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When I first meet a potential client one of the first questions is: Are you currently working with a lender?

You would think a yes response would be exactly what an agent wants to hear since that would indicated that they’re ready to purchase a home but honestly that response gives me mixed feelings.

There are few things more painful to an agent (or at least to me) than having to work with a mediocre lender. Throughout a transaction the communication between the lender and agent is crucial as it’s my role to carve the smoothest path to home for my buyer as possible. Because lending issues will arise during the process, how the lender is able to manage those issues is the difference between a bruise and a knock-out, only an exceptional lender uses foresight to avoid the punch.

The entire home purchase with the buyer is dependent on a dynamic agent and lender combo. When a buyer has randomly selected a lender chances are good they will be mediocre. Pro-activity, experience and availability are crucial.

Quick Tip: If your lender doesn’t provide their cell number in the signature of their emails and make themselves available after hours, on the weekends and within 20 minutes of your call, keep looking!

I’m beginning to see and experience sales fail due to appraisals not meeting the sales price; I think this will become more problematic as time passes.  Some homeowners are selling extremely low to get out of the game in anticipation of a worsening market, other homeowners having to sell short……. there’s the homeowner that is having to reduce his price significantly to stay competitive with the surplus of homes on the market (especially with the abundance of new construction)….. and then the paranoid home buyer fearing that he’s paying too much and should have waited.  With all this, layer in the fact that not all homeowners are able to reduce their price to the buyer’s expectations without having to sell short. NOW we have appraisers getting too tight on the appraisals. The appraisals coming from the banks in particular seem to tighter than others.

I am currently in a situation where the appraiser measured the rooms of the home and rounded the numbers down, whereas the listing, taxes records and sale price w ere  based on the  county measurements that had been rounded “up”.  As a result the appraisal measured 27 feet less than what was noted on the tax records and it resulted in the home’s value being diminished by $4,300 due to the difference in sq. footage. I disputed the report since this difference would be enough to save the sale but the appraiser, because of a percentage of error allowance stated the difference was mostly covered in the variance contractually allowed and so the adjustment would make little difference.  He wouldn’t adjust the appraisal.

As the market begins to improve, buyers are going to be willing to pay more for a home than the neighboring sold comps; that’s part of the recovery of the housing market.  However, unless those buyers have cash or larger down payments the buyers we need to jump start our housing economy are going to be fighting the appraisers, and desperately needed sales will fail.  If the appraisers continue to tighten the grip, our housing market will become more suffocated and motionless at a time that it would be just beginning to breath.

- Kristie

Gas prices are continuing to go up, and we are starting to see some real changes in consumer behaviors here in Portland. People are buying smaller cars, over large SUVs and trucks. But the rising energy prices also affect where and how people choose to live and buy Real Estate.  Here are a few things that we like to look out for our energy-conscious real estate clients.

1. How far is your desired home away from all the places that you need to go frequently. Your work, your kids’ school, the airport or even your relatives’ homes. Also, is there public transportation nearby that can get you around?

2. How big is your desired home, and do you really need all that space? Begin planning how you’re going to use the space even while you’re in the home buying process.

3. Is your new home well insulated. A well-insulated home can shave hundreds off your heating and air conditioning bill.

If gas prices continue to rise, this list will probably continue to grow.

Portland’s Daily Journal of Commerce ran an interesting story on one of Portland’s newest condo development. The 937 Condominiums in the Pearl District. It discusses the role of developer Patrick Kessi, who has taken an asymmetrical route to development. His first major project, the fast-developing 937 Condominiums in the heart of Portland’s Pearl District, represents an asymmetrical development for the assiduously planned neighborhood.

The design of the 16-story, 114-unit condo tower that’s squeezed on two sides by the Brewery Blocks and the north Pearl District takes its cues from the shapes, shades and chaos of the natural environment.

We normally don’t just re-post articles, but this has too much depth to try and summarize. And we don’t want the link to expire which tends to happen with Wall Street Journal articles from time to time. The article is from the May 6th article, which was written by Mr. Moulle-Berteaux who is a managing partner at Traxis Partners LP, a New York hedge fund firm.

“The dire headlines coming fast and furious in the financial and popular press suggest that the housing crisis is intensifying. Yet it is very likely that April 2008 will mark the bottom of the U.S. housing market. Yes, the housing market is bottoming right now.

How can this be? For starters, a bottom does not mean that prices are about to return to the heady days of 2005. That probably won’t happen for another 15 years. It just means that the trend is no longer getting worse, which is the critical factor.

Most people forget that the current housing bust is nearly three years old. Home sales peaked in July 2005. New home sales are down a staggering 63% from peak levels of 1.4 million. Housing starts have fallen more than 50% and, adjusted for population growth, are back to the trough levels of 1982.

Furthermore, residential construction is close to 15-year lows at 3.8% of GDP; by the fourth quarter of this year, it will probably hit the lowest level ever. So what’s going to stop the housing decline? Very simply, the same thing that caused the bust: affordability.

