:12] Alice Lema: Yeah. It's been quite a mess. It's been like that down here too. So why didn't that bill pass do you think?

[00:14:18] Tia Politi: It just didn't gender enough? You know, enough support, I believe that the legislature felt that the $25 billion from the Trump administration and an additional 25 billion from the Biden administration distributed to the states would be enough.

[00:14:32] And, and I think in many cases it's going to be what it's not going to help are those owners whose tenants bailed on them. And they'll never find them again. And yes, they can send them to collections and maybe get a money judgment on their credit report, but they're out. 

[00:14:46] Now two Senate bills I think your listeners should be aware of Senate bill 278 and Senate bill 282.

[00:14:54]You know, one of the biggest requirements that we've seen and, and people need to be aware of is that regardless of your guest limitation statutes renters are allowed to have a guest for up to 15 calendar days in any year. Beyond that,

[00:15:08] Alice Lema: Regardless what they sign in their contract with you?

[00:15:11] Tia Politi: Yes, that's correct. And, and Yeah, and that's challenging because it's always hard to prove an unauthorized occupant. But then you're allowed to, you know, require them to meet your screening criteria and be added to the, up to the rental agreement with a temporary occupancy agreement that agreement may not expire prior to February 28th, 2020.

[00:15:29] Alice Lema: Oh, my goodness. Well, Tia Politi, we just are getting so much great information. We've got to take a quick break right now. We're speaking with Tia Politi, the president of the Oregon rental housing association and the rental owner's association of lane county. She's also the owner of rental housing support services.

[00:15:47] We've got our sponsors coming back just for a quick brief. And that's going to be the rogue valley association of realtors, guy Giles mutual of Omaha mortgage, and our very own John L. Scott of Southern Oregon. We appreciate you all very much. Do not touch that dial. We'll be right back.

[00:16:05] Well, welcome back Southern Oregon to the real estate show, I'm Alice Lema, broker, John L. Scott here in Southern Oregon. And we're having one of the best interviews we've had ever with Tia Politi. She's the president of the Oregon rental housing association and the rental owner association of Lane county. She's also the owner of the rental housing support services.

[00:16:27] And before the break, Tia you were just starting to talk about some of the new Senate bills that were coming up that we're operating under now. So why don't we go back and talk about Senate bill 278 and 272.

[00:16:41] Tia Politi: Okay. So both bills, the combination created some definite overlays for us that will last through February 28th, 2022.

[00:16:50] There will be some overlays that remained permanent in regards to screening. So basically renters who are evicted during the, either the emergency or grace periods will be eligible to have their evictions expunged. And landlords in the screening process are not allowed to, to count debt owed by the tenant that accrued during that emergency period in reporting rental history to another housing provider.

[00:17:13]That's one of the things that we really need to be aware of. So if you are Owner housing provider, who's tenant moved out or is still in place and is applying for other rentals and owes you money from that emergency period, they're not considered to be in default in that amount until February 28.

[00:17:32]And so when you're answering those rent, rent history questions, you need to be very careful about what you say. I'm recommending to my membership, that they say something to the effect of the tenant is not currently in default because that's how the law looks at it. They're not considered to be in default until we pass that 11:59 PM on February 28.

[00:17:52] Alice Lema: Interesting.

[00:17:54] Tia Politi: That's one of the overlays as well. The evictions are not allowed to be counted against them during this time. What's very frustrating for us is that includes for cause evictions. However, remember you can always get a rental reference from that landlord regarding the tenant's behavior and use or abuse of the property.

[00:18:10]We have the guest restriction. Does have a limitation in regards to occupancy standards. So for your listeners who aren't aware, occupancy standards set by the state of Oregon and by HUD can be no more restrictive than two per bedroom without good cause. So, and there's, there's even some more leeway depending on the size of the unit, the size of the bedrooms.

[00:18:29] So you do need to be careful. If your tenant has a guests that over stays, you're allowed to screen them for everything except credit and income. And so if they have terrible criminal history, terrible behavior in another rental, you can say no to that and require that they vacate the premises. If they do qualify in regards to criminal history and conduct, then you're required to add them to the rental agreement with a temporary occupancy.

