Southern Oregon Radio Show - Ashland Agent Update

Full Video Transcript Below

[00:00:00] Alice Lema: Well, good morning, Southern Oregon, and welcome to the real estate show. Pete Belcastro, Alice Lema. We're your hosts today. We're both brokers at John L. Scott here in Southern Oregon. And we welcome you back to another edition of the one and only local real estate radio show. Right Pete..

[00:00:22] Pete Belcastro: Absolutely, wow. Over 600 of them, you know? And what's so interesting about when we started back in 2009, that the market was totally different obviously than it was now. We're coming out of the great recession and things like that. And here we are in 2021. What are we coming out of? We're coming out of a pandemic. And yet real estate sales have really been a driving force in the economy.

[00:00:43] And certainly in our own regions and our own counties, we've seen tremendous activity going on and that's been really healthy. And I think that was just really helped the economy overall.

[00:00:54] Alice Lema: I think people forget that when there's a real estate transaction, there's something like 20 or 30 households or folks that are effected economically in a positive way by a real estate transaction.

[00:01:06] So and, and, you know, remember when this all happened with the shutdown, the economists were predicting that housing would be part of the economy that would lead us out or help us through the economic situation with the shut down.

[00:01:20] Pete Belcastro: And the reason that has stayed that way, in my opinion, is that the interest rates have not risen, for example, you can refinance your place at 2.75%.

[00:01:33] So I'm saying as long as those interest rates continue to be where they are, because they're are attainable and affordable for so many people, the market is going to continue. In our, in our final segment tonight, Alice, we're going to look at the stats today. And really show you where the market is and the hot parts of the market and the not so hot pot parts of the market, because it is not generally everybody benefiting from where we are right now as we go into the fall.

[00:02:00] And we're going to get more of that because you're going to be talking with Danny Gibson and Suzanne Machado from the Gibson group of John L. Scott. What two great agents to talk about this because they're doing this every day as well, with their clients are saying to them, and I can't wait to hear what you've got to say with them as well.

[00:02:14] Alice Lema: Yeah. It's really really exciting to have them on the show today. And they work with a lot of investors just like we do. So we're going to get a nice, broad indication of what's going on in all the markets. And then, you know, we want people to stay tuned for your market watch at the end because the stats are very interesting these days, as we transition out of this unbelievable housing market from the shutdown.

[00:02:38] Pete Belcastro: Well remember there are always opportunities that exist in markets like these. You know, so that's the exciting part of what makes real estate pretty pretty exciting to deal with right now.

[00:02:49] Alice Lema: So please stay tuned. Do not miss the show today. Pete Belcastro, Alice Lema.. We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor.

[00:02:56] Well, welcome back Southern Oregon to the real estate show. I'm Alice Lema here, broker John L. Scott. And I'm here with two of my favorite agents that also happened to be with John LScott we're visiting today with the Gibson group. We have Danna Gibson and Suzanne Mihocko welcome to the show ladies.

[00:03:17] So it's really fun to, to get to talk to other agents and we don't have a lot of time in our day to do that. So I really appreciate you guys being, being on the show today.

[00:03:27] Danna Gibson: Our pleasure.

[00:03:28] Alice Lema: And now you're based in the Ashland office of John L. Scott, but you do have a pretty wide practice. Is that correct? You work with a lot of different kinds of properties.

[00:03:39] Danna Gibson: We do. I personally have a rural background. I grew up in the country with horses and showed horses for the first half of my life. So I know rural property pretty well, and we really worked the whole valley.

[00:03:55] Alice Lema: Yeah, that's that's awesome. And then, you know, this is a really fun time for us because I remember when Donna, you were in the process, you were an agent and then you decided to actually buy out your team leader, I think, was Barbara Allen.

[00:04:16] Danna Gibson: Right, right, right. Eight years ago.

[00:04:19] Alice Lema: Wow. Has it been eight years already? Eight years. Well, that's great. That's great. So it's really fun to talk to other gals that own their own business. How did you, how did you come up with that idea to actually buy the business from Barbara?