The boom made housing unaffordable for many American families, especially first-time home buyers. During the 1990s and early 2000s, it took 19% of average monthly income to service a conforming mortgage on the average home purchased. By 2005 and 2006, it was absorbing 25% of monthly income. For first time buyers, it went from 29% of income to 37%. That just proved to be too much.

Prices got so high that people who intended to actually live in the houses they purchased (as opposed to speculators) stopped buying. This caused the bubble to burst.

Since then, house prices have fallen 10%-15%, while incomes have kept growing (albeit more slowly recently) and mortgage rates have come down 70 basis points from their highs. As a result, it now takes 19% of monthly income for the average home buyer, and 31% of monthly income for the first-time home buyer, to purchase a house. In other words, homes on average are back to being as affordable as during the best of times in the 1990s. Numerous households that had been priced out of the market can now afford to get in.

The next question is: Even if home sales pick up, how can home prices stop falling with so many houses vacant and unsold? The flip but true answer: because they always do.

In the past five major housing market corrections (and there were some big ones, such as in the early 1980s when home sales also fell by 50%-60% and prices fell 12%-15% in real terms), every time home sales bottomed, the pace of house-price declines halved within one or two months.

The explanation is that by the time home sales stop declining, inventories of unsold homes have usually already started falling in absolute terms and begin to peak out in “months of supply” terms. That’s the case right now: New home inventories peaked at 598,000 homes in July 2006, and stand at 482,000 homes as of the end of March. This inventory is equivalent to 11 months of supply, a 25-year high – but it is similar to 1974, 1982 and 1991 levels, which saw a subsequent slowing in home-price declines within the next six months.

Inventories are declining because construction activity has been falling for such a long time that home completions are now just about undershooting new home sales. In a few months, completions of new homes for sale could be undershooting new home sales by 50,000-100,000 annually.

Inventories will drop even faster to 400,000 – or seven months of supply – by the end of 2008. This shift in inventories will have a significant impact on prices, although house prices won’t stop falling entirely until inventories reach five months of supply sometime in 2009. A five-month supply has historically signaled tightness in the housing market.

Many pundits claim that house prices need to fall another 30% to bring them back in line with where they’ve been historically. This is usually based on an analysis of house prices adjusted for inflation: Real house prices are 30% above their 40-year, inflation-adjusted average, so they must fall 30%. This simplistic analysis is appealing on the surface, but is flawed for a variety of reasons.

Most importantly, it neglects the fact that a great majority of Americans buy their houses with mortgages. And if one buys a house with a mortgage, the most important factor in deciding what to pay for the house is how much of one’s income is required to be able to make the mortgage payments on the house. Today the rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage is 5.7%. Back in 1981, the rate hit 18.5%. Comparing today’s house prices to the 1970s or 1980s, when mortgage rates were stratospheric, is misguided and misleading.

This is all good news for the broader economy. The housing bust has been subtracting a full percentage point from GDP for almost two years now, which is very large for a sector that represents less than 5% of economic activity.

When the rate of house-price declines halves, there will be a wholesale shift in markets’ perceptions. All of a sudden, the expected value of the collateral (i.e. houses) for much of the lending that went on for the past decade will change. Right now, when valuing the collateral, market participants including banks are extrapolating the current pace of house price declines for another two to three years; this has a significant impact on the amount of delinquencies, foreclosures and credit losses that lenders are expected to face.

More home sales and smaller price declines means fewer homeowners will be underwater on their mortgages. They will thus have less incentive to walk away and opt for foreclosure.

A milder house-price decline scenario could lead to increases in the market value of a lot of the securitized mortgages that have been responsible for $300 billion of write-downs in the past year. Even if write-backs do not occur, stabilizing collateral values will have a huge impact on the markets’ perception of risk related to housing, the financial system, and the economy.

We are of course experiencing a serious housing bust, with serious economic consequences that are still unfolding. The odds are that the reverberations will lead to subtrend growth for a couple of years. Nonetheless, housing led us into this credit crisis and this recession. It is likely to lead us out. And that process is underway, right now.”

According to a Wall Street Journal article I read this weekend, there are some very positive things that are coming along with the slow down of the real estate markets. Developers are dropping plans to build on some choice pieces of land and instead are selling it for such uses as public parks and nature preserves. It even contains an example that took place here in Portland Oregon, where a developer had approval to build 65 homes on a 27-acre parcel agreed in February to sell it for $4 million, a 20% discount to the land’s appraised value before the housing market softened. While I don’t necessarily see this to be sustainable, I’d rather see us building parks and nature reserves rather than power plants.

According to an April 16 article in the Wall Street Journal, 77 percent of the wealthiest people think that real estate presents a “real opportunity” right now. And 40 percent of those said they are in the market to acquire real estate right now. As we’re heading into the busy real estate season, these are very positive news, especially in conjunction with Portland’s still strong  market.

The Oregonian is running a very positive story on the investment opportunity of Portland Real Estate.

