Tag: Julia Robertson

Hello, its Real Estate by Julia!

Posted on by Julia Robertson

Let me re-introduce myself.

Hello, I’m Julia! Real Estate Broker in Oregon, Washington and Utah.

Julia Robertson Realtor Oregon + Washington

I’ve lived in every state along the West coast and across the Rocky Mountains.

I relocated to Oregon the summer of 2006, where I immersed into the beautiful and weird city of Eugene. My business as a furniture sales rep drove me to every corner of Oregon and Southwest Washington. I found myself in Portland a few years later, where I lived in Happy Valley, Vancouver, Sellwood, and Milwaukie. Meanwhile I began selling Real Estate in late 2012; with my background in sales, marketing, and interior design, this was a natural fit!

Though I spend much of my time in the city, I love exploring the outskirts and eventually found myself specializing selling hobby farms along the Washougal River, Oregon City, and Clackamas. I spent many years renovating a 1930’s Tudor on a large property in Milwaukie, where I poured my heart into creating a beautiful home there. I touched every corner of this home, while managing projects and hiring contractors, I became a self taught project manager.

I’ve helped many clients and friends navigate home renovations, identify home improvements, and make design choices.

realestatebyjulia

I spent the past few years exploring Northern Utah, expanding my design skillset and working with a luxury real estate brokerage in a ski town.

My career has been intertwined with real estate and the home furnishings industry. Listing homes and marketing interiors have become my passion for two decades. Helping people discover design opportunities and preparing a home to sell is what I love. I negotiate fierce and fair on behalf of my clients and pride myself in providing my clients the best experience buying or selling a home.

I’m excited to be back with Living Room Realty where I dedicated 6 years building and growing with our real estate community in Portland Metro and SW Washington.

If you’re looking to explore both sides of the river to buy, sell, invest, or rent– I can help. You’ll find me at our downtown Vancouver office or any of our Portland locations. Stay in touch with me on my instagram @realestatebyjulia, where I’ll be sharing all things real estate, food & fun, and hosting upcoming classes and events.

Cheers,

Julia Robertson, Realtor | Oregon, Washington, & Utah

Living Room Realty

541-505-1111 | @realestatebyjulia

Classic Mid Century Daylight Ranch | Just Listed in Vancouver

Posted on by Julia Robertson

Isn’t she pretty?

There is so much room to LIVE here!

Classic mid-century daylight ranch on a large lot. Light and bright, updated kitchen and bathrooms, picture windows, covered front porch, hardwood floors, built in storage, huge backyard with hobby farm, greenhouse, tool shed, and long side driveway with driveway gate to backyard. Main floor has 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms, master suite has a walk in closet and on suite bathroom, laundry room. Spacious lower level has two bedrooms, entertainment room, walls of built in storage, two large storage rooms, and walks out to a covered patio overlooking a gorgeous and mature backyard. Quick access to the 500 and in between I5 and I205. Minutes to Vancouver Mall, 16 min to PDX, 20 min to downtown Portland. Impossible to find a gem like this! 

4403 NE 39th St, Vancouver WA | MLS 20415052 | 3933 SQFT

3D Tour Here

What I love about this home…

This home is so well cared for! It lives large and is much bigger inside than appears from the street view. The upstairs has tasteful updates to kitchen and bathrooms, while still keeping the charm of a classic mid-century style home. The house would host a great airbnb in the lower level. It has a driveway and parking that goes all the way to the backyard with a separate entrance. The lower level has a huge entertaining space, along with two large cold storage/root cellar rooms. Now let’s talk about this backyard! No one ever realizes from the front of this house, that the backyard is enormous! You can have a full garden or just enjoy it for the natural beauty and mature landscape. You really gotta see this house!

To schedule a private tour or if you have real estate questions, contact Julia Robertson.

Julia Robertson, Broker Licensed in Oregon & Washington

Living Room Realty

541-505-1111 | julia@rebyjulia.com

Do’s and Don’ts of Hiring a Contractor. Part 2

Posted on by Julia Robertson

Decision making on design: 101. Learning from my personal success and failures working with contractors.

Decisions decisions. Being well prepared with plans, a plan B, and your vision for a project will keep the flow going. Often your contractor will bring up questions during a project that only you can decide and you’ll need to be quick on your feet to respond. For example:

Do you want flat or semi-gloss on your walls, trim, and ceilings?

What size and style trim do you want around your window?

What shape do you want on your handrail?

Do you want silicon or grout around the base of your free standing tub?

Where do you want your light switches?