[00:04:34] Danna Gibson: Well, we actually, I joined her with that idea in mind as she was looking to retire. And that I would work with her on her team for a certain amount of time and then purchase the business. And it actually, we had a five-year plan that happened in less than a year because she wanted to do some other things.

[00:04:55] And so I kind of jumped in with both feet and. I have been doing this a long time. This actually last month was 26 years that I've been in now. So I'd had essentially my own business, but I'd never owned a team and run it that way. And I've been really lucky to have amazing people work with me like Suzanne, who's been with the team for over five years.

[00:05:23] Yeah. And Suzanne, I work with you a lot, especially out in Eagle point. We've had some yeah. Stuff to do then it's just, you guys are just awesome to work with. So let's talk about the market because it's been such a weird couple of years, housing it, and then just had the anniversary of the Amita fire.

[00:05:43] Just, just want to check in. Are you guys okay? Did you have any, anybody be heard in the, in the fire. W, yeah. Oh, I was just going to say, you know, I know we all know people who lost something, if not everything as well as some of our clients. But yeah, it was a very humbling time for our valley and for the people who were most negatively affected by that awful fire.

[00:06:08] Yes. And there's a lot of rebuilding going on which is, you know, very encouraging to see. What do you think the prices are going to do? You know, since we have such a shortage down at the south end of the valley, I mean, I think prices will continue to escalate. I don't think they're necessarily going to be escalating at 16% a year, like we've seen in the last year or so, because we had COVID and the fires and then with the extreme expense of the building materials and not enough people to be building, I think it really kind of clamped down.

[00:06:49] It seems as if we're getting a little more inventory now and the market's still strong and I think we'll have good appreciation, but I don't foresee it continuing at 16% or so. Yeah. It's an interesting sensation. Suzanne, you know, when, when you have these hyper elevated markets and then you can almost, you can almost taste the change happening right under your feet.

[00:07:17] Yeah. Especially when I, when I first started the cannabis industry was getting really big around here. That was, that was an interesting time to be in real estate. And you know, so being in the business that, you know, almost six years that I have been in. You know, it's been booming since I've been in it.

[00:07:34] So I haven't experienced that, that decline in that softening that you have through the length of both of your careers. So it's a great time to be in real estate. I know, just like we were saying that the decline of, of building of single family residences over the past decade, and then also, you know, what we lost in the fire.

[00:07:55] I think it's going to be awhile before we can really recoup and have that, that even balance of a buyer and sellers market again.

[00:08:03] Alice Lema: Are you, are you noticing more and more people putting their properties on the market now?

[00:08:07] Suzanne Mihocko: I wouldn't say more and more. I feel like, you know, we saw that big wave and, you know, we look at the stats and see just that fast and furious, multiple offers and almost every single price point. I feel like it's been proportionate.

[00:08:21] Danna Gibson: You know agreed. I think that we are seeing inventory open up a little more, and as you said, there is new construction starting to happen, but it's just, we have low inventory before the fire hit.

[00:08:34] Alice Lema: We did that's right.

[00:08:36] Danna Gibson: And especially at the south part of the valley and in Ashland specifically.

[00:08:40] So entry-level in Ashland now is in the fours and fives. And that's for a single family home and that, you know, you could be buying a one bedroom or I'm sorry, I'm one bath house, or even a one bedroom, one bath house in the four hundreds.

[00:08:56] Alice Lema: So that's a starter home in Ashland, the Ashland south valley area.

[00:09:00] Danna Gibson: It truly is. And we're seeing that in Talent as well. So yes, we are getting a little bit more inventory and we are seeing sellers a few more sellers come on the market, but it is most certainly still low inventory, compared to other years when we like to see about six months of supply five to six months of supply of homes for the buyers that are in the market looking.

[00:09:25] And right now in Ashland, we're seeing between 0.4, two months and a maximum of 4.5 months on over a million dollars of inventory. So it's still tight.

[00:09:36] Alice Lema: Oh my goodness. So what are you hearing from the sellers and potential sellers. Why, how do, how do they explain to you why they're waiting or not doing it at all? What's holding them back?