[00:18:55] Typically the landlord can choose how long that agreement lasts. Under the mandates of Senate bill 282, though, the agreement, it may not end prior to February 28th, 2022. And, and there's a lot of things that make sense about that, especially when we consider that, that people, some very responsible people have said, I can't pay the rent. I'm moving out.

[00:19:14] And they're doubling up with friends and family. We also have the terrible wildfires that occurred last year, 40,000 Oregonians displaced by those fires. And many of them are still living in hotels. So, you know, there's certain aspects of these bills that make sense, right? We're we're not heartless monsters.

[00:19:30] We understand that there's been some terrible crises and tragedies. And, and so just know that if you are faced with this as a housing provider, the limit is the occupancy standards set by HUD. They especially want you to be careful about not discriminating against families with children.

[00:19:47]So let's see what else you've got the screening requirements you've got that. The, the best thing for us is that we can now serve nonpayment of rent notices for July rent, moving forward. Remember there's protected debt that, that it was accrued during the emergency period, regardless of whether the tenant signed a declaration of financial hardship. That is protected debt. You cannot do anything about that.

[00:20:08] And if you even send your tenant a reminder about that debt, you must include a statement that eviction for for rent fees and other charges that accrued during the emergency period on the date has to be in there, April 1st, 2020 to 30th of 2021 is not allowed prior to February 28th, 2022. So be very careful.

[00:20:26] The penalties have dramatically increased as part of these bills. The, the penalties for retaliation have have increased to three times the monthly rent plus triple tenant damages.

[00:20:36] Alice Lema: Oh wow.

[00:20:36] Tia Politi: Be very careful. I'm I'm letting people know that if you know that if you have a tenant, you want to give that no cause notice which you're allowed to do now as a, as as of July 1st. If that tenant owes protected debt, you better not serve that notice. But let me get back to the, to the non-payment of rent. So now we can serve that ten day non-payment of rent notice. Remember it's a 10 day notice through next, February 28th. And you must include a special form. It's called important notice about your rights to protection from eviction. It's available on the Oregon mental housing association website.

[00:21:08] And if you use our form store, that part is going to automatically print out with either the 10 or 13 day notice as well, as well as our notice of termination with cause if you're using that notice to collect monies. That notice is going to let the renter know that if they apply for rental assistance, they're going to get a 60 day pause,, on any enforcement actions related to non-payment.

[00:21:29] If at the end of the 60 day period, the landlord has not been paid, the state is working up some lovely, bureaucratic red tape process for us to get reimbursed for those two months of rent. And the landlord can serve a new 10 day notice or 13 day notice for non-payment of rent for the following rental period and move forward.

[00:21:46]What's great about this is that if your renter qualifies and they owe you money from that, that protected period from the emergency period, the're going to get all of that paid to you, plus three months moving forward. And so that's the really good news.

[00:22:00] Where renters now actually have to do something. They can't just say, Nope. I can't pay the rent. Now they actually have to do something. There's another overlay I want your listeners to be aware of and that is the CDC moratorium extension. So that moratorium extension previously was, was less restrictive than our pandemic related executive orders and house bills.

[00:22:25] So for that reason, we weren't under the mandates of the CDC moratorium, but now the CDC moratorium for the month of July is more restrict or, or, or yeah, more restrictive than what we have. So if your tenant does provide you with with the CDC declaration, my attorney is recommending that we do not file on any non-payment that, that runs through the end of July.

[00:22:49] We're not expecting it to be extended, but stay tuned. We just don't know what's coming. Yeah. Yeah. One of the things I'd also like to really, I just can't stress this strongly enough. I, every day in my business, see defective notices. I see housing providers really don't know how to prepare and serve a legal notice.

[00:23:08] And I'm going to pick on you realtors for a little bit here too. I am seeing way too many realtors giving their clients legal advice and preparing and serving notices that they are not qualified to prepare and serve. And in almost every case that's brought to me, I am, I'm dealing with a couple of them right now.

[00:23:25] They messed up. You've got to start over again. So I just can't stress out strongly enough, how important it is that you know how to prepare and serve legally.

[00:23:32] Alice Lema: And let's talk about real quick is what what notices are a real estate agent realtor allowed?

[00:23:41] Tia Politi: Well, typically, you know, the, the notice is going to be for a property, sell to a buyer who wants to occupy, right?

