Joel Burslem over at FOREM posted an excellent review of Roost, a new real estate search engine platform built upon IDX functionality.

He makes some great points, and one especially relevant to a lot of people who visit this site – the listings are complete. You can quickly search MLS listings for multiple brokers at once.

Time to add it to the Find a Home tab..only to have ZERO people come back to visit this blog once they discover how great Roost is!

Popularity: 78% [?]

This home appears to have arrived on the market yesterday. $259,900 is ALMOST starter home range in Eugene.

The house looks clean inside and out. Yard seems to be a good size. They sell the backyard a bit short by only showing one angle, but it’s possible that the reasoning is that there’s something undesirable behind the house? I don’t think the freeway is directly behind the house, although freeway noise could be one reason for the lower price per sq. foot price for this listing. The water feature picture is sort of funny. It’s a $200 fountain from Jerry’s right?

Overall this is a great price for a starter home. The important thing with a starter home is that you find a neighborhood that will appreciate well over a 5-7 year period. Eugene has some strong micro-neighborhoods within larger neighborhood like “Harlow” or “Cal Young” – these micro neighborhoods include homeowners who care for their yards and homes, and usually include families with a real stake in the friendliness and security of the neighborhood.

3.7/4.0.

Popularity: 27% [?]

I like this house a lot.

Any large craftsman on College Hill (and off Willamette) w/over 2k sq. ft. and under $500 is a house worth looking at. Not sure what to think of the stick-on wall-art or pink paint (actually..I hate it), but it’s just paint. Easy to cover. The paint on the outside is a nice neutral color.

The backyard is neatly trimmed. There isn’t a lot of lawn for kids to run around on, but a hottub, waterfall, and a nice fence make up for that.

What’s amazing is that according to Trulia, the price of this house is up 91% from the last sale price in July 2002. That’s Eugene! – 3.7/4.

Popularity: 14% [?]

This home has a small, but very tidy backyard. The interior has a nice look to it..it features a kitchen island with an open floorplan. Also, the windows bring a lot of light to the interior.

There is one picture of a bathroom, and it looks small. There appear to be 2 1/2 baths, where one would assume that the bathroom in the picture is the largest of the lot (or the agent decided to ignore this detail).

Even if the bathrooms are small, open kitchens and lots of counter space are far more important if you plan to live in a house for several years.

Back to the ratings system… 4/5. Not a showcase, but it has some assets that come together in a way that can be difficult to replicate via many of the homes currently for sale in Eugene.

Popularity: 18% [?]

This new home may not be in an established neighborhood, but it is in the right neighborhood – South Eugene. The price per sq ft for this neighborhood is normally well above this.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Here’s a nice, newish, starter home in the Ferry Street neighborhood. This part of Eugene is very “family-friendly” and close to all shopping (Oakway Mall, VRC, Delta, Costco “village”)

What’s also nice is that the color scheme is good enough to leave as-is. The less work you need to do when you move in, the better! The post doesn’t say anything about the yard so I’m guessing that it’s .17 acres or less.

Popularity: 15% [?]

A December article over in Businessweek regarding the national market correction points out that a market correction follows a timeline; home prices often follow sales trends by about “9-12 months.”

Home prices in the Eugene area did not slow down a lot in 2006. As a college town, this city may see sale prices for rentals increase as the rental market heats up, which may drive continued speculation that has slowed down in cities like Las Vegas and LA.

The sweet spot for home buyers in Eugene right now looks to be the $400-550k market. These homes sit on the market much longer than others, and prices seem depressed when you look at the sq ft $ for homes in this range. Since mortgage rates remain low by historical standards, this year might be a good time to upgrade.

Popularity: 30% [?]

$339,000 is a reasonable price for College Hill, and for this home. At least on the surface. It looks like it was recently remodeled, and that they put at least some work into the landscaping – not typical for many homes near Amazon, or in this part of South Eugene.

A friend told me that homes in this area have been going for ridiculous prices lately. This isn’t a ridiculous price so definitely worth a look if you’re shopping.

[tags]college hill eugene, eugene home[/tags]

Popularity: 27% [?]