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

In the past I worked in a small town selling real estate although I now work in the city, Portland Oregon. Small towns can benefit greatly from the use of technology. Not all of the technology that is used in the city is needed or appreciated in small towns. More often than not some technologies are even looked down upon in some towns as absurd or frivolous and left with a " City Slicker Nonsense"comment as its epitaph.

Such technologies as Twitter have suffered such ridicule in small towns. Yet in reality Twitter might just be the technology that would be very advantageous to country folk. As an example: Your Wife or loved one is a Realtor(R) and shows small country properties. They are often gone for hours at a time. By following them on Twitter you could provide the both of you with some peace of mind.

I also think that social platforms like Activerain , Facebook , and Myspace  just to mention a few could be used much more to your advantage than you may have ever considered. Posting local attractions, photo's, community events etc. on these platforms will play to the internet crowd who might be looking for just the type of community that you work and live in for there next home.

In this country their are thousands upon thousands of great communities that do not see the light of day to the outside world. Mostly because they do not have the budget or the savvy to attract people especially on the net. You could become that portal. ActiveRain's Localism   provides an ideal platform for this.

You could also dominate your market ( if you are not currently doing that already ) by demonstrating to the community your expertise in technology. Often times I found that Buyer's and Seller's in my former small town did not themselves use technology but were pre-convinced that the technology advanced sales person stood head and shoulders above those who chose to only follow the old methods especially when times are tough.

So if you live in a small town or a big city and have resisted technology or even been part of the nay-sayer's perhaps you should take another look. You might just surprise yourself with the beginings of a great 2009 through the world of technology.

Let Technology take you to fabulous_Portland_Oregon  and find out why more people are moving here than ever before. Either to Downtown Portland or one of our many small town suburban areas and towns.

Let technology help you to stay on top of the Portland Real Estate market and Let_your_next_Home_find_you!  Presented by Real Estate Broker Herb Hamilton

The evolution of Real Estate sales is an ongoing process. As I look back at the many changes ( most for the good ) I wonder where we might be in another 10 or 20 years.

The first day I walked into my office now some 20 plus years ago I was met by the office manager. She sat me down for an interview. The interview consisted of about 20 pounds of forms that she wanted me to fill out. There were MLS forms, Office forms, Brokerage forms and the big one, the Business Plan form.

This was no small form either it was a complete break down including short term goals, a five year plan and a ten year plan. Upon completion of the interview, I was taken into the conference room for orientation.

Orientation was memorizing the inventory, our company listings. Back then our listings were all kept in an alphabetical file cabinet by Owners name rather than by address. The office manager never wanted us to forget that this was a people business and as a consequence of those relationships we had the honor of selling those people's most prized possession, their homes.

In the first few weeks of my new career I previewed and memorized all of the company's listings by owner's name. That was a sizable task because our office held 35% of all listing inventory in our town. I was free to make notes of properties that I deemed would be of interest to any future Buyer's I might work with. Those notes were commonly taken down on 3X5 cards as there was no MLS book at that time.

The first MLS books came on just a short 3 weeks after I began. That was the first time I was introduced to listings other than our companies inventory. They were nothing more than photocopied pages that we had to punch the holes in, separate into areas and install in a 3 ring binder that we purchased ourselves, but heaven none the less.

Each and every week the new pages were delivered to our office. We would replace updated pages, remove sold's, and place pending's in the back. About a year and a half went by when I moved away from the small town to Portland Or.

Ahh, the big city. The MLS book was a slick production of very thin sheets about three inches thick with a layout and feel much like the Yellow Pages. The Internet was in its infancy then and so was real estate on line in this closed intranet system. Yet I was quick to grab on to this technology for my primary search mechanism. You had to memorize most of the search parameters back then as the programming language at that time was still in the parameter based decision making process. (AR,142>200000) was the search parameters for Active Residential properties in area 142 greater than $200,000.)

Forget your parameters and you were sunk. Many of the older agents back then never used the system, choosing instead to use the tried and true methods ( The Book ).

I still recall the daywhen our MLS sent out the letter stating they were intending on ending the MLS Book. It was a huge deal and many older agents felt threatened and bewildered by the new technology and eventually retired from business. Choosing not to use the new technology they perceived as unnecessary.

Of course as time went on the internet eventually replaced our closed intranet MLS system and finally gave way to the system we currently have today. And with each and every passing change has come the complaints and eventual retirement of those who fight progress.

For me I not only embrace the future I push for the changes and often wonder why we are so far behind what my mind can conceive.

For a demonstration of that technology stop by my Home_Buyer's_Web_Site  and let your next home find you!

To learn more About_Portland_Oregon  be sure to follow this link and say hello.  

After reading Jim_Crawford's_Post  about expired domain names today ( I recommend you read it ). I started to wonder about the number of Agent's in the Greater Portland Oregon vicinity.

It was very enlightening. I first began my search by going to our MLS_SEARCH_SITE  to ask them if they had number of Agents stats? The desk person did not have a clue but referred me on to someone who could answer the question but was not available today.

Now I have been down this road before and recognize that often as not if the desk person does not have the answer it probably is not available.

That of course does not mean they don't have the information they just do not have a search mechanism in place to track it.

So in stead I decided to get a start on future years by logging the number of agents currently in the system. Not a fail safe system by any means but might give me a snapshot as to future trends.

Here is what I have found so far using the center of the City of Portland and extending outwards to what we generally call the Metro area ( a distance of approx. 7 to 12 miles ) a Population of about 1.5 million or so.

Now Portland_Oregon  is a river city divided east and west. The downtown core lies on the Willamette river with the majority of downtown proper on the west side of the river.

Numbers of RMLS Member agent's who are listed predominantly as residential sales agent's :

Portland Metro area Real Estate Agents as of  12/5/2008

Portland          =  3295

Lake Oswego  =  794

Clackamas       =  529

Gresham           =  464

Milwaukie        =  53

Happy Valley   =  61

Oregon City     =  174

Gladstone         =  94

West Linn         =  152

Tigard              =  202

Tualatin            =  46

Willsonville       =  63

Beaverton         =  1021

Hillsboro          =  275

Forest Grove    =  45

Aloha               =  1

East Side          =  5616  ( includes West Linn, Lake O )

West Side        =  1653

All                    =  7269

Wow some 20 years ago I remember the number was just under 2000. What will they be in another year or 5 years?

Portland is a pretty easy town to get around in. I will generally cover these areas for my Clients and can get to any one of these areas frequently in less than 30 minutes with the farthest outside area being about 45 minutes away from my centrally located home.

Perhaps you have been thinking about buying or selling your Portland area home? Give me a call or too Stay_on_Top_of_the_Real_Estate_Market_in_Portland_Oregon  drop in and Let your next home find you.