Herb's Portland Oregon Real Estate Blog your RE/MAX Agent

The Telephone call was an exciting one. It was Home and Garden Television. The Call came in from a young lady in New York. She works for the hit show Hidden_Potential on HGTV. It was a little hard to hear as I drove through the City with my Radio on and the window down on this perfect afternoon in Portland Oregon.

I pulled to the curb and asked if she could repeat herself. " I am calling in behalf of HGTV's television show Hidden Potential, are you familiar with it? " I had to admit I was not. She went on to say that the program works with qualified individuals that are looking to buy a home. The show choose's 3 potential candidate properties ( Fixer uppers ) that have the potential to meet their clients needs for space, area and budget. 

" How can I help you " I asked. She went on to say that once they make their possible selections, they fly out to the city ( Portland Oregon in this case ) and they take a first hand look. If the property stands up to what they would consider to be photogenic and can be fixed up within the Buyer's budget they proceed to the next step.

That Next Step happened this last Wednesday. They arrived and approved of the home ( my listing at 437 NE Webster in the Alberta Arts District. They took lots of photo's and did a complete schematic ( measured the entire house more thoroughly than an appraiser ). They then returned to New York where their Architect began to create a before and after drawing. Once the drawings are complete for the three houses they selected they will return to Portland with their film crew and begin filming there episode.

So here is my question to you. What would you do to maximize your exposure if this was you? I have about a month before they arrive and the owner has given me full authority to use this vehicle for as much exposure as I can get. Of course I intend to watch a couple of three episodes before they arrive to see what has happened to other homes in previous episodes.

What do you think ? Who would you call or how would you use this to promote yourself? Give me your best shot. I really want to know.

PS: This home has an offer from an Investor and will not need this exposure for a sale. The exposure is mine and mine alone to benefit from.

Portland Real Estate Broker Herb Hamilton working hard for greater exposure of His Clients properties. To see more come to www.portlandrealproperty.com  To let your next Portland Oregon home find you visit www.househuntportland.com

I just love a success story. And this one is a Great one. As a Real Estate Broker working in the greater Portland Oregon Metro area it is always a joy to see peoples needs fulfilled. So often in this Real Estate market we here of the Tragic Story instead of the Success Story.

A couple of months back I received an email generated from my Buyer's_Web_Site_&_MLS_Connection.  The Buyer, Dawn thanked me for having such a great web site, allowing her to set her search parameters the way she liked it and the speed an accuracy by which the matches were sent to her. ( My Shameless Plug )

Dawn told me that her and her Husband would be moving to Portland some time in Late July or early August. My web site would allow them to keep informed on the market in the areas that they had decided to live in. The choice coming from past trips they had made. Dawn also informed me that they had a home to sell and wondered if I might refer them to someone.

I have been in real estate for almost 20 years and I have a great many connections around the country and beyond. This however might be the first time someone had asked me about Rhode Island.

As a RE/MAX Broker I of course have access to the vast number of Agent's available through the RE/MAX referral network.I instead chose to look at the members here in ActiveRain. The Real_Estate_Agent's_Profile_Page  is much more than just marketing fluff. It allows you to read about the Agent as written by them giving you an opportunity to have insight as to the person.

Tammy_Pelleteir  stood out in my minds eye as the perfect match for Dawn and Her Husband's real estate needs. Tammy has about the same amount of years in the business as I do and lives and works in Cranston within in the area of Dawn's home. Tammy is an Activerain  member since at least last November 2006. She has not contributed any posts as of yet. Perhaps we should encourage her. What do you think?

About a week after my initial contact I recieved an email from Dawn who thanked me for recommending Tammy, they hit it off really well and both were enthusiastic to begin the process of Selling Dawn's home.

Three days later Dawn's home was under contract and I received two very excited emails from Dawn and Tammy, this was truly a great match-up.

Fast forward to the present. Dawn's home has Sold and Closed. My referral check has been received and deposited. Dawn and I have conversed by email a couple of times on their route here to Portland and there temporary rental. We hope to take the next few months to allow Dawn and her husband to fully settle into the  Portland_Oregon_Life  and make final selections as to neighborhood before we set out after the next part of their Journey. Buying a Home in Portland Oregon . Certainly my web site http://www.househuntportland.com/  will play a major role in helping to pre-select the homes that we will look at and so will I.  

Thank You ActiveRain and thank you for your Great Service Tammy Pelletier.

www.portlandrealproperty.com Find out more about Portland Oregon and search for Homes for Sale

This web site is dedicated to the Savvy Real Estate Investor_of_Portland_Or_Real_Estate  sign up today.

So this Sunday morningstarts out like almost any other Sunday. I go through my normal wake up routine and after checking the News, Email and Blog comments, I head out to the Coffee shop.

