Posts filed under 'Diversions'
A random collection of recent real estate news notes, articles, and updates:
Bad MLS Photo of the Day
A jaw-droppingly horrifying, actual MLS photo found on a listing in Southern California. You just have to see it.
Sell your house by owner, by auction, or…by writing contest
A $1.25M Florida plantation to be given to the winner of a writing contest. For a $200 entry fee. Oh, and just 6,250 entries needed. (Found by AgentGenius)
Why Did the Mortgage Crisis Happen?
Local economist and writer Bill Conerly starts a 5-part series at his Businomics blog. Interesting reading and brief, so not too overwhelming. His topics:
- The Great Moderation and the benign housing cycle of the 2001 recession, which made real estate appear to be safe
- Securitization, which changed the funders from lenders to investors, while making the products too complex for most anyone to understand.
- With these two factors in place, the mortgage crisis evolved from the last recession.
- What to expect next time round.
He’s a little more bullish on forecasts than many, as written here and here.
CNN/Money highlights real estate slowing in Portland and other ‘bulletproof’ cities
Seattle, Charlotte are not immune, either
The Party’s Over
So says a sobering report by the Oregon Business Magazine.
Finally,
Phone book deliveries must cease
I say AMEN, brother! One copy per year, ok, but does anyone else think eight phone books a year is a waste?
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May 9th, 2008
I’m all for using evocative copy to creatively promote listings, but please, if I ever pull something like this…have my license revoked:
[Actual listing somewhere in California, click on the image for the full impact.]
Complete plagiarism on my part. Credit to Jay Thompson, the Phoenix Real Estate Guy and contributor to AgentGenius. I couldn’t help myself.
April 28th, 2008
Some of the Portland real estate blogging community met Friday night for a little chat, note sharing, and some brewskis. Nice people, nice time. Thanks to Joel Burslem for organizing and all of you that attended.
Here’s an (incomplete) list of attendees. I know I didn’t get to meet everyone, so please forgive me if I overlooked you 
Jeff Bernheisel, Western Title, www.titlerep.info
Chris Ramos, LandAmerica
Joshua Klein, Mobile Marketing, www.thirdscreenusa.com
Matt Firman, Plug My Listing, www.plugmylisting.com
Ben Ficker, Keller Williams, www.portlandspearldistrict.com
Bob Broad, Keller Williams, www.portlandrealestatecafe.com
Dianne Gregoire, Advanced Real Estate Services, www.propertyblotter.com
Joe Gregoire, JW Gregoire Contracting, a budding blogger!
Rick Vazquez, AXIA Financial
Betty Jung, RE/Max, www.bettyjung.com
Tony & Libby Kelly, Keller Williams, tonyandlibby.blogspot.com
Adam DuVander, Sperling’s Best Places, www.bestplaces.net
Nick Bostic, Chicago Title, www.retechcoach.com
Linda Trotta, Advanced Real Estate Services, www.propertyblotter.com
Nick Krautter, Keller Williams, www.sellpdx.com
Ron Ares, Advanced Real Estate Services, www.repdx.com
Joel Burslem, Inman News, www.futureofrealestatemarketing.com
A few notable absences: PDX RE blogging pioneers Charles & Jenny Turner (on vacation), plus Jeff Kempe and some of the bubble blogger crowd. I was looking forward to the Cage Match. Oh well, maybe next time.
A few pics from the evening:
Larger slideshow here.
March 29th, 2008
Long overdue, the burgeoning Portland (and Vancouver, WA) real estate (RE) blogging community will have an opportunity to meet face-to-face, trade war stories, share best practices, and…tip a few back.
The venerable Joel Burslem, of Future of Real Estate Marketing fame (and Social Media Manager for Inman News) kicked off the meetup announcement yesterday. Already a dozen have committed, and rumors are that some of our Seattle blogging brethren may attend, too.
Date: Friday March 28, 2008
Time: 6:00 pm
Place: TBD (likely a PDX pub of some sort)
When re:PDX kicked off in October 2005, Portland had but 3 real estate bloggers. Now, my feedreader contains nearly 60 (here’s a partial list).
For those in mortgage origination, title and escrow, and real estate sales, you might take the opportunity to pick the brains of some of Portland’s pioneering RE bloggers if you have an interest in this type of social media.
Sign up here. Hope to see you there!
Technorati Tags: Joel Burslem, blog, real estate, Portland, Oregon, meetup, meeting, blogger
February 27th, 2008
A handful of real estate-related (or not) links affecting the Portland market (or not):
Congress Passes Economic Stimulus Package
The President is expected to sign it quickly. Besides tax rebates, the plan also includes higher conforming (i.e. government-insured) loan rates of up to 125% of the area’s median home price. (Current conforming loans are limited to $417,000.)
It’s unknown how much, if any, impact this will have on the local real estate market. Larry Morris of EquiPoint weighs in with his analysis. Perhaps it will have more impact on California buyers, and therefore, free up some California sellers looking to move to Oregon (a traditional source of local real estate activity).
Wall St. Journal covers Portland Teardown
Did you know a Wall Street Journal contributor is writing an ongoing diary of her effort to tear down and build a new home inside the Portland city limits? (I didn’t.) Here’s the latest entry.
Buena Vista Auction - Part Deux
Some of the leftovers from the 1st Buena Vista auction, plus some buildable lots, are going under the gavel again March 8.
Round House
Very cool house in NY, but I would have liked some coverage about the mechanicals that turn the house, and not a shot of the urinal. (Courtesy of the Zillow Blog.)
And, now for something really different…
Frozen in Time
What happens if over 200 people suddenly and instantly freeze in place in the middle of Grand Central Station?
From the same people that brought you the No Pants Subway Ride of 2008.
Technorati Tags: economy, stimulus, real estate, round, house, Portland, Oregon
February 8th, 2008
After launching their inaugural, eye-catching print issue recently, Portland’s newest home magazine, Portland Spaces has also hit the online space with some real intent.
The Portland Spaces site includes some DIY features, a resource guide (aka advertisers), an interesting historical retrospective of the PDX single-family home, plus not one, but two active blogs:
The Design District and Burnside Blog
I am interested to see how much activity and content will go into the online Spaces in support of the print edition over time.
See more at http://www.portlandspaces.net/.
February 6th, 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
…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
Caution: Santa doesn’t take kindly to contemporary architectural style. Bad news for many kids living in such homes in places like West Linn, Lake Oswego, Tualatin, etc.
Have a great Christmas everyone. We’ll be back after the holiday to tackle 2008.
Technorati Tags: humor, Christmas, Santa, card, contemporary, modern, architecture, reindeer, roof
December 21st, 2007
Drew Meyers, Zillow’s Community Relations Specialist over at Geek Estate Blog, a blog devoted to real estate technology, stumbles upon a humorous, visual index of Geeks.
Scott Johnson has compiled his “56 Geeks” poster at flickr.com, (which, by the way, is where I host my ‘virtual tours’):
As Drew asks, “What kind of geek are you?”
My additions to Scott’s poster would be indie band Geek, Blog Geek (obviously), DIY Geek, and Housing Bubble Geek 
If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to charge my Mac laptop and Palm smartphone batteries for my son’s all-day Lego Robotics tournament tomorrow at Intel.
More about 56 Geeks here.
Technorati Tags: geek, Flickr
December 15th, 2007
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