There is an interesting blog entry in the Oregonian about the current discussion of bringing back a wide-spread streetcar system to various Portland neighborhoods. Streetcars widely roamed our streets back in th 1950s but where mostly replaced by buses. The Portland Alberta District is one neighborhood of many neighborhoods that could eventually be host to its own streetcar, similar to what you currently see in the Pearl District.

The Oregonian ran a really interesting story about the current state of the different condo developments in the Portland Pearl District. We’ll write a further analysis on this, but it seems like some of the new buildings are doing really while others bear lots of opportunities for prospective buyers. Anyways, more coming but we wanted to get this in front of you.

Today we’ll blog about something other than trends in Portland Real Estate. Home Improvement. CNN published a very good article on how to improve your home, and increase the value of your real estate, without spending spending a ton of money. Here are eleven tips for home improvement:

1. Install Pro-style appliances: Try house-parts recycling centers
2. Stone Countertops: Buy square edge, standard color, or remnant
3. Paneled Wainscoting: Be creative with moldings
4. Planting for privacy: Purchase container plants
5. Copper roofing: Install a prefab system
6. Showpiece tub: Skip the jets or salvage a claw-foot
7. Marble subway tile: Cut the tile yourself
8. Picture window: Gang together stock double-hungs
9. Dramatic hardwood floors: Apply a dark stain
10. Closet organization system: Plan for fewer modules or use a kit
11. Built-in media center: Use stock kitchen cabinet

The Daily Astorian ran an interesting article today encouraging people to not believe the Gloom Merchants. The article points out that Oregon and Washington didn’t experience the excesses of house speculation that are now hindering real estate growth in places like California, Nevada, Arizona or Florida. And our economic conditions aren’t nearly as bad as what has been happening in states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania. So, while it might take a little longer to sell your home and it might be a little bit harder to get a loan, overall we seem to be in a good situation here in the Pacific Northwest.

The Oregonian recently ran a story about the potential re-development of the current Post Office operations center, which currently takes up 13 acres of prime real estate in Portland’s Pearl District. It clearly seems there’s momentum building for what could be the biggest real estate development ever in the Pearl District.  And if you ever find yourself strolling the Pearl District during the day, you probably won’t disagree that any development in place of our giant Post Office would be a welcome addition. We’ll keep you  posted.

Here’s a great real estate opportunity in Sandy that we’re currently in the process of selling. Contact us if you’re interested in this Sandy home.

You will love this home on the hill sporting granite counters in absolutely amazing and huge peninsula style kitchen with stainless steel appliances, custom divine paint through out, huge master suite with large walk-in closet, large bath, and private deck view look over the neighborhood to forest from large picturesque windows, slate fireplace, formal dining and a fenced yard.

We initially posted a summary style comment/blog entry on the article “Portland Home Values Take First Dip” that was on the front page of the Oregonian on March 26th 2008. I want to further comment on this. Specifically I want to address, or rather point out, the media’s effect on the market and how this article is a great example of the problems we’re seeing.

As Realtors in Portland, we work with other Realtors, lenders and other real estate industry professionals every day. Whenever a conversation turns to the current market conditions we find most of us hold the same opinion about the media’s role in this market; they are a big part of the problem.

Is inventory high? Sure it is. Are prices falling? Sure they are. Nationally it really is a tough market, locally in Portland the real estate market is down, but not out. And thus what we hear from the media both locally and nationally is “the sky is falling!!!”…it’s not.

We are in a market that’s not good for sellers, prices are down, inventory is high, homes aren’t selling like they use to - all bad right? Wrong…bad for sellers, great for buyers!

The media is just hammering the presses with bad news piled on bad news with regards to the real estate market and the “mortgage meltdown” when in reality that is only half the truth and only covers half the activity in the market. What we aren’t hearing from the media is that rates are low, the selection of homes is excellent, first time home buyers that have saved up a little cash still have a good selection of loan programs to choose from, prices are low…All of these conditions make for an ideal buyers market. Unfortunately we are not hearing that from the media.

The doom and gloom reporting the media is currently engaged in is scaring buyers away, it’s translating to “stay away from real estate or else…” at a time when we need to be encouraging buyer activity to reduce the inventory. To balance a high inventory market we need to increase demand and the media is working against that goal.

If the media wants to see this real estate market slump continue then they are doing a great job to that end. If, however, those in the media would like to see the market, and our economy, recover faster they should consider becomming part of the solution. There is good news out there to be shared, report it.

We just read the Oregonian story titled Portland House Prices Show Slight Dip and it has some interesting insights coming from Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller reports. Prices in January 2008 fell a half percentage point compared with January 2007. During the nationwide real estate boom (2004 - 2006), Real Estate prices in Portland Oregon increased by about 36%. While mortgage rates were favorable, these kind of price increases presented a real challenge for first time home buyers. Especially since median incomes weren’t rising at near that rate ( until the boom, on average a real estate purchase equals about 3 times annual income). These boom times also presented opportunities for spotty homebuyers who ended up buying properties they really couldn’t afford as well as homeowners who took more equity out of their homes than financially responsible.

