Decorating with your photos

Family photos add a very personal touch to your home’s decor. However, with some families, there are so many people to love (Brady Bunch, anyone?), all their photos can start to clutter up the walls fast. But not to worry! Here are some ways to take those special memories and display them in a way that adds style to your home’s decor.

http://bit.ly/1JM7EFS

A House in the Woods

 

Photo Via ananasamiami.com

Buzzfeed.com offered up thirty-one gorgeous houses in the forests of the world. Here's one example from the article. Take a peek to see several more examples of my own dream home!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kevintang/31-druid-chic-forest-houses#.lrD3vGG6v

February Market Report

February’s Market Report was positive. Portland had quite a lot of activity. We had the strongest February since 2007 for accepted offers (2,786) and closings (1,813), which really isn’t a shock, considering current market trends.

Inventory remained surprisingly steady at 1.8 months (the time it would take to sell every single house on the market without adding new ones). I expected it to go up slightly with the selling season kicking back into gear after Valentine’s Day, but the local real estate agent mafia is still looking for houses to sell! We’re still running into a lot of multiple offers on beautiful, well cared for homes.

The median sales price has gone up 7.8% since February 2015. The average sales price has gone up 7.1% in the same time period.

We need more houses to sell, so you’re thinking about making a move, give me a call, or if you know someone giving it a thought, please give them my name! I’m happy to provide a FREE market analysis!

http://www.rmlsweb.com/v2/public2/loadfile.asp?id=8773

FREE Energy Saver Kit

Energy Trust Oregon is offering a FREE Energy Saver Kit to homes that qualify. The kit includes energy-saving products to help you reduce utility costs right away, depending on your energy usage. Follow the link below, fill out the form and Energy Trust Oregon will tell you what products your home qualifies for.

https://energytrust.org/esaverkits/default.aspx

When you’re done with that, visit the rest of the site to find new cost cutting measures and products and evaluate your home for energy efficiency.

https://energytrust.org/residential/

If you haven’t visited Energy Trust Oregon, you should.

Gorgeous new paintings

Remember when I told you about my pretty office? We got some new paintings! In addition to the gorgeous landscapes by Alexander Rokoff, we have some beautiful dancers by Daniel Work.

I don’t know about you, but I fell in love with painted dancers when I first saw a Degas. Daniel Work’s dangers make me smile. Their lines are exquisite and with just a few strokes, the motion seems to come alive.

Visit the office on First Thursday to see these pretty ladies in person and have a chat with the artists. We can talk art, real estate, and fun stuff like shoes!

The 5 Hottest Neighborhoods in Portland

Portland Business Journal published their 2015 numbers for the “Hottest Neighborhoods in the Portland Area” 

December's Market Report

What’s the bottom line? WE NEED HOUSES TO SELL! Our inventory (houses available to sell or rent) is excruciatingly low at 3,381 active residential listings according our current Market Action report. Okay, it’s not excruciating, but it’s pretty darned low, which is painful when I am writing offers for clients that end up being outbid by 4 other offers! Gresham, where my clients’ offers are being written, only has 277 total listings, per December’s Market Report. (That's CRAZY low and includes condos, manufactured homes, mobile home/trailers, and duplexes or triplexes, as well as single family homes.)

This is the lowest inventory (the time it would take for all of the current homes listed to be sold at the current rate if no other houses were added to the market). We’re at 1.2 months, which is the lowest that it’s been since 1999. Total market time (Days On Market) increased to 56 days.

The closed 2,710 sales in December were the highest ever in the Portland Metro on record. They were 21% higher than the 2,239 closings in December of 2014 and 25.9% higher than November’s closing. Pending sales (1,936) were 16.1% stronger than in December 2014 (1,667) but fell 22.7% from the 2,504 offers accepted last month in November 2015.

Interest rates are staying low and buyers are hungry to take advantage of them. Sellers, however, may still be nervous about the crash of several years ago or haven’t been enticed to buy elsewhere yet.  Call me to get a FREE Market Report on your home. Maybe you’ll be enticed to sell!

Take a peek at the Market Report here: http://www.rmlsweb.com/v2/public2/loadfile.asp?id=5879