After all they only have one home to sell yet Seller’s are accepting offer after offer. Not only that but their Real Estate agents and Brokers in Portland Oregon are encouraging them to do so. How can this be? Someone is bound to be upset.

Yet the Buyer’s do not seem to mind. They go about there way sometimes spending money on several inspections with a hope that they will not have spent the money for naught.

What kind of State is Oregon you wonder? Why its the State of Short Sales of course. In Oregon the Seller is allowed with disclosure to accept multiple offers on the same piece of property. The two page short sale addendum which accompanies the offer sheet spells it all out for all parties.

Short sales as we all know comes about when there is not enough equity in the property for the Seller to pay off the lean against it. Hence he must sell it Short of the full amount owing. The acceptance of this offer by the Seller then must be sent to the Lender for their acceptance.

No seller likes to sell short and walk out of closing without some sort of profit nor do Lenders. For lenders they are often asked to take significant losses to accommodate the sale. Hence they are not always in that big of a hurry to do so. In fact in some cases if an offer is submitted to quickly the immediate thing that pops into both Seller and Lenders minds is ” I wonder if we could get more? “

In regards to Oregon Law and Short Sales the Seller is allowed to take as many offers on one piece of property as they can get. For Agents representing Seller’s of Short Sales it is our responsibility to treat all parties fairly and honestly and to notify all interested parties in the Short Sale it’s true status.

This means that if you get an offer or even if you get multiple offers, you are to update the status as offers accepted and submitted to the Lender. The Property is to remain as an Active Listingthroughout the process until the Lender or whomever is being asked to sale short be it First Second or even a Third lean or more has accepted the offer.

Of the many questions you could ask while interviewing a Real Estate Agent to List and Sell your home, these TOP TEN are a must have for your list.

1. How long have you been in the business? This speaks to experience. Although everyone needs to get their start and experience some where. Do you really want someone practicing on you?
2. Do you work with Buyer’s and Seller’s or both, what percentage? Showing property to Buyer’s is very time consuming. I want to know my Agent will have the time to market my home.
3.  How many Listings do you have. Having other listings can be a good thing as it allows the agent to rotate advertisements from listing to listing so as to not give your home that over advertised feel. Buyer’s can recognize ads that they have called on before. An Agent having to  many listings can cause the Agent to become lazy and concentrate marketing only the easiest of the listings. ( Tip : be sure to call the Agent about a listing they are currently marketing. The length of time and how they respond will tell you allot about how they will market your home ).
4. Will you reduce your commission. Beware of a yes response. An Agent that is willing to reduce commission may be saying to you that they do not believe in the value of their service. How well do you think this Agent will fight for you when negotiating any offers made on your home, especially low-ball offers or those with special conditions attached.
5. What methods will you use to market my home? What is the track record of success for each of those methods? Putting 1 ad in a paper that gets 50 calls and 10 showings is far better than 100 ads in a publication that gets no results. It is definitely not the Cost of advertising but the Results of advertising that matters.
6. Do you have a Web Site and or a Blog Site ? A personal Blog or Web Site is not the same as a generic Web Site owned by the company where the agent works. With 75 to 85 % of all Buyer’s begining their home search on the Web today it is imperative the Agent has a strong web site with the ability to capture Buyer prospects. ( Tip : Log on to the Agent’s site and try it out. How many clicks until you can see a property for sale. Are there lead capture forms on the site asking you to leave your information. Or is the site just a brag sheet and personal promo for the Agent? )
7. What is the Agent’s Sale to Fail ratio, also known as expired listings. Just because the Agent is capable of filling out a form to list the property, does not mean they have done their job. One of the most important factors governing the potential marketing of your home is to get the Listing/offered sales price right.
8. What is the Agent’s Sale to List price ratio? Did they ask you to reduce the sales price during the term of the listing? A good Agent will stick with their convictions and not take over priced listings ( called buying the listing ). That technique ( Tell the Seller anything to get the Listing ) is still taught throughout the industry. It does not stay true to the agents obligations to you their future potential client that of telling you the truth.  Remember this, Buyer’s are not stupid, they are willing to pay a fair price and they have the tools to verify it.
9. How far do you Live from my Home. It is important to get a sense of the Agent’s ability to show your property on a moments notice should the occasion arise. An Agent having to drive over 45 minutes to your home may be less inclined than an Agent living within 20 minutes or so. ( Tip : It is not however, important at all where the Agent’s office is located. Buyer’s are concerned about the location of the house not the Agent’s office. Most of the Top Producers today will not be spending significant amounts of time in their Principal Broker’s office.  Many Agent’s today work from a home office. )
10. Herb, what time can you come out today to list my home? If you are going to choose to work with the best you should check my schedule first for I am always out marketing my listings for Sold.