After conversing with half a dozen patrons and downing 2-3 cups of coffee and I write 6 or so AR comments, I am out the door. First stop this morning is going to be a cursory checkup on my Vacant Fixer listing at 437 NE Webster in Portland Oregon's Alberta Arts District. I then will drive past 8 Expireds that I have pulled and make a decision if I want to go after them or not. I will follow that up with a visit to Mt. Tabor where one of my Rehab Clients is Grouting Kitchen Tile then I will hold open two new town homes that I have on the market for one of my builders on the border between MT Tabor and Montavilla Neighborhoods.

Looks like a busy Sunday for sure. So as I come around the corner to my fixer on Webster I notice this large Bus ( kind of like a Greyhound ) sitting across the street. As I pull up to the curve the Bus door opens and a group of people start pouring out.

And when I say Group I mean Group. They all make a bee line for the front porch of my Fixer and in a moment or so as I watch this whole thing unfold two people holding all kinds of paper work and talking a mile a minute approach the door to the fixer. Quickly one of them reaches for a lock box key and bingo the group starts to poor in through the front door All 50 of them.

Thats right there was 50 people in this group. After the bulk of them were either in the house or on the way to the front door the person with the key suddenly turned and asked who I might be.

After a few brief introductions they told me that they had been contacted by someone who was putting on an investment seminar ( In the same building that there office was located in ) and asked if they would like to lead a tour to Portland and show the group some fixers.  The Agents said they would be more than happy ( of course ) even though they were a little out of their element as their office is located in a bedroom community some 15 miles away.

None the less they had done there home work pretty well and seemed prepared enough to do the group justice. I hung around and answered questions for all and took precautionary measures to remind the group when they asked me for my card that they should get the information from the agents who were guiding them through the tour. Several people commented about my professionalism regarding this and some people just said they would take my information from my sign in front of the home.

Before you know it they were all back on the Bus and as I grabbed for my Camera this is all that I got before they were gone.

For More_Pictures_of_437_NE_Webster_in_Portland_Or.  in the Alberta Arts District . **** Update SOLD ***

Let your next home find you right here in Portland_Oregon's_Buyer's_Web_Site_for_MLS_Properties

What causes us to resist change? For several years now I have constantly preached the benefits of Scanning documents and sending them out by email. The legibility factor his huge. Specifically when you look at issues of clarity as it relates to the Old Mighty Fax.

How long have scanners been around? This not new technology and certainly the price point is so low it is almost as if they are paying you to take them. Yet day in and day out the use of the Fax machine as the primary sender of documents remains.

I have heard of some people who have said they would like to fax but cannot find a program that doesn't cost a fortune. Most of your common software applications have a scan and or acquire feature today. As well as most if not all of the scanners have programs built in or have software included.

Several years ago I bought a simple little software program from downloads . com called Scanout. This utility allows you to scan in black and white color and a few other methods. You can use it with your flat bed scanner or document feeder. It then creates a PDF file and allows you to save where ever you like. The program only cost $29 or so and still performs excellent today.

Not only that but my computer crashed once and I emailed the folks at Scanout and they sent me a new version with no charge, this was after I already had owned it for almost 2 years.

So what is causing you to resist this change? Are you pleased with working with illegible documents? Your Clients certainly deserve a legible copy of what they are signing. I know that in Oregon the Real Estate Agency would like to see it as well.

Are you ready to " Boldly Go ..... or are you a Just the Fax Ma'm " type of person.

Free_PDF_Document_Scanning_Program  This is the wes site for pdf995 that David_Podgursky  mentions in his comment below. Thanks David.

Continuing its upward appreciation rate now at 11.5% for the year, North Portland's average Residential Sales Price for the Month of May 2007 is at $269,300 and year to date at $264,000 with a median Sales price of $248,500 for the year to date statistic. A far cry from the early 90's when the vast majority of homes were priced in the $50,000's.

The outlook shows a slowing trend in sales with a decrease of 19.9% (137 Pending Sales) when comparing May of '06 to May of '07. Overall there has been only a slight decrease in Pending sales of 3.8% (a total of 650) when comparing the years of 2006 and 2007.

May shows active listings at 402 with 207 new listings compared to 999 for the year. Average days on the market are the lowest reported for Portland Metro area and stands at 32 days for the month of May as compared with 53 days area wide.

Closed Sales for May 2007 in North Portland are at 123 and 585 for year to date.

Compare the Average Sales price for the Portland Metro area system wide reached a record high of $ 348,800 shows room for more growth yet to come in North Portland. In the twelve previous months ending in May the average sales price appreciated by 10.1% for Portland Metro.

All in all Market activity remains strong in Portland and shows only modest signs of slowing and continued appreciation.

These statistics were compiled from RMLS data. Due to possible inconsistencies in reported data the information should only be used as an analysis of trends only.

Let_Your_Next_Home_Find_You  a free real estate web site featuring MLS Listings and automatically sent to you. 

Find_more_Information_about_Portland_Oregon_and_see_Homes_For_Sale  at this web site for Buyer's and Seller's alike.