Tag: Old houses

Strength Mixed With Gratitude

Posted on by Living Room Realty

 

It takes strength in courage to forage out on your own. Karen lost her husband to cancer months ago and she knew she needed to move to Portland to be near friends and family after her loss.

If she didn’t move, sadness might get the best of her.

I can’t express how grateful I feel to have been the one she hired to help her navigate her house hunting journey.  It was a tough one, but Karen never gave up.  We wrote on many homes but we were always the runner up. In a way it was a blessing, it gave us months to get to know one another.

If it wasn’t for clients like Karen that are willing to lean all in, share their vulnerability and wisdom, show their fears and fight, I would have quit this business years ago.  It’s people like her that make me feel like I am making a difference.

This woman gave me the inspiration I needed after working with a really hard set of clients (whom I can say nothing kind about).  I’m so happy to have made a new friend for life. Cheers to all the Karen’s out there!

 

This One Went $87,000 Over Asking

Posted on by Living Room Realty

Chris and I are what we call ‘full service’ agents. We put in our own sweat equality on 90% of our listings prior to listing them for our clients.  We do this for our standard listing fee with no “up charge”. The main purpose is to make the client more money so that the house sells for above list price which then pays for the cost of hiring us.  Secondly, I am an artist and working on a client’s home gives me an outlet for my visions of what a space can become. If you lend me your home I can work magic for you. House listed at $600,000 – Sold for $687,000.

Here is an example of a home I did and what I did to it:

  • I took of all cabinet door/drawers re-sanded them to remove all lacquer. Removed old hardware, patched holes, primed lower cabinets which I painted blue. Lacquered upper cabinets with new product.
  • New butcher block counters. Left raw so new buyer could either oil them or stain them.
  • Wiped down all wood trim throughout home- window sills, baseboards, door jams and doors and applied Restore A Finish to hide scratches.
  • Removed all lighting. Bought new lights for client and had handyman re-hang them.
  • New kitchen tile that I picked up at Home Depot ($200 in tile)
  • Painted front room, bedrooms, hallway and bathroom.
  • Hung draperies (purchased linen Ikea drapes)
  • New bathroom cabinet paint + new hardware
  • Cleaned floors in home
  • Brought some items from my home to add to the staging but hired out the rest of the staging through Arbor and Co.
  • Took multiple dump runs for client
  • Hired heating company to install new gas line for the new stove. Hired landscape person to clean up the backyard. Hired additional painter to paint what I didn’t get to.

    Looking for a listing agent?  Give us a ring and let us go to work for you!

 

Housing Market Forecast 2021: Do You See Signs of Crashing Next Year??

Posted on by Living Room Realty

 

Our buyers continually ask – “Should I offer gobs of money over asking to get this house when we might be in a bubble?”….  This is such a difficult question for Chris and I to answer.  We send our buyers the comps for the area, add up the homes recent improvements, try to make an educated ‘stab’ at where we think the bidding war will go, than tell our clients to cap their offer price and walk away.  “Don’t be an idiot and bid up a house that isn’t worth it,” is what I often say to buyers. Wait for the market to soften– if you can. Or be ready to hunt for a longer period of time so we can find something that makes sense.  We don’t want our clients to buy a home that needs loads of cash for improvement when our clients won’t have money left over to fix their problems.

But should we wait until 2021?  According to economists and market watchers, in the real estate sector prices keep climbing month-over-month, even in the face of an ongoing economic recession.  We are feeling it big time in Oregon.  From the many articles that I have read about our current market in the state of a pandemic, I thought you might like to hear from the pro’s.

Here real estate economists about the next few months:

  • This strong buyer activity points to a fall & winter housing market that is more active than normal.
  • Mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures increased in August and October 2020, respectively. 1.2% of loans are at least 150 days past due according to CoreLogic. At the moment, the moratoriums on foreclosure have kept lenders from being able to even start their processing of defaults. It will be well into 2021 before you will see a spike in single-family and condo foreclosures which may began to flood the market and help to soften it.
  • Homes are being sold at an increasingly fast pace when compared to the previous year. As new inventory comes on to the market. they are quickly taken out of the market from heavy buyer competition. Therefore, housing units are still in short supply with unsold inventory sitting at a 2.7-month supply at the current sales pace.
  • Housing prices have surged to new records due to very strong demand but low mortgage rates are helping buyers offset this increased cost. Mortgage rates for housing are anticipated to stay at near 3% over the next 18 months which will keep things easier for buyers.

