My Portland Oregon Home

Portland Home Sales & Prices Springing Higher in March into April 2013

Sharon Francis — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 22:19:36 +0000

There’s spring in the air—and Metro Portland home prices are rising, days on the market are going down, and homes for sale in some Portland neighborhoods are receiving multiple offers. With a housing inventory of only 3.2 months, the lowest since 2007, no wonder buyers are getting competitive in the Spring of 2013, and Portland home sellers in many areas have the upper hand in what is becoming or has become a sellers’ market. Portland Buyers–watch out for rising prices!

On April 10, 2013, the Portland area RMLS released Portland Market Report for March 2013. In their analysis of March home sales activity, the RMLS was positively bubbling over about the improvements in Metro Portland housing market. The highest price increases over last year were NE Portland homes at 9.7%, SE Portland homes at 10%, and West Portland homes at 8.9%. Of course these areas are the neighborhoods closest to downtown Portland.

March 2013 Home Pending sales increases were very encouraging as well. The three highest areas of increased pending sales over March 2012 were North Portland at 32.1%, Lake Oswego at 31.6%, and Tigard at 30.6%. This graph from the RMLS charting the average and median price changes in the metro Portland market since 2002, reveals that March 2013 prices are on a par with June/September 2005 and June 2009:

Metro Portland Home Price Changes 3/2004 to 3/2013. Courtesy of RMLS

The RMLS does a good job of summarizing the March Housing Action, and the median and average sales price increases.

Courtesy of RMLS

Even more up to date are the weekly reports published by Altos for all areas of metro Portland which also show overall decreasing days on the market for the first weeks of April, plus a nice pattern of increasing prices.

The March 2013 Housing Market Report for Metro Portland is full of more encouraging detailed information about specific neighborhoods and suburbs, plus charts and graphs for your review.

Portland real estate and metro Portland are two of my passions, so please call 503-516-8066 or email sharonportland@gmail.com if you’d like to chat about real estate or with news about Portland events, sights, concerns.

Happy Birthday, Governor McCall, and Thanks for Caring.

Sharon Francis — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 20:50:05 +0000

Beautiful beaches owned by the public. Towns and cities that don’t sprawl forever with easy access to farms, wineries, forests. Reduced litter since 1971 from discarded beverage bottles and cans. Pedestrian and bike trails and facilities. A reputation for liveability that goes back more than 40 years. A public spirit of volunteering to maintain these benefits.

Where is this you ask? Oregon of course, which was crafted in large part under the leadership of a far sighted governor, whose initiatives have helped the state to maintain its liveability and beauty. Today would have been the 100th birthday of Oregon’s most famous governor, Governor Tom McCall who was elected to two terms from 1967 to 1975. McCall had an abiding love for Oregon, as many of us still do, and was able to effectively oversee the passage of bills that have crafted today’s Oregon. These include laws to curb pollution, protect beaches, encourage biking, bottle deposits, energy measures, and land use planning.

One of his most important achievements was to ensure continued public ownership of the entire Oregon coast line. Following an earlier beach bill by Governor Oswald West, under McCall’s urging, the legislature passed a law in 1967 that assured all Oregon beaches would remain public property. So today, even if there are many homes lining the beach, there are always access paths and parking spots for any one to enjoy our beaches. This is not the case along most beaches in the U.S. where private ownership is permitted.

In 1971 Oregon’s Bottle Bill was passed, the first in the nation to require deposits to curb litter and garbage. At the same time, Governor McCall was involved with the establishment of a nonprofit called SOLVE, that among other projects, has an annual volunteer cleanup of our beaches.

Beach at Manzanita

The final jewel in his crown of achievements was the passage of Oregon’s land use planning laws, reputedly the earliest US law toregulate the growth of cities state wide. It is a complex law which has had many attacks from developers, but which still stands and has protected our farmlands and forests from urban sprawl. An example is the Tualatin River below, which flows through farmlands, wetlands and towns. Canoes can be rented at Brown’s Landing in Tualatin about 20 minutes south of Portland.

