By Living Room Realty, August 7, 2019
In the spring of 2018, my clients Anne & Gurpreet sold their home in the Sabin neighborhood of NE Portland to move to Scottsdale, Arizona. They landed in their new home in June when the temperatures regularly sore into 100’s. Soon after I got a call that they were considering a property back in Portland that could double as a short-term rental investment and a summer home.
We explored several different options, but kept coming back around to a condo-townhome complex in the Mississippi District. The place has 15 units and there were a handful that had not sold after several months on the market. With a complex like this, it is always risky to be one of the first buyers in because you don’t know how the project is going to be received. They could all sell immediately or it could take a long time with multiple price reductions.
We watched this project waiting for an opportunity. The time came to offer in July of 2019. The prices had come down by $20k to $40k from the original offering and the sellers were ready to deal. They didn’t want to come down on price much more, as not to screw the folks who had already purchased, but there are other terms to play with. At the end of the day, we negotiated an enormous seller credit for buyer closing costs, new AC unit and a matching refrigerator + washer/dryer. Patience really paid off for the buyers and now they have some roots back in their favorite town.