Sounds to me like we will continue to go UP for another year.  Who really knows.  Chris and I are here for you should you wish to take the buyer plunge!  Just give us a ring and we will be sure to talk you out of buying a shitty house. For real.

What’s the difference between living in a community vs a neighborhood?

Posted on by Living Room Realty

My business partner bought an old fixer-upper house off NE Alberta Street sometime ago.  The purchase of this home has had me thinking about the distinction between neighborhood and community. The words are often interchanged in the real estate industry, but they are not remotely similar.

Here’s what ‘feels’ different to me about those two words:  When I pull up to our fixer house off Alberta Street to work on it, Larry, the ‘Mayor’ of that block, immediately crosses the street to shake my hand and connect with me.  He comes to say hello, ask me how I am doing, or ask me whether I need something warm to drink.  Often he will ask me whether I would like to throw extra debris in his trailer since he’s going to the dump that day.  His willingness to give and help is extraordinary.  Even more so, since my partner and I don’t live in his neighborhood.  It would be easy for this NE community to view us as outsiders that are restoring an old house to make a buck.  A community, acts of friendliness. People in communities care for one-another, something not necessarily present in a neighborhood. Larry is not the only one on this block that comes to chat and share their friendliness, the rest of the block does it as well.

I have lived in my same neighborhood in SE Portland for over 20 years.  I love my neighborhood but it feels like a neighborhood; not so much of a community. Years ago it felt softer and more connected with long term residents.   Neighborhoods exist physically but the people do not necessarily have any connection with each other despite their close proximity.  Many of the homes around me have sold and new folks have moved in. I don’t know their names or even the names of their dogs as they walk by my house when I am out gardening. My work could be to knock on the doors of those new renters or home owners and plant the seeds of cultivating ‘community’ (something I have not yet done).  Perhaps that should be on our 2020 list if we are striving for more community in our neighborhoods?   Be the one to take action rather than wallowing in the fact that we wish we knew those around us.  My goal is to be more like my friend Larry.  To be the neighbor who crosses the street and takes the time to walk on over and get connected.

Another thing to add to my list for 2020

Community – Why do you feel it on one block and not the other?

Posted on by Living Room Realty

Community.  Why do I feel it on one block and not another?  Every week I drive to an old house in the Alberta Neighborhood that my business partner and I bought to fix up. I get a fuzzy feeling in my gut as I pull up in front of it.  Not because I feel great about where the house is in terms of completion, we still don’t have walls, no… its something else.

While I often dread working on it, I’ve been trying to pinpoint what it is about this place that makes me smile every time I pull up to it.  I’ve decided it’s the neighbor’s that live around this old house.  I’m not sure if any of them own computers or TV’s or smart phones, I know they must all have those devices and go to work each day, but every time I go over, one of them will walk out of their front door, come clear across the street and greet me.  They proceed to take the time to ask me what I intend to work on that particular day, quick to give encouragement, often noting that the house is lucky to have Chris and I. On occasion they will ask if they can help me extend my heavy ladder or ask if I have things to put in their truck for a dump run.  Larry has even brought me ice tea when I have fallen off that high ladder.  I notice these folks sit on their porches when the sun is out and hear them extend hellos to those that walk by.  They lend a hand to one another by edging each other’s grass strips and pulling in one another’s recycling cans after the truck goes by.  Homeless folks have first names on this block.  This group of neighbors has worked to build this slice of heaven by being mindful.  Whether they know it or not, I feel their kindness every time I am over there.

It makes me miss having that same sort of community vibe on my own street in SE Portland.  I must work harder to cultivate it if I want it to feel similar, I know that. But in the mean time, I will feel gratitude that we have been taken under the wings of this tight-knit block and treated so wonderfully.  Community –  It’s pretty incredible to watch it in motion when its healthy and thriving.

It’s three words no agent wants to see attached to a listing: Back On Market.