[00:09:48] Danna Gibson: Some, I mean, we're seeing at least in our personal pipeline where we have several listings coming, a lot of these folks, I think were just anticipating what's happening in the market, which are stronger prices. A lot of others, especially if they're wanting to stay in the area, they're afraid they can't find something to move to.

[00:10:08] So if they have the ability to purchase something before they sell, many of them are. Or they're keeping what they're leaving and using it as an income property and trying to buy something else.

[00:10:20] Alice Lema: Oh, well that's good because boy, do we need, do we ever need more rental properties?

[00:10:26] Danna Gibson: I know we do, but even the rentals are really expensive.

[00:10:31] Alice Lema: So do you have investors down in your area that will buy more, more rentals? We're just, I'm just seeing a lot of them, at least in the other parts of the valley. They're putting their rentals on the market and then they're not repurchasing here. They're going other states, other parts of Oregon, because what, what is it like for you guys?

[00:10:50] Danna Gibson: We actually have a seller that's in that exact position right now an owner of a multi-unit property. That's doing exactly that. Selling here to take advantage of the appreciation that they've had over the last few years and putting it in an area that's not quite as strong so they can get more for their money.

[00:11:07] Alice Lema: Gotcha.

[00:11:08] Suzanne Mihocko: And especially you know, we have some of the most stringent tenant laws here in our state. And People are taking their dollars out of state to places where they're getting more bang for their buck. And there's a lot less restrictions on them being owners of investment properties with tenants.

[00:11:25] Alice Lema: Yeah. And I'm noticing some of the, the business taxes of the places they're going, the business taxes are lower because it's like people don't, I mean, being a landlord is a person to person kind of business. But you're still a business. And so, especially if you've incorporated or you have several units.

[00:11:42] Suzanne Mihocko: Yeah. And then if you're not afraid to go out of state and, and, you know, offset that cost by hiring a property manager in another place and, and still get that return on investment. And, you know, the cap rate that most of those investors are looking for.

[00:11:57] Alice Lema: Pencil better. Huh? Yeah.

[00:11:59] Danna Gibson: Another aspect of this that we see quite a bit in Southern Oregon, especially at the south part of the valley, are people coming in who want to retire here.

[00:12:09] And not sure when they're going to retire. And they're either taking their equity out of what they own and coming here and buying something now and renting it or looking for something that has some sort of income aspect of the property so they can rent the main house and come and stay in the studio or vice versa.

[00:12:29] So we see people doing that, they're planning on retiring in a year up to five to seven years, even, because they, they know what a desirable area we are and how well we appreciate, and they want to get in before it becomes too expensive I think.

[00:12:44] Alice Lema: And that's really smart. It's great that people are thinking that far ahead. And then can you imagine if you had done that a few years ago? And then you got like, I dunno. They have a lot of the properties in Ashland and the surrounding areas went up 50 to $100,000 each.

[00:13:00] Danna Gibson: Yes. Oh yes, absolutely. We're getting ready to list one person, three years ago and it's going to list for over a hundred thousand more and it's an entry-level property.

[00:13:12] Alice Lema: Wow. Well, yay for them. Don't you like it? You are getting paid to live in your house. Yeah. It doesn't get much better than that. So one of the things I really love about Ashland and your surrounding areas, there's a lot of properties that have those little cottages on it. You're a college town. You're the theater, you've got a lot of tourism, so it's, it's more common to find those kinds of properties. Isn't it than it is other parts of our valley.

[00:13:40] Suzanne Mihocko: It's you know, one of the biggest questions. Is there an ADU, is it zoned to add up. Pardon me, an auxiliary dwelling unit for that exact purpose of having passive income on your own property. And with the cottage ordinance in Ashland you know, a lot of times people are running into, you know, parking is one of the issues that you have to accommodate for those units.

[00:14:01] And the city is giving a lot of accommodations for off street parking because, you know, it's just necessary and they want to be able to have more housing. So. Gosh. I mean, that's a huge request that we get from clients, especially if there's it's pre-existing income or the possibility to have another unit.

