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

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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.

Very Low Inventory of Homes

Have you wondered if now is the time to sell your home?  There are very few homes on the market right now and yet there are lots of buyers wanting to buy home!  That means that homes are moving fast. 

Right now there is a about a 1.5 month supply in Washington and Multnomah Counties.  What does that mean?  That if no more homes came on the market, we'd be sold out of homes in a month and a half!  This translates into a great time to put your house up for sale because buyers are practically begging for more homes to select from.  Interest rates are low right now, so buyers can get great loans, making it easier for them to buy.  All they need is the right house. 

Why a Realtor is a Good Investment

When you're ready to sell, you may wonder if you can do it yourself or if you should hire a Realtor®.  Long story short, get a Realtor®.  Okay, okay, obviously I think you should hire one, but why?
 
Ever hear the phrase that goes something like "He who represents himself has a fool for an attorney?"  Well the same is true in real estate.  By not having a Realtor®, you are missing out on not only the education that the Realtor® has acquired, but also on all the tools that the Realtor® has at his or her disposal.  Not to mention that a Realtor® is a real estate marketing specialist.



Source: National Association of Realtors® 2013

As you may remember from the last post, you want your house to get lots of action and sell in that first 30 days.  A Realtor® will get your house listed on the RMLS (Regional Multiple Listing Service), put a professional sign up in your yard, host open houses, have a Realtor® open tour, take photos and even send out mailings about your house. 

If you sell the house yourself, putting up a sign in the front yard, you're relying on finding a buyer from word of mouth, your sign and maybe Craig's List. 

A Realtor® will use all of the tools available to get you the greatest expose of your home in order to receive the best price and the most favorable terms.  Selling your home is a big decision.  Make sure you've got someone in your corner whose job it is to look out for your best interest. 

Pricing Matters

If you've been thinking about selling your home, I'm sure you've given the price tag lots of consideration.  You want to get the most money possible.  Doesn't everyone?  But coming out swinging with a high price tag, may not be in your best interest.

If you list your home at a higher price than the home is really worth, it is likely to sit on the market for a while.  In fact, the longer your home is on the market, the lower the offers will be.  This is because buyers see that the home has been sitting on the market for a long time and think of this as a weakness and offer a lower price.  They may think "If the home was really worth that price, someone would have already bought it."  So, the plan of listing your home at a price tag that is too high, may backfire on you.

Days on Market	% of Price Received
0-30	98.4
31-60	97.2
61-90	96.5
Over 90	95.5

Your home has the best chance to get the desired price within the first 30 days.  The longer it doesn't sell, the lower the price is likely to go when an offer does come in. 

We all want lots of people to check out our house when it goes up for sale.  That first week your house is on the market is when the most buyer are going to see it!  So price it right so that they don't just skip over your house to the next listing. 

Buyer Backlog	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4
50 people in the market	5 new people to the market	5 new people to the market	5 new people to the market	5 new people to the market

In that first week, 55 people see the house (50 already shopping for a house and the 5 people who just started looking).  Each week after that, the only people looking at the house are the 5 new buyers that join the home search. 

So here's the point (which you're all smart people and have already picked up on), you want your home priced right at the beginning so you can take advantage of week 1 and get as many people as possible to look at your home.  We want them to fall in love with it and make an offer.  We don't want them to click the next button and skip right over your gem of a home because it's got too high of a price tag.