[00:23:46] So if you're selling your, your investment property and the buyer is just going to buy it as an investment property, there's nothing that needs to happen. That tenant is part of the sale. But what we're seeing of course, because of this hot housing market are people who want to occupy that rental property. Rentals usually make great first time home, homes they're more affordable.

[00:24:05]And, and at that at whatever point, the ,the seller receives an accepted offer, accepts an offer from a buyer who intends in good faith to occupy the unit as their primary dwelling unit, the seller of the property then has the authority to serve that 90 day notice for the qualifying landlord, reason of a property sale to a buyerwho will occupy.

[00:24:24] The problems I've seen as and I I've done many of these notices, some of them, some of the offers I've seen the accepted offers include the information that, that this will be owner occupied and some don't. So I'm recommending that, that. If the accepted offer does not indicate that, that you execute an affidavit indicating that the buyer will occupy. If the buyer we're seeing that got picked, and I bet you can confirm this in buyers of duplexes who want to occupy one or both sides, I mean more than 50% above anything we've ever seen before.

[00:24:56] You know, what I'm seeing this, this most recent client I've taken on is the, the, the realtor didn't know how to serve a notice. She checked that she had personally served the notice, and I said, so she handed a copy of this to each of the people. Oh, no, she posted it on the door and mailed it. And I'm like, well, I don't think you even have the right to post and mail your notice.

[00:25:14] Do you, do you have that legal, right? She's like, well, what do you mean? And I don't have that legal, right. I keep threatening that I will beat people over the head with my law book and convince everyone to serve their notices by first-class mail only and add four days for mailing to the termination date.

[00:25:34] And by far the most legally secure way to serve a notice. And, and you're going to mess it up if you try to do it any other way. And then attorneys make their living off of exploiting these technical details. It's messed up.

[00:25:47] Alice Lema: And if you're a realtor, maybe don't serve notices at all, let the seller do it.

[00:25:51] Tia Politi: You're giving legal advice. So you don't have the right. Yeah.

[00:25:54] Alice Lema: Yeah. So I have a quick question, though, what about posting for showings while the rental property is for sale? Can, can the realtor do that?

[00:26:03] Tia Politi: Certainly. Yes. And, and 24 hour notice to enter is the one notice that doesn't have to meet those other service requirements.

[00:26:10] So you you're allowed re regardless of whether you have the right to post a mail, you're allowed to just post the notice on the door and give a true 24 hours to enter. If you do choose to mail the notice, first class mail, first class mail, first class mail, not certified, not registered let me say that, because that's another mistake I see people making.

[00:26:28] Then you do have to add three days for mailing. So if you were to serve a notice today, the 20th. 25, 26, 27. That's your three days 28 is your 24 hours. You can enter on the 29th. So yes, that's, that's fairly safe. We are seeing a lot of denial of entry. Obviously, renters are not happy that they're going to be displaced and who would be remembered that that is a violation of chapter 90.3 22 and if a tenant unreasonably denies consent to enter.

[00:26:57] Alice Lema: Yes. Well, and it's very hard. I don't know how it is up in your area, but we have so many landlords that are selling now and they're not being purchased by other investors, which was the normal course of things. And the housing shortage is exasperating the rental market because we have all these owner occupied people, multifamily units, duplex, triplex, fourplex being purchased by groups of families, who want to live together now, especially post Corona. You know, they are, they really want to be together. And then these poor tenants have nowhere to go.

[00:27:34] Tia Politi: So true, and it's, it's very heartbreaking and I always recommend that landlords work into that end date, at least a little flexibility from them.

[00:27:43] You know, the other thing I want to bring up, and this is an issue that I'm facing with a client right now is apparently mother and daughter both want to buy this duplex, but mother seems like, from the documentation I've seen to be the only one on title. So she can't serve a 90 day notice to both sides to occupy.

[00:27:59] She could serve a 90 day notice to one side, move into that unit and then terminate the other side. Once that's her primary residence, she could terminate the other side with a 60 day, no cause notice. But we are seeing groups of families, like you said, I had one client, mom and dad, daughter, and son-in-law who were purchasing a duplex, all four were going to be on title.

[00:28:18] So that 90 day notice was allowed to be served to both sides of the duplex.

[00:28:22] Alice Lema: Interesting. So I do have one quick request of you, if you could give us your phone number and your website, because you are just an amazing resource.

