Are you getting all of the business you want from the Internet? According to the National Association of Realtor's (R) in a recent article Recent_Field_Guide_Article_written_by_Russell_Carlson :80% of Home Buyer's used the Internet as a source81% of Internet Home Buyer's also used a real estate agent74% of Buyer's who searched online drove by or looked at a home they first saw onlineThis is Huge. For all those that feel they can still do business the old way and say that they just do not get along with computers these stats and this story should be the hand writing on the wall for you.I receive notifications daily from  my_Buyer's_Web_Site_&_MLS_Portal  of the new people (typically Buyer's) who have signed up, like Peter and Jessie. I waited a couple of days like normal before sending ... 11/29/2007

What does it take to recognize and take action on a good deal. I have worked with Investors of Real Estate most of My  career which started in 1988.This past 12 months or so has seen a lot of negative press in as far as the real estate market goes. Based on the press reports one might presume that this was as far from being a golden time to buy as you could imagine. After all it is all Doom_and_Gloom  Right? Yet Investor's_seem_to_look_at_Real_Estate  just a little bit different. It is after all one of the single greatest investment vehicles that common people and professionals can and do employ here in the good old USA. Especially if you pay attention like Chris does.My long term client Chris, is a modest man of simple needs and over the years he has made some pretty sound buys. Honest... 11/21/2007

What a wonderful afternoon it was shaping up to be. The sun was shining and all things appeared well with my then current group of Buyer's transactions. Thinking it could not get much better than this, my phone rang and it did.The call was from Andy and Dawn who were then living in Rhode Island. They had been contemplating a move to the Pacific Northwest and after doing a little cruising on the 'net they had come across several of my real estate blogs prompting them to give me a call.By the end of the call I had learned a lot about them and they about me. Not only were they interested in purchasing a home, they also had a home to sell. They asked if I could recommend an experienced Realtor ® in there area that could help them with the sale.I also set them up on my Buyer's web site http:... 11/20/2007

OK - Just to let you know, I love this idea that the City of Portland had put in to affect despite it being very 1984ish. What is the City of Portland doing? They are putting up security cameras that are on motion detectors in high graffiti areas. What happens is, if something moves, it triggers the motion detector and a DVR camera goes on and records everything, while sending a text message to the police dispatch that the camera has been activated. The police check the camera to see what triggered it to start recording, and if there are taggers present, doing their wonderful "ART WORK", guess who surrounds them, less than two minutes later, with a video of them vandalizing for the judge to watch.I personally think this is a great idea that will increase the number of taggers that are c... 11/18/2007

While cruising through the Blog Posts here on Active Rain I came across this Intriguing_Story  from Activerainer Karen Monsour. Her post and question is a good one. But as I began writing the comment it soon got out of hand and control, length wise. Hence this post follows.Karen's Boyfriend gave her a chilling forecast and oppinion of the foreclosure market in Ft. Lauderdale and Broward County Florida. This according to Karen's story and in her Boyfriend's oppinion and experience as a Contractor and based on his conversations with several other investors working in the area.So Karen's question  " What do you think will happen to the properties the investors are snatching up???" is a timely one and I would hazard to guess is on many of our minds.Well first and foremost I will unequivocal... 11/18/2007

This staging project was a condo-conversion of multiple units recently completed in Portland OR. The investors & their real estate broker realized that staging the model unit would help buyers imagine how the space could be used. Here are some Before & After photos of the project ...       Within the first two weeks on the market 3 units have sold, for a great start. 11/10/2007

I just don't get it! Someone please tell me what the rationale is behind what appears to be standard fare in the lending industry. What I am talking about is the reluctance of Lender's to approve mortgages for Investors of Flip Properties especially over the last couple of years. I have been confronted with this reoccurring problem of financing Flip's in the Portland Market over and over again and it just does not make sense to me.Is this my fault. Maybe I have just not reached out to other Lenders enough to insure this will not be a problem in the future. So what is the Problem you ask?Well here is the scenario. ( A ) buys a property from ( B ) a cash sale that closes in 10 days( A ) then sells to ( C ) for an escalated price.( C ) purchases using a conventional loan due to close in 30... 11/07/2007

