Community Reinvestment Act: a Legacy
Not long into my real estate life – sometime in 2005 – our office had a meeting at which the in-house loan originator talked at length about the burgeoning Hispanic market and the loan products designed to meet the growing need, including 100% no-doc loans. When I asked what steps were being taken in the […]
May Numbers; On Being Accustomed to Food
Something I admit but can’t fully reconcile:
There are two parts of being a successful real estate agent: Doing the job an agent is hired to do, professionally representing clients in the buying and selling of real estate. I’ve said before, good agents earn every cent of what they’re paid: that’s testified to by the fact that the […]
While we worry about declining real estate prices, there are villages in Africa worried about their next meal.
One of the things I love about Lake Grove Presbyterian Church is the amount of time, talent and giving that goes to worldwide mission outreach programs. One of those is a now ten year partnership, through Worldvision, with a federation of sixteen Wolof villages in Senegal. Not mission in the sense of “here, let me give […]
Decorum
For the third time I deleted a comment yesterday. The first two were easy - one accused someone else who’d commented here of being active on a gay porn site, the other was a typically hysterical lefty rant - this one took a couple seconds to decide.
I’ve said I’ve been through all this before, and […]
For the Benefit of Mr. Git, Pt 2; the demand side of housing, inertia
[Part 1, supply, here.]
Demand = the number of buyers willing and able to buy a home.
Willing: Local factors
[Downtown Lake Oswego]
Before we can find willing buyers, there must first, of course, be potential buyers. I admit fully to provincial bias when I say I’d rather live in the Pacific Northwest than anywhere else in the world - […]
The Lighter Side of Serious: What’s wrong with this picture?
All pulled from the MLS today:
Offered at $385,000: One Fire Hydrant!
Window coverings negotiable!
Wonderful use of color!
Yes! The world really is flat!
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[If anyone would like to preview any of these properties, please let me know…]
In praise of Terradatum
A good company is defined by three things, each of which reinforces the others: the quality of the product or service provided; the quality of people it employs; and how well and quickly it follows through on fixing problems. Standard seems to be that the rep or support person - or even president - tells […]
More on Portland Housing Supply …
Terradatum has just added a new search algorithm that gives a condensed and more up to date view of a given market: Six months, broken into weekly and twelve week increments. It came out yesterday so I haven’t had time to go over it in depth, but one chart stands out. This chart (click for […]
UG’s Primer, Part 1: UGB, restricted growth, and the effect of supply on real estate prices
My last year at Nordstrom was 1979. I was the divisional men’s shoe merchandiser for the six Oregon stores, and the national economy was that of Jimmy Carter: High inflation (12%), high interest rates (prime 12.25%); malaise. Not in spite of that, but because of that we had a record year: 27% increase in sales, […]
Match Day: May we have the envelope, please?
Would YOU buy an appendectomy from this woman?
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The process starts at the beginning of the fourth year for med school students everywhere. Disciplines are chosen - Anesthesiologist? Pediatrics? Surgery? - and applications for residency made to those programs around the country that fit the criteria. There are acceptances and rejections, the acceptances then lined up for […]
