You may already be wondering where I’m going with this.  Not to worry, I’m not writing the standard “Ten Reasons Why You Need to Sell/Buy RIGHT NOW!”.  Besides, it’s usually life (or life-style) changing events that are the catalyst for a home sale or purchase.  And babies, true love, or job transfers don’t really give [...]

A special “Thank You!” to Julie Sandlin of First American Title for sending this along this morning.
 
Frequently Asked Questions:
First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit of $8,000
 
1. Who is eligible to claim the tax credit?
First-time home buyers purchasing any kind of home-new or resale-are eligible for the tax credit. To qualify for the tax credit, a [...]

New website…..same great service.
So I can’t say I’m way ahead of the curve on this one… but I’m happy to report that I’m not lagging behind the pack either. Over the last several months, I’ve been completely revamping my web presence. The cherry on top is the scrapping of my old website, and the implementation [...]

Nearly a year ago I got a call from a potential client.  He was beside himself with excitement as he talked about the REDC auction of Buena Vista Homes.  I was immediately struck by his circus-like fascination.  It’s new.  It’s exciting.  They have jazzy, high-intensity commercials and newspaper ads.  But I asked him to let [...]

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 [...]

What a week, eh?  Talk about riding a rollercoaster!  More banks and companies failing, more local builders (Renaissance) “reorganizing debt”, candidates sparring, government officials looking to point the finger, but more importantly, more and more uncertainty in the housing market both nationally and locally.  I have a whole file drawer full of potential buyers right [...]

Thank you to Wendi Eiland for sending in this great information.  Wendi is an insurance agent in Beaverton, you can find out more about Wendi at www.wendieiland.com .

COVER YOURSELF!
Your homeowner’s insurance may be inadequate.
 
We all pay those premiums month after month and rarely actually need our insurance.  And when we do have a claim, many [...]

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 [...]

Thank you to Laurie SantaMaria, Stewart Title, for sending this tidbit in an email this morning.

Homesale exclusion rules tightened

Most homeowners are aware of the homesale exclusion, a provision of the
tax laws which provides that homeowners who sell their principal residence
typically don’t need to pay taxes on as much as $500,000 of their gain if
they meet certain conditions. [...]