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Favorite camping spots

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With Labor Day this weekend and summer wrapping up, we thought it was the perfect time to introduce you to some of our favorite camping spots! While there are places very near Portland that you can camp, some of the most beautiful ones are just a short drive away. It’s always nice to get out of the city!

Lost Lake

A beautiful lake in the Mt. Hood National Forest, here you have access to hiking, biking, fishing, and canoe or kayak rentals.

Silver Falls State Park

This is the largest state park in Oregon and is home to the famous trail of 10 falls. There is hiking, biking, and horseback riding allowed on the 35 miles of trails that run throughout the park.

Crater Lake

No list would be complete without the iconic Crater Lake. There are 2 campgrounds and both are only open during the summer. There are various hiking trails around the Caldera and beautiful vistas everywhere.

Sparks Lake

This shallow lake in the Deschutes National Forest is a great place for hiking, stargazing, and trout fishing. You can see Broken Top and the Sisters from the lake and campground.

Bonus!

Free camping sites in Oregon

Crane Prairie Campground

This lake is great for birdwatching, hiking, fishing, swimming and boating. Because it connects to the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway you can boat between multiple lakes in the area.

Green Mountain campsite

This is great for the camper wanting to get away from it all, accessible only by rough access roads, the hike is worth the views. You can hike among the lava tubes and enjoy the volcanic scenery of the area.

Upper Lake Creek Campground

This campground is great for water activities like swimming, kayaking, canoeing, and warm water fishing. If you want to hike, there are many forest roads that are accessible by foot or horseback.

Cape Arago State Park

This offers some of the best camping on the beach. There are many trails that you can hike to take you to sandy beaches for whale watching or tide pool exploring.

We hope that you enjoy camping! Let us know about your experiences or if we missed your favorite spot.

July Market Stats

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The statistics for the last month are finally out and we can break down the numbers. As anticipated the market is leveling out throughout the Portland metro. We are still seeing multiple offers in certain markets, but for the most part things are selling for about asking price after sitting on the market for a week or more. If you want the full break down, read below!

We saw slightly less homes come onto the market in July, but this is not surprising as most people believe June is the best month to sell their home. The number of homes to go pending, and the number of homes sold is about the same as last month. This caused our months of inventory to dip slightly because there are still so many buyers in the market.

The average and median sales prices both dropped slightly in July over June, this is likely because Portland as a whole saw things selling closer to list price than it did in the heat of the spring. As we continue to come into a normalizing market we should expect these numbers to continue to drop slightly. This doesn’t mean that homes are losing value, it simply means things are selling closer to what they are truly worth vs. the bidding wars we have seen.

Southeast continues to dominate as the area with the most closings, in part because of its popular neighborhoods and it’s size compared to the other Portland quadrants.

Interest rates are what are primarily driving buyers at the moment, so even though the market may continue to soften, now is actually the best time to buy. Having an interest rate under 4% as opposed to last years interest rate of 4.65% can save you over $200 a month in your payment.

If you are thinking of buying, we would love to talk you though how these numbers specifically can affect you. If you think you might want to sell, we would love to come chat with you! If you want an instant home evaluation you can click here!

Talk to you again soon.

Han Oak

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For our Hot Spot this week we ventured out to Han Oak. This Korean restaurant is known for it’s very reasonable chef’s menu, only $59 a person, their fabulous dumplings, and the laid back atmosphere. The restaurant is small, but in the summer they open up the beautiful courtyard and add site a few tables. Most of them are communal so you can even make some new friends!

We started the evening out with some cocktails, all of which have some Korean inspired ingredients. They even have slushy cocktails in the summer months to help you beat the heat. I had the Tamagotchi collins, a gin and ginger drink with a bit of club soda, while our friends tried a coconut, banana, rum slushy, and the Korean goodbye, a rye whiskey drink with black walnut foam. They were refreshing and the perfect start to our meal!

We had to try the tasting menu to be certain that we tried all the best things on the menu. They likely rotate what is offered, but we started with all of the “banchan”, or small sides, on the menu. Kimchi, blistered beans, smashed cucumbers and a corn salad that really reminded me of elotés. The corn and the kimchi were the stars of this course, though everything was incredibly flavorful.

Next up we moved onto the “share” course. We tried the Korean chicken wings, which were perfectly crispy and incredibly juicy, and the Octopus Waffle. This sounds like a crazy concoction, which according the chef’s wife started out terribly, but the flavors all meld together so well you can’t help but want to eat more.

Next up for us were some of the famous dumplings, which deserve all the accolades they have received, and the pork bo ssam, which is a pork belly dish that allows you to make your own rice paper wraps.

We finished our meal out with Kimcheladas, a Korean take on the michelada with kimchi juice, and some dessert. All in all we had a fantastic experience and can’t wait to go back!

Is there somewhere that you want us to go and check out? Let us know in the comments!

Rum Cocktails

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Today is National Rum Day! Who want’s to celebrate?? If you said yes and you live in Portland, you are in luck. We have a multitude of fantastic rum-focused bars all across the city for your sipping pleasure.