We're different and we know it. You won’t find us running with the pack or playing by the rules. They may call us ‘scenesters’, but that’s just not who we are. Flying below the radar smacks of our autonomous Pdx spirit, so is it any wonder that the current state of our local real estate market is still such a secret? While much of the nation is experiencing a slow down in the housing market, our town is still thriving! We’re a sparkling example of an independent community with priorities that define us as caring, supportive and locally involved. And it’s paying huge dividends….  ~ We’ve seen an 8.9% gain in the median sale price for the second quarter of 2007 as compared to the same period in 2006, far outdistancing the national average of just 1.8%. Who else can say that? ~ Industry ex... 11/05/2007

 ..............................................................HELLLLLLLLLLLLLP!...................................................................If you can't here the screams for help, perhaps it's because of all the complaining you've been doing. The Real Estate Market that we are experiencing is a natural part of Business.It is NOT NATURAL for Real Estate prices to escalate yearly in double digits. It is also NOT NATURAL for Seller's and Agent's to price properties at $25,000 TO $50,000 above market.If this is the kind of market you have been experiencing or even worse if this is the only kind of market you know, I FEEL SORRY FOR YOU! For you do not have a clue what the Real Estate Market is Like. So what is the Job of a Real Estate Agent then?It is a Business that requires the Agen... 11/03/2007

This morning was not unlike many mornings. I awoke a little earlier than normal, usually I wake up around 5:30 or a quarter to 6:00. As my Eyes began to focus I noticed first that it was still a little dark outside. The clock on the dresser with it's bright red numbers beaming back at me said 5:40 am. Now on the weekends I continue my daily ritual of having coffee at my local coffee shop in Portland Or. The_University_Park_Coffee_Housedoes not open til 7:00 am on the weekends. So on the weekends I generally will languish an hour more in bed before getting up. Just shortly after my dresser clock showed 7:00 am I was out the door into the heavy fog of this chilly Fall morning. As I pulled up to the curb I noticed that the Coffee Shops tent sign usually out on the street corner was missing... 10/28/2007

Each and every Season has its own special feeling. Fall for me is a glorious time. It is a time for the changing of the guard so to speak. Ushering out Summer and transitioning into the Winter months that lay ahead.During this transition period it is often easy to overlook the beauty of this season. Yesterday I awoke to feel that bite in the air and a slight frost had accumulated on the windshield of my car. I watched the daylight start to unfold while taking coffee at the University_Park_Coffee_House  in North Portland. The east wind breeze was starting to pick up a little and I began to notice that Fall was getting into full swing. Yes indeed as I have been very busy helping people buy and sell homes here in the Portland area I almost missed this very special season. So yesterday afte... 10/26/2007

I know the GPS is a house or two off and images are a bit lacking, but I must say that Google Street Views has potential.  I'm inclined to reference Street View links in my report if there's a view or other neighborhood amenity/defect that is note-worthy.For instance now I can show my client that even though this property and this property are on the same street, the two have much different views and appeal.Or to show that this property looks great, but it's neighbor across the street is a power station. And how great will this tool be for home shoppers who might be unfamiliar with a neighborhood?  It's nice to be able to virtually drive from block to block prior to getting there and finding that the area does not meet a person's expectations or better yet, exceeds them.Here are the cit... 10/23/2007

I love Halloween and spend a lot of money to scare teenagers. (I try not to scare little kids.) But, this time of year you hear on the news of haunted houses and other strange things happening in houses.My story comes back from my days as a DJ. It was a warm summer night and we were about to do the tossing of the bouquet from an upper balcony of the Queen Ann Victorian Mansion in Portland and the bride was standing next to me when the bride got hit by her bouquet from the balcony above.Now, we were 15 feet from the balcony, so to throw it would have been a good shot anyway, but the fact that this is the bride's changing room, and the only one who has a key is the caretaker, who was 5 feet from us and the bride, made it even weirder. She ran upstairs and was there within 30 seconds and p... 10/15/2007

This vacant home felt so cold when I first viewed it....it's been on the market for several months with no offers so the sellers wanted to do whatever was needed to make the home more appealing to potential buyers (there had been lots of showings, and realtors reported that the home is priced right). Room Solutions Staging in Portland Oregon first advised the sellers to paint the decorative wood trim a warmer color, replace the main floor brass light fixtures from brass with brushed nickel ones, and remove the dated fan in this living room: When the homeowner saw the finished staging, she loved the transformation.   UPDATE:  After many months on the market, this home SOLD after staging! 10/13/2007

