From the monthly archives:

November 2011

M Realty: A Tip of the Hat to a Competitor

November 30, 2011

Those who know me know I love to rag on other real estate brokers. But sometimes, you run into a competitor who does something that’s not only innovative, but competent. Today I tip my hat to M Realty and its marsupial child, Homequest for their marketing approach. Homequest is a web platform that integrates residential property [...]

Read the full article →

Portland Foreclosure News

November 29, 2011

According to Realtytrac,  Oregon foreclosures were up 44% in August over July. Multnomah County reported 412 properties with foreclosure filings for  the month, making it the highest in the state. Clackamas County followed with 342 filings., while Washington County came in third, at 305 properties. This is not great news for sellers, since foreclosures tend to [...]

Read the full article →

On Buying Foreclosures

November 22, 2011

You don’t make your money when you sell a home, you make it when you buy one. This little axiom is even more true with buying foreclosures, since the buyers tend to be investors. Comparable sales are very important when establishing a pricing baseline for buying a foreclosure. So is replacement value. But an income approach is [...]

Read the full article →

On Pricing Your Home

November 15, 2011

In a word, home sellers, don’t be pressured into underpricing your home when you put it on the market. At a West Side broker’s sales meeting today, another broker and I were talking about pricing issues after the meeting. Turned out we both felt the same way: Too many sellers are getting pressured into underpricing [...]

Read the full article →

Restaurant Find in Beaverton

November 8, 2011

Anyone from California knows how hard it is to find decent Chinese food in Portland Metro. Sure, there are a couple of good ones–Lucky Strike on the East Side comes to mind–but by and large, you’re stuck with places that don’t know the difference between pot stickers and fried ravioli. One of the things I miss [...]

Read the full article →

Real Estate Broker Ethics (Pt. 1)

November 1, 2011

We brokers advertise with e-fliers.  What happens is that a flyer anouncing a new listing, a price change, or whatever goes out to a selected list og every broker in Portland Metro.  I have used them on occasion just to try to create some noise.  Some brokers use them for EVERY price change and EVERY [...]

Read the full article →