Posts filed under 'Communities'
It’s May, and I’m a little remiss in mentioning the April 2008 issue of Portland Monthly and their annual real estate issue.
This year, the issue seems a little lighter, but they report on the general market health, identify seven housing trends, rate a few top neighborhoods based on price (low and high), short-term and long-term appreciation, and pace of sales. The article concludes with their Neighborhoods by the Numbers section — measuring real estate factors, school performance, population mix, crime stats, parks, and commute times.
Trends they note:
- Fewer Californian immigrants
- Homes as personal brands
- The attraction of living in the suburbs/exurbs
- Opportunities in a soft condo market
- A growing, aging population in Portland
- Rising rents — 10 to 15%
- Remodeling ‘green’
Last year, they posted the ‘Neighborhoods by the Numbers’ section on their website, but I don’t find it yet this year.
Out of respect for their copyright, I won’t post a copy of the articles here, but since it’s off the newsstand, you can email me and I’ll send it along.
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May 8th, 2008
Auctions aren’t new around here, but on the heels of two high-profile auctions by Buena Vista Homes comes yet another large-scale sell-off of homes.
This time, it’s not by a single builder, but several builders, agents, and owners. On May 4, 2008, over 60 pre-owned homes and new construction will go on the auction block, in an event put on by The Taylor Group, a local real estate broker. They’ve created a website, www.properties2auction.com, designed for this auction, and as a platform ostensibly for more local (and not-so-local) auctions.
In the May 8 round, a mix of townhomes, general single family homes, and luxury properties for bid are located in Portland, Lake Oswego, Beaverton, Tigard, Gresham, Wilsonville, Vancouver WA, Sunriver, Bend, and on the coast. I saw a Street of Dreams home or two on the list. It appears several smaller builders are looking to clear the books of stale inventory, like Buena Vista did earlier.
Similar to the Buena Vista auctions, buyers will need a $5,000 cashier’s check for a bidder’s paddle, enough funds for a 3% earnest money on a winning bid, and a healthy stomach for risk to participate. Inspections and due diligence must happen prior to the auction, and each property offers several times for such inspection.
The live auction takes place at the Hilton Hotel at noon on May 8. Buyer and Seller agents can participate in this and future auctions. More information on the FAQ.
April 15th, 2008
I had an opportunity to talk with Dana Tims for today’s “Dealing With The Downturn” feature in the SW Weekly section of the Oregonian, which covers Tigard, Tualatin, and Sherwood.
Tims interviewed a homebuilder, supplier, remodeler, homeseller, and real estate agent to gauge how each sector is adapting to a slower housing market.
Here is the text, in case the link goes away:
Trying to adapt to the new housing market
A builder, a Realtor, a seller, a remodeler and a supplier discuss their strategies
Thursday, April 10, 2008
DANA TIMS
The Oregonian Staff
Until recently, a vibrant housing market provided many of the jobs and much of the income that stoked the southwest suburbs’ economy for the past half-decade.
Much has happened in the past year to erase the double-digit profits that home sellers were taking for granted.
The number of houses on the market, for instance, has increased almost sixfold since 2006, giving buyers the upper hand.
Houses are lingering on the market far longer than they did two or three years ago. The multiple offers and bidding wars common among prospective buyers as recently as 2005 have been replaced by sellers trimming asking prices 10 percent and more to keep buyers from shopping elsewhere.
Some areas are feeling the pinch more than others. Below are brief profiles of five people and their accompanying market sectors. Each is trying to find new strategies for coping with the downturn.
The Realtor
Ron Ares jumped from his job as marketing director for a high-tech company to a family-run real estate business in West Linn three years ago. That may as well have been a lifetime ago.
“Inventories were half of what they are now, full-price offers were commonplace and if buyers didn’t have all their ducks in a row, they were likely to miss out on houses that were selling the same day they came on the market,” said Ares, a Tigard resident who specializes in the southwest suburbs. “It was one open house, one advertisement and ‘Katie bar the door.’ ”
The market hit its peak, in terms of median sales prices and number of houses sold, last July or August, Ares said.
Ultimately, he expects that this year will see a considerable dip in closed sales when compared with 2007, but the drop will be less than the 35 percent chalked up so far this year.
Successful agents — that is, those not among the nearly 1,100 Portland-area Realtors who decided not to renew their licenses at the beginning of 2008 — need to pay close attention to the market and be willing to expand their skills sets, he said.
Some agents, for instance, are focusing on so-called short sales, where the balance owed on the mortgage is more than a house’s market value. The endeavor involves negotiating with lenders, who may be willing to settle for less to avoid foreclosing.
In Ares’ case, he is working only with longtime lenders who have endured down cycles before and know how to source solid loans.
“What I’m telling clients is, if you need to sell and don’t want to get stuck, look at what the peak pricing was and take 5 percent off the asking price,” Ares said. “Otherwise, they’ll just be chasing the market down.”
Read the full interview for how the other interviewees are coping with a slower real estate market.
April 10th, 2008
Many out-of-towners that contact me to talk about the Portland real estate market often ask about the ‘best neighborhoods’ — for resale values, for education, and most often for a general sense of community or livability.
These questions can create a slippery slope for a licensee (i.e. Realtor(R)). Due to Fair Housing laws (and good common sense) we can’t steer clients away from certain neighborhoods because of racial mix, or draw conclusions for a client based on crime rates, demographic profiles, etc.
It’s one reason why I appreciate the City of Portland biannual Resident Survey about issues of neighborhoods and livability. It can fill in blanks for some of the questions that I can’t ethically or legally speak about.
