Realtor/Coach/Trainer
I stole the headline from the Washington Post because it is so good. Buying a home with real or perceived flaws can allow you to be in a neighborhood at a discount. It is just best that you understand why there is a discount. Powerlines are often an issue for many. No one has determined […]
HOA’s (Homeowner Associations) are a necessary evil for attached homes – row homes and condos. They make sure the homeowners follow the rules that they agreed to when they bought the house. They also keep up the standards for yards and exteriors which includes replacing the roof and siding when needed. Part of the issue […]
Here were are at the end of Summer almost. For a lot of people school controls home buying. Unless you are moving a small distance, if you buy now you will have to move your kid just after school starts. Parents don’t often like that. This is in part why June and July are the […]
Fortunately Debt-to-Income ratios allowed by banks have been lowered. At one time people could have 62% of their income paying debt each month. Take out the taxes at just 25% and you have 13% of your income to pay for utilities, food, and gas. Doesn’t make much sense does it. Typical ratios now are 43%. […]
I always found this commercial to be funny. “It’s a sellers market. It’s a buyer’s market.”
Only 78 more homes went pending than in March and 146 more than April. I don’t expect a large jump for the rest of this Summer but Fall might be interesting. If they don’t extend the $8000 tax credit, there could easily be a rush this Fall to get the credit before the dealine. The […]
Seth Godin had a post about the damage that can be done by asking. Real estate is a slightly different situation where people don’t get a chance to connect usually and it is a “cold” request. Seller’s can take low offers personally which I have seen many times. Low ball offers in this case are […]
We are only halfway through May but we are close to a full month of Pending for January or February. As of tonight 906 homes have went Pending this month. January gave us 1062 and February 1142 so we are well on our way to beating last month though we are still below January 2001. […]
This is the updated chart for April 2009. Once again these are my numbers, I only have detached homes, condos, and townhomes. Late afternoon on April, 30th there were 1628 Pending homes. The updated numbers show 1713 Pending listings for April. Almost 200 more than March which doesn’t sound like a lot but that is […]
As of April, 14th we had 755 home change their status to Pending in the Portland Metro area. In the next 15 days we had 873 homes turn Pending. The activity is increasing as we get further into Spring. I was really hoping for a larger difference between this month and last but that wasn’t […]
Take advantage of great weather and blooming flowers in case you sell your home in less than great weather.
This is one of the best charts to see what has happened to the Portland Real Estate Market. 2005 was our most active year though prices didn’t peak until June 2006. 2001 and 2002 were very similar. You can see that the second quarter is always significantly ahead of the first, which is great. What […]
I am hearing it everywhere (Twitter, blogs, meetings, and from other agents) that real estate is picking up. Pending is the best gauge of the optimism even if the deals don’t close. Here are the recent Pendings for the Portland Metro Area (areas 141-152): Jan 1062 (470 the first half and 592 the second) […]
No. You shouldn’t wait. The house from the picture had two offers yesterday. On one of the worst days of this stom in Portland offers still came in. If you are waiting for Spring it is because you don’t think houses sell now. Talking to a friend who is using another Realtor, it happens, he […]
As anyone who has visited here with any kind of regularity will know, I am not a fan of prognostications. Someone high up in the banking industry told me that by th eend of the year rates should be right around 7%. They are not. He says that rates should actually be lower now as […]
I wrote a post a couple of days ago about how interest rates were bobbing around erraticly. If you look to the left you will see the interest rate graph with the current drop. Hopefully the market will stabilize and fear in the market will subside some. This could be great news but we need […]