Often a question will catch you off guard and you’ll make a decision that you wish you could take back! Having a plan keeps you on track. Here’s what happened to me for example- the light switch to the closet. There wasn’t a light switch on our plans. The electrician suggested it go on the right side. But after we were all settled in, we realized this light switch should have been inside the closet or on the left side of door. Its an eyesore(for me) having a white light switch on the black accent wall! At the time the electrical was roughed in, I didn’t even think about it. Now, every time I open the door I feel for a light switch on the left- but its not there. If you are in Australia and is looking for a trusted North Brisbane electrical contractors then JTC Electric is a trusted electrician that can provide you such electrician services in and around Brisbane.

It’s hard to imagine knowing everything in advance. We do our best! Living in the space makes it so much easier to visualize how you want everything to be. Here are some tips on preparing your decision making:

  1. Do have a plan. Either blueprints or hand draw a room layout.
  2. Do have a Pinterest board. Pin all your ideas, including color, furniture, light fixtures, and finishes. This may take a while, but when you have all your ideas in one place you can slowly edit your favorites and it will help you stick to your “vision” for the space.
  3. Sometimes you have to say no. You have a lot of ideas on your vision board. You don’t have to do all of them. When it comes to a budget, you may have to say no to the more expensive windows and the skylight.
  4. If you’re making decisions with a partner and disagree- get a third or fourth tie-breaker. Then you can at least blame it on someone else when it doesn’t work out. Ha! No, actually it’s great to have another opinion. They may see something you haven’t considered. Do get a third or fourth opinion.
  5. Not all contractors have “an eye” for design. I always ask my contractors opinion, but refer back to my design inspo on my Pinterest board to remind me of the direction. Do show your contractor your design inspiration. Several of the ideas we had for our master bedroom, the contractor had not done before. He conceptualized it well, but it was because we stuck to our guns about the style we were going for. Both our GC and the flooring guy didn’t like the idea of transitioning the wood floor to hexagon tile. We literally cut out pieces of hexagon on paper and played with them like a puzzle until we found a good pattern. It was a group effort. It turned out great in the end! Sometimes you can’t compromise with style 🙂

When it comes to design, it’s hard making decisions. Especially when its for your own space. I really think experience is key! If the decision making gets overwhelming, hire a design consultant. When you’re in a pinch call them and they’ll help you figure out a situation. It may seem simple, but if I had called our designer about the light switch, I bet she would’ve said “put it on the left!”

I’ve said this before, but its worth saying again– Don’t make a final payment to a contractor until you are completely satisfied. I’ve made this mistake twice! Trust me, they’ll never come back to fix those final things if you’ve already paid them.

If you have real estate questions, call me! 

Julia Robertson | Broker Licensed in Oregon & Washington

Living Room Realty

541-505-1111 | julia@rebyjulia.com

Make a Low-Ball Offer

Posted on by Julia Robertson

“What price should we offer?” Is the burning question.

When the time comes to prepare an offer package, among the other important details such as pre-approval letter, terms, possession, closing, and personal property included in the sale; there is price. Price is determined by the condition, location, and demand of homes like the one your interested in. With all these things considered, your REALTOR® helps you choose an offer price. Often your REALTOR® will prepare a comparative market analysis(CMA) and review with you. Your REALTOR® will also contact the listing agent to “get the scoop”, see how competitive other offers are, and when your offer is due by.

Now you have all the details in order for your offer. You want to offer below the asking price, but you really want this house! If this is your dream house, do not write a low ball offer if there are other competitive offers in a high demand area. I will say this again, do not write a low ball offer if you find out there are other competitive offers and the house is in a high demand area. If you really want the house and you are up against 1-20+ other offers, put your best foot forward and go all in. That doesn’t mean offer an outrageous amount over the listing price. Your experienced REALTOR® will provide all the tools to write a competitive offer and get you the house you want. Or you will learn rejected offer by rejected offer, that it takes just a little something else to win in a competitive offer situation. Ok… but this is supposed to be about writing a low-ball offer, right? Yes. It is also important to know when NOT to write a low ball offer.

“How do I find a house that I can get a deal on and write a low-ball offer?”

So glad you asked. Now I can tell you about a recent success story of offering $25,000 less than the listed price, and buyer got the house they wanted. The home was originally listed for $625k. After 30 days it was reduced to $594k, then about 20 days after that reduced to $575k. The series of price reductions are a story of a motivated seller and its possible the house was overpriced to begin with. After communicating with the listing agent that my client wanted to offer $550k(when it was listed at $594k), the seller wanted to see if they would get more traction at $575k. When the house did not get an offer that weekend, we submitted the $550k offer, waiving any repairs or price reductions. Buyer would still do their inspections and due diligence. That is exactly what happened. The offer was accepted, inspections completed, additional inspections were completed by structural engineers, roofers, and siding experts. Any repairs found seemed doable over time and we moved forward to close. Done deal. Some times you have to give up something to get something. In this case, buyer was willing to take on minor repairs as long as he completed a thorough inspection of the house.

