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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Portland Real Estate–Go Figure!

September 14, 2011

Lockbox activity–that is, Realtors opening lockboxes to show listed homes to clients–is off more than 7% in Oregon from the prior week.  It was off 8.3% in Washington.  I don’t recall that big of a drop since, maybe, 2008. For all that, two of my listings have sold for, well,  very good prices.  One went [...]

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Thoughts on the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks

September 9, 2011

The shocking attack on the World Trade Center capped several existential events throughout my life.  The Kennedy assassination, followed by the Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy assassinations.  The murder of John Lennon.  The assasination attempt on Ronald Reagan (and almost Gerald Ford). When we got word of the JFK killing in my high school sophomore [...]

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I Live in Portland Metro. What’s My House Worth?

August 30, 2011

Anecdotal evidence suggests that appraisals are coming in low.  That may be true, although I heard of one coming in $4,000 over the purchase price.  But articles in regional and national media sources are raising the issue. Which leads you to wonder, what’s my house worth, anyway?  With all the other news talking about dropping [...]

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Looking for a Real Estate Agent In Portland Metro?

August 24, 2011

It’s no secret that real estate agents are near the bottom of the public esteem charts.  I even joke that the only good thing about my mother having died is that she doesn’t know I became a real estate broker.  :) Anyway, I thought about this today when I ran into  friend.  He and his [...]

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