  • Rum Club 720 SE Sandy Blvd The name says it all. They have rums from all over the world and use them in a variety of ways in their many delicious cocktails. Happy hour 4-6 daily.
  • Hale Pele 2733 NE Broadway If tiki cocktails are more your style, and you possibly want them on fire, stop by this spot that will instantly transport you to island life. Bring friends to share a Volcano Bowl.
  • Acadia Bistro 1303 NE Fremont Sometimes you need just one perfect drink to make the list, and Acadia’s rendition of the classic New Orleans Hurricane is it. A blend of three rums and passion fruit puree, it goes down a little too easily for it’s strength.
  • The Alibi 4024 N Interstate Ave Who doesn’t want to croon along to some yacht rock while downing a few daquiris? Karaoke daily and a serious span of happy hours are hallmarks of this long-standing North Portland spot.
  • Eem 3808 N Williams Ave This too-hot-to-touch BBQ and Thai fusion restaurant just started serving brunch/lunch everyday, so you can get your boozy slushy craving satisfied whenever it may strike.

Did we miss your favorite place to sip some rum? Let us know in the comments!

The cost of Instant offers

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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!

Trifecta Tavern

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This week we are featuring the tavern and bakery by Ken Forkish. This has been on our list of places to try for so long and we were so excited to finally make the time to go and try it out!

We knew we were going to like the restaurant because we have been a long time fans of Ken’s other restaurants (Ken’s Artisan Bakery and Ken’s Artisan Pizza) but everything was even better than we expected. We arrived in time to try the happy hour which offers a large variety of food for a great price.

On the dinner menu even the most discerning diner will find something they love. There are lots of seafood options, vegetarian options, and even some vegan choices. The food is fresh, in season, and comes out beautifully plated. We finished our meal out with a key lime pie, it’s rare to find a proper key lime pie this far from Florida, but this one was to die for!

If you haven’t been yet, or it has been while since you stopped in, make sure you get over there soon. You will not be disappointed!

  • Trifecta Tavern and Bakery
    • 726 SE 6th Avenue, Portland, OR
    • Open 7 days a week
      • Bakery open 8am -1pm
      • Restaurant open 5pm – 9pm

Do you have somewhere you think we need to check out next? let us know in the comments!

August Events

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Portland summertime. The season we look forward to all year, that always passes in a flash. But never fear! If you are looking for some last minute summer fun in PDX, here are some August events that you may enjoy.

  • Saturday 8/3 Rosé All Day You know this one has our heart. Entrance includes a frosé, tasting glass, 8 tasting tickets, and snacks. Produce Row $45 11am-5pm Benefits Make-A-Wish https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rose-all-day-at-produce-row-cafe-tickets-63984632759
  • Monday 8/5 The Moth StorySLAM Amazing storytelling, and you can enter as well! Keep it under 5 min, the theme this month is Animals. Secret Society $15 Doors-6:30pm Show-8:00pm https://themoth.secure.force.com/ticket/#/instances/a0F0e00000V3lsUEAR
  • Monday 8/5 – Saturday 8/10 BURGER WEEK! $5 burgers all over town! Can you eat them all? Probably not, but why not try? https://www.portlandburgerweek.com/
  • Saturday 8/10 Pan African Festival Live music, dance, food, and entertainment, plus supporting education, awareness, and opportunities for community involvement! Pioneer Courthouse Square FREE 12pm-8:30pm panafricanfestivalor.org.
  • Saturday 8/17 Adult Soapbox Derby One of my favorite (and most ‘Portland’) events of the year; a bunch of people make extravagant and homemade vehicles and plummet down a big hill to the delight of all. Mt.Tabor Park FREE 10am-4pm https://www.facebook.com/PDXsoapboxracer/
  • Saturday 8/17 Cocktail Crawl This month’s cocktail crawl highlights the classic Cosmopolitan! Each distillery creates their own spin and $1 of each one goes towards Causa: Oregon’s Immigrant Rights Org. Distillery Row $6 per cocktail https://www.cocktailcrawlpdx.com/2019-causes-and-cocktails
  • Saturday 8/24 Soulful Taste of Portland Eat delicious food and enjoy live music while supporting and celebrating the contributions of African Americans to Portland’s epic culinary scene. PCC Cascade Campus FREE 11am-7pm https://www.facebook.com/events/414652442596225/
  • Saturday 8/24 ANDAZ Bhangra Bollywood Dance with DJ Anjali and The Incredible Kid The longest running Bollywood dance party anywhere, you are sure to have a blast learning fun moves and sweating the night away with this fantastic duo. The Liquor Store $10 ($5 before 10pm) 9pm-2am https://www.facebook.com/events/517664808977484/
  • BONUS Every Wednesday in August Movies at Dusk Every year Pix Patisserie hosts movies at dusk. Epic champagne list, amazing macarons, and a free movie on the patio? Count me IN. This month features The Terminator, Monty Python’s Quest for the Holy Grail, The Breakfast Club, and Pulp Fiction. Pix Patisserie $5 min. purchase of food or bev (includes free popcorn) Seating opens at 7pm http://www.pixpatisserie.com/events