www.portlandhomesearch.org » Realtor

Does ‘For Sale by Owner’ Work?

Jesse — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 22:36:56 +0000

Maybe. But in this economy, it’s tough. Just ask the owner of a ‘For Sale by Owner’ company that hired a Realtor to sell his poperty.

Founder of “for sale by owner” site calls in broker to get the job done

Mr. Sambrotto apparently spent six months trying to sell his fancy digs himself before turning to a broker. Jesse Buckler, the broker that Sambrotto hired, increased the price and managed to attract multiple offers before selling the apartment for $2.15 million, $150,000 more than the asking price.

Read more…

“$150,000 more than the asking price.” I think that answers that question.

What is a Short Sale?

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 16:53:48 +0000

I still get this question all the time, even though short sales are a common thing in the Portland Metro Area. So I thought I would answer it in my blog so that all of you searching for home (and possibly selling a home) will have the correct information.

Short Sale: A Definition

Simply put, a short sale is when a homeowner is trying to sell a home when he owes more on the mortgage than the home is worth. The homeowner (seller) is going to ask the bank to take loss, in an attempt to forgo the foreclosure process.

Let’s look at an imaginary scenario to explain it further. Let’s say that homeowner Smith bought his home in 2005 for $300k. He took out one of those 100% loans that were the rage back then. Well, things were going fine until he got laid off 6 months ago. And he hasn’t been able to find a job since. Mr. Smith’s savings are dwindling fast so he has decided to sell his home. To make matters worse, the value of the homes in his neighborhood (and most of the city) have gone down 20%. His Realtor told him he could only get $240k for his home right now.

Mr. Smith owes a little under $300k and can only sell his home for $240k. Mr. Smith will put his home for sale as a short sale and try to get the bank to take payment in full for $240k.

Will the bank take the short payoff? The short answer is: it depends. See my next post to get the long answer and why I never recommend short sales to my buyers.

Search the Portland MLS with Your iPhone

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 07:23:59 +0000

It’s happened to all of us. You’re out driving around and you see a house for sale, but all of the fliers are gone. You’re dying to know how many bedrooms and bathrooms, and what the price is, but you don’t feel like calling the Realtor.

The solution is here. Now all you need to do is get out your iPhone and type in the address and all of the information about the house in now at your fingertips. What a great Tool! You can do all kinds of searches for listings, including condos, townhouses, and even foreclosures. And you can search for home in Portland, Beaverton, Tigard, Lake Oswego, Clackamas – any city in the Portland Metro Area. This is a must have if you are buying a home in the near future.

There really is an app for everything.

To get your MLS iPhone app, just click on the iPhone in the sidebar to your right, download the app, and enter the code 6788.