Here’s our take. Right now is a good time to buy for qualified home buyers, especially if it’s in a promising neighborhood. And there are many good neighborhoods in Portland. Plenty of our clients have experienced significant gains in market value even while the market has been supposedly down. As long as you’re smart and financially responsible about your real estate decisions, we really believe that real estate is always a good investment, especially in the long run.

The April issue of Portland Monthly (called “Buy Here Now”) has just hit the news stands and it contains some great data about Portland’s Real Estate scene. Sadly, none of the content is available on the web, so you’ll just have to go pick one up. Regardless, here are their top neighborhoods for 2008…all for different reasons. You’ll just have to pick up a copy to learn what those are. Or email us this week, and we’ll send you a free copy.

Here are the top Portland neighborhoods by category according to Portland Monthly:

Fast Lane (soon to be hot spots):
South Waterfront
Pearl District Extension
Damascus

Charmed Corridors:
Ladd’s Addition
Portland Heights
St. Johns
Sauvie Island

Smart Streets (mass transit/urban living/cycling):
Orenco Station
New Columbia
Richmond
Piedmont

Family Circles:
Sellwood-Moreland
West Linn
NW District
Mt. Tabor

Cultural Crossings:
Alberta
Pearl
McMinnville
Multnomah Village

More and more we are hearing from our lenders that loan programs, especially for first time home buyers, are disappearing. 100% financing, 95% financing, even stated income programs are becoming endangered if not extinct. Don’t let this prevent you from taking advantage of the current buyer’s market; there are still great programs available. Although the 100% financing options have disappeared, in it’s place we have the revived FHA program without the strict qualifications and requirements it demanded years prior, when combined with the down payment assistance program you essentially have the same 100% financing. Even an FHA loan without the down payment assistance program is still a great option, with only 3% down compared to the 15%-20% down payments we saw required years prior. Although lending options are changing almost daily, there are numerous programs available that include both low rates and fixed interest.  

If you are a first time home buyer, now is your time. No one can predict when the loan programs we’ve been seeing over the last few years will be available again, it’s been decades since we’ve had programs even remotely close to these, so an educated guess is it could be a VERY long time before we see these programs again.

Now is the time to make your move~

Ok, I might be slightly biased but I just read a good entry on the Investor Centric Blog, which was called Investing in Portland Real Estate Isn’t A Bad Idea.

Here are the main points of the article.

• The Portland Real Estate market has kept moving its prices along, while most of the country’s markets have been on the decline.
• Portland’s public transportation system is superior to Seattle, the big brother up north.
• Last but not least, Portland is just as beautiful, has better infrastructure and still is more affordable than Seattle.

Good news for us Portland Real Estate Brokers.

Here’s an interesting event for prospective homebuyers. The Community Housing Resource Center in Vancouver, Washington hosts an orientation to provide information about its homebuying education and counseling services, and dispel myths about buying a home.

•  When: March 19th, 6 - 7:30pm
• Where:  2700 N.E. Andresen Road, Suite DR, Vancouver
• For more information go to www.homecen.org or call 360-690-4496

Reading through the West Linn Tidings I read an interesting editorial about the expected population growth in West Linn. The projections estimate for an additional million people to live in West Linn by 2030, which of course, are welcome news for us Real Estate folks. While that number seems high, it’s not really that surprising considering that a recent survey (350 West Linn residents) said West Linn is an excellent place to live.

Of course with that growth come concerns about how it will affect the area. 36 percent of survey respondents said that growth’s was the city’s biggest concern. Hence, Urban Growth Boundary, Rural Reserve, growth concepts, sustainable planning; all buzz words amongst West Linn residents these days.

Things continue to look up for the Portland Pearl District, which doesn’t surprise me. Every time I wander through the Pearl District, I recognize a new business or two. And it’s not just art galleries and boutique stores anymore, but larger restaurants, business services and a soon-to-come Safeway have entered the mix. When opening the Portland Business Journal on Friday, I read that financial firm Ernst & Young is joining a number of other professional services firm by opening an office in Portland’s Pearl District Brewery Blocks. Interestingly, their current office is downtown Portland. This is a very positive development for Pearl District residents.

Good news for Portland beer fans. One of our state’s favorite breweries is opening a Brewery and Public House in the Pearl District. The Deschutes brew pub, scheduled to open on May 2, will be on the corner of 11th and NW Davis Street - just across the street from the new Gerding Theatre and two blocks from Powell’s bookstore. Considering that this part of town is called the Brewery Blocks, doesn’t make this location a surprising choice for the Bend-based brewery.  Being a Pearl District resident myself, I am eagerly awaiting to welcome this Scottish-pub inspired business into our neighborhood.

