That Portland Life

Portland Lifestyle and Real Estate

Contact Us!

Real Estate

The cost of Instant offers

by Leave a Comment

So you want an instant offer? No doubt you have heard about open door at this point, but Zillow and Amazon also have programs that allow you as a home seller to get an offer without any showings or contingencies. Check out the full video for all the details!

It is terribly convenient to just sell your home to an internet company. As they say on their commercials, there are no showings, no contingencies, and you get to look over the pricing details before you make a decision. If this all sounds too good to be true, it’s because it usually is.

These companies are in the market of buying homes to make a profit when they re-sell them. This means you are selling your home for less than you would get if you listed it with a realtor almost every time. They want to pay wholesale for your home, do a couple repairs, which likely means paint, and then they re-list it at the price it was worth in the first place.

Zillow

We have a great example of this. this offer below was presented to the client of an associate of mine. He needed to sell quickly but also wanted to be sure he was getting what his home was worth. He called his realtor to discuss what his opinion was and they needed up selling the home after 3 days on the market, for 6% commission at $550,000.

Had the seller chosen to go with this Zillow offer he would have left more than $100,000 on the table. Most the examples that we see aren’t this extreme, but in almost every case the seller could have received thousands more dollars if they had listed with a Realtor.

This model will of course work for some people, if you need to just sell and timing is more important than price, this is a great option. Just make sure you discuss everything in detail with a Realtor so you know all of your options.

Open Door

Another issue we see with Open Door specifically is the way they send over offers can be very misleading. They don’t charge a real estate commission but they do charge a 7% service fee (also known as a commission). They also over-estimate the time on market and time for closing, and lastly, they assume you will be paying 3.5% in seller concessions. You may have to pay some concessions for a buyer but this is rare, negotiable, and should not be thought of as a guarantee.

For this example the seller should have $18,000 more selling through a Realtor, but we don’t know what the home is actually worth either so they could have received even more. Again, it is very important to talk to a realtor about your home before you make any decisions.

If you have specific questions about your home and what it is worth, please reach out to us directly. Or if you want an instant valuation click here. You can also see our other real estate videos over on Youtube. Or our other posts HERE

We will talk to you again soon!

2019 Street of Dreams

by Leave a Comment

Every year we visit the stunning homes designed by the top builders in the Portland area. This year the homes featured are in Wilsonville and we loved looking at them. Check out the video below to see some of our favorite highlights!

Are you planning on heading to the show this year? We would love to know what you thought and which home was your favorite! Please enjoy!

Market Update June 2019

by Leave a Comment

Our stats are here! The Portland market is still performing incredibly well and is slowing significantly less than we anticipated and actually picking up speed in some areas. I you want the full breakdown, read below!

The Portland market stayed strong through June as we continue into Summer time. Last month we mentioned that June is frequently the time that most people list their homes for sale, and while we saw some great numbers, we actually had fewer homes listed in June that we did in May. The interesting thing is that we saw many more homes go pending than they have in precious months. This means that more people are out shopping than before. If you have been house hunting, you have likely noticed this first hand. We have been experiencing multiple offers on almost all the homes we have been in to see. This also means that average days on market dropped. With more people out hunting, homes are not lasting as long before they go pending.

The average sales price went up in June while the median sales price did not change. The disparity in these changes comes from the fact that we have a denser pricing pool. There have been fewer very low or very high priced homes to affect the median, but home prices are climbing.

All in all, things in Portland are going well and we expect these trends to continue for at least the next couple of months.

If you are thinking of selling or buying, don’t hesitate to reach out and we can discuss how these stats will affect our strategies in the current market!

Seller Property Disclosures

by Leave a Comment

What are they and are they important? Check out this quick video we did explaining everything you need to know about these disclosures! Don’t want to see the video? Jump below to read all about them.

First let’s start with what property disclosures are. The disclosures are a couple of pages with the information that the seller knows about the house. They have very basic things, like the type of heating in the home, down to common issues, like whether the roof has leaked. Typically you receive them in the first couple days after an offer has been accepted so you can get an idea of what to look for during an inspection.

While we want to trust whomever is filling the disclosures out, we still want to do our own due diligence on the property because people never know everything about their homes. You would be surprised how few people don’t realize they have a burgeoning pest or moisture problem. the disclosures should really just be thought about as additional information in your arsenal as you decide whether to move forward with your purchase or not.

Now, are they important? the short answer is , of course! You want to have as much information about the home as possible before you make the purchase. They should never replace having a full home inspection, but you will still get some valuable information out of them. If you come across something that is troubling in the disclosures we can ask for some clarifications, or we can walk away from the property without risking your earnest money.

Every home will be unique and if you have questions about a specific home, we would love to help!

CMA vs. Zestimate

by Leave a Comment

Watch below to learn about the differences and what might be the best fit for you! If you don’t want to see the video, read below for a breakdown. Enjoy!

When you want to know what your home is worth there are a couple different options for you. You can reach out to your favorite realtor and ask them to send you a comparative market analysis also known as a CMA. Or you can use a instant home value finder like the one on Zillow called a zestimate. We will break these both down for you.

