And maybe it still is.
NAR released numbers today that state exsisting home sales in September were the highest increase, month over month, since 2003.  Woohoo!, right?  Maybe not.  Nationally, home prices are still falling.  Even the eternally optimistic NAR econ-front man, Lawrence Yun, is cautious.  MSNBC reported Mr. Yun as offering the following: “housing may [...]

I knew there were more than, say, a million reasons why I <3 Portland.  And why you should leave California to live in Portland. Now we have just one more…. Yesterday Forbes ranked Portland as the 4th best place to ride out the recession.  You can read the full article here. 
Reasons being:
Underwater homes: 11%    (foreclosures, homes without equity)
Median home [...]

moar funny pictures
I’ve long been a customer of PDX Homequest, and it’s been a great enhancement to my business and an awesome tool for my buyers.  I was pleased and excited to see today on their News page that they will soon be releasing an IDX application.  What this means is that visitors to my [...]

 If you haven’t checked out Altos Research  yet, it really is a must click/see/bookmark.  Currently they offer the most up to date information and real estate data.  Simply put, they rock.  I’m comparing Portland and Beaverton, although I did dig through some of the suburbs to the east and south.  The trends for those cities are [...]

If you live in Portland, or are planning a visit, this is a must see. The gardens are serene, gorgeous, and can be toured in about an hour. longer if you are lugging photo gear.

10.  West Coast Cool - Portland gets good bands, has some great local bands (affordable, small venues to boot!) and the occasional movie shoot, and you can wear shorts & flip flops pretty much anywhere, without the So. Cal ego, and most of the time it’s only a 2 hour flight to L.A. for about the same cost [...]

Just some notes from our office sales meeting today…..  I thought I’d share some positive highlights about the market since my last post was a bit of doom and gloom.   So here goes…….
Steve Landis, from Northwest Mortgage, recently attended a presentation given by IndyMac.  He brought back some interesting information.  Steve has recently become our [...]

With the feds taking over IndyMac one might speculate that the mortgage industry couldn’t be hit much harder.  That very well could be the case, but I expect not.  Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac are also shakin’ in their boots a bit after big losses in the stock market this week due to losing investor confidence.  [...]

Had a great time this year, and there was some awesome talent.  Just one of the many reasons why I love living in Portland!
The 40+ crowd gettin’ their groove on at the Zydeco Swamp Romp….

The coolest cat in the joint:

I got my $10(+2 Cans)worth from these three (Jr. Boy Jones, left; Phillip Walker, center; Sherman [...]

 There really is no way of candy coating the fact that our market has undergone drastic changes in the last year.  We have seen prices decline, more foreclosure and short sale listings enter the market, and unconventional sales methods with our first mass auction last winter, and then a second round auction earlier this year.  [...]