Here are a few things to consider when looking for a house to get a deal on:

  • Days on the market. After 30 days, a seller may have to pay a mortgage. Every month the house is on the market, there are expenses. Especially if it is vacant.
  • Is it in pre-foreclosure? You can find “potential listings” on Zillow. These are homes in pre-foreclosure. They may have missed a few payments and need to sell. Ask your REALTOR® to research the property.
  • Several price reductions. Sign of a motivated seller.
  • The “bones” are good, but it may need some work. If the work looks doable over time, research the costs to repair.
  • Ask your REALTOR® to “get the scoop”. Your REALTOR® will ask all the right questions.
  • Off market properties. Ask your REALTOR® to ask around. Sometimes a seller may be thinking about selling, and told their agent to keep them as a “pocket listing”.
  • Time of year. Consider house shopping after the spring/early summer boom is over.

Here are a few things to consider when writing a lower than asking price offer:

  • Ask your REALTOR® to prepare a CMA. Understand the neighborhood pricing.
  • Consider waiving repairs and or additional price reductions. This is huge advantage to seller, but also a huge advantage for you to buy at a lower price. Win-win. Protect yourself by competing your inspections.
  • Only waive an inspection if you have done a pre-inspect. Your REALTOR® may have you sign an acknowledgement that inspections were recommended and you declined.

If you’re looking to buy or sell a house- contact me! I’d love to guide you through the process.

Julia Robertson, Broker | Living Room Realty

Licensed in Oregon & Washington

541-505-1111 | julia@rebyjulia.com

 

Photo Credit…Michael Waraksa, New York Times

 

 

Repairs and Final Walk-throughs

Posted on by Julia Robertson

You’re buying a home. You’ve completed your inspections. You’re waiting to close. Now what?

You’ve made it through the inspection period and the seller has agreed to complete some home repairs. Congratulations! Now what? A week before closing I remind my clients about the closing process and to schedule a final walk through before closing. Besides asking the seller to provide any invoices or photos showing the repair has been completed- schedule a final walk through at least 3-5 days before your closing date. It’s always a good idea to double check that seller has completed the items they’ve agreed to repair.

Often you’ll find that a seller is scrambling to get those last repairs done, or cleaning up their move out. You’ll walk through the house with your real estate agent and verify that the items have been repaired.  I’ve found that a day or two before closing is just not enough time to remedy unfinished repairs. If a seller has not performed the agreed repair, do not give authorization to close until you are satisfied. This may delay your closing and you’ll have to write an extension to close.

Here are some repair and final walkthrough tips-

  • Make sure your repair requests are written in detail or refer to a specific scope of work.
  • In addition to your inspection report, get a professional estimate for repair.
  • If you are asking for a sewer repair, request that the seller scope the line after the repair and provide you the video of the scope.
  • Make good judgement about work that is being completed by homeowner or needs to be completed by a licensed & bonded contractor. There is a lot of work that a homeowner can do on their own. If the repair is related to a “service” of a major appliance, structure, or health/safety issue- request a professional handle that repair.
  • If a repair is being completed after closing, for example a sewer repair- ask for escrow to hold back additional funds in case the repair exceeds the provided estimate.
  • Your repair request agreement has a date written in which the repairs need to be completed by. If you haven’t seen photos or invoices come in, check in with your REALTOR® to request them from the seller.

If you are thinking about buying a home- give me call! I’d love to help you through the real estate process.

Julia Robertson | Broker | Living Room Realty

541-505-1111 | julia@rebyjulia.com

 

Stylish and Sunny in Southeast

Posted on by Julia Robertson

Just Listed! 

7934 SE Reedway St

Portland, OR, 97206

            

Stylish interior finishes, hardwood floors, new kitchen, stainless steel appliances, and two bathrooms with laundry room!

Light and bright interior, with new windows!

Spacious fenced in backyard with an exterior building to use for studio/shed/playroom.

Great location on the border of Mt.Scott Arleta/Lents, walk to Mt Scott Community center, bike to Woodstock/FoPo and quick access to I205!

 

ONLINE TOUR

 

MLS # 19565994
SQUARE FEET: 772 + 160 STUDIO/SHED
TAXES: $2374
BEDROOMS: 2
BATHS: 2

 

 

Thinking about selling? Find out what your home is worth at

realestatebyjuliarobertson.com

 

 

Julia Robertson | Living Room Realty

Broker Licensed in Oregon & Washington

541-505-1111 | julia@rebyjulia.com