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Home prices drop in Cowlitz County

Monday, November 10, 2008 7:02 PM PST

By Erik Olson

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Cowlitz County’s housing market nose-dived in October, with homes sales and the median selling price down nearly 20 percent as nervous buyers warily eye tight national credit markets.

The county’s median price was $159,500 last month, down from $195,000 in October 2007 and the lowest in three years, the Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported last week.

Real estate agents sold 70 homes in October, down from the 85 sold the previous October. For the year, the 621 homes sold so far continues to lag far behind the 873 sold last year.

Inventory is high at 717, but below the sluggish market at the end of 2007, when 759 homes were available in Cowlitz County, according to the agency.

"The real estate marketplace doesn’t have buyers in it," said Gerry Flaskerud, broker/owner of Coldwell Banker Flaskerud Realty in Longview.

At the beginning of the month, Flaskerud’s agency took a bold step to attract buyers by cutting the prices of nearly half of their listed homes by 10 percent.

Participation by sellers was strong, Flaskerud said. But buyers, frightened by news of collapsing investment banks, high unemployment and the erratic stock market, mostly stayed on the sidelines, he said.

"It is psychological. It’s not that they don’t have credit or can’t get it. They’re not even thinking about trying to," Flaskerud said.

Statewide, median prices slumped nearly 10 percent in October, according to the service. All 19 reporting counties saw double-digit percentage dips in homes sales for the month, according to NWMLS.

Cowlitz County is "not abnormal," Flaskerud said.

The county traditionally has had few mass migrations of people looking to buy because they’re coming to the area for new jobs or leaving and selling quickly, he said. That’s why market movement in Cowlitz County has been less erratic than in other parts of the country, according to Flaskerud.

The housing market is heading for its normal down time during the holiday season. Flaskerud said he’s looking for the local market to even out at the beginning of next year, especially with the election over.

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Mr. Chinook wrote on Nov 10, 2008 1:28 AM:

" "Home Prices Drop" but our asessed value goes thru the roof...how can this be? If my house sells for less now than it would have 4 years ago, how can it be asessed at a higher value? I let my landscaping grow over with weeds and let the blackberries run wild. My place does not look nearly as nice today as it did a few years ago, but the asessed value went thru the roof...will somebody please explain this to me? "

huh? wrote on Nov 10, 2008 8:06 AM:

" Yet my tax assessed property value has gone up 135% over the past two years- Neat. "

TDN Bad Boy wrote on Nov 10, 2008 8:14 AM:

" Come on now. How do expect the school districts to pay for the unfunded pay increase that Da Tax Queen slapped on them for this year? And wait till you see what's coming from her and the Liberals in Olympia. Taxes, taxes, and more taxes. They won that right. So bend over and get ready to take it. "

No Nickname wrote on Nov 10, 2008 8:22 AM:

" Get a backbone and vote the damn Assessor out. No one runs against him, but everyone gripes at the decisions he makes. Get a clue people - start a recall, get someone with a brain in there. You get what you vote for. And TDN Bad Boy - the Governor is not responsible for everything. Lower level vote-ins make decisions, in this case, it was the ASSESSOR who ASSESSES home values. DUH! "

Mr. Chinook wrote on Nov 10, 2008 8:32 AM:

" I feel like I've been given a prostate exam with a telephone pole. "

concerned wrote on Nov 10, 2008 8:33 AM:

" RE..Mr Chinook...its not that your house is worth any more or the fact you are letting it grow out of control. The reason why its going up is due to the land. They look at the partial of land where its at and how much its been worth in the past and how much people may be willing to pay in the future if the market were still good. From what I understand this is how peoples property is asessed. "

bmoc wrote on Nov 10, 2008 8:36 AM:

" you have to petition within thirty days, and I think I might make it with my petition. not that they'll read it. That's why I'm following up with a phone call to the state's inspector general.
I suggest some of you do the same. We are being robbed. "

Rural Citizen wrote on Nov 10, 2008 8:49 AM:

" It is a fact that if you don't have a job you can't pay your bills.

If you can't pay your bills you can't buy a house.

What this nation needs is our manufacturing base back.

We need to cancel NAFTA, CAFTA, and all foreign contracts that send our jobs overseas.

We need to quit doing business with companies who give all their profits to "stockholders" and put NOTHING back into their companies, their workforce, or their communities, or their nation.

They don't even pay taxes. Maybe it's time to rethink the necessity of Wall Street itself really. "

Paratrooper wrote on Nov 10, 2008 10:10 AM:

" My taxes are so high I am having to sell my home. I can't afford it. I'm not able to pay any bills now. I can't sell my home because I paid too much for it and now can't get enough to pay the mortgage off.

I'm in a foreclosure situation now. The taxes are the biggest factor and now I'm having to face the disaster. I don't have a clue on what to do. I am new to the state. I got messed over at the beginning and am getting messed over at the end. I can't believe what has happened to me. I am just wanting to go back home and leave this place behind. I am paying so much in taxes that the kids around here should be brain surgeons with all the money going to the schools. Yet, We have to buy extra things for the kids for school every week. I don't understand where the money is really going to. The Pay raises! Pay raises for the teachers and they don't even do their jobs any better. The kids arent getting any better. Whats up with that? "

CROWSFEET wrote on Nov 10, 2008 10:26 AM:

" I rate being called trailer trash so they decided to raise my land value 30 grand. "

Common Sense 24 wrote on Nov 10, 2008 11:03 AM:

" Paratrooper: The raises didn't go to the teachers. It went to the administration. Why does a school like Kelso High require 4 vice principals? How many of them have their personal administrative assistants that are grossly overpaid as well. That is where the money goes. The administration is like a mushroom cloud that only grows bigger and never decreases. Look where the cuts are made when they cannot make ends meet. The poor teachers and kids programs are the first ones on the chopping block. I have but one question for the schools; how many people does it take to sign a check? "

Paratrooper wrote on Nov 10, 2008 11:52 AM:

" Common Sense 24. Thanks for the correction. It makes sense. I agree with you completely. Wow. I have met at least 2 of the Vice Principles there. You are right. They have a staff of their own.