www.househuntportland.com  Let your next home find you!

Comments

I was doing a little Surfing on the Net. I was looking for Real Estate agents web sites hoping to find some that would be interested in exchanging links. A great way to get additional Exposure for your Listings by the way.

I came across what appeared to be someone advertising a couple of properties for sale in an area that I really like. The odd thing is thAT IT appeared to be a real estate add but no mention of a company name. I made a quick enquiry by email and sat back to wait. The following day I received by email a list of about 20 properties for sale including the ones that were in the add.

The add included such things as Price, descriptions, and address. It looked as if the email message had been sent from somewhere in the Midwest. And because I am in Portland Oregon I immediately thought ” Ahah! Must be and Investor dumping properties.” But wait a minute, I think  I recognized a couple of the addresses. I quickly checked our MLS and found that about 1/3 of the properties on the list were Listed for sale with a variety of different local real estate companies. In fact of those that were listed, they had been on the market for quite some time. I then checked the tax records and noted that all of the Owners were different. No where in any of the MLS listings was there any mention of the person who sent me the email.

The email that I had recieved was somewhat like the following. ” Thanks for inquiring about the properties I have for sale. Read them over if you want more information about 1 or more please do not hesitate to contact me. Thanks Martha ”

Anybody run on to this before? What do you Think? And don’t just give me that Confused Dog Look either.

Investors_let_Your_Next_Investment_Property_find_you_with_this_Real_Estate_Investor’s_web_site 

www.portlandrealproperty.com  Looking for more Portland Oregon Information?

Comments

That’s why it was such a shock to us all that morning when we came into the office and found that Sandy ( dear dear Sandy ) had quit to pursue other career opportunities. ( Translation was offered more pay somewhere else ) I didn’t even have a photo of Sandy after all these years and all the parties and gatherings. I felt like a schmuck.

The following weeks were tough. Temporary staffing were sending people out daily and sometimes 2 per day.( I told you we are a busy office.) After 3 months of this I was greeted one morning by Becky. I had been a little late getting in and apparently she had already introduced herself to the rest of the group.

” Hi I’m Becky, your new Receptionist ” she said. Before I could stop myself I blurted out ” For how long? ” Becky was quick to respond. Yes she had heard about the last 3 months and all of the turmoil that it had caused in what normally was a smooth running operation. ” Get used to this Face ” Becky declared . Yep she definitely intended to be here for the Long haul.           

” Great ” I exclaimed. I didn’t know what Becky’s skill levels were but I presumed if Management had hired her, she must have had a good resume. Besides , anybody was better than a constant daily change of temporaries . With that Becky promptly sat down at her station and I went into my office to get a little work done.

I guess it was a good three days before I got back to the Real Estate office again. I was eager to see how Becky was fitting into the job. To my surprise I was met by a Young lady who introduced herself as Jenny. I was just starting to form the question when the Broker came around the corner so I asked him. ” Where’s Becky? ” I don’t know he said she went home for lunch and she never came back!

Till this day we have never heard from her again. Talk about Over Promise and Under deliver!

Comments

As Rita began to speak I sensed that something was up. With a little prodding Rita began to unravel like a ball of yarn. Both Rita and Joe had been so impressed with the work done by one of my rehabbers a year ago that they became convinced that they could do the same. 

