Congratulations to my client Matt, who just recently completed his purchase of his condo in the Avenue Lofts!
Matt was the type of client you dream of as a REALTOR®. A referral from a past client of mine, he was patient, understanding, made quick decisions, and was extremely flexible. It was needed, because our initial run of trying to get into condos during his search hit road block after road block. This probably can best be illustrated below, in the possibly real journal entries of a REALTOR® (events may or may not have happened exactly as described):
Week 1 – Had several homes to see. Attempted to get into the Pinnacle Condominiums. Could not get the listing agent to pick up and buzz us in. Went to get Coffee. Good chats were had. Went back to try again. Finally picked up. Got into building. Discovered that the HOA put a Fob lock onto the place where the lockboxes were. No instructions how to get into the place where the lockboxes were, without a fob. Called listing agent back. She was as confused as I. We decided to come back another day. Matt was amazingly chill.
Week 2 – Had several more homes to see. Got back into the Pinnacle unit we had issues with last week. Got into the unit to find it was undergoing a whole paint job. It may have been started a while ago. It was definitely not complete. We passed. Tried to get into North Park Lofts. Was given a heads up by the listing agent that the call box may not work. It did not. We waited 20 minutes for someone to let us in the building. Had several interesting conversations with the nearby occupants of the park benches while we waited. Decided to pass. Looked at Matt, still was cool. How did I luck out on this one?
Week 3 – Just a few more homes to see. Nifty combo lock on a unit in one building. Unfortunately someone locked the door handle portion that was not affiliated with the combo lock. Could not get in. Had to come back another day and get in. Tried to get into a unit in the Avenue. Lockbox was not present. Listing agent did not return any phone calls. Did get into another unit in the same building that had black ceilings, very stylized decor, which included a wooden horse as a piece of art. Nice green screen of trees out the window and decent amount of in unit storage. Matt seemed intrigued. I’ll take that over annoyed any day. At least we got into this one.
Week 3.5 – Got a call from Matt. “Let’s go for the Horsie one.” Boom! Horsie one it was. Here we go!
The unit was located in The Avenue Lofts, which is a historic condo conversion of the former Meier and Frank Warehouse, a 7-story building located at 14th & Irving. Originally built in 1923, with additions in 1956 and 1972, the building features 170 loft style one and two-story units, including 8 townhouses and 17 two-level penthouses. The conversion to condominiums was completed in the Fall of 2004. An open atrium is located in the center of the building on the 3rd floor, a Gym and Meeting room situated on the lower parking level. The best part of it (depending on your view point), is that the lobby hallway changes color.
Fast forward to putting him in contract, coordinating an inspection while I was out of state, getting through repairs and condo doc review, and coordinating a Buyer signing appointment while Matt was out of state for work, we somehow made it through in one piece. We luckily had Bill Dolan with Guild Mortgage in our corner working out the lending side of things for Matt, and he was the perfect person for this deal. Bill is a unit owner himself at the Avenue and was very knowledgeable of the building, the Pearl, and condos in general. I highly recommend him to anyone who is looking for someone a lender at the building or for condos in general.
Congrats Matt, you may not have decided to keep that Horse, but I feel you will put your own personal touch on your new home!
If there is one part of the Portland market that’s not hot right now, it’s condos downtown and in the Pearl District. The Covid buying frenzy really focused on detached single family homes with yards. Communal living where you have to walk into an enclosed building and then take an elevator to your front door was the exact opposite of what the majority of buyers have wanted over the last year and a half. So for those folks who DO want to own a condo in the Pearl, the neighborhood is a pool full of fat oysters where buyers can take a while to look around be picky about what type of unit they want.