McCall had other views that would be less popular today, including his support for the Vietnam War, and support for forestry practices that are viewed as not adequately protecting our forests.

An outspoken journalist who came to politics following radio and television news broadcasting, McCall is known for many of his colorful quotes. Here’s a few, courtesy of the Oregon Historical Society:

We want you to visit our State of Excitement often. Come again and again. But for heaven’s sake, don’t move here to live. Or if you do have to move in to live, don’t tell any of your neighbors where you are going. (This was paraphrased by McCall again during an interview on national television.) 1971

…Oregon is demure and lovely, and it ought to play a little hard to get. And I think you’ll be just as sick as I am if you find it is nothing but a hungry hussy , throwing herself at every stinking smokestack that’s offered. 1982

The interests of Oregon for today and in the future must be protected from the grasping wastrels of the land. We must respect another truism – that unlimited and unregulated growth, leads inexorably to a lowered quality of life. 1973

Oregon is an inspiration. Whether you come to it, or are born to it, you become entranced by our state’s beauty, the opportunity she affords, and the independent spirit of her citizens. 1973

And finally:

Heroes are not giant statues framed against a red sky. They are people who say: This is my community, and it is my responsibility to make it better. (from an interview by author Studs Terkel)

Once many years ago, I had the privilege of sitting next to Governor McCall at a luncheon. His humanity and friendly openness made me comfortable, even though at the time I didn’t have the perspective to truly appreciate the impact of his service to Oregon.

As reported in a letter to Portland’s daily paper, The Oregonian, today, the words on his tombstone in Central Oregon simply read

He Cared.

May we all care about our communities and about Oregon.

Blog Ping Site

Portland 2013 Home Prices: Still Rising After All These Months

Sharon Francis — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 19:47:00 +0000

Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm

Listening to Paul Simon’s “Still Crazy, After All These Years”, on the radio the other day, got me to thinking about what things I am still crazy about, like music, travel, comedy, theatre, gardens,picnics, outings with friends, mountains,tennis, diy, passionately discussing ideas, movies. Another reason “Still Crazy” resonates with me is that after all these years, I’m still house crazy: I still love everything about homes–looking at them, staging/decorating, the building process, remodeling, home improvement centers, home shows, selling homes. Once that song was again in my head, I started thinking about the housing market too, and the fact that Portland home prices …are still rising–after all these months.

The continued increase in home prices is very good news for home owners and sellers. Buyers on the other hand may need to move up their plans to purchase a home, before they are priced out of their respective budgets. Buyers are probably also wondering if they’ll find a home while interest rates are still low. The strong Dow of recent weekds (too soon to tell the impact of Cyprus on Wall Street) and other financial indicia of the past week have led some financial analysts to foresee a gradual increase in interest rates in the near future.

Released on 3/13/2013, the Portland metro RMLS Market report for February sales reveals an average increase of 5.8% over February 2012, and a median increase of 8.5%. Of course individual neighborhoods have varying increases. The averages for a few neighborhoods/cities vary, with some of the larger home price increases tending to be closer in neighborhoods: North Portland 5.2%, NE Portland 9.8%, SE Portland 7.7%, West Portland 7.4%, Tigard & South: 5.7%, Hillsboro 6.5% and L. Oswego 3.1% ( the Lake Oswego market may be self correcting as the highest median price market in metro Portland).

Portland RMLS Market Report Summary Chart February 2013

For me, its frustrating to wait half a month to learn about the prior month’s home sales. Of course I could compute daily, but that takes a bit of time. Fortunately, Altos Reports issues a weekly housing market report by area. If you’d like to receive it, I can have it emailed to you each week–even for a specialized area. The March 8 report showed that the February trend continues in the Portland area, and that as most areas have price increases, the days on the market continues to dwindle. Here’s how it described the Portland market, which according to its analysis is only 4.5 points away from an “official” seller’s market:

Home sales have been exceeding new inventory for several weeks.
While still a Buyer’s market, prices seem to have responded by
moving upward. If the demand trends continue, expect prices to
keep marching upward, especially once we see a Seller’s Market.