Some good news for the Portland Real Estate Market by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. While nationally declines during the fourth quarter erased earlier gains, pushing U.S. housing appreciation into negative territory for the year for the first time in 17 years Portland’s home value and appreciation are continuing to hold up. Nationwide, prices were down 1.3% compared with the third quarter, the OFHEO said, and down 0.3% from the fourth quarter of 2006*. But in Portland/Vancouver/Beaverton (which by the way ranks number 61 in national home price appreciation), home values actually increased by 0.30% in the fourth quarter. Our one year gain in home appreciation is 4.24% while over the past five years home values have appreciated by 66.54%. The fact that market prices are still increasing coupled with low interest rates is good news for prospective Portland home buyers. Read Home prices by city.

*City rankings are listed by metropolitan areas. The OFHEO’s House Price Index is published on a quarterly basis and tracks average house-price changes in repeat sales or refinancings of the same single-family properties. The index is based on analysis of data obtained from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from more than 30 million repeat transactions over the past 30 years.

The winner of our latest iTunes gift card drawing is…..!!!

Congratulations Michael W. Your $25 Gift Card will be mailed to you. Details on how to enter to win our next drawing will be in our upcoming newsletter. To sign up to receive our newsletter please click Here to send us an email and request to be added to our email lists.

While home swaps have always been a popular solution for vacationers to save money while staying out of bland hotel rooms,  the idea of permanent house swaps is starting to gain in popularity. With far more home sellers than buyers in the market today some entrepreneurs have come up with web-based ways of putting sellers together with other sellers in hopes of meeting the needs of both. Four house swap sites that we ran across were GoSwap.org, DaytonaHomeTrader.com and DomuSwap.com. Last but not least, the popular Craigslist.org also is listing thousands of home swaps.

In our opinion, it remains to be seen if house swaps have a permanent place in the real estate market as there seem to be limited options for specific geographic regions. Even if you’re willing to move outside of your current market, you would still have to find a house you love and a homeowner wanting to swap and move.

The Register-Guard in Eugene, Oregon wrote a very encouraging article for Eugene home buyers, which assesses the real estate market in Lane County, Oregon.  The market is flush with homes and sellers are bound to continue lowering their prices.

Home sales in Lane County fell by 31 percent in January compared with a year ago, while pending sales were down by 24 percent, resulting in more homes staying on the market for longer periods of time. Median prices for homes in Lane County continue to rise, however, to $225,000, up 4.4 percent from January 2007. Median means that half the homes sold for more than that price, half for less. The average price was essentially flat in January compared to a year ago. The number of new listings fell by 6.1 percent, with fewer owners putting homes on the market.  Although still low by national standards, foreclosures are increasing locally and banks are selling some homes for less than the original loan amount.

This sounds like an interesting opportunity for prospective home buyers in the Portland area.

Buena Vista Custom Homes today announced that it will conduct a second auction of the company’s inventory of completed homes. 52 homes from nine of Buena Vista’s neighborhoods and 18 buildable lots from three different developments in the Portland metropolitan area will be auctioned on Saturday, March 8, 2008 at the Ambridge Event Center in Portland. The inventory is located throughout the Portland metro area including: Scappoose, Beaverton, Happy Valley, Sandy, and Hillsboro. The 18 buildable lots are located in the developments of Shadow Hills and Jackson Hills, both in Happy Valley along with Carson Crest in Beaverton.

A while back, I read this interesting editorial piece in the Oregonian about the city of Gresham, past, then and now. As Gresham has changed from a town of 10,000 to a city of 100,000 over the past 50 years, there have been a lot of very positive developments alongside with some minor concerns. Here’s a summary of the article’s main points.

Historic Downtown Gresham
There are a lot of attractive townhomes and condominiums close to downtown Gresham now, but there is not enough population density to attract a decent market , yet, and the quality and variety of shops aren’t quite there yet, either. This development is happening and downtown Gresham presents a good opportunity for potential home buyers.

Mount Hood Jazz Festival Site
The two-acre grassy site of the Mt. Hood Jazz Festival is proposed as the home of the Gresham Center for the Arts. With approval from the City Council, the project would bring a full complex of indoor and outdoor entertainment and event sites as well as a promising public-event plaza.

Leadership at City Hall
There now is unaccustomed potential at City Hall, too. For the first time in a long time, there is a uniformly bright, reasonably experienced and business-oriented council. There is great potential for quality development.

A developing multicultural population in Gresham
As far as a new multicultural population, Gresham used to be pretty homogenous — white — and mostly came from the Midwest. Now Gresham is an almost a polyglot population from around the world, still primarily white, but one can hear various Latin languages, those from Eastern Europe and a variety of Asian conversation on your average bus or MAX adventure. What we need are some stalls for these new citizens at the Saturday Farmers Market, some Latin or Cuban jazz at the festival and some enthusiasm among parents to encourage the schools to require a second language in their curricula. The potential for integrating and welcoming these new citizens to participate in Gresham is enormous.

