A few pictures from the Lewisburg Saddle hiking area outside of Corvallis...

Hi there.  I hadn't posted in a while, got kind of busy during the holidays and got away from paying attention to the blog.  Time to get started up again.

Here's a few quick photos from the Lewisburg Saddle. It's just north of Corvallis, literally about 5 minutes from Crescent Valley High School. Just head west on Lewisburg road, turn right on Sulphur Springs road then head uphill to the top and you are there. They have three parking areas up there and the place has several hiking trails you can access from the main entrance.

I went there a few times last year, then I started going back up there this winter to hike in the snow.  When you see snow on the hills on the north side of Corvallis, this is a great place to access for a snowy walk.  Just make sure to wear some shoes with good tread, it can get a bit slick and icy if things melt and re-freeze.

This is a great place to walk to get started back on  hiking. There are several logging roads, it's part of Mac Forest (a lot of research is done there),  and there are other trails that split off the main logging roads to hike.  Right now I'm kinda starting over for the year and I've been doing the new growth and old growth trail loops that cross each other. They are fairly mild hiking trails but I'm still huffing pretty good (although I'm improving every week). Once those are easy I'm going to look for some more challenging trails to do with Pat.

Homebuyers Shouldn’t Worry About 2008 All Over Again

Last week, realtor.com released a survey of active home shoppers (those who plan to purchase their next home in 1 year or less). The survey asked their opinion on an impending recession and its possible impact on the housing market.

Two major takeaways from the survey:

• 42% believe a recession will occur this year or next (another 16% said 2021)
• 59% believe the housing market would fare the same or worse than it did in 2008

Why all the talk about a recession recently?

Over the last year, four separate surveys have been taken asking when we can expect the next recession to occur:

1. The Pulsenomics Survey of Market Analysts
2. The Wall Street Journal Survey of Economists
3. The Duke University Survey of American CFOs
4. The National Association of Business Economics

70% of all respondents to the four surveys believe that a recession will occur in 2019 or 2020 with an additional 18% saying 2021.

However, we must realize that a recession does not mean we will experience another housing crash. According to the dictionary definition, a recession is:

“A period of temporary economic decline during which trade and industrial activity are reduced, generally identified by a fall in GDP in two successive quarters.”

During the last recession, a dramatic fall in home values helped cause it.

However, according to research done by CoreLogic, home values weren’t negatively impacted as they were in 2008 during the previous four recessions:

During the four recessions prior to 2008, home values depreciated only once (at a level that was less than 2%). The other three times home values appreciated, twice well above the historic norm of 3.6%.

Bottom Line

If there is an economic slowdown in our near future, there is no need for fear to set in. Most experts agree with Ralph McLaughlin, CoreLogic’s Deputy Chief Economist, who recently explained that there’s no reason to panic right now, even if we may be headed for a recession.

“We’re seeing a cooling of the housing market, but nothing that indicates a crash.”