PORTLAND OREGON 
REAL ESTATE

Celia Lyon
Principal Broker

503-260-6231

CeliaLyon@aol.com

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Portland Homes Search


Preparing to Sell Your Portland Home


Experienced agents know what puts prospective buyers off when they view a home, especially Portland. For example, when buyers find dirty dishes in the sink, notice offensive pet odors or spot obvious stains suggesting a leaking roof they begin to devalue the property. Some buyers may decide to pass on the house completely while others may think about making an offer way below the asking price. So, a good agent’s first step is to help the homeowner see the house as others will see it and take care of problems.


Portland HOME BUYING PITFALLS TO AVOID


Buying your Portland home whether you are a first time buyer or an ‘Old Pro’ involves legal, financial and emotional considerations. The more you know about the most common buyer mistakes, the more likely you are to avoid them.

Make sure that when you put in an offer on any Portland home that you have spent time narrowing down just what you are looking for. When the sellers accept your offer, you are involved in a binding contract that could cost you your deposit and other damages should you decide to back out. The opposite scenario, waiting for the 100 % perfect home can be an exercise in futility. With the thousands of variables available in housing, including location, style, size, amenities and condition, perfection is almost always an unreasonable goal.


Portland Real Estate Cycles


During a slow economic time, fewer people are buying homes in the Portland market. Even so, some homeowners find themselves in a situation where they must sell. Families grow beyond the capacity of the home, employees get relocated, and some may even find themselves unable to make their mortgage payment - perhaps because of a layoff in the family.

During sellers' markets, Portland real estate sells quickly and sellers have a lot of pricing power. As a result, prices rise more rapidly than at other times. During buyers' markets, Portland real estate may sit on the market for a while before selling, so sellers become more flexible and may even drop their prices.


Portland Homebuyers Quandry


When you find the home you want to buy you may make an offer contingent upon the sale of your existing Portland. In a Seller’s Market, offers with such contingencies are not well received because the seller must remove his home from the market while you sell yours. However there are times when this kind of offer is successful, even in the Portland market. A backup strategy might be to put in your offer with a very long escrow giving yourself time to sell your home. Very few sellers will accept these kinds of contingencies or long escrows if your house is not already on the market.


Portland. How Much Should You Offer?


Comparable sales figures is a good guide for homeowners who are pricing their Portland and a good guide for prospective buyers. Make sure you compare homes that are similar to the one your are considering...the same neighborhood, the same size, the same condition. Also, make sure you compare sales within the past six months.

Ask your REALTOR for a comparison of the list price and sales price of comparable Portland sales. This information may give you a trend and a guideline for your offer. For example, maybe homes in the area have consistently listed for more than they actually sold for. If that is the case, find out what percentage of reduction occurred. Use this information as a basis for your offer.


What Makes Portland Sell?


If your only reason for selling your Portland is for the purpose of taking your profits there are a couple ways to approach this. Assuming you have lived in the Portland for two years so you can avoid federal tax consequences, if you sell when prices are high and rent until prices come down before buying a replacement home, you will have maximized your profit. Remember, if you sell when prices are low, you will still make a profit and be able to buy a replacement home while prices are still low.