While we wait for temperatures to warm up along with home prices, maybe you’ll also be humming “Still Crazy, After All These Years” while you wander around the newly opened Farmer’s Markets!

Portland Market in South Park Blocks

A Seller’s Market in Portland? New Reports Say Yes!

Sharon Francis — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 17:49:25 +0000

Portland South Park Blocks

Sunny Day in Portland & Good News

Portland homeowners have been thirsting for good news about the Portland housing market, and it’s finally here. The metropolitan Portland RMLS January Housing Market report released yesterday , February 14, 2013 and discussed below, was highly promising, but that’s not all! Just a couple days ago, according to a report by Wendy Culverwell of the Portland Business Journal, Zip Realty of California announced the top ten cities where homes sell for near the listed price, and a list of cities with the shortest number of days on the market between listing and pending.

Coming in at #9 for the ratio of sales price to list price, metro Portland homes sold at 98.9% of the list price. (We beat Seattle which was #10.) In January 2011, the national ratio was 97.1%, and by December 2012 was up to a national average of 98.3%. The report doesn’t say if the list price used was the original list price or the price at the time of the offer.

Portland scored again at # 8 for the shortest days to an accepted offer (pending status).

Zip Realty attributed these gains in part to the low inventory of homes, and the low mortgage rates in 2012. As I discussed in my blog on January 24, 2013, Portland had the lowest inventory in December 2012 since 2006.

Exciting Results in January 2013 Portland RMLS Housing Report

Confirming that Portland’s housing market is continuing to improve, The January RMLS Housing Market Report for the Portland metro area showed that prices increased nicely over January 2011. The median home price increase in January 2012 was 7.3%, and the average home price increase was 5.4 % over January 2011. January’s closed and pending sales in the Portland area were the highest since 2007. In fact January’s pending sales averaged 37.7% higher than December 2012. For example, Lake Oswego’s pending sales increased 34% in January over January 2011, and pending sales in Tigard enjoyed a 32% increase. The Market Report shows a continued decrease in days on the market for the Portland area as well.

The January 2013 Portland Housing Market Report report is full of encouraging information for sellers–and for buyers who will have more options with an increased inventory of homes. Below is part of the report, showing statistics for various greater Portland areas

If you’d like to to discuss this latest market report, and the impact on your real estate strategy, please give me a call at 503-516-8066, or email me at sharonportland@gmail.com.

January 2013 RMLS Market Report

Looks like it will be a busy spring and summer for Portland real estate!

January is Radon Month: Portland Radon Updates 2013

Sharon Francis — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 06:35:05 +0000

Please Test your Home for Radon.

What’s invisible, tasteless, doesn’t smell, is in your home, and can kill you?? That would be radon, a radioactive gas released as naturally occurring uranium in the ground deteriorates. The radon gas moves up through the soil into the air. In homes, it penetrates and then becomes trapped, increasing the readings to dangerous levels. Radon can also be released from granite or sandstone counter tops, but most tests including an examination of radon in granite by Consumer Reports indicate that this depends on the type of granite, and most have very low levels of radon emission. High levels of radon in homes causes at least 20,000 people to get lung cancer per year.

January is National Radon Month and coincides with the January 2013 release of new radon test results in Oregon that reveal much higher levels of radon than previously tested . As The Oregonian reported on January 24, 2013, the geology department of Portland State University through Professor Scott Burns & students examined a much larger sampling of Oregon homes that had been previously tested.

The PSU Geology Team discovered that in the Portland area alone, one in four homes has high radon.

