What’s it going to take to get my home sold!?  After listing a home for sale in the Portland real estate market and not getting desired result sellers have two choices in order to produce an offer.  Improved the property or lower the price.  That’s it.

Is a property priced competitively?  Pretty simple to answer by gauging response after being listed in the Multiple Listing Service (RMLS in Portland).  A reasonable amount of traffic is having a showing 2+ times per week.  If houses are not receiving that then buyers are buying something else.   Quite frankly, they aren’t even seeing enough value online to warrant a tour.

Improving value can be lucrative and as simple or complex as sellers would like.  Simple means consulting a staging professional to give decorating tips or completely stage a home.  Vacant homes benefit significantly from this.

Let’s take a look at a current listing example in Hillsboro at 1234 Oleander Ln.  MLS #10066603

This particular home was done originally in white, interior and exterior.  Owners made several improvements to both color and finishes after consulting with Maureen Bray at Room Solutions, 503 246-1800

Warm neutral tones were used in the living room and family rooms.  An old fireplace insert was removed and the mantel repainted white.  New windows were installed, eliminating the single pane with storm aluminum frames.  Laminate flooring was replaced in the dining and family room.  Deck was refinished and home staged.

While sellers of this home were gung ho on remodeling and upgrading the home it’s probably fair to say that most homeowners are not that ambitious.  Look at the staging improvements alone.  Color and warmth were added to an otherwise blank canvas.  Buyers can see themselves living there and that’s the difference.  Sellers will recapture their improvement investment here and sell quicker.

Buyers are very superficial.  Change perception of value and you’ll get an offer!

Proximity to Downtown- If you’re looking to relocate to the Portland Metro(politan) area there’s probably a reason and it’s most likely job related.  While our unemployment rate is blazing ahead of the rest of the country at 12.1% currently.  Several factors figure in to that number.  One is that Portland Oregon is a fast growing location and many relocatees move before securing employment.  Also, keep in mind that even in the best of times we tend to be ahead of the pack… maybe it’s just due to all the cool entertainment around.  Who has time for work?

Portland’s downtown area is a hub of entertainment both day and night.  Art, culture, open-air markets and the Willamette river provide attraction.  Distance to these and other recreation tend to be on the top of people’s lists when relacating.  Map searches are invaluable when it comes to home choice.  Find your ideal happy medium between work and entertainment, then map search homes for sale in target areas.  Search homes for sale using map based queries like www.maxwellsinclair.com/portland_mapsearch.php

Transportation – Portland is very progressive with it’s public transportation system and planning of such reflects the overall goals, keep it green.  Preventing urbal sprawl is what the urban growth boundary is all about and detailed transportation planning makes vehicle use optional.  In addition to busing systems there’s a light rail train (MAX train), streetcar (downtown Portland), transit mall (new trolley in downtown opening soon), sky tram (South Waterfront to OHSU) and commercial rail train (WES, Beaverton to Wilsonville commuter).

While not in existence yet the east side (Milwalkie) will be connected by MAX within a few years to downtown Portland.  There have been rumors about connecting Lake Oswego to downtown but that’s not going to materialize in the near future… check out www.trimet.org for proximity to public transportation.

Walking Score – Pretty cool idea that someone came up with recently.  www.walkscore.com rates addresses based upon several factors and their proximity to convenience.  Higher score means potentially less use of the car.  Leading areas in Portland are the NW District, The Pearl, South Waterfront, and Cultural/University Districts.  All receive scores near 100.  In fact, talking with downtown condo owners you’ll commonly hear things like, “ya, we went down to the parking garage to see if our car was still there since it hasn’t been used for a month.”

Convenience is a big factor in the overall equation.  Choosing the right Portland neighborhood for your home purchase doesn’t need to involve numerous plane tickets with desktop research whittling down the field.  In addition to these 6 websites finding a good Realtor will also help significantly… probably goes without saying, right?

For more on Portland Real Estate, check out www.Maxwellsinclair.com.

What’s a good real estate investment?  Depends upon who’s doing the talking.  It never ceases to amaze me how many Realtors comment on what great cash flow their particular listing is producing.  I’m convinced many are not investors.

Here are 3 factors to consider when evaluating overall return on investment:

1. Look at the surrounding area. Portland Oregon has many neighborhoods and surrounding cities like Beaverton, Tigard, Hillsboro, and Lake Oswego.  Within each city are well-regarded and not so well-regarded locations.  This can be seen by driving a couple city blocks in one direction.  How does the subject area compare?

Real estate investing should be viewed as a long term event, more than 3 years.  Google.maps.com has an awesome tool for helping evaluate neighborhood condition from your desktop.  Use the “street view” button to pan up and down the street taking not of vehicle and yard conditions as well as house curb appeal.  Look at aerial views to get an idea too.  More trashed and dead looking vehicles may mean that community involvement is seriously lacking.  A sign of real estate future values.

2. Look for upside potential through remodeling. Buy the worst house in the nicest neighborhood.  We’ve heard that one before.  Beaverton and Hillsboro offer some of the most cost effective real estate investment for single family homes.  When looking for future returns think about what can be done through simple upgrade.

Take a 1970′s original house in Beaverton.  With current Portland real estate prices it’s ease to pick up a great deal around the $200k price point.  This will be a three bedroom 2 bath ranch style house on a 7000′ lot.  Very easy to update and with a little sweat equity can be done well for $10k.  Upside potential for rent is now there as well as resale.  A wise use of $10k.

3. Evaluate cash flow. Much of newer construction and higher density housing is subject to HOA fees.  Property management, repairs, maintainence, vacancy are key factors to consider.  In the above example we refer to Portland investment property, specifically Beaverton.  There’s a good balance of cash flow here, possibly more so in Hillsboro.  House prices are becoming more attractive all the time in many neighborhoods.

Single family nvestment homes provide a minimum amount of expense after remodel.  There’s not much to break, also one of the benefits of purchasing newer homes.  Tenants pay for all utilities.  I also mention in my website additional tips on having tenants take care of small repair, this minimizes cash loss.  If possible, manage property yourself.  Management fees will run 7% every month.

There are a ton of good informational tips on my site www.MaxwellSinclair.com.  Please feel free to call and discuss investment ideas and tips of your own.  David Somerville 503 789-7633