[00:14:23] Alice Lema: Wow. So on the parking and Ashland are they being a little more gracious as a, as a city because of the fires or is this a trend for them to be more accommodating in general? What do you guys think?

[00:14:38] Danna Gibson: I mean, I'm one that four or five years ago racked up about a thousand bucks in parking tickets.

[00:14:43] Alice Lema: Oh no. In front of the John Scott office, probably.

[00:14:47] Danna Gibson: So with that said, I've actually found them to be pretty accommodating. And you know, they're still ticketing people and the rules are fairly stringent. But we have found them to be less aggressive than in years past, especially in the last few months.

[00:15:03] Alice Lema: That's good. That's good. Well, we're going to have to take a quick break. Our sponsors one of which is John L. Scott of Southern Oregon. We're also brought to you by the Rogue Valley Association of Realtors,and Guy Giles and Mutual Omaha Mortgage. We'll be right back with Danna Gibson and Suzanne Mihocko too. Did I say that right?

[00:15:22] Suzanne Mihocko: Mihocko it's okay.

[00:15:23] Alice Lema: Sorry. We've only known each other for six years or 11 about that, but we will be right back. Do not touch that dial.

[00:15:29] Well, welcome back to the real estate show folks. I'm Alice Lema, a broker John L. Scott here with you and my favorite agents from our John L Scott, Ashland office. We've got Danna Gibson and Suzanne Mihocko. We're laughing cause I know her. I can't say her name right. But we're having a really interesting conversation, just kind of about the market and the transition. And one of the things we were touching on in the last segment, ladies was that the market is changing right now.

[00:15:58] And I just kind of wanted to get a little deeper into that. What you guys are seeing, how fast is it happening? What's it going to be like in 20 22? Yeah.

[00:16:10] Danna Gibson: If you want to tackle that or do you want me to jump in.

[00:16:14] Suzanne Mihocko: We because like, you know, as we were talking about in the previous segment that, you know, there is a housing shortage that will not likely be filled anytime soon.

[00:16:24] You know, I think we'll, we've been seeing lots of price reductions, so we know things will start to soften a little bit as far as just the aggressiveness of, of what sellers are able to get. But I don't think that this is going to change anytime soon. I foresee us having a really strong 20, 22 as still being a sellers market, absolutely.

[00:16:44] Danna Gibson: Agreed. I agreed. Unless something happens nationally to the economy. I think that the conditions are set for to have a good year in 2022.

[00:16:56] Alice Lema: I think we'll actually have more sales if people put their house, we have more houses to sell that that's part of what's slowing us down on a little bit.

[00:17:05] Danna Gibson: In no uncertain terms I mean last year for between June and August, there were 128 homes sold. And this year for the same time period, 143 homes were sold and days on market were less than half. 30 instead of 70. So you know, there's still a lot of pent up demand of people who are wanting to get in. And of course, interest rates are still crazy low.

[00:17:32] And so it seems foolish almost not to buy if you can, especially if you're a renter right now. There's a statistic that our great leader, Jim Remley always gives us. And that is people who own homes have, 40 times more wealth on average than folks who rent.

[00:17:51] Alice Lema: 4, 0, 40 times. Yeah.

[00:17:55] Danna Gibson: And if you can get into the market, it's a really smart thing to do. And there's a lot of fantastic programs out there, especially for first time buyers. And even if you haven't owned a home in three or more years, you can qualify many times too, as a first time buyer again. And have access to those programs for those bonds that are available. Yes. That's super cool. Right? All sorts of things.

[00:18:20] So it's, it's in all my years of selling real estate, it is probably the best time to get in the market. The last time we were crazy, like this rates were six, 7%, so we're half and less than half.

[00:18:33] Alice Lema: Yeah. Yeah. And the opportunities, remember during the crash like the oh seven to, you know, what was it, when did we start recovering it? 11, 2011, you know? And it was like, that was a moment in time. It was a great buying opportunity. We just didn't think we'd see it again in our lifetime. And here we are. Yeah. So it just seems a shame to not jump on it.