Radon Hazard Potential Portland Metro 2013
Courtesy PSU, & Oregon Public Health

They have published the radon test results in a new Oregon radon map (the last map was released in 2003),a list of Oregon zip codes with the radon levels, along with a map of radon hazard potential in the Portland area. The map shows what percent of each zip code area contains radon readings that exceed 4Pci/l, which is an unacceptable level of Radon according to the EPA. Actually, the EPA recommends that indoor levels of radon between 2 pCi/L and 4 pCi/L be fixed as well. Portland areas toward the Columbia River including NE Portland have high radon readings, but now it is known that the suburb of Sherwood OR has very high readings as well.

Testing for Radon in Portland is important now. The old Portland Radon Map from 2003, indicated my area was unlikely to have elevated radon levels. But the new Radon Map suggests a higher risk in my area, so I will be testing my own home. And based upon the new radon map just released, I will recommend that all buyers & home owners in the Portland area test their homes. Radon tests should be an important part of any buyer’s home inspection process. Longer tests over a few months are the most accurate, but a simple test that lasts a few days is a good starting point. Radon kits have been hard to find in Portland this past week at the usual home improvement stores, but the American Lung Association sells radon kits online for $14.00.

Radon in your home can be fixed. If your home tests too high for radon, it is relatively inexpensive and simple to remedy the problem. A heavy vinyl cover of all soil under your home is important, plus special venting of the air out and away from the space. The State of California offers a pictorial on how to lower the level radon in your home, and the State of Oregon has a list of contractors who are certified to test or to mitigate radon. These are contractors who are licensed by the National Environmental Health Association and the National Radon Safety Board.

Hitting Home: A person close to me, who doesn’t smoke, got lung cancer last year. We were assuming it was from second hand smoke in his youth, but now we wonder about radon. He’ll be testing his home for radon soon. Be serious about this: please test.

Portland Real Estate Drought: How will it affect you?

Sharon Francis — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 00:33:12 +0000

Woof! I like this window in Pearl, but I need to find a home!

A housing drought in Portland Oregon? Hard to believe it could happen in our rainy city, but all the stats show that we have the fewest homes for sale since 2006. The December 2012 RMLS Housing Market Report revealed an inventory of active listings for sale as lasting for only 3.6 months. Yes, December is always a slow time in the real estate business, but compare the December 2012 inventory at 3.6 months to the 7.9 months in December 2010 and you’ll get a sense of the change in the current housing market.

This scarcity of Portland homes for sale has created bidding wars in some areas, undoubtedly a significant factor contributing to increasing sale prices. Depending upon the source, the sales price of Portland area homes in 2012 rose between 6 and 7.7 percent over 2011. This increase is clearly caused in part by the low supply and increasing demand for homes, with many buyers anxious to purchase a home while the mortgage interest rates are still near historically low levels.

Portland RMLS Inventory 2010 through 2012

Buyer’s who lose in the bidding wars continue scouring the internet for the latest active Portland listings. As a broker, it feels like a treasure hunt race to preview asap the newest listings that match my clients’ needs, and help my clients to be one of the first to view the home. In the past few months of 2012, there are instances where a pre-approved first time buyer shopping in the mid-200,000′s had to make an offer on 5 or more homes before getting an acceptance. Understanding just how low the inventory is helps educate both the buyer and their broker!

But what in the world does inventory mean in the real estate industry? To me, the notion of determining the inventory of real estate in a fluid market seems strange. Counting the number of widgets in a Fred Meyers store is straight forward–I get that. But how to measure real estate inventory is an issue that has generated different approaches. The goal for real estate inventory is to show the number of months it would take to sell the current homes on the market in a finite period, unusually a month.

The most popular inventory formula is to take the number of homes for sale on a given date, and then divide that number by the number of homes sold in the past 30 days. Others prefer to use pending sales in a formula to analyze the inventory of the active listings. Real estate analysts say that around 6 months of inventory is a market balanced between buyers and seller.

