portlandsbestrealtorteam Archives

We’ve had the most wonderful good fortune to be able to help get an amazing handful of first time home buyers into home ownership these past few months. While the market has been incredibly competitive, we have had great luck helping our clients get accepted offers in multiple offer scenarios, or on the rare 2020 sleeper property before it gets noticed!

Our latest success story is first time home buyer Flo. Flo had a bit of a set back when the lender’s appraisal for her loan approval on a new construction home in Hillsboro, came back at a lower value than what she had agreed to pay for the property. As a result, Florence had to terminate her sales contract on that property. While the pull of sexy new construction is strong, we helped Flo understand that there likely would be something else out there for her in great condition, but without the tippy-top of the market sticker price one generally finds in new construction.

Sure enough, Flo found a wonderful 2015-built, townhouse style condo in Happy Valley near restaurants, grocery stores and other services that she can walk to. The property is bigger than the new construction home she had originally decided to purchase and she now has a sweet patch of actual yard out back, another feature that was lacking in her original property. Like the new construction community in Hillsboro, this resale home also has access to an outdoor neighborhood pool. Most importantly, the home is in terrific, like-new condition!

We are so happy for you Florence. We happen to think that Happy Valley is the perfect place for our energetic, gift-giving, eternally cheerful (except after low appraisals perhaps), eternally HAPPY Flo!

If you’ve been reading our blogs from years past, you may recall us saying that September and October are some of the best months of the year to purchase home. Buyers often have leverage at this time of year when over-priced summer inventory can be found at great prices as sellers become more and more nervous about failing to sell. September & October tend to be awesome months to find sleeper properties!

Fall 2020

This year however, is a whole other ball game! While our spring selling season got off to a slow start due to Covid, Portland area buyers are definitely making up for lost time. It’s been a HOT summer real estate market and that trend is showing no signs of stopping as we settle in to fall. Buyers continue to value the home buying power of incredibly low interest rates, inventory remains painfully almost non-existent, and our September home buying stats are breaking records! So are there any buyer leverage opportunities out there right now? Yes, yes there are if you 1. pay attention and 2. get lucky!

Buyer Trends

Our very savvy first time home buyers Sarah and Travis definitely got lucky, but also were smart enough to know where to look. They had zoned in on the Hyland Hills neighborhood of Beaverton as their first choice neighborhood but given the high volume of traffic we experienced when touring the area homes for sale, it was clear that many other buyers had made the same decision! Thankfully, Sarah and Travis got lucky in that four new listings hit the market at the same time. Three of the homes were in remodeled, turn-key condition. This type of home has a huge buyer audience at the moment and we are in a strong trend of a lack of buyer interest in properties that need work – even cosmetic work.

It was clear to us that showing traffic for the pretty, remodeled homes was off the charts, but the fourth property was sitting quietly, patiently waiting for its new owners. It was the rare and elusive 2020 sleeper property!

The home was being sold as an estate sale: slightly frumpy, needing cosmetic updates, not professionally staged, and so easy to over look… But oh the exceptional quality of this home!

The park-like back yard, the third full bathroom (so rare for the price point), and the fabulous floor plan all contributed to a property that felt less like a “first time home buyer home” and more of an “almost forever home buyer home”! Sarah and Travis instinctively knew not to waste time in a bidding war for one of the remodeled properties and quickly wrote a strong offer on what is now their first home.

Nice work Sarah and Travis on snagging one of the elusive 2020 sleeper properties, with no competition!