SellPDX.com

I have added the top picks for Old-PDX homes on the Market.

Also: This Wednesday I’m attending a lunch presentation by the State of Oregon Economist Tom Potiowsky, Ph.D.

Stay tuned for an update after the presentation.

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My years long obsession with Old PDX homes finally has a home! I have been working for the last few months to put together a great website devoted to this wonderful and much loved style of home. Many thanks to Yvonne Legrice and Eugene Design Pro for helping make this dream a reality.

OldPDX.com

I will shortly be adding a section on Available homes that will be updated regularly.

Also soon to be added is a section interviewing architects, home restoration experts, and historians about what makes the Old PDX style home unique and special.

If you have a favorite Old PDX home send me a photo and I’ll add it to the tour of my favorites.

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Spring 2008 Portland Report is now available. We’ll be throwing a party soon to celebrate so stay tuned

Spring 2008 Portland Report

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So I thought I’d share my excitement about buying a new home on SE Clinton. I just finished inspections and will be picking a loan program this week. I was reminded of what a big deal it is to buy a house. I was nervous writing the offer, The home is in great shape but it was built in 1905 so I was happy when I got the thumbs up with my inspector. Now I get to wait while we do the appraisal and start packing up my stuff for the move.

It’s such an exciting process and it’s such a great time to buy. You should buy a home too!

Popularity: 23% [?]

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Tax time is right around the corner and you know what that means… Time to file that first extension! [Extension Form]

I also wanted to give you a heads up on a few things in relation to taxes and your home or investment property - Owning a home gives you access to all kinds of great deductions, deferrals, and exemptions. Please see a CPA to learn how these concepts apply to your situation as I am not giving any tax advice in this article.

The first big deduction is your home mortgage interest deduction - this is one of the big reasons given to own over renting. Also, recently they made a change and MI (Mortgage Insurance) is sometime deductable as well. [Home Mortgage Interest Deduction Form]

One of my favorites is depreciation of investment property, this means you get to tell the government that you are losing money due to a building getting older when in most cases its actually getting more valuable. This one can be particularly tricky and if you’re have trouble sleeping you can read all about it here: [Depreciation Info]

Probably the biggest tax break you will ever get is the exemption of capital gains on the sale of your primary residence. Basically, if you lived in your home for 2 of the last five years you get off the hook for capital gains up to $250k if single or $500k if married. Learn more in 36 riveting pages: [Selling Your Home Tax Info]

And last but not least are tax deffered exchanges of business and investment property know as a 1031 exchange. This allows you to sell an investment property and then put all the money and debt (or more) into another like-kind property (real estate in the USA used for investment or buisness) and defer the capital gains until a later date. Interesting factoid: the 1031, also know as a Starker Exchange was changed from a simultaneous event to one in which you have time to find replacement property by an Oregonian named TJ Starker[IRS Section 1031]

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Many people have been calling this for a while now but it became official on March 28th, 2008 that PMI [Private Mortgage Insurance] on Zero percent down loans is now gone. So what does this mean?…. It means that the days of buying a house with no cash at all are gone… at least for the time being. Coming up to fill the void is FHA loans which have become less restrictive and allow a purchase with just 3% down. You can learn more about FHA loans Here. PMI is generally required on loans with less than 20% down.

Click here to see James Adair’s commentary on the same subject.

In other news, this week has seen a big increase in buyers getting out there and buying; for two reasons: seasonal increases due to Spring and also buyers trying to make it under the wire with 0% down loans. This will be taking alot of inventory off the market in April and bodes well for a strong Summer to come.

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I was interviewed by a cool new website called www.portlandonfire.com that profiles one Portlander every day.

See the interview here

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If you’ve met me in person I’ve likely told you the story about my first sale ever in real estate. With my license freshly in hand I went out and bought a home for myself as my first transaction. I remember how excited and scared I was in making the offer, negotiating, and signing the papers to close the deal. I remember waking up a couple days after moving in and how elated I was to own my own home!

Last week I refi’d to take advantage of the low rates and was reminded of what it’s like to go through a transaction personally. I had questions about different charges, I was nervous about the appraisal, I wanted to know when the money would show up and when the credits for pre-paids would come back to me.

I think that buying my home first made me more aware of the excitement and fears all buyers have when they are buying a home. Recently, going through a refi I was able to experience first hand again all the excitement of making money by owning property but also the fear that something might go wrong.

So if you’re thinking of buying or selling you know that I’m aware of how you’re feeling and I’m here to make the process go as smoothly as possible.

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News broke this past Friday that inventory had skyrocketed to 12.8 month in the Portland Metro area, the highest level since 2000. For the previous 4 months we’ve been hanging in around 8 months which is just on the buyers side but not too much. The tipping point is considered to be 6 months.

Like many other people this new inventory report was a bit shocking to me. So I ran my own numbers based on detached homes in close in neighborhoods. I looked at inventories based on the last 6 months of sales and here are the results:

Detached homes:
97202 = 2.5 months
97214 = 3.6 months
97212 = 4.8 months
97232 = 3.5 months
97210 = 5.3 months
97209 = 12 months
97203 = 4.75 months
97201 = 8.4 months
97227 = 7.6 months
97217 = 3.6 months

Condos:
97202 = 14 months
97214 = 9 months
97212 = 11 months
97232 = 7.5 months
97210 = 10.5 months
97209 = 9.6 months
97203 = 14 months

So the news as I see it is that if you own a home close in then you are largely unaffected by the metro statistics. My only concern is that people will see the overall market conditions and mis-interpret those numbers. There are categories of properties and areas with the majority of the inventory that are skewing the numbers. Close in = OK. The big exception is condos as you can see by the higher inventory. If you’re thinking of buying a condo now is a great time to be a buyer.

Non-Conforming loan limits: You might have heard about the change in “jumbo” Loans - until last week it was any loan over $417,000. Some areas with high median prices benefitted from the change but Portland with a median price of $280,000 is too low to see any change. This would have helped buyers and sellers in the higher price ranges but no change for us in Portland.

For everyone who get’s my quarterly newsletter and gift you have already heard the good news that I am now a Principal Broker! I have also hired a full time assistant so if you hear from Yvonne LeGrice welcome her to my team!

With all the changes going on it’s a great time to buy - give me a call sometime - 503.901.8100.

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Well - In a word, YES.

We have had a resoundingly crummy week here in Portland and it has definitely affected the number of people that are getting out there and looking at houses. We’ve also had a very small amount of new listings hit the market in December which means there really isn’t much class A inventory to look at right now. If you have a unique or nice close-in home you’d likely be pleasantly surprised by the speed of the market for good homes right now.

So back to the issue of what you can do about the weather:

1. LIGHT: In the winter it’s dark - add as much light as possible to your home. You can paint dark rooms with brighter and warmer colors. I recently installed new lights in my kitchen and it made a HUGE difference in the feel of the room at a very low cost. If your home is vacant make sure there are lights on timers for agents bringing people by after work in the dark.

2. WARMTH: Leave the heat on! It is a very good feeling to come in out of the cold… not out of the cold into a different cold. People will not spend time or think favorably about a cold house.

3. DOORMATS: I do not like having to take off my shoes to show a house. I recommend doormats at all outside doors both inside and outside. People are generally very considerate so don’t make them wear those little blue bootie things.

A couple little changes can make a big difference and that will help you sell your home faster. Now, come on everyone with very nice houses in close-in PDX - people want to buy your home but you have to get on the market first!

Popularity: 23% [?]

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