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Tacos

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May 5th is Cinco De Mayo so naturally I am going to focus on Tacos! 

I love mexican food, more than any other style of food, I would happily eat it everyday! I especially like tacos, they are so simple, but so delicious. This was an incredibly difficult topic for me to research *wink wink* but now you can enjoy the fruits of my labor! 

There are 5 taco places that really stand out to me, of course there are many many more, but I can vouch for all of these. In no particular order, here are the places you should definitely check out this week! 

  • Xico – 3715 SE Division – They have an awesome back patio, amazing margaritas, and fantastic food, everything on the menu is worth eating and while they don’t always strictly have tacos on the menu, the carnitas is a build your own taco plate and to die for! 
  • Taqueria Nueve – 727 SE Washington – They also have an amazing patio and so many taco choices you will need to try them all! They really focus on keeping things authentic and it shows! 
  • Nuestra Cocina – 2135 SE division – really cute restaurant that is a Portland staple. They have homemade tortillas instead of chips and really incredible sangria. They don’t always have tacos on the list either, but many of the entree’s come with tortillas to build your own tacos! 
  • Mi Mero Mole – 32 NW 5th – this Mexico City inspired eatery has tons of choices for your tacos. They focus on guisados, which are home style dishes like stews and stir-frys. Put that all together and you get some amazing food! 
  • Portland Mercado – 7238 SE Foster – This list wouldn’t be complete without the Mercado. There are so many delicious carts here, by Tierra del Sol wins for their tacos. Lots of choices, simple and delicious, and affordable! You truly cannot go wrong. 

Let me know which places you end up trying and which ones are your favorite!! 

Portland Market Action – February 2019

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It’s statistics time! February’s stats came in right where I expected them to. We saw a slight softening in median home price, slightly less homes come onto the market, and slightly less inventory. This is all very typical for the end of winter here in Portland. Here is a quick glance at what the market is doing. Keep reading if you want a more in depth take!

The first thing you likely see on my graphic is that the median sales price is down nearly $15,000 in one month. That may seem like prices are tanking, but the average sales price actually went up by just over $6,000. There is such a difference in these prices because of what is happening in the lower price ranges. There were quite a few “fixers” listed in February that are really dragging the median price down. If you look at the homes that are selling throughout the Portland area, it is hard to find anything under $400,000.

The days on market dropped by only 1 day. 75 days seems like a long time to be sitting on the market, but if you are in a “hot” neighborhood and the home is move in ready under $500,000 or so, the homes are still going pending in a matter of days. Pricing is still really important in this market because buyers are well educated on the market and know when something is priced well.

March has been off to a super strong start and I expect that the average sales price will go up, inventory will go down, and we will see a ton of new listings. Subscribe to the blog to stay up to date with all the latests stats and for fun things to do around town!

January Market Update

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The January market stats are in! Everyone knows I am not much of a statistics girl, but I love these ones. They come in halfway through the next month so it allows me to reflect on whether the trends I was feeling were taking place across the metro area, or just in localized neighborhoods. For January, my market predictions were pretty accurate! The simplified version for those of you not wanting to read on: There are lots more listings, prices are still normalizing, and the market is still leaning toward a seller’s market.

For everyone wanting to get a bit more in-depth, here is my breakdown: We saw the median home price drop just slightly from December, which is something we expect after the holiday season. Almost every year between October and January we see prices fall. Seasonality effects even the strongest markets and this is certainly not a sign that the market is crashing. Despite this slight drop, we had a huge surge of new listings come on the market, more than double what we had in December. There are likely many reasons for this big push but my guess for the biggest reason is that sellers are scared. The media has been stating over and over that we are in for a crash, another recession is imminent, and housing is doomed!! Well, the good news is that nothing that drastic is going to happen. If you have been a buyer, or known a buyer in the last 3-4 years, you know that everyone has been hoping the market would slow down, pricing would stop skyrocketing, and that multiple offers would be a thing of the past. The good news is we all got what we hoped for! I find the best analogy for this is that the market is slowing like a car, we were going 100 miles an hour and now we are going 60. We are still moving forward, just not accelerating. The bad news is, we are on our way into the spring market, and things are going to pick up quickly again.

The average days on market is the most surprising number for me. 76 seems like an exceptionally long time for something to sit on the market, especially when we are seeing so many homes sell on the 3rd day. Truthfully, this number should be much lower, it is skewed primarily by homes that are overpriced with sellers who aren’t willing to negotiate. I’m looking at you, home that needs to be torn down but is listed over 600k! If a home is priced well, “pinterest perfect,” and in a neighborhood close in on the east side, expect it to be pending by the end of its first weekend with multiple offers.

I anticipate we will be in a seller’s market through the rest of our busy season and then we will see the market slow through the end of the year. We may even have a bit of time where we shift into a buyer’s market right around the end of summer. If you are thinking of buying, I would still recommend doing it now. Interest rates are low, but expected to climb, and they affect your affordability more than a slight increase in home prices. If you have questions about affordability, talk to your lender, they have lots of info and stats for you!