Margaritas an Southern Oregon’s Housing Market
Anyone who’s driven on S Pacific highway near the Harry & David’s headquarters may have noticed the sign for Journey church. The church is sandwiched between Roxy Ann Lanes and the old roller rink, or it was. The former church location has become a construction site. The original buildings were utterly decimated, the land itself tilled. The construction is in preparation for The Coquille Tribe’s new property, a hotel inspired by Jimmy Buffet’s “espascist” state of mind.
The Margaretville style hotel announcement is one of many new hotels that can be seen popping up all around the Rogue Valley. Readers may ask the question, do we need all these hotel chains populating our beautiful valley? The answer potentially could be yes, yes we do.
Between the COVID-19 pandemic and the Almeda and South Obenchain fires has drastically changed the southern Oregon housing market. The pandemic has changed how families operate. Many are now working from home. Kids are currently attending school online. They need to be close to an office or school has been eliminated for the foreseeable future, resulting in families investing more in the quality of their household.
Jackson County saw record-breaking numbers in residential sales in the year 2020. A KOBI-TV 5 article states that a total of 1.3 billion dollars “went towards buying residential single family homes in Jackson County last year.” A realtor with EXP Realty, Steve Thomas, “We just have way more buyers than we do sellers.” Any house listed at or under $350k receives five to fifteen offers and sells within three to five days. Buyers are increasingly becoming more competitive with their tactics. Some choose to forgo house inspections, buy without even walking the property, and even offer more than the listed price resulting in a surge of the average market price for Southern Oregon homes.
It’s a seller’s market right now. Between those displaced by the summer’s fire and an increase in out-of-state movers escaping significant cities, there is a considerable need for housing. “The buyers need homes. They’re living in motels, they’re living in trailers, we really need homes to list,” Thomas is quoted in the local FOX 26 article.
Sources:
https://www.fox26medford.com/fires-pandemic-rapidly-changing-the-jackson-co-housing-crisis/
