Living Beaverton - Your guide to everything Beaverton

What do you mean your client isn't buying it just because of the countertops? My client just spent $5,000 on those granite countertops to make it look this good so it will sell faster and now you are telling me that you aren't buying because of them?

Yep, this was the conversation I had with a buyer's agent on Saturday and I was in shock to what I was hearing. Those countertops looked dang good and it made that kitchen look awesome! Evidently, this buyer could not see that and says to my seller that if they want to sell it they will replace all countertops in the house with another type countertop.

It turns out that this person didn't like granite because of salmonella and the warnings that she heard on the news about how it traps the bacteria easier and can kill you. Oh, but that isn't all...There is more! As an added bonus, she said granite also produces radon gas.

What? Salmonella? Radon? What else am I going to have to tell my seller his extra $5,000 does for him? Has anyone else heard of this? I can understand the salmonella, but clean your counters or use a cutting board you should be fine, but radon? Is this going to end up being another addendum we are going to have to have buyers and sellers sign? My client has now offered to replace the counter tops for the buyer, but she is afraid of residual radon, is this something that stays or does it go with the counters?

If anyone can give me information on this that would be greatly appreciated as I was thinking about installing this in my kitchen, but I may wait now.

 

Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739

Yesterday was a great day in Boston as the Red Sox retired the jersey of one Johnny Pesky. You don't know who Johnny Pesky is? Well let me tell you the story of Mr. Pesky or as he is called her in Oregon, "Mr. Red Sox."

A couple weeks ago I didn't know who Mr. Pesky was either until I visited the Silverton History museum and found out all about Mr. Pesky and now seeing his number retired is just awesome. You see, in 1938 in Silverton, Oregon, they had a AAA ball club called the Silverton Red Sox. That is where Mr. Pesky got his start. He played baseball here, went off to war, came back, and then got drafted to the big leagues where he has been with the Boston Red Sox ever since!

Mr. Pesky may not be famous outside of Boston, but outside of Portland, in the little town of Silverton, they are proud to have some history with Mr. Red Sox. They even have a mural of the Red Sox in the middle of town and one of the uniforms in the museum.

So, if you are looking to know more about Mr. Pesky, I suggest you come to Oregon and stop off in Silverton, Oregon, and ask about him. I promise they will be glad to tell you about their local baseball star that has a uniform number retired in Boston. Also don't forget to ask about the Pesky Pole! But, in case you can't make it to Silverton, I can tell you that the right field foul pole is named after him.

For more information on Johnny "Mr. Red Sox" Pesky, I suggest you pick up the book about him, "Mr. Red Sox: The Johnny Pesky Story", by Bill Nowlin. I know I have it on order and can't wait to get it!

 

Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739

One of the toughest things about working short sales is knowing you are helping a family who is in trouble. For some reason, they can't afford to live there anymore. Many times it's because of life changing situations such as divorce, job loss, death, or many other reasons. But, now they have to sell their home and don't have the equity to pay us or what is owed to the bank.

The loss in value in the last two years has made it impossible to sell a house for the same price they bought it for plus 6%-8% to cover our commission and closing costs. Now, every one of these families I've met has never had a desire to move. They would prefer to live in their home they bought and continue to live the American dream, to raise their kids in one school district and never have to move again.

The stress that this situation puts on a family, including the kids, is tremendous, but I truly believe what doesn't kill us, makes us stronger. These families are some of the strongest and proudest families I have ever met and having to admit they can't make it and to make that first call is the hardest thing they have to do.

I believe that if you treat these families with respect and tell them the whole truth up front, then you are doing everyone a great service. I love it when I tell my clients to talk to their CPA and lawyer prior to making any decisions or signing anything. EVERY time they come back to me and say, "Everything you told us that the lawyer and the CPA were going to say is exactly what they said and thank you for being completely upfront with us."

I've had many of people cry when telling them the facts about what is going to happen with the banks, but I feel I would rather have them know up front than be surprised later. If you are a person facing a foreclosure, you need to know that the bank doesn't have it in for you despite the way they sound on the phone. They just are reading a script. You just need someone in your corner that understands the process and who doesn't want to make you feel that you are unimportant, because you're not. You are very important and deserve respect because whatever your situation, it is only temporary.

If you want to be treated like a human and be treated like you deserve to be treated during this tough time, give me a call. I would love to sit down with you and discuss your situation. I may be even able to help negotiate a loan modification if the situation truly is very short term.



Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739

Today I got a call from a lady who was crying uncontrollably. So much so that I was having a hard time understanding her. But, when I finally got her to calm down enough that I could understand her, she wanted to know what she could do. She had gone with another agent, despite reading my posts and now had a 24 hour notice on her door.

I didn't want to get too involved for legal reasons, but I did give her the number of two good real estate attorneys here locally. The problem was she bought a home on owner financing and choice to do so without the use of and escrow account or any memorandums on the title, and now she was given a 24 hour notice by the mortgage company who just foreclosed on the house, and she didn't know it.

What had happened is she bought this home on a contract and the contract was never recorded. Then she didn't put any of the down payment in escrow or use an escrow company to pay her payments. (I use an escrow company to make sure the payments are distributed to the original mortgage and taxes prior to the seller getting the funds).

She had paid $20,000 down and been paying for 8 months and now was going to be out on the street and no home or money to show for it. You see, the owner after two months, I'm guessing got in to financial trouble and decided to take her payments and put them on their home and skip a payment or two on her property and then get caught up in a couple months, but the catch up never happened.

So, if you are in the market for a lease option or a home with owner financing, I suggest you seek legal advice and work with an agent that specializes in creative financing or you could be in the same situation as this lady. I felt sorry for her. I am hoping she has some legal recourse against the seller, but getting blood from a turnip isn't going to be easy.

