Greening of the free market? No. That’s an oxymoron. Freeing of the green market.

When the RMLS rolled out a new ‘green’ search parameter over a year ago, and The Oregonian spent nearly its entire business section gushing about it, I wrote the likelihood of its becoming significant was remote.  Even in Portland, where global warming hysteria is matched only by what you find under an endtimes revival tent, the […]

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…]

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, […]

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 […]

December numbers; and a Special Plea to the Oregon Association of Realtors

Richard Gaylord, president of the National Association of Realtors, was interviewed on local station KXL a few weeks ago:
http://arkansasrealtors.net/files/richard_gaylord.mp3
The gist:
“I’m optimistic about the market in your area and around the country … We see sales remaining strong [in Portland], increasing 1% in 2008, and we also see prices increasing 2% in 2008.”
Well.
Here are the preliminary […]

Glenn Kelman, Redfin and the Today Show; Short Version

Glenn Kelman is blessed with the genes of Harold Hill.  After his coming out on Sixty Minutes - written about here, here  and here - Kelman appeared last Friday on the Today Show to announce that he’d learned - scientifically! - that it indeed wasn’t a good idea to price a home too high.  With limited […]

Miscellaneous real estate catch up; and it’s all my daughters’ fault.

It’s not that it’s been a slow real estate month for news.  And it would be nice to blame a lack of posting on the fact that buyers are oozing out of the woodwork, but it’s neither the time of year nor the time of market for that.
So the best I can do is this:  […]