Even though nearly 9 out of 10 homeowners ultimately enlist a real estate agent to sell their properties, let’s face it: the thought of going it alone does go through many minds. And surveys confirm the primary motivation, which is, of course, saving the agent’s fee. Pocketing that cash would add that much more to the bottom line—that’s just common sense! Isn’t it…?

What makes sense in theory doesn’t always work out that way in the actual marketplace—in fact, the probabilities actually point in the opposite direction. The verified financial analyses tell the tale—the average sales price for real estate agent-assisted sales are so much higher than “For Sale by Owner” sales that the percentages favor the real estate agent choice: last month’s updated statistics listed the difference at more than $40,000.

Going it alone can be even more costly in other ways. Selling a house yourself is a time-consuming affair—particularly if you are having to organize all the processes from the ground up. Not only do you have to do all the initial legwork to create and manage the entire marketing and […]

When you are selling a home in Portland, two underlying unknowns are always present. How long it will take? Is one. The second is what will the final selling price be?

The answer to that second one at least partially depends on actions the person selling the home controls, since performing renovations and add-ons boosts a property’s salability. But which renovations add the most value? Even though considerable study has been given to the issue, for any given home it’s difficult to pin down which are most likely to have the greatest impact.

Even so, some general observations are widely accepted:

ITEM: Some kinds of renovations show a much higher return than others. Replacing a traditional entry door with a steel door, for instance, often generates about a 100% return on the investment. A sunroom addition, on the other hand, is likely to result in closer to a 50% return when the home is sold. The web site remodeling.com presents national averages tabulated each year.

ITEM: The old focus on “location, location, location” applies to improvements, too. Selling a home in different areas of the […]

If you have been doing groundwork with an eye toward investing in Portland real estate, chances are you’ve also been watching some new national movement in housing sales. Last month’s Real Trends Housing Market Report showed U.S. sales of 5,880,000 units (a 5.1% increase over June 2013 numbers): “a substantial improvement over the five prior months.” Prices also continued to rise across most of the nation, though at a slightly slower rate. It’s the consistency of the appreciation that has continued to attract investors.

Those investors are drawn for differing reasons—since investing in real estate in Portland can advance a variety of financial strategies. For investors who purchase residences in order to rehab and flip, any continuation of price appreciation and rising sales volume is encouraging news. For others who plan to hold long term to maximize rental income potential, still low mortgage rates continue to undergird a historically attractive environment.

Whether investing in Portland real estate becomes the high point of a portfolio or a footnote depends on such a wide variety of factors that entire books continue to be written about […]

When the American Institute of Architects reports on emerging trends, sooner or later they’ll be showing up in the Portland listings. That’s been true of one trend the AIA started reporting in 2010: the move to ever-larger square footages.

But now a more interesting finding is developing. It’s one of the principal findings in the AIA’s 2014 Home Design Trends Survey—one that falls into the category of “emerging home characteristics”—one likely to become more commonplace in coming years. Combining several different attributes, it is best summarized by the single term “accessibility.”

“Residential architects report that the most significant trend in home layouts is improving accessibility,” writes Kermit Baker, the AIA’s Chief Economist. With a large segment of the population reaching retirement age and beyond, concern about the physical demands of daily living concerns more and more homeowners. Predictably, baby boomers will prefer to remain in their own homes as long as possible, creating both a huge market for remodeling design ideas that increase ease of use without losing attractiveness, and a resale market for the homes thus improved.

Almost two-thirds of responding architects report […]

A crucial part of selling your Portland home comes right at the outset—when you set your asking price. It boils down to a decision to go high (the I-love-this-place-and-gotta-have-it-no-matter-what price); or low, with a number that is just under neighborhood comparables (the I’d-better-snap-this-up-before-someone-else-does price).

Success in selling your home quickly is commonly understood to correspond with the lower price strategy, it’s true. But are there ever reasons why you would want to set a price that’s significantly higher than your neighborhood usually commands? Is there EVER a right time?