( Step 1) was to call Tammy . True to form Tammy quickly determined that they were not in a position to purchase. She gave them a game plan to follow and of course in their minds that was not acceptable as it would just take too long. So they went out on their own and found a FSBO to purchase.

They had been working on the FSBO for about 6 months when they out of the blue gave me a call. It sounded over the phone as if they were stuck on a solution to a plumbing question and wanted some advice and asked if I would come over and take a look. I agreed. 

When I arrived I was greeted with a Horrible sight. I tried to be positive but everything I seen indicated that they had bought a major Money Pit. Not the worst thing in the world, that of getting a little in over your head. However the Seller was now threatening  to foreclose on their contract of sale and he wasn’t interested in thier problems or solutions. He just wanted paid off and he wanted it now!

To further complicate matters for Joe and Rita they had put up their Cars and household possessions as collateral. I advised them to see an attorney as there was nothing that I could do for them. They were totally buried in this house and it still needed at least 60 days worth of work to get it in to a financible state.

A month went by and Joe called. After beating around the bush for a while he said that they had lost the house and their cars. The Seller had felt sorry for them and let them keep their personal possessions. Rita was too embarrassed to call but they wondered if I could come out to their home for a talk. It turns out that they had purchased a second FSBO just after they had bought the first Fixer. The Home was of course leveraged beyond belief and they were not even sure of the payoff amount.

They had borrowed from several family members enough money to buy the home from the bank using a no-income no-doc loan. Their theory was that they would pay off all of the family members after they refinanced. Big problem was the home needed a lot of work and they had not been making the full house payments. Just making enough to keep the bank at bay while they continued to poor more and more money into the other Money pit neglecting this home.

After arriving they took me though the home and we discussed potential market values. I left and returned the following evening armed with a full market analysis. A review indicated this house to be worth between $240,000 to $248,000 with 20 very relevant comps in the same subdivision and roughly the same condition.

After spending some more time on the comps I once again asked if they had those payoff figures from their lender that I had asked about. They did and it turns out that they owed a total amount of $270,000. Further more the payoff letter was accompanied by a foreclosure notice. I looked at them and asked if they new what a Short Sale was. They did not. It means Rita and Joe that you have no equity in this home at all. You will need to get permission from the lender to market the home at a sales price of less than you owe.

They finally got the message a few weeks later. I had presented the market analysis to the Lender along with a marketing plan. I listed the home and we were able to sell the home for $245,000. The bank forgave Rita and Joe the difference and let them walk. I wonder when I will here from them again and under what circumstance.

Comments

Laurelhurst is one of Portland’s premier neighborhoods with elegant homes on beautiful tree lined streets and was once home to many of Portland’s Early day Lumber Barron’s.

 Welcome to Laurelhurst Park Portland OR.

Prestigeous East Bound Gates of Laurelhurst Park

More Walking paths in Laurelhurst Park

Laurelhurst Homes are a tribute to the beauty and grace of Laurelhurst Neighborhood

 Herb Hamilton is a Real Estate Broker with RE/MAX Preferred Inc. Realtors working in Portland Oregon

                  Home Buyers and Investors Buy A Home or Buy an Investment in Portland Oregon !

                              ” A Real Estate Transaction with Herb is one YOU will Profit from “

www.portlandrealproperty.com   A Web Site full of local Portland Oregon real estate searches for homes and local Portland School and City information.

http://www.househuntportland.com/  A Web Site for the home buyer of Portland Oregon Real Estate. Receive updated real estate listings daily or hourly 24/7. Sent by email on a street map with a Photo a Description and an Address.

http://www.portlandflips.com/ An Investors Web Site. Spend your time analyzing the results that will be sped your way within minutes of becoming active in the local RMLS.If your an Investor and You Want Portland Oregon Real Estate Investment Properties then this is your site

As you look around surveying the other agents, ever notice how some people it seems are just naturals. They come out of the gate swinging and never look back. Then there are some people who make up that group or the 80% failure rate in the first 2 years. Oops! Did no one ever tell you that? Yikes sorry about that, but it’s true.