The Gresham Outlook recently reported on the Gresham Redevelopment Commission decided to negotiate with a firm that’s earned a national reputation not only for its Pearl District work, but also for its projects in Portland’s rapidly developing South Waterfront area.  A few people have dared to hope that the Rockwood urban renewal district could mimic the fabulous success of Portland’s now-famous Pearl District, but this is a very positive development and definitely something that we’ll keep our eyes on for prospective home buyers in that area.

We just ran across an interesting article in the Oregonian, discussing city leaders plans for downtown Lake Oswego. The future that city officials envision for downtown Lake Oswego is largely shaped by baby boomers who want to downsize from their suburban homes into something big enough for the grandkids to visit but small enough to require minimal upkeep. With the number of Lake Oswego residents older than 65 doubling in the past decade, it’s a logical demographic for developers to pursue. However, don’t expect tall condo towers as there is a 60 foot height restriction downtown Lake Oswego.

Carla Muss-Jacobs writes in her column in American Chronicle about her predictions for the Portland Real Estate Market. Here are a few points that stood out to us:

• The downtown Portland condo market is losing on some quick sales now. They should return to listing the units and allow first-time buyers a chance at Downtown living.
• Higher-end homes (for example, in neighborhoods such as Lake Oswego) are going to look attractive to buyers when prices continue to drop.
• Homebuyers will realize that Metro Portland is a great market, a good investment, and a great place to call home. They will be out this Spring!

After a month of declining rates, mortgage rates experienced a slight increase according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.68% during the week ending Jan. 31, up from last week’s 5.48%. The mortgage averaged 6.34% a year ago. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.17%, up from 4.95%. The mortgage averaged 6.06% a year ago. Still, rates are significantly lower than in years past and times seem opportune for qualified buyers and some folks looking to refinance.

TECHNOLOGY IS KEY:
We have brought over a decades worth of experience utilizing the latest technology into our methodology of selling real estate, some examples below:

• Our Office is Mobile : Just about anything WE can do in the office WE can also do on the go. Look up listings, email, receive faxes, print, full internet use and more…all from our car…This helps us to be incredibly responsive. We’ve actually had a client tell us they feel like they were our only client because we are so available; and that’s the goal with the mobile office.

• Our Website is Useful: Our website is light-weight; that is we don’t use all the flashy stuff that other sites use that cause the website to seemingly take forever to load; thus the site is fast. It’s useful because it allows anyone to search everything listed in Oregon and Washington without requiring registration. It also makes it simple with just a few clicks and an email address to setup an automated update that will email you whenever a new property that matches your search comes onto the market. This is in addition to many other tools and information like mortgage calculators, school information, county information and more.

• Internet & Software Resource Utilization: we utilize technology in every way possible from the home locating process, throughout the transaction and escrow process and in the advertisement of our listings including print, television and a massive internet advertising campaign. This helps me to be efficient, thorough, organized, and productive and also facilitates a smooth transaction process for our clients to produce great results!

IT’S BOTH WHO YOU KNOW and WHAT YOU KNOW:

We have many affiliations in the Portland Oregon Real Estate Community. We come from a real estate family. Having relatives that are successful real estate brokers has introduced me to a lot of professionals and their tips for success. Knowing the right people makes all the difference to a seller or a buyer…

• We Have Several Lenders that WE Work With: Each lender has his or her own strengths. Example:

• Tere Mauer can pre-approve in just 15 minutes, she’s efficient, fast, and dependable and if she says she can do it, she does it.

• Seth Warren, specializes in investment financing

• We Have a Team of Contractors WE Work With: They are inexpensive, diversified, and work under much expedited situations

• We Have a Natural Sense For The Industry: Coming from a family of real estate brokers, WE not only have a natural sense for the real estate industry but we have channels in which to share and learn more about real estate on a daily basis. we learn from experiences as well as the experiences of other agents working in the Industry.

• We Work With a Network of Real Estate Agents in Other Areas. If you aren’t sure Portland is for you, WE will introduce you to an equally dedicated agent in Eugene , Medford , Klamath Falls , or even out of state; anywhere else you may be interested in.

WHAT We THINK A BUYER or SELLER VALUES THE MOST:

• We Answer the Phone: This is something that has proven to be incredibly important as a Realtor; just plain answering the phone every time. On the rare occasion that you get one of our voicemails, you can expect a call back almost immediately.

• You Have Our Full Attention: Whether you’re buying a home for $100,000 or $1,000,000 our attention to detail during your transaction is equally important to me as is your repeat and referral business.

• We’re Flexible: Thanks to our mobile office and that we’re available 24×7, we tend to be very flexible

• We’re Honest, Ethical & a Professional: We want to build our success with great referrals and the only way We can do that is by getting you to recommend us to others and keep me as your Realtor for life!

• As Little Stress as Possible: We know buying or selling a home is stressful for most people, but it doesn’t have to be. We believe in ensuring our clients know the process by educating them through the process of buying or selling a home to reduce the stress that can be generated by unwelcome surprises, others dropping the ball etc. We do this by simply staying on top of things, making sure lenders, other Realtors involved etc are doing what needs to be done to ensure a smooth transaction all behind the scenes so our client never has to worry; we do the worrying for you. We solve problems or come up with solutions to problems BEFORE making the problem known to our client if and when possible; this helps to reduce stress if you know there is an answer that will work right off the bat.