The simplest thing to do is log in to a website and enter your address for a computer generated home value. The upside of this method is that you get the information almost instantly and its very easy to input the basic criteria. These systems use a general radius from your home instead of taking into account the rapidly changing neighborhoods that we know and love here in Portland. It also doesn’t consider any upgrades you may have done or whether your home is nicer than your neighbors, it just averages all the figures across a broad range.

The better option is to reach out to your realtor and have them run the numbers for you. We know the neighborhoods, what you have done to your home and what value those projects bring to your property and we can get laser focused on the recently sold homes to give you a much more accurate number of what your home will sell for in the current market. While the most accurate way to do this would be to walk through your home with you, we can still get you a better number with just a phone call.

No matter what choice you decide to make, we will be here to help you when you decide to sell!

Market Update May 2019

by Leave a Comment

May Stats are finally out and we can look back on the past month to reflect on how healthy the Portland market is. The short answer is that we are still in a strong market and homes are still increasing in value! If you want to read about the full breakdown, continue below.

The Portland market continued to pick up through May as we head into Summer time. Historically people believe June is the best month to list their home so we should see even stronger numbers coming out next month, but we had 700 more homes listed in May than we did in April. We also had more homes close and go pending than in April so we are maintaining a healthy balance. Average days on market dropped slightly which is likely due to the home : buyer ratio dropping slightly as well as homes being priced more accurately. We are still seeing homes under the $500,000 range frequently sell in only a few days and often with multiple offers, so be sure to consult your realtor before touring homes or writing an offer.

The average and median sales prices both went up in May, showing a continued appreciation of home values in the area. Many people are reporting that the market is slowing drastically and some people are even calling it a crash. Rest assured that homes that are priced within their market range are selling and still appreciating. We are seeing closer to 5-6% over the year as opposed to the 12-15% we have seen the past couple years. This is good for everyone, we needed the market to slow and stabilize to keep us out of a bubble and that is exactly what is happening.

If you are thinking of selling or buying, don’t hesitate to reach out and we can discuss how these stats will affect our strategies in the current market!

How to Sell and Buy at the Same Time

by Leave a Comment

Many people need to sell their existing home before they are able to buy the one they want next, but how is it done?? I’ll run you through three ways we can make this happen (without you having to move twice) in the video below.

No time for the full video? No problem. Read on below!

1 – Write a Contingent Offer

If you find your dream home before your home sells, we can write a contingent offer on it. This means that your offer is contingent upon the sale of your existing home. However, contingent offers aren’t as strong as non-contingent offers, so if we are competing, the likelihood of the contingent offer being accepted is much less.

2 – Ask for Rentback

If you want to accept an offer and then find your perfect house, you can ask the potential buyers of your home for rentback. In this situation, you continue through the sale and then the new owners ‘rent it back’ to you for a specified period of time. This frees up your finances and gives you some extra time to find that perfect spot.

3 – ‘Subject to Finding a Suitable Property’

In this method, we would accept an offer with a contract clause that states that the offer is being accepted only if/when you find your new home. This one gives you as the seller the most flexibility, but is the most daunting option for the buyer, as they have no guarantee of your motivation to find something new.

As always, if you would like to chat about any of these options in more detail, we would be happy to sit down with you!

HOW TO – 3 tips to sell for more than your neighbor.

by Leave a Comment

Everyone wants to sell their home for the most amount of money. I’ll go through my top 3 tips to get your home sold for more money than your neighbors.

If you don’t have time to watch this great video, feel free to read below for all my tips!

1 – Spruce up the exterior

Nothings sells a house faster than having a ton of curb appeal. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to make a really big impact. The simplest steps are to keep the lawn mowed, bushes trimmed, and exterior paint touched up. I would also buy some fresh potted flowers to sit on the front steps, they really help to welcome prospective buyers as they walk into your home.

2 – Choosing paint colors

Paint colors effect the value of a home more than you might think. You want to be sure that you are appealing to as many buyers as possible, so you want to stick with neutral tones and a cohesive theme throughout the home. Zillow did an interesting study on how colors effect a home’s value and found that a black door can raise a home’s value by 2.9%! Grey has been the popular color lately, specifically when it has blue undertone. If you don’t want to repaint every room in the house, the bathroom and living room will get you the biggest bang for your buck.

3 – Keep up the cosmetics

Buyers want to be able to move right into a home, especially if they are paying top price for it. If the carpet is old and dingy, it should at the minimum be cleaned, but consider replacing it, or trading it our for hardwoods. Also consider staging, or having a staging consultation. If you have old or worn furniture, it won’t show well. If it’s in your budget you could consider buying new furniture and taking it with you! Research by the National Association of Realtors shows that a staged home sells for 5-20% more than a vacant home depending on the price range.

Bonus – Marketing

They way you market your home matters more than anything else, 98% of home buyers find their home online. simply entering the home into the local MLS is not enough. Make sure you are hiring someone who understands the power of social media and will work with marketing trends to get the most buyers looking at your listing. Interested in what we offer to sellers? Click below to download our FREE seller’s guide!

Buying/Selling Guide

I hope you enjoyed these tips! Please reach out if you have any specific questions about selling your home. We would be happy to discuss how we can get you the most money for your home! Want to know what your home is worth? Click for a 15 second home valuation! — > See Home Value