Portland Real Estate Blog

This is a top 100 real estate blog in the world according to Feedspot.com. In particular, this is a local real estate blog written by a top 1% real estate agent in the U.S., Stephen FitzMaurice, Realtor. Stephen regularly reports on the greater Portland metro area’s real estate market including annual housing forecasts and best time to sell or buy a home reports. He gives home selling and home buying professional advice. He also writes informative articles on Portland neighborhoods and suburbs as they relate to the real estate market. Finally, he writes to inform the general public about real estate agents, such as annual average real estate agent commission reports and more.

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portland natural disasters

Portland, Oregon Natural Disasters: Riskiest Neighborhoods to Buy a Home

September 25, 2023

We don’t want to scare away potential homebuyers, but Mother Nature has some potentially powerful disasters to unleash on Portland. Are some neighborhoods safer than others? That depends on which disaster we’re talking about. Before you make a home investment in Portland, get to know what the hazards are and the best way to be prepared for each.  Risk #1: Portland Landslides Areas to watch out for: West Multnomah County, from downtown Portland to Scappoose, as well as parts of Gresham to the east Natural Disaster Risk: Landslides Don’t buy a home here if: The address has a high landslide hazard risk. While there are some mitigation and prevention strategies, rain, mud and gravity can be a deadly mix. Neighborhoods...

Portland, Oregon Real Estate Market, October 2023 Report

September 22, 2023

The market has turned to favor buyers as housing inventory increases while the number of pending sales continues to decrease. The corresponding decrease in prices resulting from high supply and a lack of demand are creating ideal buying conditions that will benefit buyers until inventory begins to drop again (likely) in October. Let’s take a look at the numbers that are shaping our current real estate market conditions. Portland Home Buyer Traffic Remains Lukewarm As you can see illustrated on the RMLS buyer traffic report, buyer traffic has picked up slightly in September after a period of decline through the month of August. Levels of traffic continue to remain in the lukewarm range as they have since March with little...

rmls portland

Portland Real Estate and the RMLS

September 15, 2023

You hear us mention the RMLS on this blog when we cover the Portland Real Estate Market monthly and reference the RMLS Market Action report. But what is RMLS, and what can they do for you, the Portland area real estate buyer or seller? RMLS stands for Regional Multiple Listing Service. Every region in the US has one, and RMLS is specific to Oregon and Southern Washington. RMLS used to be the largest Realtor owned multiple listing service in the Pacific Northwest, but it is no longer Realtor owned. Did you know? Oregon has three major MLS systems (RMLS, WVMLS, MLSCO) and Washington has at least two (RMLS and NWMLS). Multiple listing services were created so real estate agents could...

asbestos in your home test and treat

Asbestos in Your Home. What to Look for, How to Test.

September 11, 2023

In the past, we’ve written about various Portland home hazards all homeowners need to be aware of, from underground oil tanks and radon to mold, floods, earthquakes, and landslides. There’s another one to remember when preparing to invest your hard-earned money into a new home or preparing your current home to list it on the market, no matter its age: asbestos! As real estate agents serving the Portland metro area, we understand the importance of helping clients successfully sell their homes for the highest possible price and providing sellers and buyers with the latest information about potential hazards Portland homes might have. Most of us think of asbestos as a material used in construction in the distant past, which has...

Portland Maps for Buyers

Buying a Portland home? Check Portlandmaps.com first.

September 8, 2023

Buying a new home starts with research. Not only do you have to find houses on the market, but you need to learn enough about them to determine if they’re a good fit for you. While your real estate agent can help a lot during this process, where do you go if you need additional information quickly or want to do your own research? Thankfully, with the advent of the internet, you no longer need to spend hours digging through a city office and looking through old housing records. With the help of websites like Portlandmaps.com, you can easily research homes in the Portland, OR, area in a flash, making it much easier to learn everything you need to know...

Portland school districts change

Portland School District Boundaries Changing

September 4, 2023

Fall 2023 Update. Location, location, location is the most important thing in real estate. For many Portland home buyers, this statement could be rephrased as “Good schools, great schools, and the best school for my child.” In Portland, the neighborhood you live in determines which schools your child or children will attend, so news that Portland Public Schools is changing is district boundaries is a game-changer (and may cause some anxiety). Out of Balance School Populations Lead to Changes PPS is the largest of six school districts within the Portland Metro Area. It serves 44,0000 at over 80 elementary, middle and high schools, but it says that enrollment at those schools has been out of balance for the past few...

Homeowners are Becoming More Accurate at Predicting Home Value

September 1, 2023

We’ve been reporting on the discrepancy between what homeowners believe their home is worth and actual market value for several years. During that time the trend of homeowners overestimating their home’s value held steady, as it had been doing for years. According to a June 2020 article published in the Journal of Housing Economics, “… in most scholars’ opinion, dwelling owners tend to overvalue their properties by about 5%.” Recently though, we’re seeing an interesting deviation from the tendency of homeowners to be overly optimistic about potential sales prices – to now underestimating the market value of their home by an average of 0.77% – a difference determined by comparing homeowner opinions with appraiser estimates. A Shift in Homeowner Perception...

gresham oregon real estate market

Gresham, Oregon Real Estate Market 2023 Report with Forecast

August 28, 2023

We regularly provide a real estate analysis of one of Portland’s suburbs to help you understand how the market might affect your buying or selling decisions and when might be the best time to act. To learn more about market activity in other suburbs we have covered, check out our Portland Suburb Real Estate Market Reports. In this article we’ll look at the suburb of Gresham, Portland’s immediate neighbor to the east. Gresham’s city center is located 16 miles from downtown Portland, with easy access via the MAX Light Rail. Not merely a town on the way to explore Mt. Hood or the Columbia River Gorge, Gresham is a destination in its own right as home to the beautiful Oxbow...

portland oregon real estate market forecast 2024

Portland Real Estate Market Forecast 2024

August 25, 2023

Licensed since 2003, with over 2,000 home sales, I write a Portland real estate market forecast annually. To be more specific, I write one in the late summer and then I updated in late winter, just before New Year. Most years I am able to predict fairly accurately what is coming in the next year for the Portland real estate market, mainly because I write monthly reports on our market in addition to many other research reports including the best months to sell or to buy a home in our area. Of course, we were all surprised by the events that unfolded in 2020 and as a result how hot the real estate market got in 2021 through the first...

columbia riverfront real estate

Columbia Riverfront Real Estate, Willamette Valley Guide

August 21, 2023

Always dreamed of owning riverfront property? Imagine waking up every morning with the beautiful Columbia River flowing by right outside your door. It’s a dream for a lot of people, but the reality is, knowing where to look can be a challenge. To make your job easier, we did an extensive search to find Columbia River riverfront property in Oregon and Washington along the Willamette Valley. From single-family homes to condos to floating homes, there are a multitude of possibilities for all price ranges. You’ll be amazed by what you can find. Columbia Riverfront Single-Family Homes When you own a single-family home right on the water, it’s like having your own personal oasis. The water’s calming effect – along with...