By Alyssa Isenstein Krueger, February 25, 2020
Molly and her son have been renting a below market rate home owned by a non-profit in NE Portland for years. With her rent about to rise, Molly made it her mission to buy a home to provide her and her son much needed stability. Through luck, timing and meeting the right qualifications, Molly qualified for a $90k down payment assistance loan through the Portland Housing Bureau. The loan is actually a silent second, which means there are no payments made on the loan, it accrues no interest and is forgivable after a certain number of years living in the home. Concurrently, Portland Housing Center’s LIFT program was unveiled and Molly was able to snatch up one of their $20k grants. With $110k in down payment assistance, Molly was able to buy a fabulously adorable new construction home on a quiet street in the heart of the Kenton neighborhood. The 2 bed 1.5 bath was built in what was an oversized yard of a house, and though only 800 sf, this home is a great example of how to use a small footprint to create a home that lives much larger than what you would expect with a home with less than 1/2 the square feet than your average new construction home. And with the smaller footprint, it kept the cost down and created an affordable option for home ownership in the thriving Kenton area. The transaction itself was smooth as butter with an awesome listing agent, Daniel Silvey with Knipe Realty, who also happened to own the home, a fabulous lender- Jennifer Leon at Umpqua, terrific escrow officer Mariah Yee with Ticor Title and lots of help and guidance of folks at both the Portland Housing Bureau and the Portland Housing Center.
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