So has the inventory increased in January? Because the RMLS Market Report for January 2013 won’t be released until mid-February, I decided to update myself on the Portland housing inventory as of January 21, 2013. Even though there have been new listings since January 1, the results surprisingly still showed low inventory for close in Portland areas, and also for more suburban areas as well. I ran separate queries for 3 broad price points: $200,000 to $499,000; $500,000 to $1,000,000, and for over $1,000,000. My search included detached homes in close in Portland areas, downtown condos as its own category, and detached homes in suburbs. For SW Portland, I divided my searches by high schools. The results, like December, still showed abnormally low levels of inventory in nearly all areas, particularly in the $200,000 to $500,000. prices ranges.

January 21, 2013 Housing Inventory in Portland & Suburbs

So what are the reasons inventory is so low? A primary reason is that due to deflated home values since 2008 or so, many Portland homeowners are “underwater” on their homes, meaning that they currently owe more on their home than they could sell it for. The Oregonian reported on January 17, 2013 that at the end of the third quarter of 2012, ”18.2% of Portland mortgage borrowers were under water on their loan–meaning their mortgage debt is more than their home is worth….” Unless a transfer or other emergency arises, these underwater homeowners are likely to hold onto their homes and not put them on the market. With rising home values in the fourth quarter of 2012, and the likelihood of increasing values due to low inventory, hopefully these homeowners will have more options regarding their homes in the near future.

Another contributing factor to the low inventory is reduced home values for everyone. Even owners who are not underwater and may have as much as 100% equity in their homes, would like to wait to sell until their home value increases this year. Retirees looking to downsize or relocate are members of this group. The sale of their home as they downsize could represent a significant part of their nest egg. In contrast, homeowners who would be selling their home to “trade up” to a more expensive home wouldn’t be as affected by low home values–they may sell for less than they would like, but their new home will also be less so it should even out in most cases.

Will home prices continue to increase in 2013? National data companies including Corelogic, Zillow , Trulia, all predict increases in home values in 2013. Some like Zillow think the increases will slow down a bit, but other industry players like Trulia believe that improved job markets enhanced by accelerating new construction nationally and in Portland will stimulate increasing home values.

I’m ready to help both buyers and sellers with my professional approach to real estate services. So……if you are a buyer who needs a proactive agent to scout out and preview the newest listings for you, we should talk! And…if you have decided that the time is right for you to sell, let me show you my marketing processes to sell your home for the highest price in an accelerating market.

______________________

Update: On January 28, 2013 the National Association of Realtors, NAR, released their Pending Home Sales Index for December. This index is a forward looking way of analyzing housing inventory, instead of the more common method mentioned above. Looking at the trend over 2012, and considering the December 2012 pending home sales, the chief economist of NAR, Lawrence Yun, reported that contract activity has risen for 20 straight months. The December report was uneven, but Yun noted that “much of the West is already a seller’s market for homes priced under a million dollars” in contrast to a more balanced housing market in the East.

Prior to the release of the January 28 report by NAR, a Wall Street Journal Blogger came up with “Six Reasons Housing Inventory Keeps Declining”, an article I didn’t see until today. It explains the inventory situation in greater depth.

Portland Homes & Portland Happy Hours: Two Great Values in 2012

Sharon Francis — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:09:50 +0000

Heathman Hotel in Portland

Portland Oregon has perhaps more Happy Hours than many cities, and in the darker days of winter, it’s a great time of day to enjoy inexpensive food & beverages. Last Sunday we spent a couple hours at the cozy Heathman Hotel bistro with friends, ordering many small plates, wine, & dessert. The Heathman’s bistro is in their beautifully classic paneled room (high tea area during the Holidays), with comfy seats, small tables, a roaring fire, and sometimes music in the evenings. On the weekend, the bistro menu starts at 3:00 and goes all evening.

