Hi All,

Hope all is well with you and your family. It has been getting pretty cold at nights around Coeur d’Alene, snow is expected soon definitely before Thanksgiving. In this newsletter, I would like to talk about 4 points: 1. North Idaho Real Estate Market Conditions, 2. Commercial Property Sales 3. $8,000 Tax Credit Extension 4. REO and Short Sales

North Idaho Real Estate Market Conditions

Through October 09’ we are sitting with 8373 listings on the market, a 26 month supply at current selling levels. Last month we sold 317 UNITS (consider that is 634 sides to a transaction – we have around 850 real estate agents in our market area). This is actually an 8% increase in sold unit’s year over year. In the coming months we can expect inventory to drop significantly through January – however- I suspect we will see an increase in REO and short sale listings keeping prices low. Our average sold price now is $200,665 and it is 151 days on the market. The $100,000-$200,000 price range is still the hot price points with up to 29% pending ratios in those price categories. In the upper price ranges – $400,000-$2,000,000 there are 8 pendings and a total of 303 listings. I consider this price point Armageddon for residential units priced above 400K (the average price adjustment is $56K!). Please see the attached PDF files, which include: two year trend lines, Total Market Overview, for more information.

2 Year Real Estate Trendline

Commercial Property Sales

There have been a total of 57 commercial units sold (reported through MLS) in the last year. The average price per SQ/FT for commercial sold is $93/FOOT. Average price adjustment before it sell is 29%. Average sold is $447,496. Of course, many factors come into play (i.e. location) when looking at comparable pricing. Commercial money is still hard to come by and with the restructuring and bankruptcy of CIT it may get even tighter. Watch for commercial REO’s. Community banks appear to be holding most of the commercial REO inventory so you might check with your local banks for their commercial REO list. You can see all commercial inventory here: http://www.NorthIdahoCommercial.com Please see the attached spreadsheet outlining the sold commercial data.

Idaho Commercial Sales Sold Anaylsis

$8,000 Tax Credit Extension

Late last week a bipartisan plan emerged in the Senate that would continue the $8,000 credit for first time purchasers beyond November 30, but would create a new, smaller credit of $6,500 for people who’ve owned and lived in their houses for five consecutive years and now want to buy another as their principal residence. It looks like this is going to go through. It is nice to see they are giving other buyers – like those that have owned their home for 5+ years an incentive to sell and repurchase. When this passes and you would like to list your home for sale and take advantage of this offer – LET ME KNOW!

file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/TJ/Local%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/OLK128/20091102_washingtonreport.htm

REO AND SHORT SALES

Right now there are 112 Real Estate Owned (REO) listings on the market. Over 250 sold in the last year. 26 sold last month representing about 8.2% of the closed inventory. You can view the current REO inventory here:

http://www.flexmls.com/link.html?ox111l25fe7,7,1

There are over 260 short sales on the market. Certain banks seem to be better than others in negotiating the short sales. My last short sale – we had approval in 1.5 months; my short sale before that 7 months! Big differences. To view the first 200 short sales on the market now see:

http://www.flexmls.com/link.html?ox111w0qmr5,7,1

Thank you for taking the interest in our real estate market. If you would like specific information please do not hesitate to get in contact with me via email, phone or fax. Have a great Thanksgiving!

Your Local Realtor of Choice,

TJB

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