Seller Buydowns, Explained

Seller Buydowns, Explained

Posted inReal Estate
If all you want for Christmas is a 5% interest rate on a new mortgage, well I've got something to tell sell you. Today we're going to talk about seller buydowns, which are all the rage in these days of that-costs-HOW-much-now interest rates. I'll start with what these are before getting to question of whether you should partake. Buydowns have been around forever, in which a home buyer puts in a lump sum of money up front in order to reduce…
Charts and Graphs! October Market Report

Charts and Graphs! October Market Report

Posted inReal Estate
All real estate is local, and this monthly report is a resource for those buying or selling on the Portland metro’s west side. The data below is for the areas including but not limited to NW Portland, SW Portland, Beaverton, Bethany, Hillsboro, Tigard, and Lake Oswego, and includes all residential resale transactions (new construction not included). The funny (not funny haha) thing about all this talk of the severe turn that the real estate market has taken in the past several…

“Marry the House, Date the Rate!” and Other Sayings That Make Me Cringe

Posted inReal Estate
The job of a Realtor is part advisor and part matchmaker, and ideally is never part salesperson. In a perfect world this means always giving useful counsel to our buyers and sellers without resorting to sales pitches. With the rapid rise in interest rates and daily changes to affordability, it has been a challenge to provide valuable, realistic, forward-looking advice to buyers, who are well aware of the headwinds they're facing. The desire to simplify complex situations leads to pithy sayings…
Charts and Graphs! September Market Report

Charts and Graphs! September Market Report

Posted inReal Estate
All real estate is local, and this monthly report is a resource for those buying or selling on the Portland metro’s west side. The data below is for the areas including but not limited to NW Portland, SW Portland, Beaverton, Bethany, Hillsboro, Tigard, and Lake Oswego, and includes all residential resale transactions (new construction not included). The point behind raising interest rates was to lower the demand for houses, thus lowering prices, thus lowering inflation. The demand side has indeed been…
House Hunting In Portland Is Getting Easier! (Sort Of. Not Really.)

House Hunting In Portland Is Getting Easier! (Sort Of. Not Really.)

Posted inReal Estate
Here we are, several months into what can be described as a market shift, or a correction, or a reset, or any other euphemistic term you choose to indicate that it is no longer a drunken orgy for home sellers. After several years of watching home prices explode and sellers having all the cards, we are now getting to see what happens when buyers have a chance. Of course it hasn't actually gotten any cheaper to buy a house, what with…
Charts and Graphs! August Market Report

Charts and Graphs! August Market Report

Posted inReal Estate
There's an old saying that got thrown around a lot in the movie business: perception is reality. Whether or not something is real isn't of particular importance, it's the perception that it's real that matters. One could take this adage and apply it easily to advertising or political campaigns, but it also applies in a different way to the housing market. What buyers and their agents have been seeing all summer- their perception- has been a shifting market in which there…

Financing 101

Posted inReal Estate
What to Know When Starting Your Home Search You’ve taken the big step of deciding to buy a home. Congratulations! One question though: how are you going to pay for it? Whether this is your first time buying or you’ve been through it all before, there’s much to know about your financing options, so here’s a quick primer to help you make informed decisions. Finding a Lender This is step one, as you will need to have financing mostly tied up…
Charts and Graphs! July Market Report

Charts and Graphs! July Market Report

Posted inReal Estate
All real estate is local, and this monthly report is a resource for those buying or selling on the Portland metro’s west side. The data below is for the areas including but not limited to NW Portland, SW Portland, Beaverton, Bethany, Hillsboro, Tigard, and Lake Oswego, and includes all residential resale transactions (new construction not included). A funny thing happened with the idea that mortgage interest rates would keep rising through the rest of the year: it hasn't been happening. They…

What is That House Worth Right Now?

Posted inReal Estate
In the housing market, knowing where you are in the lifespan of a trend is both very important and slippery to capture. Most of the data you have available with which to analyze trends is backwards-looking. If you're trying to figure out what the housing market looks like right now- at the moment you're deciding which house to buy and how much to pay or how much to sell your house for- you have to know what the market looks like…
Charts and Graphs! June Market Report

Charts and Graphs! June Market Report

Posted inReal Estate
All real estate is local, and this monthly report is a resource for those buying or selling on the Portland metro’s west side. The data below is for the areas including but not limited to NW Portland, SW Portland, Beaverton, Bethany, Hillsboro, Tigard, and Lake Oswego, and includes all residential resale transactions (new construction not included). Well, it finally happened: prices dropped. What goes up must come down (which isn't actually true, at least the "must" part), but nevertheless the June…