Most Portland Happy Hours are limited to early nibbles from about 3P.M. To 7 P.M. and again for the after theatre crowd around 9:00 or 10:00 P.M. These small plates are not always so small: at the Hotel Deluxe there is a plate of 3 sliders in the retro Driftwood Room with its authentic Mad Men mystique, and the smoked chicken chowder is amazing. Some Happy Hours discount drinks while others discount food.

I always thought this tradition was based on Oregon liquour regulations requiring food offered with alcoholic beverages, but this might just be a rumour. Apparently most other U.S. cities don’t have this economical & enticing option for dining.

If you’re ready to test the Happy Hour waters, check out Urban Drink, which lists hours and offerings by neighborhood. This is a great value in Portland.

Another Portland value in 2012 is the price of Portland area homes, which as of December 2011 have decreased and average of 6.7% over the previous year. Even when comparing December 2011 home prices to November 2011, the signals were mixed about the future: average prices from .5% while median prices fell 3.7% The pace of sales however has picked up dramatically, while the inventory of homes for sale is just over 5 months. The Portland Housing Market Report December 2011 is issued by the Regional Multiple Listing Service by the middle of each month for the previous month’s results. The prices have been bouncing slightly up and down since last fall, and people in a position to buy Oregon real estate, can find a bargain in Portland homes for sale in 2012, and that includes even the more expensive neighborhoods of Lake Oswego, Dunthorpe, NW Portland, and the SW Hills of Portland.

Pending Home Sales Increase in Lake Oswego

Sharon Francis — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 19:07:22 +0000

Foothills Park on the Willamette in Lake Oswego

Although late to the recession party, even Lake Oswego home prices have been declining for the past couple years. Finally, the November 2011 RMLS Market Report has some good news for Lake Oswego home owners: pending sales increased a hefty 33.3% over October 2011, and showed an increase of 8.5% year to date over 2010.

Lake Oswego also saw the smallest decline in home value in the November report of all metro Portland areas. Prices decreased a mere 3.3% in Lake Oswego, with NW Portland and the West Hills in second and third places.

Is this a sign that Lake Oswego’s housing market is turning around? No one knows for sure, but it does show that Lake Oswego continues to be one of the most desirable areas in metro Portland. With the median price of a home at $365,500, Lake Oswego homes are $70,500 over the median price in the West Hills, greater Portland’s next highest priced area. For prospective buyers, the November housing report reinforces the resiliency of Lake Oswego real estate, and indicates that now could be a great opportunity to purchase a home there before prices go back up.

In November 2011, no Lake Oswego homes in the RMLS over $1,000,000 actually closed. A caveat is that on 10/31/11 and 12/1/11 two homes in that price range did close. There currently are 51 active listings over $1,000,000 in Lake Oswego.

In the price range between $300,000 to $500,000, 21 Lake Oswego homes sold in November. Seventeen Lake Oswego homes in November sold between $51,900 to $300,000. Of those, 12 were condos.

For the rest of greater Portland, pending home sales also saw an encouraging increase in numbers for November.

If you’d like to discuss this report more, or learn more info about the Lake Oswego or Portland housing markets, please give me a call at 503-516-8066.

Please comment on this post–would love to hear your opinion.

November 2011 RMLS Housing Market Report for Greater Portland & Lake Oswego

Portland Neighborhoods in Zillow’sTop Ten: Hillside, West Hills, Sunnyside

Sharon Francis — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:29:23 +0000

We know that lots of folks are relocating to Portland Or, but we were stunned to learn that Portland’s Hillside Neighborhood was the most searched U.S. neighborhood in September 2011 according to Zillow. But wait….there’s even more exciting news for Portland! Two more Portland neighborhoods were on that same Top Ten List, giving Portland 3 out of the 10 of most searched neighborhoods in the US for September. If you’re considering a move to Portland, you’ll want to explore the details of these popular neighborhoods to see if they meet your needs. Both Hillside and West Hills neighborhoods have median prices in the $500,000′s, but a home can be found in close in Sunnyside for the mid-$200,000′s.

