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 [...]

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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 [...]

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Orenco Station (Lite)

October 20, 2011

I no longer serve on the HOA board at Orenco Station (a little misleading, since there are five or seven HOAs out there; I served on the master board).  I remain proud of my work, though I need to say our work–the entire board and our then-community manager.  We left the Association in outstanding financial [...]

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Rent? Or Is Now a Good Tome to Buy a House?

October 17, 2011

Ever ask a real estate broker if now is a good time to buy a home? What did she say? Did you ask this in 2004 or in 2010? Was the answer the same both times? Unfortunately, too many real estate sales people (and mortgage brokers) are house hawkers (forget who coined that term–it wasn’t [...]

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A Challenge for Mortgage Loan Servicers

October 12, 2011

The Cliff’s Notes version of this blog: Get more proactive with initiatives to reduce short sales and foreclosures, and the sooner, the better. The longer version: Visualize the borrower when he first applied for his loan.  The mortgage broker was really, really nice, and very solicitous.  If the borrower went to an office, it was [...]

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Home Sellers: Don’t Give In to Low House Pricing

October 9, 2011

Terradigm has recently sold two listings at full asking price.  One home was on the market for less than a week.   The other took about a hundred days to go into contract.  These were different homes at different prices in different neighborhoods, but the owners had one thing in common:  They refused to “give [...]

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Life at Orenco Station

September 30, 2011

Here’s one of the things I like about living here: Want a free poem? Just stroll by the rowhomes facing Rosebay Park.  New poems added irregularly.  People are loving this!   P.S.:  It feels so good to sell a listing for full price.  Take that, Bad Comp Monster!!!

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Foreclosure Avoidance

September 24, 2011

This is a periodic reminder that I offer free foreclosure avoidance advice.  It’s a bit limited to what real estate brokers can offer.  But I’ve found that people who find themselves behind on their mortgage payments often just want to understand the landscape and have questions such as: What’s the difference between a Notice of [...]

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What Is a Successful Real Estate Agent?

September 21, 2011

Realtors have a Million Dollar Club.  Agents and brokers often advertise how much business they do.  How much does that matter? If a doctor tells you how rich he is, does that make you more likely to use her?  Probably not.  But if you need a specialized surgical procedure, do you choose the doc who’s [...]

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A Great Day in Portland

September 18, 2011

Yesterday, my wife and I spent our typical Saturday in Portland. After 10 a.m., but before 11 a.m., we head for the Farmers Market at the Park Blocks, on the Portland State University campus.  The tomatoes have been in for a couple of weeks, and I love tomatoes.  We generally buy more than we can [...]

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