The Future of Home Automation

Home automation is going mainstream.

There: I said it. We all knew it would happen, but some of us hoped it would happen later. The prospect of our house being smarter than we are has been out there since as far back as when the first Terminator movie hit VHS (or was it Beta? Or Betamax?)…

Anyway, the “Smart House” idea has always had such a science-fictiony patina, it allowed many homeowners the valiant hope that the whole thing might be delayed—at least until there was a flying car parked in every garage. Now it looks like our hopes are soon to be dashed. At least, that seemed to be the news coming out of Spain last week.

According to reports from last week’s Mobile World Congress assembled in Barcelona, “the IoT was pervasive.” If you haven’t heard what “the IoT” is, maybe you’d better sit down—

The IoT is short for “the Internet of Things.” It’s a logical development. For home automation […]

2016-03-03T23:31:36+00:00

Portland’s Spring Selling Season is Here!

Portland’s spring selling season is underway!

Okay—it’s understandable if that seems like a somewhat premature announcement, but it is verifiable from any number of sources. Never mind that this year, spring doesn’t officially arrive in Portland until March 20…but that’s only what astronomers say (and they can’t even decide whether Pluto is a planet). Meteorologists take issue with them, anyway. It’s always March 1 as far as meteorologists are concerned. But this year’s Godzilla El Niño has made everything they say subject to revision. And anyway, we’re talking about real estate—and when it comes to real estate, spring is here already!

Now, depending on how you interpret the meaning of the recent rainfall, winter may seem to be hanging on for a while longer.

But nimble Portland real estate watchers know they can’t believe everything they read (or see happening outside in the garden).  Cherry blossoms can’t call […]

2016-02-29T21:38:13+00:00

Capitalize on First Impressions

The way the ‘curb appeal’ phenomenon applies to a Portland home for sale is explained simply enough. Like the packaging on a store shelf item, its mission is to break through the competition—to strike a responsive chord with potential buyers.

That is the goal, but no Portland Metro area home that’s up for sale can possibly ‘bat a thousand’ when it comes to curb appeal, since buyers start out with differing mental images of what constitutes an ideal home. For some, it’s a well-kept colonial; for others, a clean-lined contemporary. Today, most house hunting begins with the online listings. Each offering is introduced via its exterior glamor shot…making it possible to form quick impressions of the whole gamut of properties for sale in Portland. Those pictures comprise today’s first pass at curb appeal—the photographic kind. For homes that pass that first hurdle, the next test is the three-dimensional, pull-up-to-the-curb experience. Making the most of that first impression can shape all that ensues.

A survey of hundreds of […]

2016-02-26T23:51:02+00:00

Renovation and Home Prices

Here’s an instant spot quiz— (see what comes to mind within a second or two):

If you decide to sell your town home, if you had a crystal ball, what’s the most important detail about the sale result?  Quick! Answer!

If you’re like seven out of ten people, you were curious about the bottom line: “what price did it sell for?” Some people come up with “how long did it take?”—but usually, that’s the second or third choice (“what were the buyers like?” is another contender).

It’s hardly surprising that the closer they get to putting their own house up for sale, home prices are foremost in people’s minds. Yet most homeowners assume that the ultimate sale price will be determined by market forces outside their control. That’s sort of true, but not entirely so. Home prices aren’t set in stone. Homeowners do have a degree of control over what their property will bring—if they choose […]

2016-02-23T03:52:12+00:00

What is it with Real Estate and Threes?

When you go searching for the latest Portland real estate news online, as likely as not you will find the lion’s share is dominated by advertisements (not to complain: I advertise, too) and the current Portland Metro area listings. There is rarely any true Portland real estate news as such—since what’s ‘new’ is principally the arrival and departure of the latest batch of homes in the northwest for sale.

All the other nuggets of Portland Metro area real estate “news” are actually news’ first cousins: features about real estate—most of which deal with the age-old verities of the field rather than anything that is truly up-to-the-moment new. The other day, while hunting down the latest Portland Metro area real estate goings-on, as usual, our national Realtors’® web site kept coming up. This is not unusual, since our organization is one of the most active trade organizations in the country, quoted […]

2016-02-17T23:08:29+00:00

Condos and Townhomes

When an Portland Metro area couple begins thinking over the pros and cons of downsizing their family’s home base, one increasingly attractive possibility is a move into a Portland condominium or townhome (yes, they’re different—more on that later).

