Standing athwart history, part 2.

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The business of real estate is changing, not because of a tough market but in spite of it.  [When homes aren’t selling, sellers understandably gravitate toward high-volume high-profile listing agents, reinforcing the status quo.]  It’s a process, but the internet is turning everything on its head:  Buyers are savvy enough to do their own searches, […]

“It stands athwart history, yelling Stop…”

I started this morning with ideas germinating on real estate weblogs, web 2.0 and (once again) the state of real estate.  The business is changing because how people approach buying and selling homes is changing, and web 2.0, still embryonic, is going to be a big part of it.  We just don’t yet know how.
But […]

On the Theory People Don’t Want Spin; Portland Market Dynamics

Charles Turner asks an excellent question:  How Do We Measure Real Estate Markets?  Statistics exist to prove almost anything one wants to prove; what, though, will give the best indication of a market’s health?
When I was with Nordstrom in the seventies, volume was king.  While most department stores calculated success on their gross margin, we […]

Conforming Loan Limits: In Portland, They Are What They Are

Prior to the final passage of the recently signed and inaptly named Stimulus Bill*, it was speculated that the conforming loan limit - the $417,000 cap on loans bought by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae - would be extended to as much as $729,000, thus allowing such jumbo loans to be financed at a much […]

Sellers: How to do it Right

In this market it’s now axiomatic that, next to the right price, the most important step in whether or not a home will sell is its condition when listed.  I wrote this nearly a year ago, and repeat it in various forms in every listing appointment:
Condition. Unless you’re selling a fixer – and have priced it […]

Official Name Change: RE Conversation

When I was working with department store buyers, the good ones were always the ones who knew their customers and bought accordingly; the bad ones were the ones that bought to their own taste and considered their customers stupid if they didn’t respond.
In the evolution of blogs it takes awhile to find out who readers […]

The Time Value of Homes

When the buying frenzy was hitting stride three years ago, builders were buying any lot they could find in Lake Oswego; in many cases, buying tear-downs and rebuilding. Three hundred thousand dollar lots aren’t good places for two hundred thousand dollar homes, so there are now 122 active listings in LO over $1 million, […]

2008, State of Portland Real Estate: Not Great

But, in my sunny optimistic way, not awful, either.
[Note for the record I’m an optimist, not an ostrich optimist.  The former sees problems and calculates the odds of getting beyond them; the ostrich simply pretends the problems don’t exist (see: NAR).]
The good news is that activity has picked up dramatically in the last three or four […]