In fact I would be willing to bet that if you take into consideration all of the people who attempt to get there licence but never go through with it the failure rate is probably up around 95%. So how can we keep you out of it?

Probably the greatest thing that any one can do is to sit down and write out a business plan and goal. This also works well for the agent who is not happy with their production, or is doing okay but just wants to take it up another notch.

But before you can start to do the business plan there is something more important than that. Something that is so key to this entire problem that if you don’t get this you really have no chance at success. What is it?

It is simply understanding what this business is. What are the primary elements and how must they be implemented.

• First and Foremost Real Estate is a People business. It is built on the relationships that we establish through the Sale, Purchase, Rental or Lease of Real Property. We are not only Real Estate Sales People, rather we are relationship developing people whose product is Real Property.

When First licensed I have seen this played out over and over again. The new agent comes into the office asking how do they get to work with the buyers. There are as many different policies as there are different answers to this question. I submit to you though what I would consider to be the best approach for not only the company but also the agents longevity.

• NO AGENT should be allowed to work with any Buyer until they have a listing for sale. Unless you work for a company that only represents Buyers. Most of us do not. The reasoning behind this is that the office telephone rings because of listings. We do not live in a Country where the listings are a secret. Buyer’s do not have to call up and ask if we know of any house’s for sale. They can see them by the signs in front of them.
• By allowing an agent to share in the incoming telephone calls without themselves contributing any thing to make the phone ring, it is a slap in the face to those who have worked so hard. Now if an agent is to busy to work the leads and chooses to refer or higher an agent as a buyers agent then that is a different matter.
• By Forcing the No Buyers till you have a Listing rule, you create more product. Agents understand what the true nature of the business is like and every one wins.

I have worked pretty much the same way for most of my career. I have always tried to be the Agent that I would want to work with.

No high pressure sales techniques. You call we discuss. If we can’t do business we will part friends.

    Herb Hamilton is a Real Estate Broker with RE/MAX Preferred Inc. Realtors working in Portland Oregon

                              ” A Real Estate Transaction with Herb is one YOU will Profit from “

Herb Hamilton is a Real Estate Broker with RE/MAX Preferred Inc. Realtors working in Portland Oregon

On a damp Tuesday Morning a group of us were looking at all the new vacant land properties just outside of the city limits offered by a local Real Estate Brokerage. Most of the parcels were fairly small and easy to get to.

As we made our way up the single car road towards the 1/2 acre of ground the caravan came to a sudden stop. Being the 5th or so car back it took me a while to make my way up the rain soaked slippery cart path.

When I got to where the first car had stopped the group had formed and were looking across a small land bridge at the head of a small gully. On the other side stood the listing agent. Hurry up he was calling out to the stragglers still making there way up the slippery road.

Okay Okay he called out as the drizzle began to pick up a little steam. Now as a true Oregonian we would’t call that a Rain. We might call it a Driven Mist, as it began to pelt down on us while while huddled together listening to the agent regale the attributes of the listing.

The crowd was indeed getting restless and seemed as if they wanted to bolt but did not want to offend the agent. I called out and asked to him, What is the Price? He quickly answered back beaming from ear to ear. And the term’s I asked what are they? Still beaming he quickly satisfied my questions and asked in a booming voice ” Do you have some one for this ?”

To which I answered Holding up the Earnest money contract that I had extricated from the inner pocket of my Blazer ” Yes! Here is the Offer! How soon can you present? It is full price cash with a 10 day closing! ” The crowd assembled was in the murmur state and only the owner of the Real Estate office who was present made the following comment.

Dang , Herb !  I was going to do that but did not have an offer sheet with me. I thought I would have enough time to do it when we got back to the office. Good for you. He went on to say ” Folks that is what being prepared is all about “.