[00:18:54] Suzanne Mihocko: And you know, sometimes the pushback, especially from her first time home buyers or people wanting to acquire additional properties is that yes, prices are higher and appreciation has gone up significantly.

[00:19:06] But our, our way to handle that objection is that, you know, money is so cheap right now. That it's, it's silly not to take advantage of that because yes, the appreciation will start to slow down and soften. But it's still an excellent time to invest in real estate.

[00:19:23] Danna Gibson: Even folks who have had mitigation on their mortgages if they have to sell because they can't refinance or they're not in a position financially to do it, the vast majority of them are going to have equity in their homes because of the last few years of appreciation.

[00:19:40] And that, you know, in oh six through oh 8 0 9, folks didn't have any equity. They were upside down, so they couldn't sell their homes. And that's why so many people walked away.

[00:19:49] Alice Lema: And they were forced into short sales and foreclosures.

[00:19:54] Danna Gibson: Or they just walked away.

[00:19:56] Suzanne Mihocko: We were just doing a video for our social media. We just like to put out tidbits and frequently asked questions. And one was that during that period of time, during the big crash, there were over 9 million homeowners in the U S that were in a forbearance type situation with much less equity. And at this current time with the forbearance, we're at about 1.8 million.

[00:20:15] So it's drastically different than it was then.

[00:20:18] Oh and a lot of those are getting it worked out. You know, it's like when you have a bunch of equity in your house, you have choices. Yes, you really do.

[00:20:27] Danna Gibson: And thank goodness, thank goodness. Right? Because we want people to enjoy homeownership.

[00:20:32] Alice Lema: Right. And not go through that terrible, terrible trauma of a, of a foreclosure or a short sell. I mean, if it's absolutely necessary, fine. They are great outlets toget the outset out of your life, but yeah. So do you have people tell you that they're not going to buy right now because they're waiting for the next crash? Yes

[00:20:56] Yeah. So what do you tell them?

[00:20:58] Danna Gibson: Well, markets, markets are always cyclical. Cyclical. Thank you. You see why we're such a good team. They are cyclical and at some point the market will soften again. But again, the interest rates are so phenomenal. You know, at 2.8, seven or 2.9, but honestly it, it would be, most people stay in their home an average of six to nine years. It has been a little longer after we had the softening in the market and the recession.

[00:21:29] But by, you know, it's highly, highly likely that if you know, when that softening comes, if they bought it at a higher price, one, their mortgage is going to be affordable because of the fantastic interest rates.

[00:21:41] Too if you're buying in Southern Oregon, especially the Ashland area, we softened way less. We were one of the top two markets in the state when the crash hit last time. And of course we did soften, but much we stayed much more stable than many, many, most of the markets around the state. So it's still a great time.

[00:22:00] Alice Lema: Yeah. And Southern Oregon is really a great place to live in spite of the smoke and stuff. So I don't know about you guys, but I had three or four relocators that were cash, and they were looking to buy very expensive homes and they decided to go to a different part of the country. You know, we have all the people working remotely now. So have you had any experience of that? People just not choosing Southern Oregon you know, smoke?

[00:22:27] Suzanne Mihocko: Yeah, I was going to bring up, we, we closed something a few months ago. That was in the 3.6 range.

[00:22:33] Alice Lema: And that is 3.6 million is what you're saying, right?

[00:22:37] Suzanne Mihocko: Yeah. And We the amount of interest that we have from people all over the country and the world. We said that in the time that I've worked with Danna, we have never had a listing in any price point now get as much activity as that property did. Subsequently, there were people who did have interests that did end up changing their minds because of the smoke and the fire risk. But you know, again, I, I feel like even though we are seeing people wanting to, to leave the area or turned off by that we live, I always say we live in a postcard. We live in. And so you know, we're seeing a lot of people wanting to find second homes or just, you know, to get out of town for a little while, but Yeah. I mean, I, we're still seeing.

