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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Real Estate Agent Review Sites – Top List

August 14, 2014

There are a number of places you can search for real estate agent and Realtor reviews. Below is a top list of places to check: Zillow.com. This is the number one real estate website in terms of online traffic and so a lot of real estate agents post their reviews on there. What is unusual about Zillow’s list of agent reviews is that the first page is randomly generated. So you can’t filter the search results by “most reviewed” or “highest rated” agents. You can search their real estate agent directory by most listings and by the most sales. However, the most sales category is deceiving, because there are some agents, for instance, in Eugene, OR, posting all their sales...

Portland Real Estate Market: Economic growth drives home sales

July 31, 2014

Good news from the RMLS across the data fields for the month of June: The number of closed sales in the Portland real estate market is up over 4% from last year, the number of days on market continues to fall, and the average and median sales prices in Portland for June 2014 were both up nearly 9% from June 2013. In terms of pending sales, months of inventory and new listings, things are pretty much the same as last year, says the RMLS report. Nobody’s complaining: Portland’s real estate market is stronger than other metros across the country, and we remain a popular place to relocate to. Meanwhile, locals are moving up to bigger homes or building new. The...

Portland Home Tests: Oil Tank Sweep

July 15, 2014

Portland homes are heated in many ways. Some use electricity, some natural gas, and there are even a few homes that just use a wood stove or fireplace (not to mention Geo-thermal, heat pumps, and a variety of alternative methods!). Oil heat is not as common but it has been in use since the 1940s, heating about 10% of all homes in the United States. Oil heating systems are different in that oil must be delivered to the property and stored for use, much like you store gasoline in your car’s gas tank. The life span on Portland heating oil tanks is about 20 years, after which they pose an environmental hazard because of leaks. Unfortunately, once a tank is...

Portland Pocket Listings – Bad for the real estate market

July 1, 2014

The phenomenon has been around for as long as real estate agents: When inventory is low and buyers aren’t finding what they’re looking for on the market, some Realtors will go door to door in the target neighborhood to find a home that the owners are willing to sell, or they will make a “secret” pact with home sellers they know. The practice is known as “pocket listing”, because the seller never lists their home on the public MLS. Instead, they sell to the buyer that the real estate agent has in mind, often for less than they might have if they had advertised to the entire public market. In the Portland real estate market last month, according to the...

Portland Real Estate Danger: Asbestos

June 17, 2014

It’s not a mold or a metal; a fungus or a gas. It’s not a chemical from a lab or something beamed in from space – in fact, this household hazard has been in use for 4,000 years! Asbestos is actually a mineral that forms long fibers with a wide array of uses. Unfortunately, its dangers were not recognized until the early 1900’s, and the Environmental Protection Agency still hasn’t completely banned it. That’s right, we’re one of the few developed countries where cancer-causing asbestos can still be found in everything from brake pads to oven mitts! In home construction prior to 1990, asbestos was a common material for floor tiles, siding, insulation and ceilings because of its ability to...

Portland Home Tests: Sewer Scope!

May 29, 2014

Continuing our series on home tests Portland real estate agents recommend on older Portland homes, let’s talk about everybody’s favorite subject: Sewage. Okay, most of us would rather not think about what happens when we flush the toilet or run the garbage disposal, but just as you wouldn’t buy a home with fraying electrical lines or rusted-out water pipes, you should look into the condition of your potential home’s sewer system before you commit. In case you weren’t aware, all of the drains in your home’s kitchen, bathroom, laundry, etc., are connected to a sewer pipe that you become responsible for when you buy the home. Your sewer pipe runs under your front or back yard to connect to a...

Portland Home Sales, Acquisition Statistics, First Half 2014

May 21, 2014

Okay, so the 2014 Portland real estate market is not quite half over yet, but we are close and I find the acquisition numbers fascinating so far. In the last six months, 3734 Portland homes have sold and 961 Portland townhomes and condos. Of the regular Portland home sales, 762 or 20% were cash sales. A whopping 2533, or 67%, were conventional loan sales. 344, or 9% were FHA loan sales, and finally 95 or 3% were VA loans. The remaining 1% of sales were “other” financed, either seller financed, lease option, trade, or a rehab loan. In regards to townhomes and condos in Portland, 961 sold in the last six month. An amazing number of those sales were cash,...

Portland Home Tests: Radon Gas

May 14, 2014

What’s invisible, odorless, creeps in your basement, and kills 21,000 people a year in the US alone according to the EPA? The answer is radon gas, and to be more specific, it comes from naturally occurring uranium in the rocks and soil underneath homes, including many in the Portland, Oregon area. And homes without basements can have a radon problem, although it is less likely. Pro tip: If your Portland home is on a crawlspace, be sure that all the crawlspace vents are open and not blocked with debris. If the crawlspace is open and well ventilated the chances of failing a Radon test drop to nearly zero in the Portland area. Here’s what you need to know: Radon gas...

Portland Real Estate Market March 2014: Fresher than ever

May 7, 2014

Things that aren’t very good stale: Crackers, beer and the Portland real estate market. Luckily, Portlanders can fear no more this spring about stale real estate because the real estate market is fresh as a newly hatched chick (besides, here in the rainy Northwest, soggyness is a greater danger than staleness). According to a recent Trulia report, relative to the rest of the country, the Portland real estate market sells homes at one of the fastest rates in the nation. This month’s RMLS numbers back up the report. Inventory, an important marker of how quickly homes are passing from the hands of sellers to buyers, fell to 3.1 months in March. Average total time on the market was 85 days....

Appraisal FAQ – Need to know info. for Portland Home Appraisals

April 22, 2014

A home appraisal is part of nearly 95% of Portland real estate home sales. It is not 100% because around 5% of sales in Portland, Oregon are cash and do not require an appraisal. (Pro Tip: A cash buyer can hire an independent appraiser to evaluate the home and make their offer contingent on their satisfaction of that independent appraisal. This is not common, but also not a bad idea.) Also appraisals are used for home refinances, but in this article we will focus on an appraisal for a real estate transaction in Portland. Here is what you need to know about Portland home appraisals: Who pays for the appraisal? The buyer pays for it and it is not included...

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Stephen FitzMaurice

Team at eXp Realty