I wanted to take some time to give a shout out to our amazing small business owners in our community. Since the stay at home order was put into place I have noticed so much creativity by these entrepreneurs! From offering curbside pick up, call in pre-made take & bake dinners to teaming together to put together a special day for Mom's on Mother's Day! I wanted to highlight some of my favorite creative business savvy minds! 

MadHabit Chelsa Mitchell and I have known each other for quite some time and I have always admired her passion and drive. Immediately she kicked into high gear when the shelter in place order came from the Governor.  What caught my eye was her idea to offer pre-made Easter baskets curated with cute little goodies for kids and adults alike! She churned out an amazing amount of orders and helped make Easter a little more "Hoppy" for our community. 

Cody's General Store, Hearts N Petals, and Charley's Deli & Icecream  These three ladies have been wheels to the grind stone as well! Jody Jeffries, owner of Cody's General Store, has been taking virtual shopping to a whole new level with Facebook LIVE shopping sessions. Jodi Furtney immediately brainstormed a solution to the "what do I cook for dinner each night" and the "stores are out of bulk items" problems by offering pre-made take & bake meals and pre ordered bulk item sales through her business at Charley's Deli and Icecream. Denise Harmon sent flower day brighteners from Hearts N Petals to health care workers as a show of appreciation to our front line workers! And for their latest and greatest idea, a Mother's Day package. Teaming together, they are offering a Mother's Day Brunch Celebration kit for a one stop shop gift for MOM! WOW! Entrepreneurship and creativity at it's finest! 

The Henhouse Dawn Morse opened The Henhouse in 2019. This adorable Coffee/Breakfast/Lunch spot has adorable gifts and a great cup of coffee to go with your amazing meal! Dawn has made up gift baskets displayed in the windows at The Henhouse for any occasion! Simply pick your favorite and send her a message. 

The Little Pig and Lefty's Taphouse  putting together take & bake meals these two small businesses have been keeping Baker County fed with tri-tip meals, and yummy pizza. It can't be easy to close your doors during this time and I applaud these two businesses for staying positive through this time! 

Eltrym Movie Theater   
To go Concessions?? Count me in! Cotton candy and movie popcorn with curbside pickup, my kids were in heaven! Our family are avid movie goers, if there's a kid movie coming out you bet we are going to go see it, so this closure has been a hard one for us! I miss my little movie dates with my boys. I miss you Eltrym! So, thank you for a little bit of movie magic! 

Local Musicians!  Some of my favorite local musicians have been doing live facebook music sessions! I have loved this. Being a singer/musician myself I have missed the live music that you can find out and about in our community. To have a little slice of that live streamed into my home by these awesome artists has been  wonderful! I hope to see this continued even after we can go watch them in person. And we definitely should go out and support/watch in person when we can! Shannon Gray, Jay Fleming, Add Collard, Elwood and more have kept my little musical heart happy! Thank You! 

BAKER FFA
Perhaps one of my most favorites recently! The Baker High School FFA's live plant sale. The videos I have seen so far are great! I love flowers and plants, even if my thumb is more of a chartreuse and not a hunter green. Supporting these high schoolers and seeing this creative solution to what could have been a road block for this fundraiser gives me so much joy! Go get your plants and give back to these kids who have worked hard to make this a success! 

There are countless more community members who have given back, gotten creative and rocked this stay at home order! If you know of a business or community member who I didn't mention leave a comment with a shoutout!!! 

Go give these small businesses and community members a follow on facebook if you haven't already!

The stimulus bill that President Trump signed into law last Friday contains protections for American home owners, tenants, multi housing owners and some for future home owners. 

Many of the articles I have read about the stimulus points to the bill trying to stave off a repeat of the massive housing crisis of 2008, where at the height of it all 2.23% of all housing had foreclosure filings in 2010. In 2019 foreclosures had hit a 15 year low at just .36% of all US housing units with foreclosure filings. 

Mortgage Loan Forbearance and Foreclosure Protection
 Current home owners with a government backed loan can request loan forbearance during this designated disaster period - Which began March 13th - A mortgage forbearance agreement is an agreement made between a mortgage lender and delinquent borrower in which the lender agrees not to exercise its legal right to foreclose on a mortgage and the borrower agrees to a mortgage plan that will, over a certain time period, bring the borrower current on his or her payments. Federally backed loans include: Federal Housing Authority ( FHA ), Department of Veterans (VA), Department of Agriculture (USDA) or purchased/securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. The servicer cannot request any proof beyond the borrow’s attestation to a financial hardship caused by COVID-19. The servicer of any Federally backed loan also cannot initiate the foreclosure process for not less than a 60-day period beginning on March 18.

Protections for Multi-Family Property Owners
 the protections extended to single family home owners are also being extended to owners of multi-family properties. Unlike single family home owners, multi-family building owners will need to document the financial hardships they are facing and request a forbearance for up to 30 days. That can be extended for two additional 30 day periods. If a building owner is receiving a forbearance the bill has tenant protections built in. No tenant can be evicted for non payment of rent or have an eviction initiated, as well as, no late fees or charges can be assessed for late payment of rents. 


Increased Tenant Protections 
 Property owners who participate in any housing programs covered by various acts-  including the low-income housing tax credit program, National Housing Act, Homeless Assistance Act, National Affordable Housing Act, rural housing voucher program and others - for the next 120 days, may not initiate eviction proceedings to retake possession of a property for nonpayment of rent or charge late fees for late payment of rent. 