[00:28:32] Tia Politi: Well, my phone number is available on my website. Let me just give that address. It's www.TiaPoliti.com my name is spelled Tia PoIiti. So Tiapoliti.com will get you to my website. You'll see my smiling face. I have a lot of articles available for free on my website, including one you realtors should be aware of called pandemic property sales. It's my gift to the realtor community.

[00:28:55] Read it. Buyers and sellers read it. That way you understand all the nuance of what it takes to sell a tenant occupied property.

[00:29:05] Alice Lema: We will, grab that immediately and I'll put it up on my website too. Thank you, Tia. You're amazing. Love to have you back again. We're going to take a quick break say thank you to our sponsors. Do not touch that dial.

[00:29:16] Tia Politi: Thank you, Alice.

[00:29:19] Alice Lema: Well, welcome back folks to the real estate show. I'm Alice Lema here with Pete Belcastro. We're both brokers john L. Scott here in Southern Oregon. We just finished a delightful and really informative interview with Tia Politi of Southern Oregon rental houses association here in Oregon.

[00:29:36] And you know, what's interesting, Pete is because of the shutdown and opening up again in the moratoriums, it is having an effect on real estate. And I think it's definitely going to start showing up in our statistics.

[00:29:48] Pete Belcastro: Well, I absolutely, you know, how you find out. I know, but, you know, look at the price rise. The rental market we've always said follows the housing market in, in terms of rents and they go up housing kinds of things. They all follow each other. And really if, if that's true, then in the previous three months of April, May and June, then we're, I know we're at the end of July right now, but in those previous months, the median price in Jackson county rose almost 27%.

[00:30:16] Which is a I've never seen it that high. So think about that. So the rental housing market, it follows that as well. When the time comes, those rents are going to be rising because they tend to follow the market. So everything has an effect.

[00:30:30] Everything has Domino's effect. Everything has unintended consequences as well as we know in real estate and in rental housing. And that's what we're seeing unfold before us. We simply don't have enough.

[00:30:42] Alice Lema: And the prices are really steep. If you're a tenant, boy it's, it's tough out there. And I'm, I'm curious to see in the next 12 months how our rental market fares, as more and more landlords get out of the business. And you know, we're not getting as many investors buying those properties.

[00:30:59] We're having regular homeowners. Owner occupied homeowners move into those. So yeah, on the one hand, if you're an investor, it could be a great time, but if you're a tenant, boy, my heart goes out to you.

[00:31:12]Pete Belcastro:  And haven't we predicted that and talked about that for months. We, we, we we've seen this train wreck coming and and it's here.

[00:31:19] There's no question about it. Well, think about this. I mean the, the median price in Jackson county a year ago, it was $305,000. Okay. 305. Now it's $385,000. Wow. When you, when you think about that rural properties jumped up 23% during that time. Alice and yet listings were still down, you know, 37% a year ago.

[00:31:43] So year ago, this July, we had 600 or 637 listings in Jackson county. Okay. We haven't had that many in a long  time. Cause this, this time there was about just right at 399. Wow. 37% yet. We're still selling, but people always want to know what's selling, you know, so I can, let me just give you a little bit, a little bit here, but of the 367 residential listings in Jackson county, Alice again there were 75 pending sales last week and 60 closed sales, which was actually down. But 10% of the 10% of the market is homes under $500,000.

[00:32:21] I'm sorry. 10% of the sales are luxury. Let me start, let me start that over. Most of those sales is, you know, is that $500,000 level. That's where we really break up in our market. It's been that way for a long time. That's still where the majority of sales are taking place each, each and every week. That has not changed.

[00:32:40] But if you're looking at 350,000, where most of those sales are 350 and 450 below that market now, should they make up really, a small part of the market because the luxury home market still makes up over a quarter of our market. And if you're looking to 500,000 and above, that's where almost 60 to 65% of the listings are.

[00:33:00] So, you know, that hasn't changed for month after week after week, we followed this Alice that really hasn't changed what, but what I've noticed. And I think you, maybe you have too, is that days on the market, there's just homes that are on the market right now. They've seemed to be on there a little bit longer.

[00:33:16]Whether people have slowed down looking whatever, we've hit, that plateau of price increases, I think. And now we're kind of coming, being more realistic on what we're going to price things in the future. Sellers need to know that. And so do buyers, they need to be aware of where we are right now.