Several factors combine to make that choice worth looking into. One is demographic: Portland homeowners approaching retirement age typically discover that much of the effort and expense of operating a larger home plant is being wasted once children are no longer at home. Given the choice between mowing the lawn and golfing, or vacuuming a largely unused game room or visiting the mall, eventually the decision gets clearer. Because downsizing can mean significant savings in time and money, checking out the current Portland condo/townhome choices can make a lot more sense than it ever did before.

The differences between condos and townhomes vary, although townhomes are usually considered to be the more similar to a single family home—with the notable exception that they […]

2016-02-15T16:26:41+00:00

The Art and Science of Appraisals

Built into the way a Portland Metro area home changes ownership is the institution of the appraisal report—the document which attempts to place a dollar value on the property in question. That word “attempts” is the key when it comes to appraisals. Although it would make life easier if Portland appraisals consisted of completely objective, scientifically verifiable calculations, in the real world, they can’t be.

Portland appraisals are created by locating comparable properties that have sold recently on the open market, then adjusting that dollar amount to reflect the differences between them. That’s where perfect objectivity becomes…um…subject to interpretation.

If only any two homes were exactly the same in every detail, the latest price paid for one would be the best appraised value for the other. But even in the best case—say, two tract homes built at the same time with exactly the same features—their appraised values probably wouldn’t be exactly the same.  After all, they can’t occupy the same plots, and one location might […]

2016-02-12T22:25:16+00:00

Punxutawney Phil & Predicting Local Listings

Especially this time of year, common sense would seem to lead any homeowner planning to sell their Portland home this year to hold off for the moment…at least until Punxutawney Phil’s forecast starts to come true (the venerable groundhog said that winter 2016 will be a short one). A quick peek at Portland Metro area listings in most Februarys usually confirms the notion that most people decide to wait. As a rule, the ranks of the Portland listings in February are a good deal thinner than will be the case a few months later.

Delaying isn’t necessarily the most convenient answer for every homeowner—which gives rise to questioning whether that particular piece of common sense is always as sensible as it seems. At least one writer thinks not.

Just over a year ago, Kenneth Harney authored an account describing some contrary evidence. Writing in The Washington Post, he reported on national sales results […]

2016-02-10T03:32:20+00:00

No New Real Estate Bubble

The possibility that a Portland real estate bubble might be forming again is a subject that draws everybody’s attention. For all of us who went through the subprime mortgage mess and drop-off in Portland Metro area real estate prices, the possibility that the current ongoing rebound might be evidence of another price bubble is a matter of serious concern. For anyone who bought their home near the 2006 peak—then had to wait for a decade before its nominal market value returned—it was an unpleasant interlude. Even if any ‘loss’ was actually only a paper abstraction, “My nerves!” could have been rattled aplenty.

Whether you are a first-time homebuyer or someone who is plotting out the move to a next house, the main deciding factor will probably be simple necessity. First-timers will do the math and deduce that it’s simply too costly to continue renting. Existing homeowners will be motivated by the need for more living space (or less)—or see a financial path that makes possible […]

2016-02-05T01:27:30+00:00

Home Renter Mindset

You’d think that the single most influential factor governing a potential Portland Metro area home buyer’s decision on whether to buy now or hold off would be the ongoing bottom line—that is, the amount of an anticipated monthly mortgage payment.

Maybe not.

The New York Federal Reserve argues otherwise. Not just a little bit otherwise; “dramatically” otherwise.

To cut to the chase (and that’s a good idea, for reasons that we’ll get to later), what is more likely to impact that decision—especially for those who are currently renters—is the size of the down payment. It follows that Portland Metro area home renters are more likely to be encouraged by any relaxation of down payment requirements than they are to be discouraged by a rise in mortgage interest rates (with the resulting increase in the monthly payment).

Upon reflection, the Fed’s finding isn’t so surprising. The slow-motion economic recovery and stall in wage growth has made it tougher […]

2016-02-01T22:01:49+00:00