Many of the homes in SE Portland have converted garages…. if you are buying a home with a converted garage request the seller provide or obtain a permit, if you are selling a home with a converted garage be prepared to have to get one. 

Read the rest of this entry »

Back on May 28th I posted an entry about allowing towering 3 story “skinny” homes to be squeezed in between single story homes and the degredation of the property values and increase of property taxes for the city as a result. At that time I also emailed city planners, Mayor Sam Adams etc looking for some reasoning behind this; it took almost two weeks to get a response, but they finally did respond.

Read the rest of this entry »

Back in the day of skyrocketing home sale prices between 2001 - 2006 the appraisal of a home you’re buying (or selling) was of very little concern to buyers, Realtors, lenders etc because it almost seemed as though appraisers were asking the lenders “what do you need it to appraise for?” before doing the appraisal…no accusations here, but there was some funny business going on and it was one of many factors that encouraged the housing bubble to burst. Since then appraisers have completely reversed course and potentially to the detriment of the market.

Read the rest of this entry »

We have a great home for sale in the heart of Goose Hollow, located near Portland State University in downtown Portland, right off SW Clay Street.  2 Bedroom/2 Bath/ 2 Parking Spots… great investment, especially if you (or your kids) are going to be spending some time at PSU.  Anyhow, the condo is in amazing condition and wonderfully “staged”. To see the listing goto: www.GooseHollowHome.com

Read the rest of this entry »

The May 2009 RMLS Market Action Report was released a few days ago and being the busy season with a lot of transactions in escrow I just didn’t have the time to do my write up on it until today, but it’s there now! Indicators are basically what we’ve come to expect in this market, significant depreciation, -13% overall since this time last year, and high inventory though we did manage to shave 4/5’s of a month off that from 11 down to 10.2 months. Read our write up on the Portland Real Estate Market and from that page you can also download the full report.

Read the rest of this entry »

We are the proud listing agents for an unusual high end custom home development in Government Camp, just up from Ski Bowl on the top of Oregon’s beautiful Mt. Hood!  The name of the project is Tyrolean Meadows… There is a custom home almost finished and Scott & I were able to snap some photos on a recent trip to the Mountain.  Bill Berman has put amazing thought and design into how the community will be developed… protected views, stocked lake, island with bridge… backed by protected green space and embracing a portion of the Barlow Trail; this particular land is full of local history.  Anyhow to see some of the pictures we captured at this amazing home on our recent visit CLICK HERE. 

Read the rest of this entry »

(No, that is not me in the picture). Below is a link to a recent article referencing the commonly heard of  Lawrence Yun , NAR Chief Economist, stating that the housing market is improving. I can’t speak for other states or cities but I can tell you what we’re seeing in Portland. Homes under $250,000 that are in good condition and located in good areas (especially those in inner NE/SE) are moving. Homes priced under $185,000 are selling even better. In fact it’s become very competitive. Homes above the $300,000 aren’t moving nearly as fast and of course the higher the home price from there the longer to sell. My advice?

Read the rest of this entry »

Sunday, May 31st, the Oregonian did a fabulous piece in the Home & Rental Section of the Sunday Oregonian. The article was on Interlachen and Fairview Lake and referenced a fantastic listing we have there. They were kind enough to offer us and a few of the other agents with listings on Interlachen a chance to promote an open house timed on the same Sunday the article was released… WHAT A HIT!

Read the rest of this entry »

Interest rates are well over 5% now, roughly 5.3% last week now at 5.5% and still climbing. Yesterday in fact there were several rate increases throughout the day with some lenders stating their base rates are now at 5.75%. Several lenders we work with feel there could be another slight dip in rates later this year however that would jeopardize the tax credit for those of you in the market to take advantage of it, in other words waiting *might* get you a half point lower rate if those lenders are correct however it will cause you to miss the tax credit deadline to be closed on a home purchase.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yep! Finally!  A channel just for real estate videos! They are still working out the search method and adding content but I’m proud to say that I am one of the FIRST to have a video uploaded and running!  Take a look at the Coldwell Banker On Location Channel by clicking here and searching for the arrow in Portland, Oregon that brings up my video… it references www.PerfectSEHome.com!  I’m glad to say we are the first but boy… it’s ABOUT TIME we had a real estate channel!

Read the rest of this entry »

We just wanted to post on this real quick to clarify the recent news of the $8,000 tax credit as a down payment. HUD released this pre-maturely a few weeks back before realizing it broke their own rules, they revised / re-worded it and re-released it and now it’s official, you can use the $8,000 tax credit towards a down payment, closing costs or rate buy down. HOWEVER (notice, that’s a big however), whatever down payment is required for your particular loan program must come from your own funds not the $8,000 credit. In other words if you’re using FHA you still need to come up with the 3.5% down on your own, the tax credit cannot be used for that, but you can say put 7% down instead and that extra 3.5% can come from the tax credit.

Read the rest of this entry »

We’re seeing lots of new activity in the market and RMLS’ posting of Oregon and Washington lockbox activity numbers shows the increased activity:

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a cartoon that says it all:

Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve seen these homes many times throughout Portland but today we came across this one, again, and figured it was time to say something. I will absolutely not claim to know what the deal is behind this particular home and I certainly will not mention where it is, however we see this frequently, tall skinny homes squeezed into what once was a 1/4 acre or 1/2 acre lot that the city of Portland allowed to be split. While we have no problem recognizing the need to do some infill projects to avoid sprawl, what we cannot understand is the complete dis-regard for property owners and property values by allowing something like this to be erected and squeezed right in between these two homes.

Read the rest of this entry »

With short sales the seller is already risking getting a 1099 for the difference of what they owed on the home and what it sold for after their “bank” approved the sale, this is known as phantom income. As such it’s standard practice for Realtors talking to a seller about selling short to advise them to speak to a CPA and/or real estate / tax attorney about the tax consequences before doing it…Well, it’s getting even more complicated now, apparently there’s a new trend of lenders beginning to require sellers to sign a note to repay that difference or they will not allow the sale; this is on top of the 1099.

Read the rest of this entry »