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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Assumable Loan Rates Starting at 2%, A Home Buyer’s New Best Friend

November 25, 2022

Soaring mortgages rates are causing the recent real estate market slowdown. These high rates, by in large, are the only reason for the housing slump. Inventory is still relatively low compared to prior years, and prices are actively dropping. Despite the new lower home prices, sales are still way down due to the cost of a new mortgage today. However, did you know it is possible for a homebuyer today to assume the seller’s loan and get that seller’s fantastic mortgage rate, no matter how low that interest rate might be? It is a true and present possibility. We’ll show you how. Only Certain Homes Have Assumable Loans Given all of the homes on the market today, only a portion...

How Many Realtors Are There? 2023 Update

November 21, 2022

There are a lot of Realtors in the U.S. and in the greater Portland, Oregon metro where my team is headquartered. Over time, the big story in Realtor numbers was a drop that lingered for years after the real estate crash that started in 2008, then a sharp increase in the number of Realtors every year since 2013 to today (about ten years of significant increases). After 2020, Realtor counts had their biggest ever increases in 2021 and 2022, while the market was red hot. Now as the real estate market is cooling down and prices are dropping, there is a chance the trend of ever-increasing Realtors will stop. Number of Realtors in the U.S. Year Number going up or...

How to Get a Home to Sell in 2023

November 18, 2022

In order to increase your changes to sell a home in 2023, which is expected to be a tougher real estate market than usual, it is most important to know exactly how homes sell across the country. What causes a home to sell or not? We perform a ton of research locally to answer that question, and thankfully NAR, National Association of Realtors, puts out a huge report annually to assist in answering how homes sell nationally. Three Main Factors that Lead to a Home Sale According to the latest NAR fall 2022 report, the buyer found the home they ended up purchasing using these methods: % of the time Where the buyer found the home they purchased. 91% Found...

What is an English Cottage Style Home in Portland?

November 14, 2022

We’ve written before about the many architectural styles you’ll find in Portland, and in this article, we’re adding another one to the list: the English Cottage. Inspired by the original cottages from England, these homes possess a welcoming feel that call up images of cozy comfort and charming whimsey. The grounds of these homes tend to be as important as the homes themselves with lush outdoor spaces created to allow for relaxing and communing with nature. See the full map of all English Cottage homes for sale in Portland. Characteristics of an English Cottage Style Home in Portland Exterior One of the first characteristics you’ll notice about English Cottage style homes is the dramatically sloped roofs (sometimes reaching almost to...

Canby, Oregon Real Estate Market Update and 2023 Forecast

November 11, 2022

Canby, Oregon is a city in Clackamas County, south of Portland, with a population of about 18,000. It was named after Edward Canby, a Civil War general and platted in 1870. Canby has its own downtown shopping center with a mix of highly rated restaurants, bars, and retail shops. The city has plenty of parks, a cinema, swim center, museum, library, skate park, and more. Little known fact, Canby has its own ferry that transports cars and passengers across the Willamette River to Wilsonville, Oregon. With all of these quaint amenities, it is no wonder Canby, Oregon is a desirable place to live and its real estate market outperforms the city of Portland proper. While Portland’s home prices have started...

Portland Real Estate Market, December 2022

November 9, 2022

The big story for the Portland real estate market as we approach December 2022 is the lack of sales due to home buyers pulling back. While that is the headline, we will get into all the statistics behind the drop in sales here. Inventory is High, But Finally Dropping Now inventory isn’t falling as fast as it did in 2020 or 2021, but inventory is finally starting to drop after rising since Feb. Inventory should continue to drop as we approach the holidays, but will likely stay higher than in recent years. Lower inventory is important. Right now buyers are pulling back and there are simply more homes for sale than there are buyers. Buyer Traffic is Colder than Usual,...

My Home is Not Selling, What Can I Do? 2023 Update

November 7, 2022

Three Reasons a Home Sells or Does Not The late 2022 Portland real estate market is struggling and slowing down. Buyer traffic continues to drop while inventory remains stubbornly high. Price drops are increasing and homeowner fear is on the rise. What can a home owner do to ensure their property is the one that sells? Three things determine whether or home sells or not. Price Condition Marketing We’ll start in reverse order. 3. Marketing a Home for Sale Property marketing can make a huge difference in your home sale. In order of importance for marketing: A. Presence / Reach of Marketing B. Presentation (initial impact) C. Depth (for interest buyers) A. Presence Of course, the home will not sell...

Portland Foreclosure Market and 2023 Forecast

November 4, 2022

I started selling homes in 2003 when the Portland real estate market was starting to get hot. I sold foreclosures and short sales after the 2008 crash until they statistically disappeared by 2016. The amount of available foreclosure and short sale homes for sale dropped to less than 1% in Portland, Oregon in 2019 and stayed that way through 2021 (despite the pandemic). So far in 2022, around one tenth of 1% of detached homes in Portland sold as foreclosures. However, with the recent dramatic increase in mortgage rates and current economic turmoil many are expecting foreclosures to rise in 2023 or 24. Keep in mind that foreclosures do not happen quickly. Notice number of 2008 foreclosures in the below...

Six Portland, Oregon Earthquake Maps

November 2, 2022

As with every city, Portland, Oregon doesn’t come without its hazards, one of which is the potential for earthquakes, given that our city rests on a fault line. But there are ways to deal with this particular hazard, including retrofitting your home and being prepared in the event an earthquake does happen. Another step in managing the certainty of an earthquake in Portland is to equip yourself with resources to keep you informed. Fortunately, science is making great strides in understanding seismic changes beneath the earth’s surface and finding ways to relay what they know to the layperson. Several helpful earthquake maps exist, and we’re including them in this article. Be sure to take a look at them before you...

6 Essential Portland, Oregon Maps

October 31, 2022

We rely on maps every day for a variety of reasons—to find our way around, to locate businesses, and more. Due to our technologically savvy world with virtually everything at our fingertips, we rarely rely on tangible maps anymore, but maps still serve a valuable function to our every day lives. Portland maps take many forms and serve a wide variety of purposes. Bottom line, we love Portland and we love maps! If you’ve lived in any of Portland’s neighborhoods for any length of time, you’ve probably learned the city well enough to navigate it without a map. But chances are, you’ve become accustomed to traversing its streets to accomplish your day-to-day tasks and the occasional social outing to your...

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Stephen FitzMaurice

Team at eXp Realty