Often in a vacant home, there's a room or two that doesn't immediately indicate what it's purpose is -- that's where creative staging comes into play!  If buyers can't see how to use the room, they'll get confused and just move on to the next house....so we want to capture their imagination and let them see the possibilities. This week we staged a 1912 vintage vacant home that had several challenges. One of them was this upstairs room that had been converted from an attic.  The sellers had used it as a family room, which was great for them as it has wonderful light and a large area for family fun, but this house also lacked a well-defined master bedroom downstairs. Our solution?    We showed potential buyers that this room would work as a master bedroom if that's what they needed ... ju... 10/13/2007

A savvy Portland couple knew that hiring us to stage their occupied home prior to listing it would make it more appealing to potential buyers who viewed it in the online listing photos and in person.  This home was a pleasure to stage because the existing furnishings were lovely ... it just lacked, in the homeowner's own words, "that WOW factor!"  My goal was to bring in just the right accessories and to use what they already had in creative ways.  The sellers gave us free reign to use anything we wanted, wherever we wanted. We helped the homeowner select a new sofa and then removed the extra furniture that was distracting us from one of the main features of this room ~ an amazing view over the Portland neighborhood of Mt. Tabor towards Mt. Hood.   We re-purposed several pieces of furni... 10/12/2007

It is not often as Real Estate Agents that we are afforded the opportunity to watch our peers work. Strange as it may seem there are as many ways to conduct business as there are practitioners. Even somewhat stranger, I would hazard to guess that most of us have received similar training in fact many of us have received that training from the same source. Yet we all seem to develop our own styles.This last week was an extremely busy week for me. I had a couple of closings and have been busy working with Buyer's. The week ended with 4 offers written and accepted with this group of Buyers moving to Downtown Portland.But this is not about my busy schedule as a Buyer's Agent or as a Seller's Agent. It is about Real Estate Agent's and their different styles while working with Buyer's.It was ... 10/07/2007

Coping with the current credit crunch By Wayne B. Prunerhttp://www.yourhomeinportlandoregon.com/ Wayne's Portland Oregon Real Estateblogwww.activerain.com/wayneprunerPortland Oregon: If you are in the real estate market today, either as a buyer or seller, you know that credit is much harder to get than a year ago.  Sub prime loans are defaulting and this has tightened up easy access to credit everywhere.  Even borrowers with good credit are finding loans harder to obtain.  No documentation income loans are disappearing and lenders are far less likely to finance a 100% home loan.  As lenders tighten their borrowing standards, less people will qualify for loans, causing housing prices to slump.Real estate markets are regional, and the Portland Oregon market is still outperforming the nati... 10/07/2007

Portland Oregon: 5 Things To Do in October  By Wayne B. Prunerhttp://www.yourhomeinportlandoregon.com/ Wayne's Portland Oregon area Real Estate blogwww.activerain.com/wayneprunerThe Maize at The Pumpkin Patch - The Corn MAiZEThere are mazes all over Portland, but this is one of the best. Take the family and find you way out. Additionally, see cows, chickens, vegetables, you get the idea. It's a farm! Open till Oct. 31.BODY WORLDS 3: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies - OMSIExperience the human body in all its elegance and complexity in this first-of-its-kind exhibition. Real human bodies are preserved via a special process. Healthy and diseased organs are compared. See how your body's systems relate to one another and work together to help you function and survive. View firs... 10/06/2007

The City of Portland is a great place to live, but sometimes I think they don't really think about what they areasking people to do. They ask everyone in Portland to bike to work at least one day a week.Even though Portland was voted one of the top 10 bike cities in the United States, that doesn't mean that it smart to ask that. Have you ever been around someone who has biked even 5 miles? I wouldn't want to sit next to that at work all day. Most buildings don't come with a shower.The next thing is with all that bike traffic, I see another problem. The bike lanes just aren't large enough to accommodate that many bikes. They already close one of the interstates once a year for a bike rally, which I ;think is a little wacky, but for a good cause, right?  Then the last thing is, how the he... 10/04/2007