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

We all have one. I have one you have one your best friend has one. The fact is that all of us, each and every one of us has or has had one. That is unless you were born under a rock or you are so anti-social that everyone hates you. But that most likely is not you is it? Because you have one too.

What is it that we all have ? A favorite relative or friend. My favorite relative passed away some 20 years or so ago. But to this day My Great Uncle Roy remains strong in my mind.

My great uncle Roy had seen it all. Growing up as a farm boy in North Dakota he had made his way out to the Pacific NW in rural Washington State some 20 minutes or so by car from Portland. Roy had seen the Spanish American war where he had commanded Cannon Fire. He had taught school in a one room school house and was the only college educated person in our entire family for generations.

During the Great depression Uncle Roy would load up the Truck with Milk from his cows and drive out to Gresham Oregon a suburb of Portland and trade Milk for Strawberries. Closer into town he would trade Strawberries and milk for fresh vegetables. By the time he made his way to the farmers market in downtown Portland he would have a variety of items to sell and or barter with before making his way back home.

My uncle Roy lived alone on his 45 acres having lost his only true love early in life and never married again. The little one story loggers shack where my Uncle Roy lived was filled with memorabilia. Newspaper articles and old photo's adorned the walls as much for there insulation as they were for the memories they held.

My Great Uncles home was also the gathering place for our families 4th of July picnic and family reunion. It was a time for us all to gather and catch up on where we were all at. It was also a great time as a small child to sit back and listen to all of the great stories that my Uncle would tell. It was like magic. Better than a picture show.

My Great Uncle was all so a very practical man. He always had a way with words and could reduce it right down to its essence in a few short words. I regale one of these stories on my Rose_City_Blog_site . A short story of Cutting Grass at Uncle Roy's in the Summer of 1964.

I Am sure you as well have a favorite friend or relative, Don't You ? I am sure there memories bring a smile to your face just as they do to mine when I think about MY GREAT UNCLE ROY .

A little over two weeks ago I wrote an offer on a Real Estate Fixer Upper in the Portland Metro area. My Long term Client ( a real estate Investor ) who is always looking for good deals was in the mood to buy again. He consistently buys 1-3 properties a year. He is funny because he always has grandiose plans of rehabbing them but often resorts to flipping them instead.

Sometimes he does a little work on them but often times does nothing. Because he pays cash and does no inspections I am usually able to find him some pretty good candidates. The trick of course is understanding that there is a pretty good chance he will want to flip them immediately.

Hence it keeps me on my toes because I know he wants to make some money ( his profit requirement is at least $15,000 to $20,000) and, cover all of the closing costs as well. With purchases usually running in the $250,000 to $300,000 range it means that I will generally be selling it for $50,000 more than he paid. So I really have to know the product.

So this great property that we wrote an offer on had some pretty stiff competition. And even though our offer was strong it was not strong enough. They had accepted another offer. The Listing agent though offered us a sneak preview on another property that his client had just listed with him that very morning. The agent had not had enough time to get back to the office and put it in the MLS so this was an opportunity for us to get a jump start.

The Property was a long way from where this Listing agent normally worked in but it was right in my back yard in an area that I do most of my business. My client and I quickly made our way to the property and immediately knew that this property was significantly under-priced.

Within the hour I had written a full price offer with a 10 day closing and no contingencies. The offer was accepted by night fall and hit the MLS the following day as a Pending Sale.

After Closing my Client true to his nature did a little bit of dry rot  work and bought a few fixtures to doll it up a bit and then after receiving a bid on the full rehab called me up and said " Let's Flip Her ".

That evening it went on the market and by noon the following day I heard that there may be an offer coming in. By 5:00 pm of that evening we had two offers to look at and one that would follow a little later. The first offer was a no brainier. It was above full price and all cash. The second offer was someone hoping to cash in on all of the media hype of it being a Buyer's market, they were devastated to hear that their offer was not accepted.

The third offer is the interesting one. The agent had called me several times to voice his clients enthusiasm for this home. It was everything they wanted and felt that it was well priced. That is when the last call came in. The Agent had checked the sales data and seen that my client had just purchased the property a few days earlier for about $45,000 less than the current asking price.

They wanted to know what the Seller had done to the property to justify the price. I was astounded. What possible difference could that make!