Herb Hamilton is a Real Estate Broker with RE/MAX Preferred Inc. Realtors working in Portland Oregon

Well that’s not to bad. So if the page I am looking for is # 257,000,000 it will only take me 16,062,500 minutes to find it. So what if I do not have the time to look for the next 31.7 years to look for this page? You probably might need a few more search terms.

But even if you were to have the perfect search terms it is still a needle in the haystack search. I don’t know about you, but those are just to long of odds.

What if……?

Come check this out.  Out of_State_Homes . Here you will be presented with a variety of homes in various Cities and States and Price Ranges. No obligation required just Homes, Homes and more Homes.

If your looking for a Portland Oregon Home be sure to check out all the MLS Listings right here at The_Pickle where you can search for homes on a neighborhood map and see the results as quick as the push of a button.

If you want to be more proactive about your Real Estate Home buying search effort then by all means you should sign up for the free email service to Find_Your_Home in_Portland  Oregon just follow the link to House Hunt Portland. This is like a dream come true for todays home buyer. The service will deliver results to you 24/7 within 20 minutes of the property hitting the market if you choose so. No agent can even come close to providing you srvice as fast as this automated service can.

Home buyer after home buyer who have recently signed up for this service are beating all of the competition to the best listings. What Does IT Cost? Nothing, Zero, Nada. I only ask that if you use the service that you intend to use my broker services as well to help you purchase.

                                                                      So are you ready ?                 I am!      

No high pressure sales techniques. You call we discuss. If we can’t do business we will part friends.

    Herb Hamilton is a Real Estate Broker with RE/MAX Preferred Inc. Realtors working in Portland Oregon

                              ” A Real Estate Transaction with Herb is one YOU will Profit from “

Herb Hamilton is a Real Estate Broker with RE/MAX Preferred Inc. Realtors working in Portland Oregon

However because of the tone in the Buyer’s voice, a tone that gave me the impression he thought that he deserved a reduction in price, I asked ” What causes you to ask that “? His straight up answer was “ Because it’s a Buyer’s Market Right? ”.

In Portland Oregon over the last year we have had a decrease in market prices and an increase in inventory. The only problem with his question was that this home had been on the market for less than 12 hours and it had real estate agents and thier Buyers crawling all over it. I recognized many of the agents and could see in their eyes the excitement. This truly was an amazing property and very very agressively priced.  A victorian such as this will get multiple offers.

The question asked earlier in the day by me Buyer started me to thinking about the differences in a Buyer’s Market and a Seller’s Market. I have touched on this subject once before on my Portland_Flips_Business_Blog  .

So what are the elements? Well certainly over the last several years as the market has continued to expand, one would have to conclude that was a Seller’s Market. Prices were constantly going up, speculation was often the name of the game and Seller’s were reaping relatively quick rewards for their properties.

So then to be a Buyer’s Market the opposite must be true? One of falling sales prices, rising inventories and strong competition to make your property the most attractive with little or no profits at all for the Seller’s perhaps even selling at a loss as it has been in many parts of the country for the last couple of years or so. 

In this type of market you would conclude that Buyer’s following sound business principles of Buy Low and Sell High would then be in a Feeding Frenzy. Especially in areas that have been notoriously expensive to purchase. While interest rates are relatively low and prices are down you would think that all of the people who had hoped to purchase and were unable to during the Seller’s Market would be all over this Buyer’s Market. The pent up demand for those who have wanted to buy and had been priced out certainly would propel the amount of sales in a Buyer’s Market well past any number done in a Seller’s Market.

That however is not the case. In fact it has not been the case at all in the last 20 years. I have watched as markets went through there normal cycles of highs and lows.The reality is that Buyer’s tend to make more purchase’s in a Seller’s Market often times competing for the same homes while driving up the prices even further.

So what about this Buyer’s Market then? Well if Buyer’s don’t or won’t take advantage of the conditions then by it’s own default there can be no Buyer’s Market.

Do you Agree or Disagree? For me I think there is no such thing as a Buyer’s Market or for that matter a Seller’s Market. There is Just a Real Estate Market.

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