[00:23:22] Danna Gibson: We're seeing both because, and especially I showed property the other day to some folks looking all over the state for a place and they're coming from the bay area, which as you know, we get a lot of folks, very common and you know, they said they're experiencing it too when it's like, where do you go?

[00:23:39] Where you don't have the smoke, but you, but you know, for that month or two, or maybe a couple of weeks, depending upon what it is during the summer, compared to what it is you get here. You know, we also have several clients that are buying second homes or properties either on the coast or in another place to leave during that time, if they so choose. But not to leave the area itself, this is their home.

[00:24:05] Alice Lema: Yeah. And I think this is a great time to do that because, and we don't mean to sound like broken records, but when the interest rates are so low, what happens is your down payment, you can buy a bigger place. You can buy a second place. If it's that owner occupied thing, the interest rate is even better than if it's an investment and you don't have to put 20% down.

[00:24:29] So all of a sudden it's doable, right?

[00:24:32] Danna Gibson: You can do as little as 5% down on a second home. Yeah. Yeah. Yes.

[00:24:38] Alice Lema: Yeah. And some of those properties on the coast are pretty affordable. Still. I know that people who live on the coast, I get a lot of griping and it's like, oh, the prices are going up. You, you Ashland and Medford, people are driving up our prices.

[00:24:49] It's like, well, yeah, we are. Yeah. That's just kinda how it is. But I think that's a great solution. And there's a lot of people in Ashland that have second homes, either Ashland is their second home or they have second homes, other places.

[00:25:06] Danna Gibson: Absolutely. And, and we work with a lot of those folks in both circumstances.

[00:25:12] Alice Lema: So let's talk about the Shakespeare and tourism and the restaurants and all that. Like how is all that panning out now that we're in September, 2021?

[00:25:21] Danna Gibson: So unfortunately you know, the smoke has kept Shakespeare to a very limited to no schedule. It takes a lot of planning to put those plays together and because they run February through October, most of the cast members they bring in from around the country.

[00:25:39] And those folks are in more than one play. And so it takes a lot of time to put people in there and a lot of expense for the festival itself. So I, I think, you know, until some things settle down a little bit more with COVID, I think that Shakespeare is going to be limited.

[00:26:02] Suzanne Mihocko: And we're also seeing a lot of, you know, prime spaces that people lease or businesses around the Plaza and up and down you know, these main drags in Ashland that are empty. And they're, they're getting filled, but You know, we can definitely see it's a little bit slower. Just talking about parking, just like, you know, that there is more places to park because there's less people coming in, but it's almost like as soon as it gets a little bit clear, then like today's pretty clear the Plaza's full, you know,

[00:26:27] Alice Lema: so that's good though. That's very resiliant.

[00:26:30] Danna Gibson: And we're seeing restaurants are full. People are in them. And I think interestingly, especially with COVID, there's been a shift because we're not just Shakespeare and the university. We are amazing outdoor place to be. And so, you know, between hiking and rivers and lakes and all of those things and the skiing, we're seeing a lot of folks come and younger for the outdoor activities. So it's shifted a little bit during COVID and especially because more and more people are working remotely and they can work remotely.

[00:27:03] So while we did lose businesses in no uncertain terms that first year, as Suzanne said, we're getting those spaces filled back up and we are seeing, we are seeing people come.

[00:27:14] Alice Lema: Oh, I'm so glad. I'm, you know, I'm down in Ashland a lot and love, love the restaurants down there. And it was funny to have to make a reservation. Cause you kind of get used to, oh, we can just pop down because it's, COVID not, not so fast. So are you seeing new businesses starting or more existing ?

[00:27:34] So you see that's good. That's very good.

[00:27:37] Danna Gibson: Yes, absolutely. We are. And as you know, we have fantastic places to eat. Yes ma'am so people are still coming, local people are still coming from around the valley to enjoy that. And a lot of these restaurants have done a really good job with outdoor seating too.

[00:27:57] Alice Lema: It's yeah. They've been very nimble in their response. So well ladies, we're just about out of time Danna Gibson, Suzanne Mihocko, how do we get ahold of you? Somebody wants to talk to you at the Gibson.