Hillside Neighborhood in Portland

If you aren’t familiar with the Hillside neighborhood of Portland, perhaps you didn’t realize that when you visited the historic

Hillside Neighborhood in Portland

Pittock Mansion, or when you walked some of the Wildwood Trail, you were in the area of Portland called Hillside! Located above West Burnside, the old stagecoach road of the 19th century, Hillside homes with incredible views of Portland and Washington to the north, cling tenaciously to the hill. Curving narrow streets echoing those in Europe, display older homes–some grand, some not–with a few surprising contemporary homes wedged in. There’s even a condo complex, with access so steep off of Burnside, that the road is heated underneath in the event of a surprise winter freeze! Hillside adjoins the 5000 acre Forest Park, and its popular Wildwood Trail meanders through the neighborhood. I feel like I’m in a land far away when I’m in the beautiful and intriguing Hillside Neighborhood, as the streets entice me to find out what is around the next curve–and if you look at this map, you’ll appreciate how many curves there are! Sometimes this area is referred to as Kings Heights–and it’s not because we had royalty in Portland, but because a Mr. King took on the challenging task of devloping some of Hillside many years ago.

An old family friend, Will Bone, helped start the Hillside Community Center, designed by Portland’s famed architect Pietro Beluschi years earlier when it was the private Caitlin Gable School. Later it transformed into an arts school, and subsequently was put up for sale. Fearful that it could turn into condo’s or something else not compatible with the neighborhood, a devoted small group of homeowners, including Will, worked tirelessly to raise the funds to purchase it for a community center. Eventually some even mortgaged their homes in order to contribute. The Center was given to the City of Portland to run, and today the Belluschi Building remains–it was the old gym. This is an active area now, with tennis courts, soccer field, and meeting rooms.

If you’d like to check out the fascinating homes, you’re invited to search Hillside home listings.

Portland SW Hills Neighborhood

Zillow’s Top Ten home search list for September 2011 placed the SW Hills neighborhood as the #3 most popular US home search.

Map of Portland's SW Hills Neighborhood

For some, the SW Hills area above downtown Portland represents the quintessential look of elegant old Portland. Along Vista Avenue are the mansions of early bankers & lumber barons. I like to imagine how grand it must have been in the early 20th century–as in some Portland neighborhoods, you can still spot the iron rings in the curbs for tying up the horses. As Vista turns into the winding Patton Road, the grand mansions yield to an eclectic assortment of homes both old and new nestled in wooded areas, and then to more organized neighborhoods again on the west side of the hills. For the highest point in Portland, a visit to the 1000 plus foot high Council Crest will reward you with a view of 5 mountains, and a 180 degree view of Portland and its suburbs. Council Crest has a long history, from a meeting spot for Native Americans, to an amusement park in the early 20th century with streetcars ferrying people up the hillside. Some hikers start on trails lower down near near OHSU, and make the trek to Counil Crest. Visit this elegant SW Hills neighborhood and search for homes.

Sunnyside Neighborhood in Portland

Bordered by Hawthorne on the south, and Stark Street on the north, & wedged between SE 28th & 52nd Avenues, the Sunnyside Neighborhood of SE Portland was #9 in national home searches on September 2011 according to a Zillow report. That’s not a

The Sunnyside Neighborhood

surprise. Sunnyside is the hip place to live in Portland, with interesting & quirky districts conveniently located within an easy biking commute to downtown Portland. Two parallel streets or “districts” offer shops, cafes, pubs. The premiere & oldest developed district is SE Hawthorne, a mecca for sampling casual dining from Korean to Thai

Hawthorne Street Shops

to French to Japanese, to pizza served served with movies at the Baghdad Theatre or at highly rated Apizza Scholls . Here you’ll find bookstores, vintage clothing & exchange shops, boutiques, gift shops, records, and shops catering to children’s clothing and toys. People watching from sidewalk cafes is free & fun. For bike commuters, it’s an easy ride to downtown Portland via the Hawthorne Bridge–about 30 blocks below the Sunnyside neighborhood.

