This one was news to me. The Wall Street Journal had it buried in a ‘spread sheet’ section of their online Real Estate section: “Why It’s Harder to Sell Your Home in an Election Year.” If you are like me—never having had an inkling that homes for sale have rough sledding in an election year (like this one)—you’d have to read the details.

“The uncertainty of a looming election can cause a dip in home sales,” it detailed, “especially if the race is close.” The article was illustrated by a cartoon showing a neighborhood street whose every lawn was graced by alternate “vote!” signs and homes for sale signs. The underlying thesis was that in close elections, house hunters are reluctant to buy if an uncertain political future makes them unsure about their own financial fortunes.

This might sound reasonable from a logic perspective, but as you read further into the factual basis for the idea, you’re likely to start losing confidence.

The whole basis for the […]

Portland’s spring selling season is underway!

Okay—it’s understandable if that seems like a somewhat premature announcement, but it is verifiable from any number of sources. Never mind that this year, spring doesn’t officially arrive in Portland until March 20…but that’s only what astronomers say (and they can’t even decide whether Pluto is a planet). Meteorologists take issue with them, anyway. It’s always March 1 as far as meteorologists are concerned. But this year’s Godzilla El Niño has made everything they say subject to revision. And anyway, we’re talking about real estate—and when it comes to real estate, spring is here already!

Now, depending on how you interpret the meaning of the recent rainfall, winter may seem to be hanging on for a while longer.

But nimble Portland real estate watchers know they can’t believe everything they read (or see happening outside in the garden).  Cherry blossoms can’t call […]

When an Portland Metro area couple begins thinking over the pros and cons of downsizing their family’s home base, one increasingly attractive possibility is a move into a Portland condominium or townhome (yes, they’re different—more on that later).

Several factors combine to make that choice worth looking into. One is demographic: Portland homeowners approaching retirement age typically discover that much of the effort and expense of operating a larger home plant is being wasted once children are no longer at home. Given the choice between mowing the lawn and golfing, or vacuuming a largely unused game room or visiting the mall, eventually the decision gets clearer. Because downsizing can mean significant savings in time and money, checking out the current Portland condo/townhome choices can make a lot more sense than it ever did before.

The differences between condos and townhomes vary, although townhomes are usually considered to be the more similar to a single family home—with the notable exception that they […]

Built into the way a Portland Metro area home changes ownership is the institution of the appraisal report—the document which attempts to place a dollar value on the property in question. That word “attempts” is the key when it comes to appraisals. Although it would make life easier if Portland appraisals consisted of completely objective, scientifically verifiable calculations, in the real world, they can’t be.

Portland appraisals are created by locating comparable properties that have sold recently on the open market, then adjusting that dollar amount to reflect the differences between them. That’s where perfect objectivity becomes…um…subject to interpretation.

If only any two homes were exactly the same in every detail, the latest price paid for one would be the best appraised value for the other. But even in the best case—say, two tract homes built at the same time with exactly the same features—their appraised values probably wouldn’t be exactly the same.  After all, they can’t occupy the same plots, and one location might […]

Especially this time of year, common sense would seem to lead any homeowner planning to sell their Portland home this year to hold off for the moment…at least until Punxutawney Phil’s forecast starts to come true (the venerable groundhog said that winter 2016 will be a short one). A quick peek at Portland Metro area listings in most Februarys usually confirms the notion that most people decide to wait. As a rule, the ranks of the Portland listings in February are a good deal thinner than will be the case a few months later.

Delaying isn’t necessarily the most convenient answer for every homeowner—which gives rise to questioning whether that particular piece of common sense is always as sensible as it seems. At least one writer thinks not.

Just over a year ago, Kenneth Harney authored an account describing some contrary evidence. Writing in The Washington Post, he reported on national sales results […]

The possibility that a Portland real estate bubble might be forming again is a subject that draws everybody’s attention. For all of us who went through the subprime mortgage mess and drop-off in Portland Metro area real estate prices, the possibility that the current ongoing rebound might be evidence of another price bubble is a matter of serious concern. For anyone who bought their home near the 2006 peak—then had to wait for a decade before its nominal market value returned—it was an unpleasant interlude. Even if any ‘loss’ was actually only a paper abstraction, “My nerves!” could have been rattled aplenty.

Whether you are a first-time homebuyer or someone who is plotting out the move to a next house, the main deciding factor will probably be simple necessity. First-timers will do the math and deduce that it’s simply too costly to continue renting. Existing homeowners will be motivated by the need for more living space (or less)—or see a financial path that makes possible […]