In the last week I've been in at least 15 bank owned properties. Of these, 3 really stuck out in my mind. What was so special about those 3? They had been damaged by the previous owner prior to the bank taking back the properties.

You see the banks had kicked out the owners and taken back the property in foreclosure. So, to get even, before they completely moved out, the sellers removed all the appliances and then took a sledgehammer to the property, along with wire cutters, pipe cutters and saws, and went to town on these homes.

These homes were completely destroyed and you could tell this was done within hours of the sellers moving out because everything else looked spotless, including the carpet, except for the saw marks made by a rotating saw. But, when they were done, the windows were broken, pipes cut, wires ripped out and the house looked more like a drug house than a home.

But, my question is, can the banks go back after these people for vandalism? Since it was their property prior to the courts taking the home back in foreclosure, could they do whatever they wanted with the home? What if their choice was to destroy the home to get even with the bank that now has a property that is clearly worth $50,000 - $70,000 less than it had been 48 hours prior?

Now, I don't agree with what these people have done with these properties, but at the same time a lot of these peoples have tried to do a short sale and sell the home but the banks wouldn't cooperate and just waited for the foreclosure to happen. They now feel the banks have ruined their credit and this is their revenge on the banks.

Is there anything we can do to help the banks prior to a foreclosure to assure that things like this don't happen to the homes they take back or is this just something we are going to have to deal with?

Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739

With the federal bailout of the financial institutions looking like only hours away, we need to look at the physical damage that these crashes have caused on the market and the country as a whole. Throwing money at the problem may not be the best answer, but I'm guessing that is all we are going to get.

If you have ever been in a serious car accident then you know that you usually have to go through physical therapy to get back to 100%. It is never as simple as getting home calling the insurance company asking for a large check and then when you get it, you are all better. (Unless there is fraud involved.)

The key to getting things back to normal is time, money, and physical therapy. The time comes when you are going to go through physical therapy and the money is there to cover the time lost at work during therapy.

So, how does this apply to the financial markets today? Let's look at this as a car accident and the financial houses are the ones injured. We can throw money at the problem, but that won't fix the real problem that happened during the accident. These financial houses need physical therapy, and in time the market will fix itself. Do they need the money? Yes, I'm not denying that, but they need more than that in order to succeed.

A few years ago the federal government threw money at the railroads in order to keep them going, but that didn't help them fix their situation. Today they are right back on the verge of bankruptcy. Then a couple years ago they did it again with the airlines and now the airlines are cutting jobs and charging for extra luggage and saying that within 2 years they could be out of business if things don't change.

You see, all we did is throw money at the problem instead of help them with physical therapy to get to the root of the problem. So let's get together and get these institutions some physical therapy and help the country get back to 100% sooner rather than later.

 

Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739

Today is Friday, September 26, 2008 and it is time for another breakdown of homes sales in the Washington County, Oregon market. This week the stats came out for August 2008 versus August 2007 and the numbers are pretty amazing. With the average drop in home sales in Washington County of 30.23% and now we are starting to feel the pinch of short sales and foreclosures hitting the market. It has caused the average home sold price to drop 3.1% since August of last year. This is an interesting situation, because for the first time we are seeing prices start to fall, but I’m interested in seeing the next couple months as I have started to see a little more buyer activity this month versus last month. I look forward to reporting this falls sales at the end of November and hopefully I will have some good news.

So, if you have a family home that you are thinking about selling, this is a great time to get it on the market!

Here is a breakdown of homes sales for the week by neighborhood. Just click on the link to your neighborhood for the complete breakdown of what the average of homes that are on the market, how long they have been on the market, how many have sold, what their average price was, and how long they were on the market.

As always, if you are looking to buy or sell in the Washington County, Oregon area, I would love to show you how you can save the most money by being on your side during the negotiations.

Neighborhood # of Active Listings

Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739

I have a group of investors that have learned that investing in real estate doesn't have to be venture in losing money like so many investors have in the past year. You see, they learned that you can't really lose money if you are buying properties at 60% of the appraised value.

Why were they able to do this? Because they found out about homes before they even became part of the MLS, or they worked together with other investors and bought a group of homes (Portfolio) from banks at a discounted price and then they divide the homes among themselves.

Why are these investments winning propositions? Two reasons, the first being they plan to hold the property and not re-sell it immediately. This will give the time for the economy to turn around and house values to rise. Then when it becomes a sellers market, they can reconsider selling it. The second reason is because they are buying these properties at prices that make it so as soon as they make it a rental they are immediately having a positive cash flow.

The biggest problem with most people is they are followers. They buy when the see everyone else is buying or start to panic and sell when they see things start to get tough. The richest investors in the world, buy when everyone else is selling and sell when every one else is buying. Right now, everyone is trying to sell because they feel the value of their property has gone down and so instead of holding it until the value goes up, they are willing to lose money, giving you an opportunity to make money from their short sightedness. Then when the market turns around and they start to want buying again because property values are on the rise, you can then start to sell and make a huge profit!

Are you an investor in the Portland area or would like to make money on your investments? If you are than please give me a call and find out about my Empowered Investor group and find out how you can buy these properties for $.60 on the dollar and start to make money in real estate today while it is still a buyers market.



Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739

Photo courtesy of baikahl

I still have clients I have been working with that called me 2 years ago to buy a house. Now, I wasn't actively showing them homes, but rather working on their credit with them. You see the problem was that they could get a loan, but the payments would be about $200 more than they wanted to pay.

If you give me a call and find out when my next open house is, I will invite you to sit down with me and we can get you on the right track to stellar credit.



Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739