I talked about it a couple years ago, but now the 2007 Survey is available.
The survey measures Portlander’s livability views on city services, development, traffic, infrastructure, and government oversight. There’s plenty of detail — sorted by neighborhood or by survey question.
The survey doesn’t measure ‘vibe’, but for a quick overview, check out the general satisfaction scale for all Portland neighborhoods. As I noted a couple years ago, the dissatisfaction tends to rise as you head east, but you can draw your own conclusions.
March 21st, 2008
I’ve noted before that the Portland metro area real estate blogosphere has blossomed over the past couple years, adding fresh voices to the chorus of brokers and real estate professionals working throughout PDX and surrounding environs each month.
Well, I am pleased to highlight the launch of (yet) another local real estate blog, The Property Blotter.
PropertyBlotter will focus on the Lake Oswego real estate market, a community that is often targeted by relocation candidates and homeowners looking for a close-in Portland suburb with an abundance of natural beauty, good schools, and strong neighborhoods. (The Property Blotter title is a bit of an inside joke to LO residents–back in the day, the local newspaper’s police blotter used to be the highlight of the week for scandal-seeking neighbors.)
I am delighted to be joined in this venture by a couple Lake Oswego real estate specialists (and residents), Linda Trotta and Dianne Gregoire from our group at Advanced Real Estate Services.
They are champing at the bit to write up advice about navigating the Lake Oswego market, helpful neighborhood profiles, frequent market updates, and more. I’ll be supporting with technical advice, market analysis, and the occasional observation on the site.
Besides re:PDX, this is the third real estate blog I’m involved with…please don’t forget our West Linn site, move2westlinn.com co-authored by Jody McLeod, who also writes the pdxmojo.com blog.
For any real estate-related practitioners reading, we’ll all be at the PDX RE Meetup at the end of March. Come join us.
March 12th, 2008
Locals find it easy to remember the street progression in NW Portland’s Alphabet District (from south to north from Burnside):
Burnside, Couch, Davis, Everett, Flanders, Glisan, Hoyt, Irving, Johnson, Kearney, Lovejoy, Marshall, Northrup, Overton, Pettigrove, Quimby, Raleigh, Savier, Thurman, Upshur, Vaughn and (Wilson).
But what about downtown south of Burnside (the street that divides north and south PDX)? Less straightforward, but perhaps a mnemonic will help:
All Across Portland Our Streets Wind Around Mossy Yards. Traffic Snarls May Mean Jammed Cars, Cranky Motorists Making Minimal Headway. Harried Commuters Just Love Going Slow.
For (north to south from Burnside):
Ankeny, Ash, Pine, Oak, Stark, Washington, Alder, Morrison, Yamhill, Taylor, Salmon, Main, Madison, Jefferson, Columbia, Clay, Market, Mill, Montgomery, Harrison, Hall, College, Jackson, Lincoln, Grant, and Sherman
Courtesy of Samuel John Klein at The ZehnKatzen Times.
Who’s up for tackling a mnemonic for North, Northeast, and Southeast PDX?
February 5th, 2008
Ryan Frank at the Oregonian reports that Buena Vista Homes is planning another auction in the next month or so.
Any new takers this time?
More to come…
Technorati Tags: Portland, Oregon, real estate, homes, auction, Buena Vista
January 29th, 2008
…it’s not always grey and gloomy during Portland’s winters.
Mt. Hood, as seen from Happy Valley. Dedicated to Lila. Enjoy it while it is here!
Technorati Tags: Mt. Hood, Portland, Oregon, Happy Valley, blue, skies, winter, weather
January 21st, 2008
on Portland’s largest public real estate auction in recent history.
Buena Vista Homes apparently found 141 buyers for their speculatively built home inventory–for a total haul of $65 million. It left about 100 homes untouched, including all 29 homes in Bend. Nearly 2,000 attendees poked their head in at some point at the Convention Center.
Homes in Hillsboro and Beaverton apparently sold well (that’s where the jobs are…). Broker Michelle Berry estimated that Buena Vista took in $900,000 in non-refundable earnest money.
Ryan Frank of the Oregonian provided the most comprehensive coverage
141 homes sell for a total of $65 million at real estate auction | Saturday Coverage | Front Porch Coverage
Additional commentary at Portland Housing Blog and Adam Lake’s Deeper blog.
What now for the unsold inventory? My guess, Buena Vista’s sales staff starts cold-calling all the non-winning bidders and registered attendees. Bidder beware! 
Technorati Tags: Portland, Oregon, real estate, auction, Buena Vista, homes, houses
Photo by Joe Gratz, used under Creative Commons license.
December 17th, 2007
I admit I am something of a Google Maps fanboy.
Starting with their user-friendly search interface, Google mapmeisters have continued to innovate with features like drag-and-drop multi-stop directions, traffic density views, user-generated maps, and most recently, the Street View. Good stuff for real estate-related information gathering.
Now, they’ve added a new layer–Terrain, which provides topographic information for the map you’re viewing. Just like using the satellite view or traffic views, just type in the address want, then click the “Terrain” button in the upper righthand corner.
It isn’t particularly detailed and you can’t zoom in as far as other views, but it does give a quick peek at whether that listing you’re researching is in a canyon, on top of a ridge, or in the flats.
Close-up of West Hills
For an out-of-town buyer or someone unfamiliar with Portland-area topography, it’s very useful information, especially if the Street View is not available at that location.
Technorati Tags: Portland, Oregon, real estate, Google, maps, topography, terrain, search
November 29th, 2007
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