IN SUMMARY:

If you’re looking for quality Portland homes, then you’ve come to the right place. West Linn homes , Fairview homes , Gresham Real Estate , whatever you’re looking for you can search conveniently any of the Oregon and Washington areas from our website and remember, Realtors are free for buyers, so don’t hesitate to call and utilize our services to find your next home!

We’re a reputable Coldwell Banker Realtor in Portland Oregon who is well-positioned to adjust to the changing nature of the real estate industry and to take the lead in future trends-

Put the trash cans, kids bikes and other toys etc in the garage. Keep the front of the house as uncluttered as possible. If your in a home without a garage, put that stuff around the back or side of the home.

As mentioned in a previous section, keep up with the yard maintenance or pay someone to do it, it’s a good investment while selling the home.

Neighbors. Is your neighbor storing a an old beat-up car in their driveway just a few feet from yours? Is their front yard a cluttered ridiculous mess? Ask them to take care of it, talk to them and in some cases I’ve heard of home sellers PAYING their neighbors to keep the front of their home clean and uncluttered. I know that’s not a great option, but if it solves the problem, it is an option right?

Put the trash cans, kids bikes and other toys etc in the garage. Keep the front of the house as uncluttered as possible. If your in a home without a garage, put that stuff around the back or side of the home.

As mentioned in a previous section, keep up with the yard maintenance or pay someone to do it, it’s a good investment while selling the home.

Neighbors. Is your neighbor storing a an old beat-up car in their driveway just a few feet from yours? Is their front yard a cluttered ridiculous mess? Ask them to take care of it, talk to them and in some cases I’ve heard of home sellers PAYING their neighbors to keep the front of their home clean and uncluttered. I know that’s not a great option, but if it solves the problem, it is an option right?

Unless your home is in desperate need of updating (1950 was styl’in  …in 1950) I typically do not recommend upgrades. Upgrading to granite counters, some exotic type of hardwood /expensive terracotta flooring etc WILL increase the warm and fuzzies a potential buyer might get while looking at your home, but in the end it’s going to be compared to your competition (homes selling near you with similar specs) by design of the home, the layout, location, price etc and you are unlikely to get more for your home as a result of these upgrades. These types of upgrades however in the absence of other homes having the same upgrades does tend to facilitate a faster sale.

If your home is in the category of needing some updating this isn’t always a bad thing. If the 30 year old counter tops are in good condition and clean, you’re probably ok. If your home is in a neighborhood where every other home near you that’s for sale has been updated you may want to consider making that investment or lowering your price a bit to undercut the competition because it wont happen that the other homes will sell first then its your turn, the other homes will sell first and other homes that are also updated will replace those on the market.

Carpet. If your carpet is heavily spotted or otherwise damaged, get it replaced. If you can’t consider a “$X,000.00 new carpet allowance” in the listing description.

As I mentioned previously these items should be considered on a case by case basis. If the home needs a new roof, has dry rot / pest problems, major electrical problems, dead furnace, or any other major problem you need to know that it is extremely likely that any buyer will have a home inspection done and any home inspector will find and document those problems which will result in a repair addendum to the sale agreement. If you and the buyer cannot come to an agreement on what will be repaired or not the buyer can walk away from the deal. Also a need to know, if there is anything wrong with the home that that could be construed as structural problems the buyers LENDER may require that you repair those items or they will not fund the loan causing the sale of your home to fail.

Professional inspections. If there is any question about the homes condition it could be a good idea for you to have the home inspected yourself. This is something the buyer typically does and pays for (and even if you do your own first, the buyer will likely still do their own) but in older homes or homes in questionable condition it’s a good idea for the seller to do this themselves so you know what issues there are and can then make an informed decision of what to take care of and what not to (hopefully making sure any structural issues are resolved).

This can be a tricky one. In general you want the house functional, you don’t want door knobs, cabinet pulls etc falling off in the buyers hands when they go to open something or the toilet over flowing on a “test flush”. I’m not talking about major repairs here, those types of repairs should be weighed on a case by case basis, I’m just talking about routine home ownership maintenance and upkeep…Make sure it’s done!

Door knobs, door locks etc. I am always stunned when I am showing a home to find the lock on the front door or the door/knob itself is either broken or very difficult to get open. This is such an easy and inexpensive item to fix and it makes a huge difference in the prospective buyers initial opinion of the home. Think about it, they aren’t even in the house yet and their Realtor, someone that opens many different doors all day long, can’t even get the door open…Leaves a bad impression on them right off the bat. Get it fixed. Same goes for screen doors with tears in them…Fix those or just remove them.

