Congratulations to our First Time Home Buyers!
I met Megan and Natasha at one of my open houses last fall. They stopped by with their adorable daughter, Paloma, and as we started chatting I felt a connection with them right away. We learned they were in town from Santa Cruz to check out houses in the Portland market and after a few days checking out the city and going to open houses, were feeling really good about making the move! We made the plan to keep in touch and, as all Portlanders do, we recommended some of our favorite restaurants to check out while they were in town.
Through emails and conference calls, we were able to get to know each other surprisingly well, and by the time they arrived for their first in-person visit to tour homes together, we were ready to hit the ground running. We toured a lot of homes in many different styles and vintages, all the while going over the benefits and drawbacks of each. Megan and Natasha are thoughtful, research-oriented and very good at asking questions, and those qualities that make them a great match for us! So with an accelerated home buying education, they decided that new construction was the best choice for their young family.
We found the sweetest new construction home in the fantastic Woodstock neighborhood on a picture-perfect street. Given we are all staying home to be safe for now, these buyers will be moving up to Portland as soon as this whole Covid-19 thing settles down. Welcome home!
A rare find! Beautiful Old PDX style modern home, built both for efficiency and classic beauty. Perched up off the street this home offers light filled open spaces, gourmet kitchen, custom details and so much more.
Back in 2011 I sold my buyer Erika and her then husband their first home- a glorious mid-century in Laurelhurst. Since then, we’ve kept in touch and about 5 years ago I worked with her parents when they purchased a dream home on the Willamette. But life has a funny way of going a different path than the one you think you are on, and Erika and her first husband had an amicable divorce. Erika has a new partner, Jake, and they have been living in Gladstone, where Jake works as a teacher. Erika’s kids school, her job and her kids Dad’s house were all in her old Laurelhurst neighborhood, and the commute was eating Erika alive. Erika touched base with me about 4 months ago as she and Jake started thinking about moving back to the Laurelhurst area. We looked at a few houses over a few months, but none were quite right.
My buyer Tung and his partner Corey were first time home buyers and like many first timers, their budget wasn’t vast and the number of homes that are livable in their price range was slim pickings. Additionally they needed to find a 3 bedroom home with 2 bathrooms because Tung’s parents who are disabled would be moving in with them so Tung could take better care of them as they age. Tung and Corey really like skinny houses, but after taking Tung’s parents needs into consideration, they realized that they would need a single level home to make it work for their family. So now we needed to find a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom home in reasonable shape all on one level and for right around $300k and those are about as rare as a wild ostrich in Oregon.
I’m glad to see blue is on the list, because I’m loving the idea of a navy blue bathroom.
Buying a first home is always a big deal. And it’s an even bigger deal when you’ve moved halfway around the world for the opportunity for a better life and the ability to work hard, save money and buy a house. This past June a lovely woman named Ammel contacted me after finding my name and profile on the list of Portland Housing Center partner real estate brokers. Ammel and her parents had moved to Portland from the Philippines a few years ago with the dream of a better life which included owning their own home, and after years of saving, of taking classes they were just about ready to dive into the house purchase journey. I met Ammel and her mom Melba at a Starbucks in East Portland, and I immediately knew that working with this family was going to be about as rewarding as it gets for me as a real estate broker.
As the market cools considerably and brings with it great relief for buyers, for sellers who have been watching the market, the opposite is true. While the balancing out of the market is a good thing overall, the stress of not knowing how long it will take to sell your home and for owner occupied sellers, the stress of always feeling like you live in a museum can be rough. One year ago I would not have advised a seller to sell a home off-market without listing it on RMLS, but in this new reality, for some sellers, this can be the least stressful and most fruitful path to follow.
Congratulations to my fabulous buyers Audrey and Chris! After being referred to me by a dear old friend of mine (and former client) we started the house search just a few days after we met. They had heard horror stories of getting outbid on houses time and time again, and were relieved to find out that those days seem to be over, and for the most part, if a house is going to get multiple offers it’s usually only 2 or 3, with the price staying relatively close to listing price. Audrey and Chris wanted to live in an older bungalow that didn’t need work in closer-in SE that had the good vibes feel. After only a few weeks of looking, a delightful bungalow in the Creston neighborhood came on the market. What really drew Audrey and Chris to the house was the amount of light and cross breezes. The front porch of the house spans the house width and at some time long ago, had been converted into a sun room, and with big windows everywhere else in the house, the light and breeze flows like honey throughout the house. And in a sign of the times, only one other offer came in making this first home for Audrey and Chris the one and only house they wrote on. With great sellers and fabulous fellow Living Room agent Andy Meeks representing the sellers, we easily worked through a couple of issues and closed on time with happy people all ways around.