Posted on by Living Room Realty
While the Urban Dictionary describes the phrase, back on the market to reference a person who either was in an exclusive relationship or newly divorced and is dating again, so they are ‘available’ (much like a fresh chicken at the supermarket), in real estate, it feels like being hit by a tsunami.  When a house goes from “active” (for sale)  to pending status, and then suddenly appear back on the market, what was once “new” to the market now appears old.  With just the snap of a finger, your listing has now aged (dramatically).  Hopefully, you have a back-up offer that still wishes to go in back-up and hasn’t already found another house.  You hope for that. But if you don’t have it… you might be slightly screwed…….
Unfortunately, many buyers and their agents will immediately think there is something wrong with the property and make assumptions about why the sale fell through.  We build stories that the house must have something giant that came up in the home inspection, a failed foundation, or some enormous oil tank spill that has reached ground water. But maybe the buyers simply got cold feet over a little knob and tube wiring that could have easily been fixed had they asked.  Or maybe it was asbestos tape on some duct work that could have been removed or wrapped. Whatever the reason – Back on the market carries a stigma.
I believe that buyers remorse is a real thing.  Just as dating remorse is a real thing.

Sometimes buyers believe they made a bad decision and develop cold feet. They slowly begin to realize that with home ownership comes other financial obligations such as maintaining the home, paying for repairs and upgrades, and they become frightened of what they perceive to be an unnatural burden. Unfortunately, this realization often happens at an inopportune time such as during the middle of escrow.

For us agents and our sellers, its a draining process.  You start back from the beginning but you feel deflated.

We believe it important to do everything we can to help keep deals together.  For both sides.  We promise to work at keeping a deal together if we write on one of your listings.  We will get the bids.  Make the calls.  We will counsel our clients for hours before they write an offer.  And if we can’t keep it together, we will feel like dog poop.

Owning a house is like ‘being in a long-term relationship’

Posted on by Living Room Realty

I’ve been ‘thinking’ about selling my own home for two years now.  Mostly, because my children and I have started to outgrow our two bedroom house, but at some point, we will be a family of four (if we can find a wedding venue and find a house.  Jeez.  I hate this part.)  The kicker is — that while I might be a REALTOR® and understand the state of the market plus the financial pay-offs of selling my home, my house is not ‘just a thing,’ to me.  It often feels like an extension of my physical body and my sense of self that reflects who I was, am, and want to be.  I am an artist as well as REALTOR®, so I am forever making changes to my humble abode.  I have many ideas for my little home that I have not yet executed.  Which makes my house feel like a half finished painting at times.  How can I sell my casa when I still have visions to execute?  And will that new buyer appreciate what I have done?  Will I find that buyer “fit” someday…..?

Just like a long term relationship —  love comes in many forms and one is the connection we create to that place called “home.”

I know that selling a home shouldn’t be a rash, spur of the moment decision.  I’ve been doing the gut check every few months for a period of two years, plus, I have been looking at the numbers of what my house would sell for every time the market spikes and then dips again.  Thinking about the numbers is supposed to help me emotionally detach from my home and view it as a business deal.  (I know that… I help clients with that every day… that doesn’t make it easier for me when I have those projects I would like to get done on my house).  Instead, I have been trying to focus on my end goal, which means turning my attention to what the future might look like.  Re-framing the sale of my home as a good change rather than loss.  I’m working to channel my emotions towards the opportunity and possibilities of what await.

I also know that if I continue to wait for “the one” to come around and hit the market, I might be waiting for years.  Sometimes the home selling and buying process isn’t about finding “the one” that sticks around forever.   It’s more about finding the home that fits your needs best based on your current situation.

I plan on loving my house and working on her this summer.  The boxes of old vintage doorknobs I have been collecting will get added to the rock wall out front.  I will paint the bathroom ceiling pink.  Finish the love shack in the backyard for Olivia.  These are things an artist does to see their vision come to fruition, they are not what one does to boost their resale.  If I can do these things, it will be easier for me to let go.  My stamp will be more complete.

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t Neglect The Smaller Details When Listing Your Home

Posted on by Living Room Realty

Seriously, I think small details can make the biggest impressions on a potential buyer’s likelihood of making an offer on your home. A well-maintained exterior signals to buyers that the interior has probably been similarly well maintained. Make sure you trim trees, lay fresh mulch (I like the blackest kind for photos), pressure-wash dirty surfaces.  Little improvements, such as CLEANING the cobs webs off your old porch light fixture, replacing a rusty mailbox, or painting the front door, can go a long way.

If my sellers have original window or cabinet hardware, or old heating registers that are thick with years of paint, I like to take them back to my house and strip them over my stove.  Often the original finish is beautiful underneath, and if not, you can always spray them a new color.  One that matches your wall trim or a burnised brown

Its all in the details.  The little-bitty details