Staining the deck a few weeks ago, only got half way through and decided to take a 2 week break? Get it finished. Same goes for any home improvement project that’s half finished. The only time this particular one doesn’t really matter is with a new home still being finished.

Cracked tiles in the bath or kitchen? It’s not expensive, get those fixed or do it yourself (I’m no handyman, but I tiled my own front stairs last summer having never tiled anything before, it looks fine and wasn’t that difficult).

Heater or AC on the fritz? Well if it’s the right season you might be okay, if it’s the wrong season you need to get it fixed. Of course for this particular item it should be disclosed to a buyer when/if they ask or make an offer whether they found it or not.

Took my advice above and removed a ton of pictures from the walls and now you have a bunch of holes in the walls? Nail hole filler and touch up paint works wonders!

Yard, especially the front yard, keep it maintained. Yes, buyers will know they can clean up most unkempt messes in this area, but it still leaves a negative impression in their mind whether they recognize it or not.

Outlet covers, light switch covers, frayed wiring anywhere, get it taken care of and make sure the covers match.

Storing cars? Get those out of there! That goes for anything else that your “storing” in excess

To sum up, within reason make sure the home & property is in good tip top condition functionally and visually.

Got Cats? Hey, I like cats too but if you have cats in the home with litter boxes in the home it can and will turn some people off, just because you can’t smell them because you live there, others will smell them. If possible move the litter boxes into the garage. Also see the odor control point below.

Smoke? Stop doing it in the house. Get the cigarettes, ashtrays etc out of the house. Also see the odor control point below.

Odor Control. If you smoke in the house or have cats and litter boxes in the house, heed my advice above. If either of these left a persistent odor in the house start with a good carpet cleaner like Chemdry or similar vendor in your area as well as a professional housekeeper to do a “deep clean” of the home. If the problem is really bad Servpro is another company that can help, but that route is expensive (the specialize in fire restoration but also take care of really bad odor/pet etc problems).

Clutter, hobby paraphernalia, excessive or awkwardly placed furniture, excessive family pictures - get them packed up, your moving soon anyway right? One less thing to do when it’s time to move and helps potential buyers visualize their stuff in the home without having the distraction of your stuff everywhere.

Already bought another home, ready to move, just don’t feel the need to move until the home is sold? MOVE! Some Realtors will disagree with me on this and in some situations I don’t even agree with this, but in general, a vacant home sells best as it allows potential buyers to start planning where they will put furniture when they buy it!…It’s like looking at a blank canvas so to speak, they just instantly start thinking of how to situate their belongings in the home instilling a sense of ownership in the home…More about this in the last point

Last point before summing up the cleanliness portion. Take a look at your home just as you would look at a home your thinking of purchasing, open doors, flush the toilets, look in closets, walk around the yard, turn on light switches (find those burnt out bulbs before buyers do!). Whatever you find you can be sure potential buyers can/will find as well.

To sum up the cleanliness portion of these tips one of the most important things I think a potential buyer needs to NOT feel when they walk into a home is that they are walking into someone else’s home. They are of course, you know that, they know that, I know that…but when they are looking at a home often they will feel a sense of ownership in the homes they are looking at…Why do I say that? I listen to them and I get the questions like “Where’s ‘OUR’ property line?”; there’s the sense of ownership. You want to encourage that as much as possible and while I know most people can’t move until the home is sold, at the very least try to remove as much of yourself, your personality, your interests etc from the home as possible so buyers don’t immediately feel like they are walking into someone else’s home. You want a kind of generic kind of hotel room quality/feel to the home as it pertains to items on dressers, tables, walls, the fridge etc

First off, you found this website right? Google? Yahoo? Msn? Did you notice that it ranks highly on search engines as well as noticing the featured listings on the front? That’s just one small avenue I use for advertising my listings. In addition its also on dozens of websites like Realtor.com, Homes.com, Realestate.com etc. In addition to websites I also do specific keyword advertising on websites and Google to further increase the homes exposure.

I also do print ad’s in the Oregonian, the Real Estate Book and other various publications around town some of which are exclusive to Coldwell Banker and have high publication volumes.

Television, this is something exclusive to Coldwell Banker, Channel 15 on Comcast - Take a look, your home would be on there 19 times a week.

Signage and flyers…These are of course very typical advertising methods used by most Realtors and with some Realtors and brokerage firms that’s ALL they do besides actually listing it in RMLS - Ever see an empty flyer box on a homes for sale sign? You wont on yours I have a few methods I use to ensure those boxes always have flyers in them.

Open houses, I do as many Sunday opens as possible as well as whats called a Brokers open that’s done on Tuesdays where we get other Realtors to look at the home to keep in mind for their buyers, I provide food to them etc. I can’t however be in many places at the same time so when I have multiple listings I am holding open I utilize our other Realtors with Coldwell Banker to ensure my listings have agents in them on Sundays.

All in all my advertising generates calls and emails daily, your home would be included in that advertising.

As is the case with Realtors it is also true with lenders, pick the person not the company. A good lender will always be affiliated with a good company, but they may not alw