[00:28:08] Suzanne Mihocko: You can call a (541) 708-5775. And you can also find us on Instagram and Facebook at the Gibson, G R P. We'd love to chat with you.

[00:28:22] Alice Lema: Thank you so much. That's the time we got to go. Please stand by. Do not touch that dial. We have a quick word from our sponsors and then we'll have Pete Belcastro for a market update. Thanks, you guys appreciate it.

[00:28:35] Well, welcome back to the real estate show folks, Alice Lema, Pete Belcastro we're your host today. We're both brokers here at John L. Scott in Southern Oregon. And what a great interview we had with the Gibson group out of the John L. Scott office and Ashland didn't we Pete. They have Danna Gibson and Suzanne Mihocko talking about their experience through the shutdown and this transition.

[00:29:01] Pete Belcastro: And, and, look what they're saying to us and the same things. The problem we're really facing Alice is the listings. As we go into the fall, you know, we haven't gone over the 500 listings in Jackson county, God, for years now. It's been several, it's been quite a few years. A normal market is like 1500 or so. So we really are down on the listings. And so when you look at that, as I think as Suzanne and Danna also explained there, you've got the high end of the listings, which, you know, quite a few have sold as we've been talking about that.

[00:29:35] But look, how many there still are on the market in Jackson county, in, in the luxury homes of that 400, let me get that right of the 450, homes, let's say it was 90. Again, it's about 92 of those are luxury homes. Isn't that amazing. Hard to sell each week and in order to come on. But the sheer volume of them has made the luxury market really a buyer's market, I think you can go in and you can pretty much name a price almost. Well not really, but you can, you know, you can be reasonable with a price in a luxury home.

[00:30:12] But I'm telling you, if you go down to between three and 400,000. And the days on market on those Alice,for last week or one day, one day, two day, four days, three days, two days, six days. I mean, there, that is what that is the seller's market. There it'sbetween that three and $400,000 rates. That is really where most of us are. That's where you're seeing the really still tough competition. You still areseeing multiple offers in that area. That's the hottest area between three and $400,000. Right now, there, there just is not enough of them. And so the demand is outstripping the available supply for buyers.

[00:30:51] Alice Lema: Exactly. And you know, what's interesting is in a transition market, you have a little bit of everything. It's, it's more of a buffet kind of situation. So here we've got a real tight sellers market in the lower end, the luxury market, which in our area, we consider 800.

[00:31:08] 900 to be kind of the dividing line. So those houses are a complete buyer's market and here we are going into the fall, Pete. And I love our market watch section here at the end because it really helps our listeners get ready for what's coming next in the trends.

[00:31:24] Pete Belcastro: Yeah, absolutely. We know things have slowed. And when I say slow overall, they kind of contracted a little bit. We haven't seen listings that range between $420,000 and $460,000 for weeks. We go up and down a little bit there. The prices were, which were for weeks. I think in August we hit the median price in Jackson County was 500, some thousand dollars.

[00:31:48] Drop back a little bit. This last week, it was $476,000. So that's, that's a, you know, that's, to me, it's good news. I think this prices can get too high and get too out of control here. So what we're really seeing why we can say this, is that in the number of pending sales, which a couple of weeks ago, three weeks ago, were 105, there now generally last week and making sure I get it right there. We're now 67.

[00:32:14] You see. Alice and the number of closed listings that we saw in Jackson county last week were also in the sixties. So everything has kind of slowed down a little bit. Days in the market again, that remember it was things were going out so fast for awhile. It was like 30, 30, some days. 32days was the quickest we had ever seen for a week now for a time period. Now this last group that saw it was 50 days. It seems we're seeing longer days in the market, which is indicating that there's fewer buyers looking. But again, what we're looking for, look, if you want to look in the six, 700,000 range, there's a good chunk of homes. There. Seven, 800,000, that's a good chunk of homes.

[00:32:57] Luxury homes a lot of them. Look down there in that 350 range or 375 or 425 range and there's not.