SE Belmont District is the up & coming cousin of Hawthorne with cafes, pubs including the historic Horse Brass Pub, brewery, some of Portland’s famous food carts, Movie Madness with its world class collection of dvd’s & videos, the Wunderland Arcade & Avalon Theater, yoga, and theatre companies including Profile Theatre which shares space at Theatre Theatre. You get the picture! Locally owned grocery stores such as Zupan’s and fabulous middle eastern food at Hoda’s are some of the other treats here. Between Stark Street & Belmont is Peacock Lane where each year the quaint homes all decorate for Christmas. The entire Sunnyside neighborhood would score high on Walkscore! Homes here include Victorian, early 20th century, and craftsman style homes from the 30′s & 40′s. Homes in Sunnyside are more moderately priced than Hillside or West Hills. Take a peek at some Sunnyside homes for sale.

If you’d like more information about the Hillside, West Hills or Sunnyside neighborhoods of Portland, please contact us.

Lake Oswego & Tigard Weekly Market Report October 31

Sharon Francis — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 06:26:42 +0000

Lake Oswego & Tigard Oct 31 Housing Markets: A Tale of Two Suburbs.

Lake Oswego & Tigard: Suburban Neighbors

There’s no question that Lake Oswego is one of Portland’s most beautiful & expensive suburbs, with homes ranging from simple cottages to an island with a mansion currently for sale. Those of us who follow the real estate market in Lake Oswego–or any other Portland area for that matter, can get so wrapped up in the market statistics for our area of interest, that we lack a perspective about the overall direction of the Portland area housing market. Because Lake Oswego is adjacent to the similarly sized suburb of Tigard, I thought it might be helpful to compare the two using the statistics for the last week of October 2011. Tigard is a more moderately priced city separated only by Interstate 5 from Lake Oswego, but it too has a wide range of housing options from simple ranch style starter homes to estates in the area of Bull Mountain (but there’s no island for sale in Tigard).

Looking at home listing & sale figures that are compiled weekly by Altos Research and provided locally courtesy of Ticor Title, the weekly health of the Lake Oswego market revealed that it is more sluggish than the more moderately priced Tigard homes. Here’s excerpts on Lake Oswego & Tigard taken from the Altos & Ticor report:

Altos summed up the trend shown by the Lake Oswego statistics with the comment “mildly positive”, based on tightening of inventory & the resulting increase in the market action index, which is directly related to home sales currently exceeding new inventory . Any Market Action index 30 or above is considered a seller’s market, while numbers under 30 indicate a buyer’s market. Last weeks Market Action Index for Lake Oswego was 14, barely over the previous week’s 13.9.

Tigard was rated as “bullish” with a tightening inventory, falling days on the market and a continually increasing Market Action Index which was at 16.1. Tigards decreasing average days on the market of 167 vs Lake Oswego’s average of an increasing 222 days on the market undoubtedly reflects the increasing strength of more moderately priced homes.

For a quick review of some other west side areas, plus Portland I’ve summed up the Altos reports for October 31. Portland is included as a city which is pretty meaningless because of the vast difference in its neighborhoods, but next week, we’ll look at the weekly stats broken down by areas within Portland.

Weekly Housing Market Report October 31 Report sampling of Portland Suburbs

Some of these suburbs are quite a distance from each other–Hillsboro and Lake Oswego are prime examples, separated by 20-30 miles. The difference in the housing markets in some ways echoes the micro climates of these cities as well–Hillsboro tends to be a bit colder, where Lake Oswego may get more rain than some other areas.

These reports are available for specific neighborhoods, or zip codes. Contact me if you’d like to receive these Weekly Market Reports by Altos (courtesy of Ticor Title) for your neighborhood or any others.