Credit Protections
 The Fair Credit and Reporting Act was amended by the stimulus, designed at not allowing tanking credit scores of millions of Americans suddenly finding themselves out of work due to the Corona Virus. If a borrower and a lender have come to an agreement of deferring payments, partial payments, forbearance, modifying a loan or using any other relief- and the consumer makes the agreed upon payments or is not required to make a payment, then the account reported to credit agencies must be reported as current. 

For More Information the actual bill is linked below

CARES ACT

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You're Making Your Landlord Rich

​While you’re fussing over your bills, did you realize you’re making your landlord rich? Rentals are the most lucrative business to get into. It turns ordinary people into multi-millionaires. The next time you’re afraid of committing to a mortgage, keep in mind that you’ve already committed to paying off the mortgage of someone else - every single month you rent. The only time home buying doesn’t make sense is if you’re still living with your parents rent-free. Or, you prefer to live out of an R.V. or tent. But if you prefer to live in a home or a condo, it always makes the most sense to buy.
Stop making your landlord rich and start building your own net worth. You can still enjoy owning a home - even if you don’t intend to stay in an area for long. You can always resell your home, most often for more money than you put in, or turn it into a lucrative side business by hiring a property management company to rent it out on your behalf. Whatever you decide, don’t be afraid of a mortgage commitment - you’re paying one regardless. Now ask yourself, do you want to make yourself money or make your landlord money?

 The thought of writing a real estate blog has lingered with me for sometime. If you know me, you know that I love to create. Writing is one of those creations I love and if I could marry that with real estate, which I also love, PERFECT! I decided to name this blog Market Pulse because there really is a pulse to real estate. It can race, it can rest, it can dive, and It can stop. ( let's not hope for that last one ) If you are interested in the market, locally and nationally. I hope that you would look to this as a resource and find it valuable. Disclaimer, I am new at this. So, maybe you can muster a little grace to start. 

The creation of this blog comes out of working from home thanks to the Corona Virus, or Covid-19. I wanted to still provide to my clients, friends and family a service. I am still doing my normal real estate tasks, and working on the current deals that I have, as well as helping new buyers and sellers. That is a serious blessing of this career, I can do it almost anywhere. 

Lets get down to business then. Today I spent time on both Oregon Association of Realtors website, oregonrealtors.org, as well as the National Association of Realtors website, realtors.org., reading about measures these two associations have been taking during this unprecedented time. Researching articles on how we as realtors can protect our clients, how these real estate organizations are working with legislatures to help home owners, landlords, tenants and housing. I also looked into what realtors across the nation are feeling as far as what is going on in the market nationwide. NAR conducted a flash survey of 72,734 members that respresent both residential and commercial real estate around the country as to how the virus has effected their markets. I have attached the findings in a pdf below, but I will hit  some of the highlights of the residential survey here.

Mortgage Rate Change
The majority of sellers have decided not to make a change in their home listing. However, from March 9 to March 16 there was an increase in members who cited that sellers removed the home from the market and refinanced. 

Buyer Interest
On March 9, 78 percent of members cited there was no change in buyer interest due to the coronavirus (COVID-19). However, on March 16, this declined to 45 percent. In areas where there are presumed or confirmed cases of COVID-19, this share is 41 percent. Among all residential members, 48 percent of members cited there was a decrease in buyers.

Seller Behavior
The majority of members reported there has been no change in the number of homes on the market due to the coronavirus (COVID-19). However, in the latest iteration of the survey, 28 percent of members did report that there has been a decline in homes on the market. In areas where there are confirmed or presumed COVID-19 cases, 32 percent saw a decline in homes on the market.

The majority of members reported there was no change in sellers removing homes from the market due to the coronavirus (COVID-19). However, removing homes from the market has increased from three percent on March 9 to 16 percent on the March 16 survey. In areas where there were cases of COVID-19, 20 percent of members reported homes were removed from the market.

​The majority of sellers are changing how their home is viewed while the home remains on the home selling market. About 60 percent of home sellers nationwide have made changes including stopping open houses, requiring buyer hand washing or hand sanitizer to be used, or asking buyers to remove shoes or wear footies. In areas where COVID-19 was present, 65 percent of sellers have adopted these or other changes.

*information credit: NAR Flash Survey: Economic Pulse March 16-17, 2020,shorturl.at/fhpMX​

Baker County
​What have I been seeing in Baker County? Well I have not conducted a survey of the other realtors in the county. I can only speak for myself. I have had one buyer withdraw out of concern of the economy. I am still seeing interest in selling. And there are still people moving to the area that are looking to buy. I have considered doing some video walk-throughs of my current listings so that buyers can virtually walk through a property to keep both them and my sellers safe. It is a time of uncertainty but with some creative solutions buying and selling are still happening, and people still need housing. I am cautiously hopeful, and I encourage you to reach out if you have questions or concerns about your current real estate needs. As an agent, I am not just here when you are ready to buy or ready to sell. I am a resource, a valuable asset to home owners and potential home owners. I work this industry day in and day out, I should be a local and national expert. Do I know everything, absolutely not! I do, however, have resources! 

Please leave a comment if you found this information helpful. Please leave a comment if you have a topic you would like me to tackle!