PORTLAND OREGON 
REAL ESTATE

Celia Lyon
Principal Broker

503-260-6231

CeliaLyon@aol.com

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Tips for Buying Portland Homes

Adjustable Rate Loans for Portland


ARMS may be called by various names including, variable-rate loans, adjustable rate loans or adjustable mortgage loans for your Portland home. They all feature an interest rate that can vary over the rate of the loan.

Advantages: The monthly payment on a typical ARM is lower in the early stages than the fixed rate loan. This may make it easier for the buyer to afford the Portlandhome.

Disadvantages: As interest rates increase, your monthly payment may increase or the amount of your payment applied to the principle may decrease which means that you must gamble on property appreciation to offset this increase in your indebtedness.

Portland Real Estate or Homeowner’s Insurance


While it is necessary to have Portland Real Estate or Homeowner’s Insurance, there are ways to reduce your premium costs.

One: Raise your deductible. Deductibles are the amount you must pay towards a loss before your insurance company starts to pay. You can save costs on your overall policy by increasing the amount of your deductible. For example, according to a Federal Government paper on lowering Portland insurance costs, you can save up to 12% on your rate if you go with a $500.00 deductible rather than a $250.00 deductible.

Guidelines for Buying Portland


Whether you are a seasoned veteran of real estate transactions or a first time buyer, my advice is the same: Know the Market, Know Yourself and Rely on Experts to give you the whole picture of what you are buying.

Know the Portland Market. Another way of stating this is Research, Research, Research. Of course the Internet is a great way to give an overview of Portland homes or homes in any given area but may not be enough, especially if you are looking to buy a home some distance from where you currently live. If you are looking to buy locally you can drive the neighborhoods that you are focusing on to get an idea if there are any problems you need to be aware of. Does part of the development back up to a busy highway? If so and if you want to avoid looking at homes in that area, know what streets are involved so you can recognize listings that may be involved.

Portland Real Estate Title Insurance


Buying a new home is the single largest financial investment for most families but there are risks. What if the seller doesn’t really own the home? What if there are mortgages, judgements or liens against the property? What if the property taxes have not been paid for several years? Portland real estate Title insurance protects you against these types of risks and against the risks of human error. It is your basic home ownership protection.

Portland Title insurance protects you against future losses arising out of events that have happened in the past. Unlike other types of insurance, title insurance is paid when the policy is issued and is good for the life of the policy. The premium required is based on the amount of the sale or the mortgage.


Portland: Art and Science


Buying a piece of Portland real estate is a science but buying your Portland home is an art. The science part involves getting the legal and financial parts down while the art is finding the Portland property that you’ll be happy with.

The total universe of possibilities within the universe of Portland real estate is quite diverse but narrowing your search ahead of time will help keep things in perspective.

In general there are two phases to any Portland real estate search. In the first phase, you get a feel for the different areas and an idea of what is being offered at what price. In the second phase, you search for the Portland real estate that meets all or most of your specifications.


Portland BENEFITS


A benefit is an advantage or something that promotes or enhances well-being. A Portland benefit might be its location, its home styles, its diversity and/or its proximity to major highways, employment, education and shopping. Whether or not any of these factors are or are not a benefit depends entirely on the point of view of the potential buyer. For example, being close to a major airport might be important for someone who flies a lot and an annoyance to someone who never flies and dislikes the noise of airplanes flying overhead.