Home Demolition vs. Deconstruction

First off, can I start by saying every time I hear the word "demolition" I immediately think of the movie Demolition Man.  I don't know what that says about me, other than I like cheesy movies. 

Now that we got that out off the way, let's talk demo!  Many times, the highest and best use of a piece of land means that the existing home structure needs to be demolished.  It's too small, in need of too much repair or has issues that simply can not be remedied.  In this case, when it comes time to get rid of the home, what can you do?

photo from dreamstime.com

Burn it?  Sometimes the fire department will burn the home down as an exercise for their firefighters.  This often isn't possible though due to the closeness of the home to other structures. Or you simply don't want to pollute the air by setting the home of fire.  Understandable.

There's the classic demolition, meaning someone coming through with big equipment, destroying the house and dumping the remains at a landfill.  Sure, the landfill might recycle a lot of the debris (like Tualatin Valley Waste Recovery, who does a great job of recycling and recovering materials).  But still, it seems so sad to destroy a house and waste all of the materials that could be reused.

That brings us to deconstruction! Deconstructing a house means they take it apart carefully over days to be able to reuse the cabinets, doors, hardware, floors, fixtures, bricks, etc.  One place that you can buy and sell used construction items are at the Bone Yard NW.  The items that can't be reused are recycled.  This is truly a way to honor the past and give way to a bright new future.

Read more about deconstruction here.

Less Homes For Sale, But More Sold

Are you someone who likes good hard stats?  This should be right up your alley then.  According to Trendgraphix, this last month we had only 5,856 homes for sale combined in Multnomah, Clark, Clackamas, Washington and Columbia Counties.  Compare that to the 7,332 homes that were for sale in March of 2014. 

However, even though we had much less homes for sale than one year ago, we SOLD more homes than last March.  We sold 2,929 homes in March 2015, verses 2,385 in March of 2014.  Plus we have a much higher rate of pending sales, 4,114 to be exact in March of 2015.  Verses only 2,985 sales pending in March of 2014.  This means more homes are selling now than a year ago, even though there are less homes on the market.

This just further illustrates what we've been talking about with the limited amount of homes for sale and the huge demand from buyers for homes!  If you're thinking of selling, this should make it easy.  Now is the time!

Home Prices Double

Vintage Real Estate Ads
                                                               

Have you ever thought how much money you would have made if only you'd bought into a particular neighborhood when it was first built?

Homes appreciate on average at 4% per year in the Portland area, some years are more, some years are less.  At that rate, it would take 18 years for a home to double in value.  Imagine if you bought a home and when you went to sell it, it was worth double what you bought it for!  That's what I call a sound investment.

In Hillsboro there is a fantastic neighborhood called Orenco Station.  It's won all sorts of awards for well thought out planning and there are schools who bring field trips of architecture students through to learn from it.  Great neighborhood, high demand, now everyone wants to live there.  What if you had bought a home in Orenco when it was new?

The "MaCarthur Park" style of home in Orenco originally sold for $186,900 new in 1999.  Now, this same style of home is listed for $379,999.  That's an appreciation of 6.5% a year if it appreciated at the same rate over the last 16 years.

Want to check it out yourself?  Visit RMLS and search the ML #15445746. 

Real Estate is a fantastic investment and you can be a part of it!  Give me a call at 503-819-3835 and let's get you started.

The Do's and Don'ts of Real Estate

Have you been thinking about buying a home?  If you're paying attention, you are noticing that interest rates are low right now.  Here are some tips if you think home ownership is in your near future.

First, DO NOT change your job!!  Lenders want to know that you can pay back the loan and that you're a reliable person.  If you change your job, they are not going to see the stability that they need to see.

Don't buy a new car, new furniture, new appliances or other big ticket items!  For one, this spends the $$ money  $$ that you've set aside for buying a new home.  However it also means that your credit score is likely to go down because you've got credit inquiries and opened new loans.  And now you've got a car payment.  Now you look risky.  Plus you should be saving - Be smart and put that money for a new loveseat into your savings account instead.

Next up, pay your bills!  Letting current accounts fall behind is like shooting yourself in the foot when you're trying to buy a home.  Don't lower your credit score, pay your bills. 

Don't change bank accounts or make large deposits.  During the loan process for a home, they'll want documentation of everything.  So don't make it more difficult by waiving red flags and having mysterious money appear or changing banks.

Do not for any reason co-sign a loan.  I know you want to help out your best friend from high school and you know that he'll make his car payments and all he needs is your name on his loan.  Nuh-uh!  Don't do it.  Sure you'll be the nice guy and help a friend out, but you're making it that much worse on yourself, because now your credit tanks.

What can you do to get ready to buy a home?  Get your documentation together.  Get all your financials, like bank statements, pay stubs, tax info., etc.  All the good stuff that you know a lender is going to want to see.  Talk to a Realtor and a lender.  Start the conversation early, so that you're ready to go when you the time comes for you to make a move.

You can buy a home, maybe today, maybe tomorrow. Maybe next year.  Make it happen.