Of course my response to the agent was the price is the price. The fact that the previous Seller had left money on the table does not mean that this Seller will. I further volunteered another analogy. Real Estate Investor's often buy and sell foreclosures at large mark ups. What is the difference in that?

They just could not come to grips with it. And even though they new they would be competing against two other offers, in the last moment changed there offer for far less than they had originally intended. Of course we had a much better offer on the table to accept. It just seems sad to me though that the mentality of this Buyer and their agent was that they wanted to get a good deal but somehow were unwilling to do so if someone else got a good deal.

What say You? Does this all make sense to You? How would you handle it and what side would you take on this one?

In the approximately 20 years that I have enjoyed pursuing my passion and career in Real Estate, there has been ONLY ONE constant when it comes to advertising a listing.

For all of the marketing schemes and ploys. And all of the fancy Ads, Brochures, Magazines, Video's and TV shows. There is still only one effective method of marketing your listings.

No IT IS NOT a fabulous sign or a successful company and or agent. IT IS NOT a guided tour bus full of hopeful agents coming to eat your catered luncheon. NOR IS IT a special promotion designed to get as many Buyers in your home as possible for the free gift cetificate to your favorite retailer.

The NUMBER 1 marketing technique that YOU, be it your first day in the business or your 7000th day can employ to sell that listing today is.

                                                    PRICE IT RIGHT !

Yes that's it. When you price the listing right today on DAY ONE you tell the world you are there to sell not to TEST THE MARKET. What does price it right mean?

Pricing a listing right does not mean if everyone is getting $200,000 then you should get $200,000. Nor does it mean that you list it for $199,000 and tell people that this is the lowest priced listing of the group.

Pricing it right means accurately assessing the market as it pertains to your listing, and setting the sales price accordingly. It means creating a Sales Price that anyone who would view this property would instantly know that they were looking at a genuine bargain.

The proof is in the Pudding. Even the most derelict, the smallest, the property in the most hideous neighborhood will sell when priced right.

Price it right and you will hear " Now that's a fair price "more often and you will have happier clients on both sides of the aisle. For a Seller who waits several months to get there higher price loses more than they gain and is never as happy with you as someone who Sells in the first couple of weeks.

Let_your_next_Home_Find_You  a web site for Buyer's presented by your RE/MAX Real Estate Broker in Portland Oregon.

"A Real Estate Transaction with Herb is One YOU Will Profit From" 

After a full weekend of previewing and showing homes to my new clients from out of town I am confident they truly are educated about our Portland Market.

Portland Oregon has enjoyed and for the most part weathered the Real Estate market fairly well over the last 2 years. The Perception factor of course has not helped with all of that negative news being reported in some of the less fortunate market places.

The inventory levels continue to rise and the number of pending and closed sales continue to slide down hill. All while property values continue to increase at a rough estimate over all of about 10% a year.

So what makes this a Buyer's Market? I have started asking this of the Buyer's that I meet to see what they think it is. Here are a list of their responses.

• Lower prices ( less than last year )
• More Homes to choose from ( on the market longer )
• More concessions given by the Seller
• Buyer's feel confident that they are in control
• Seller's feel that they must go out of their way to attract the few Buyer's

These are broad generalizations but are consistent with the feelings of all those that I have encountered. So if they are true then finding a home for my couple should be a fairly easy task. After all they are motivated and qualified Buyer's.

So let's put this in to play yesterday after our weekend of showings ( 35 over the 2 days ). We have narrowed the field down to 3 neighborhoods and a comfortable price range. The current inventory has 2 or 3 houses that could work but nothing that really jumps out.

So Monday at noon I notice a new listing in one of their preferred neighborhoods and it is priced right. After a quick preview of the home I give them a call and suggest that they come over to take a look. By 3 pm they have walked through the home and decide that it is exactly what they are looking for.

By 5 pm I have written their full price offer with only an inspection contingency and a quick closing. By 7 pm the listing agent is sitting with the Seller presenting our offer and 2 others that have come in as well. By 9 pm I get the call from the agent that the Seller has excepted a $5,000 over full price offer and thanks us for our participation.

AHHHH So is this what a Buyer's Market is ??????  Or is this Reality's Perception ?!!!

Track_the_Portland_Oregon_Real_Estate_Market_and_MLS_Here Let your next Home find you!

www.portlandrealproperty.com For Portland Oregon information and MLS search.