By Alyssa Isenstein Krueger, December 19, 2018
When my buyers Kelley and Satomi first contacted me in early November the panic in their voices was palpable. A couple of weeks before they had unexpectedly been given a 90 day no-cause eviction notice from the home they had been renting in the Alberta area. Once the initial shock of receiving that notice wore off, they decided to see if they could make the move from being renters at the mercy of landlords to homeowners, despite the fact that they hadn’t planned on buying a home anytime soon and didn’t have a lot in savings to be able to make that happen. In the couple of weeks since their no-cause eviction notice, they were able to get themselves a pre-approval letter from Umpqua Bank using the Oregon Bond rate advantage loan at 3.65% in combination with a second loan (called a MAP- mortgage assistance program) through the Portland Housing Center. I met them on a Saturday, and along with their 3 year old daughter we looked at a few homes on Sunday including a nice skinny house in Mill Park. By Sunday evening they decided to write an offer on the Mill Park skinny which was at the very tippy top of what they were approved for, but given their family’s needs, the 3 bedroom and 2 1/2 bath the home was listed at a price almost too good to be true for them. On Monday, we wrote up a full priced offer, and by Tuesday, the sellers accepted. Phew.
Once the sellers accepted their offer on Tuesday, I immediately sent over their sales agreement to lender extraordinaire Jennifer Leon at Umpqua, and she contacted Oregon bond to lock in their 3.65% rate. First thing Wednesday morning we received an email from Jennifer letting us know that the rate on the Oregon Bond had gone up 1/2 point over night, but fear not because Kelley and Satomi were locked in at that 3.65% rate. Given that rates have risen nearly a point over the last year, the days of the below 4% rates are most likely over and won’t go back under that 4% in our lifetime. So not only did my buyers slip in just under the wire, they were the very last buyers to be able to use that rate with Oregon bond. There were so many ways that this whole situation could have transpired so very differently. Had their offer been accepted only a day later, the rise in the interest rate would have put their home out of reach. Had they not found a great home in a great area that was priced incredibly well, they would have been scrambling to find a decent home under $300k. Had the inspection gone south, they would have been thrown back into the mercy of the home price winds. But thankfully, everything went according to the best laid plan. And when the appraisal came back nearly than 8% higher than the purchase price (I can’t recall ever seeing that happen before) it was yet another sign that the stars had aligned for Kelley and Satomi.
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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