[00:33:04] Alice Lema: Well, and the multifamily is still really strong. You know, that little subsection, the residential multi-family, and we define that as four units are less ,duplex, triplex, fourplex and they define it as residential because you can get a residential, regular person mortgage, not a commercial loan. And there's still a lot of arm wrestling for those in part because our groups of families are buying them. So this is really a nerve-wracking for the tenant population. And also it makes me wonder what our community situation is going to be like, because we need rentals. It's part of a healthy, a healthy community.

[00:33:40] So we have that transition You know, and boy, if regular people are buying them and landlords are not buying them, I don't know what's going to happen. It goes back to what we always talk about. Right. Affordable housing.

[00:33:50] Pete Belcastro: Affordable housing and the rental market follows the residential housing market. And that's exactly what we're seeing. I worry about that too. Alice I think governments are going to have to step in somewhere along the way here. Make it easier for builders to build multiple housing or let people, I don't know what the answer is, but yes, you're absolutely right. One of the other things before we get out of here today was I think something Dan and ,Susan brought up in earlier segments regarding people buying businesses and, and, and the commercial end of things.

[00:34:18] And I also just bought a piece of property, actually would invest in the property myself. And I've had a great deal of interest in people wanting to, to rent, to lease it. So my point is that it seems like Ashland as well, that people are coming back. And the reason they're coming back in as a businesses as entrepreneurs, is that the leases have come down in my opinion, to where they're affordable for people to take the risk, to start their own business, to be an independent person.

[00:34:43] And that's what we're seeing. I think that's very exciting to see that type of entrepreneurship out there and helping our commercial area, because that's going to help housing.

[00:34:53] Alice Lema: Okay. And don't you think that also speaks to a level of hopefulness that business people have that maybe we didn't have? There has been so much uncertainty and it's one of the things we look for as real estate people is when the businesses start to come back, when they start to feel comfortable, then that doesn't that tell you and I, that we're on our way back.

[00:35:15] Pete Belcastro: Well business people are entrepreneurs are optimists optimists, because you're putting money into the game skin into the game. Right.

[00:35:22] Alice Lema: But it's, but it's not a, for sure it's a risk.

[00:35:25] Pete Belcastro: Well of course it's a risk. You're rolling the dice. That's why you're optimistic because you think it's going to land right. But our restaurant here in Klamath falls, it's been closed for 12 days. It opens today. You know, we had Covid and staffing issues, so we're optimistic. It's going to be great because we're backing that everybody's healthy and going again. Yeah. You gotta be optimistic to to be an entrepreneur. You have to take a risk.

[00:35:47] It's just like buying a house the first time. It's a big risk when you put that kind of money up at wow. It's pretty cool in the end because you're an independent person making a living and enjoying your life more and living a better life.

[00:35:59] Alice Lema: Well, and I think as real estate agents, we worried so much about our commercial businesses and, and commercial landowners and then also, you know, anybody that was trying to stay afloat during the shutdown. It's just been so scary. So very encouraging, happy to hear from Danna and Suzanneand also you, that people are starting to rent again,. The leases are coming down. Landlords are going to have some income.

[00:36:26] Pete Belcastro: Well, we hope so we need more. We're seeing more building going on all around us. We're still way short of that. And again, the people with extra money, instead of putting it, maybe into certain things may want to invest in in some housing, get in line. By the way California is going to do away with single family zones. You know, single family.

[00:36:47] Alice Lema: We were first. They're following us for a change.

[00:36:50] Pete Belcastro: There hasn't been a big change as a result of that. Maybe over time and time, a long way down the road we'll see that we'll see the benefits of that.

[00:37:01] Alice Lema: I would disagree, but that's a different episode. So, and we're out of time, folks. Thank you, Pete, for the Market Watch. We'll be repeating this broadcast tomorrow at six, and then we'll be back again next week.

[00:37:13] We want to thank John L. Scott, Southern Oregon, the Rogue Valley Association, Realtors and Guy Giles and Mutual Omaha Mortgage. Thank you to Danna and Suzanne and for being on the show today. Have a beautiful Southern Oregon weekend. Bye now.