[00:33:32] Alice Lema: Well, and I think the buyers are sensitive to those nuances week to week. The sellers, not so much because they have numbers in their head or they started their listing one or two months ago with that idea, that number in their, in their mind.

[00:33:47]And they may be sitting there thinking, well, their house has, you know, 10 square feet more, or it has a beautiful counter or this or that. But as markets start changing, whether it's going up or down, you want to keep up with it, especially if you're listing and you're active. Because you don't want to go into contract and then have the appraisal not pan out.

[00:34:10] Worse is you you don't want to just languish on the market and then not get any offers at all.

[00:34:17] Pete Belcastro: Well, yeah. And the, the closing sales, 60 the closing sale that took place last week they actually, again, they probably went into contract at least a month or six or seven weeks ago. Those are the ones closing right now.

[00:34:31] And that was what that was when we were in a big frenzy remember. Well, those average days in the market for those 60 homes were 12 days. 12 days for those 60 homes. That is incredible  in itself. So

[00:34:48] Alice Lema: But it's not like that this week. And it wasn't like that last week. So it's changing as we speak.

[00:34:56] Pete Belcastro: It's not going to be that way next week either. So that's really, I think that the cautionary tale there for sellers is that it has to be priced right. As, you know your pie in the sky does not work for anybody. You got to remember that and be realistic about it. And then the same thing for buyers right now is be aware that the prices, these, you know, as you, as you do this, that prices have changed and fluctuated here and that plateau maybe has been reached.

[00:35:24] And I think that's really good for everybody because it really scares me of everything is that it looks at 20 to 27% increase in value in a year is, is quite stunning for our region. And that also has a negative effect of the affordability issue. And that really concerns me more than it's more than things because that's where so many people get cannot then live here.

[00:35:46] And we don't want that to happen here. Gentrify, our communities where only certain kinds of people can live here and that's what affordability what crisis is doing. And that's what we're heading to at 27% equity in, in one year. That, I mean, that's, that can't happen in a year after year after year.

[00:36:01] Alice Lema: But don't you think that was just a reactionary event in reaction to the COVID and then the fires? I just, none of that was planned. It wasn't necessarily economically based. It was a supply and demand, but it was temporary. And, and I don't want to use the word artificial because it's real, those numbers are real, but at the same time, it, it didn't grow because our wages grew.

[00:36:25] It didn't grow because our businesses grew, it grew in response to two events. And so now those events are behind. Well, mostly behind us here, I guess.

[00:36:35] Pete Belcastro: So you're comparing the first three months of the pandemic, actually, March, April and May or April, May and June. They're the beginning of the pandemic.

[00:36:43] Let's see what it does next month as we move through the pandemic. And then, then the fire season, remember which has coming up the year anniversary of the Alameda fires.

[00:36:50] Yeah. Let's see, what, what does beyond those, as we move through the year here, it will be interesting to see if, if it follows this pattern, this time of that huge increase, or did we get back down to more reality?

[00:37:03] And boy, I would have really, you know, I'm really mixed on that and where that might fall. I really don't know.

[00:37:09] Alice Lema: So I think it's going to be a five to 10% settling off the highs. But we'll see. We'll see if I'm right. We'll see if I'm right. That's my prediction. You guys know. I love making predictions.

[00:37:24] Pete Belcastro: No. Well, I mean, I think the demand has not changed. No school's going to be starting soon. August is usually, you know, a big month for real estate. We're in that high point, remember the year right now, sales season August. And then we start sliding down after labor day and school starts again.

[00:37:40] So we've got a, we've got a few more weeks to see where it goes.

[00:37:43] Alice Lema: Do we know for sure that school's starting, we're starting to do the mask thing again this week. So.

[00:37:49] Pete Belcastro: You know, so who knows, but you know, we gotta, we've got to prepare for those. Yeah.

[00:37:54] Alice Lema: We'll talk about it next week though. That's why we do a weekly show.

[00:37:59] Pete Belcastro: Good job today. We'll talk to you soon.

[00:38:01] Alice Lema: Thank you. Have a beautiful Southern Oregon weekend. Pete Belcastro  Alice Lema. Talk to you next week. Bye now.