I just see that the kids aren't getting anything extra out of the money we are paying. They seem to be wandering aimlessly. I wish that they could actually get the proper education without the nonsense of greed from the administrators.

My taxes are making the administrators very happy I'm sure. "

CRfisherman wrote on Nov 10, 2008 2:07 PM:

" Hey Paratrooper.....do you need some cheese with that wine? Maybe you should have read the fine print on that contract you signed for your house. Quit whining about it. The real issue here is the tax rate and the joke that we call the assessors office. Do we have options? How do we fight our high taxes? Someone on here should have the answer. But it takes more than just a few people. Everyone needs to call and complain about the "value" that is placed on their homes. It is quite obvious that the taxed value is much higher than actual value. How do we fight back? "

country gal wrote on Nov 10, 2008 2:11 PM:

" My assessed value went up ridiculously, too, and I appealed for it. I wasn't sure of the outcome it was going to put me in but I'm sure glad I appealed. I'm happy with the outcome. Just curious, did any of you appeal? "

curmudgeon wrote on Nov 10, 2008 2:50 PM:

" Sigh...I'm never gonna get out of here... "

viper wrote on Nov 10, 2008 4:19 PM:

" well the taxes are still going to get worse yet as you know now we are bailing out the auto makers to it's nice and secure feeling that you can run your business into the ground and we get the shaft no matter what damn isn't it great to live in America the land of the can't fail no matter what you do I should open up a business and run it into the ground then siphon off all the profits and let the tax payers pick up the bill it seems to be the new American way "

fanky wrote on Nov 10, 2008 6:26 PM:

" Hmm.. I wonder if someone can file a lawsuit, and then try to make it a class action, since all the complaints seam to stem from the same complaints of a poor job by the assessors. This may be more economical since most people can't afford to fight the governments on their own... just a thought? "

msfans wrote on Nov 10, 2008 6:43 PM:

" You also have two other options here.
1: You can get a recall petition started to recall the assessor.
2:You can get a petition started with as many homeowners signatures as possible that state they are willing to withhold their tax payments to the county until this problem is fixed.
It is obvious the assessors office think they can do whatever they like since there has not been 1 responce from them on the many articles that have been printed in TDN on this subject. They can't even have the balls to come out and justify their outrageous actions. They won't be happy until they have every homeowner in this county in foreclosure or bankruptcy court. they are nothing but legal thieves. "

country gal wrote on Nov 10, 2008 7:35 PM:

" A few months ago when I got my property tax, the assessor assessed my property from $123,000 to $210,000. My land went from $50,000 to $100,000 and my house from $73,000 to $110,000. I hadn't done a darn thing to my land except planted 4 fruit trees at $24 a piece and my house is still under remodeling. I appealed and I just got my appealed statement the other day and it was reevaluated down to $153,000 which I'm happy. Found out in the appealed letter that the assessor listed my house as 28 years old. My house is over 100 years old! It also listed a couple of other errors. So, it pays to appeal. Read the options from msfans. "

dogshead wrote on Nov 11, 2008 7:20 AM:

" Assessments are based on recent sales of comparable propertys. When comparable homes sell for a lower value, your assessed value will lower. Values have fallen only recently; be patence. You assessment didn't raise immediately when values increased. Settle down people, there is not some grand plan rip you off. We're all paying our share of services (school, police, roads, parks, public buildings, environment protection, court system) that are vital to our society. I'm hearing a level of greedinees/selfisness here that few of you should be proud of. Get involved, work to make the system better. Quit you bitchin'. "

kitten wrote on Nov 11, 2008 5:24 PM:

" dogshead, I beg to differ on your comment "We're all paying our share of services that are vital to our society". Some of us are but there are many who are not paying into but instead taking out of "services vital to our society". "

Jensdad wrote on Nov 11, 2008 6:00 PM:

" Country gal. Well isn't strange that who ever looked at your house in the last how many years can't tell the difference in a 100 year old house and a 28 year old house. Do the houses built 28 years ago look so bad now that hey look 100 years old. Or is the fact that the people assess our properties so inexperenced that they can't or don't want to know the difference. If u only have 5 out of 1000 properties go thru the reassessment procedure they can live with that. That is still a nice chunk of change they will walk away with.
As for going in and talking to them i did that. I live in a 1940's stucco house. Since there was nothing comperable to judge it against they decided a two story 1970's model just rennevated before it sold as "close enough" for their assessment. Now does that seem like an educated guess to u? "

country gal wrote on Nov 12, 2008 9:34 AM:

" Jensdad: Unbelievable! I have heard stories similar to yours and it boggles my mind what the assessors come up with on comparable properties. I'd probably still be fighting teeth and nails if I wasn't satisfied with my tax assessment. "

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