By Alyssa Isenstein Krueger, August 29, 2019
Ashley and Alina were ready to buy their first home, and they knew they wanted to work with a broker from Living Room Realty. After reading through agent profiles, they decided to contact me because they liked that I’m a dog lover, have chickens and love to garden. They came into my office for a meeting and we totally clicked. And when we talked about their pretty specific housing needs, they melted my heart. Ashley’s mom is disabled and uses a wheelchair and together along with other family members, they are caretakers for Ashley’s mom. Additionally, Ashley is pregnant with their first child, so they needed to find a home that was accessible or could easily be made accessible for Ashley’s mom, and that was big enough for their growing family. Milwaukie appealed to them given it’s relative affordability and how how close to Portland some neighborhoods are, plus the bonus of easy light rail access.
I sent them the round-up of all homes in the areas they were willing to look within their price range that seemed like possible fits for them, and of those homes, 3 stood out as possibilities. The week after we met we went out looking at these 3 homes, and the first home we saw- a sharp mid-century in Ardenwald checked all the boxes and more. The home is one-level, and the front door is barely 6inches above the front walk-way, making it about as accessible as a front entrance gets. Once inside, the house was laid out in such a way that making most of the house accessible for Ashley’s mom would be pretty easy with some slight modifications. And with 4 good sized bedrooms, that meant plenty of room for Ashley and Alina, Ashley’s mom, and a nursery for the baby on the way. Like a lot of mid-century homes in Ardenwald, the lot is oversized so perfect for gardening projects, plenty of room for chickens and more than enough room for their menagerie of 3 dogs and 3 cats. And to top it off, it backs up to a hospital so should Ashley’s mom need immediate medical attention, the hospital is right there.
We went and saw the other two homes on the list, both of which were duds and didn’t hold a candle to the first house we saw, so deciding to write an offer on that first house was a no-brainer for them. The house was owned by the hospital- apparently at one point the hospital owned all of the homes at least on one side of the street and has been slowly selling them off over the years, and prior to putting the house on the market, the seller put over $50k into the house to update it, fix all of it’s issues and spiff it up for new owners. We wrote up an offer that night, and here we are, a month later and I had the pleasure and honor of handing over the keys.
Alyssa Isenstein Krueger
Broker | OR
She/Her
I am living the dream. Working as a real estate broker in my home town brings this native Portland gal joy beyond measure.
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I took the round-about-road towards this career. After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College in NY two decades ago with a degree in liberal arts/creative writing, I returned to my hometown of PDX and got a job in a legendary record store of days gone by, worked as a music and culture writer for Portland’s oldest weekly publication while pursuing a graduate degree in Urban and Regional Planning at Portland State University. Armed with my masters degree, I moved into the realm of affordable housing, community development, and urban planning, and then rounded the corner with a long stay in arts management then back around the bend when I got my real estate license and went to work for a non-profit housing builder at the cusp of the market crash in 2007.
In the time between that market crash and the ensuing madness, I’ve stayed on top of the market like a dog guarding a bone. Using a magical combination of experience, instinct, and market data, I know what homes are worth, I know how to write a terrific offer, and I know how to help a seller market a home and receive and accept a great offer.
Mutual trust and tender relationship building is the basis and foundation of my real estate practice. I use my skills as an active listener, creative solution finder and ace negotiator to get my clients the best price on a home, win the multiple offer roulette, and have as smooth and easy transaction as possible. Timely and responsive communication is the most important aspect of building trust and I don’t take that part lightly. I am a stickler for details and nothing pleases me more than guiding a client through the home buying or selling process (and sometimes both at the same time). My role is one of advocate, advisor, partner, transaction organizer, and counselor. I am a partner broker with Portland Housing Center and relish the opportunity to work with eager first time home buyers.
I have a knack for seeing the potential in almost any home and love to help clients see past what is and help them envision what can be. I have a decade of first-hand experience renovating and caressing my bungalow in Ladd’s Addition and had the honor of having my own home featured in a story in the Oregonian’s Homes and Gardens section. I can feel the love for any and almost all homes, but my heart goes all aflutter when entering a museum quality time capsule house -- the solid mid-century ones with the original pink or green tiled bathrooms, those charming early 1900’s farmhouses with the original kitchen cabinets and fir countertops, the cozy bungalows with the built-ins still intact.
When I’m not working with clients, you’ll find me hanging with my two boys, Kalman and Saul, and my husband Robert, a Fine Art Conservator with his own business, Cascadia Art Conservation Center. Retired racing greyhounds have been my constant companions since 1997, and our family includes Peanut the greyhound, Pinto the South Korean Italian greyhound, our 2 cats Spaghetti and Will, and our chickens, Rosie, Lil' Peck, Penelope and Nugget.
I am an obsessive gardener/plant fiend and love that we live in a climate where I can grow eucalyptus trees (I have 3 in my yard including a couple I started from seed) alongside blueberry bushes (6 in my yard). Given some free time, you’ll find me junking at an estate sale, dreaming of high brow junk, low brow art, making things, sewing, reading and dreaming of tropical locales.
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- T: 503-724-6933
- PDXHappyHouse@gmail.com