Although the common wisdom for selling your home is a pretty firm ‘NEVER!’—but there might be some possible exceptions. When might it be reasonable to ‘test the market’? Here are a few:

No true comparables. If you have a Portland home that’s verifiably one of a kind in the area, comparisons based on size, number of bedrooms and baths might be misleading. In such a case, it’s important that the differences be blatant—obvious to everyone—because banks and other lenders are likely to need considerable persuading, “Comps” are easy to justify, which is why they are […]

There’s a lot you can change about a house. You can repaint it, renovate the interior, landscape the yard. The one thing you can’t change is its location—and there’s abundant truth in the familiar list with the three most important words in real estate: location, location, location…

That’s why getting to know as much as possible about the neighborhoods in Portland is so important when you are searching for the right local home. The characteristics of your choice of neighborhood will affect the quality of life your family enjoys—as well as the capital appreciation and resale value of your property (a good example is the strong positive correlation between house prices and school quality).

Begin with a Plan

A good place to start is by making your personal list of what you think will make a great neighborhood for you and your family. Ideally, one of the Portland neighborhoods will check off all the requirements. In any case, you do want to make sure that your highest priority needs are met. For some, that might mean access to quality schools. For others, it might […]

When you begin scouring Portland area listings for a new home, the cost of the home appears to be right there at the top: the asking price. All the other details about the property are there, too, but they usually get close attention only after that dollar amount at the top falls within (well, is at least close to) your target number.

But as soon as the shopping starts to narrow the field, the financial implications of those other details begin to reveal themselves. Good thing! In fact, the true bottom line cost of your new Portland home will be greatly affected by them.

Many buyers work with the details exactly as presented—but as a purchase grows more likely, they should consider them simply as starting points. Back when home prices were racing steadily upward, it may have been okay to assume that price appreciation would make up for any exaggerations or oversights about the property (whether inadvertent or not), but today’s more cautious buyers appreciate how the disclosures impact the real cost of a property. They know how expensive it can be […]

The Portland listings aren’t dominated by any particular kind of seller—like local listings everywhere, all kinds of homeowners are represented. One attribute they generally have in common is the motivation to make their sale happen quickly. Sometimes that’s because they have settled on a new home purchase and want to avoid months of paying double duty on multiple residences. Sometimes a seller is relocating; sometimes there’s been a death or divorce.  Regardless of the reason for entering their property in the Portland listings, most sellers are strongly motivated to do what it takes to accomplish a sale.

Even in what has proven to be a generally strong market, a quick sale can be harder to accomplish during the summer months when buyers have other priorities on their minds—like vacations or the impending start of school. It might seem to be a less than optimum environment to enter the local listings, but the fact is, sales DO happen during the vacation months: and they can happen quickly—especially when the seller avoids some common missteps:

Not Perfecting the Homes Appearance.

Sometimes it’s actually fairly easy to […]

Negotiating tactics. It’s a topic that business authors adore. This is perennial best-seller territory…so much so, you could probably fill a moderate-sized home library with titles like The Art of the Deal and Getting to Yes.

When it comes to negotiating a home purchase in Portland, fine-tuning your offer—finding the balance between writing a winning offer and writing the most advantageous offer—can present a real challenge. Add to that the national headlines that tell us that there are more bidders out there vying for the same properties, and it makes sense to listen to what the experts have to say about the most successful tactics. When you’re negotiating a home purchase in Portland, some of the most repeated generalities are applicable:

• Keep your cards close to your chest

Kenny Rogers sings about it, and every poker player agrees: when you’re negotiating, it’s almost always prudent to volunteer as little information as possible about yourself and your home search. If you aren’t considering any other properties, don’t let the sellers’ agent in on the fact. Never lie, of course; but find a polite way to […]

The upheaval in global financial markets over the past few years may have been unnerving for almost everyone, but among the hardest-hit group was first time home buyers, in Portland and across the country. Many had to deal with the stress caused by an uncertain economy, the fallout on business and job security, and, more directly, a pronounced increase in the difficulty of securing mortgages.

The good news for Portland first time home buyers is how the national situation has stabilized. It’s confirmed by the increase in the number of people interested in buying a home for the first time—which has climbed out of the slump. The latest NAR (National Association of Realtors^®) annual Profile—a yearly report describing home buyers and sellers—shows that new entrants into the residential market accounted for 39%, just 1% shy of the pre-crash mark.

If you’re selling a Portland area home this summer and have priced it attractively, it could pay to be mindful of this important segment of our market.

So just who are Portland first time home buyers? That’s where the NAR report gives us some important […]