Living Beaverton - Your guide to everything Beaverton

Today is Friday, January 30, 2009 and it is time for another breakdown of homes sales in the Washington County, Oregon market. With the average drop in home pending sales in Washington County since this time last years is 30.95% 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 4.05% since in the last month. 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

Aloha Neighborhood, Beaverton, Oregon :	146
Bull Mountain North Neighborhood, Tigard, Oregon :	83
Bull Mountain South Neighborhood, Tigard, Oregon :	118
Cooper Mountain Neighborhood, Beaverton, Oregon :	101
Greenburg Neighborhood, Tigard, Oregon :	56
Greenway Neighborhood, Beaverton, Oregon :	29
Hart Neighborhood, Beaverton, Oregon :	82
Highland Hills Neighborhood, Beaverton, Oregon :	54
Lexington Neighborhood, Aloha, Oregon :	34
Mountainview Neighborhood, Tigard, Oregon :	97
Murray Hill Neighborhood, Beaverton, Oregon :	83
Sexton Mountain Neighborhood, Beaverton, Oregon :	99
Sorrento Ridge Neighborhood, Beaverton, Oregon :	59
Summer Lake Neighborhood, Tigard, Oregon :	42
Summerfield Neighborhood, Tigard, Oregon :	31
Tigard Neighborhood, Tigard, Oregon :	26
Walnut Grove Neighborhood, Tigard, Oregon :	29

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

Can our economy be saved by a mortgage holiday? This is the plan devised by two Portland, Oregon, businessmen. A local jewelry store and a high end hotel owner, together, came up with a plan that they say will stop foreclosures, stimulate the economy, and get this country back on track.

Their plan is actually ok, but I do see a lot of jobs being lost by it. It would eliminate the need for collectors, and short sale and foreclosure departments for the next year. Their idea would be to have a one year mortgage holiday for all mortgages in the United States. Now, this isn't mandatory and if you don't want to participate, you don't have to. But the idea is the payments would be added to the end of the loan and gives people one year to pay off other bills or use on other items needed.

This would put a lot of money in to the economy. But my thought was how was this going to help renters that are in the properties of the owner that isn't paying their mortgage? They even came up with a plan for that. The landlord would have to renegotiate with the tenant and offer the tenant a 25-50% rental discount for that year, depending on what the mortgage payment was for the year.

Now, this doesn't only apply to home owners, they are also planning to include businesses in this plan. How this would work, is if you own a fourplex business or an office building that has mortgage payments, those payments would also not be paid for the year.

They feel this will help restaurants that are buying a building and give them more money to put in to the actual business. This will let them hire more people, putting more money in to the economy. They feel at the end of the year the economy that we would be back in a position to curb inflation and foreclosures.

Check out the whole plan at their website SaveOurEconomy.com

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

I got a call about one of my listings the other day and this agent had a very interested buyer in one of my homes that happens to be a short sale. But, she said, "I won't lie to you, I've never done a short sale before."

I said that is fine, before I did my first I hadn't either. She had to laugh at that and I gave her a run down of the process and what happens during what can be a long process unless you met the right person within the bank.

She said to me, "Wow, you are so nice and I can't believe you are so willing to help me though this process." I told her, "You know, we are in a profession that if we don't work together, we aren't serving the public." This isn't a business that we are in it for ourselves and that is when I thought about my post I wrote last week called Are you in business by yourself or for yourself? and realized that once again I needed her and her buyer just as much as she needed me and my guidance.

We ended up talking for about 45 minutes and we really hit it off. I really liked her attitude about real estate, family, and just her general attitude about wanting to help people. Since she lives about 45 minutes away from me in a county I really don't do much business in, unless it is a past client or a referral, that if I get any buyers or sellers calling me, which I do about once or twice a week, if she would mind if I sent them her way as she was the kind of agent that I knew I could trust my clients with.

She was absolutely floored! She couldn't believe what had come from this simple call to show a listing of mine. Hopefully we will have a long friendship and also a long working relationship together. Now, hopefully within the next couple weeks, I can introduce her to everyone here in the rain and maybe she can show you the same personality that I got to meet on the phone. Then you can see why I'm going to be sending my clients to her.



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

Everyday I see my kids grow, as well as their friends grow, and I think to myself, what will these kids become when they grow up? Will they become fire fighters, policeman, be in the military, teachers, it really doesn't matter as long as they believe in themselves!

But, what makes these kids believe in themselves? I have coached baseball and softball for the past 5 years now and have worked with kids through Junior Achievement and the Big Brothers / Big Sisters program, and most recently connected up with the Cinderella Program.

I've seen many kids come through these programs without a smile on their face and they don't believe in themselves. Was is it something another child told them? Was it a comment from a parent having a bad day or a teacher that told them they were no good? (I had that happen to me in 3^rd grade and it changed me.)

I want these kids to be leaders no matter what profession they choose to do in life. I want them to succeed, they are our future. Most of the kids I work with coaching come from great families, but for some reason they just don't believe in themselves. My goal in those 6 short weeks is to get them to smile and show them they are special and they can succeed in anything they want to do.

Unfortunately with programs like Big Brothers / Big Sisters and the Cinderella program these kids aren't so lucky and usually come from a background of a single parent household which had an abusive parent and now they are looking for a role model. These kids are a little more difficult because the only thing they know of adults is they can't be trusted and a lot of the time you are spending time earning their trust before you can build their self confidence.

Today I ask you, if you see a child trying to do anything, don't discourage them. Nurture them and help them reach their goals and build their self confidence. There is nothing a child can't do in this world if they put their mind to it. But, they do need some help sometimes.

Some of our greatest leaders came from backgrounds that were less than desirable in most people's standards, but if you ask every one of them, there was that one person that encouraged them to do great things, and they did! Can you be that person in a child's life?

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

For the past couple years I've had an investor that I have been working with and he is one of the kindest people that I've ever met. However, I've always been concerned about him because he always was so trusting of people and never would press his tenants when it came to contract breeches.

Well, today I found out that he has to file bankruptcy because he hasn't been receiving rent for over 4 months on one unit and 5 months on another. One of the people he has been trying to get out of his unit the whole time and the other was a family and as he put it, "I just don't have the heart to put them out on the street."

Well, now he may be losing his own home because he can't get these people to pay the rent on these properties. I hope I am wrong and he is able to recover once he gets these people out, but why should he lose his life and credit because other people abused his trust?

I hate to see such a kind person lose faith in mankind, but over the last couple months, I've seen one of the happiest and most giving people I know become depressed and I am slowly seeing his outlook on life changing because of these two renters.

Please, if you own properties and you are a kind soul that just has a hard time when people give you a story, I suggest you hire a property management company to manage your properties or you could find yourself in a situation like this one.

I'm not a property manager, but I do see the value in them if you are a kind soul. I don't want to see a kind soul turn dark because of another person's abuse of your kindness.

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

Today is Friday, January 23, 2009 and it is time for another breakdown of homes sales in the Washington County, Oregon market. With the average drop in home pending sales in Washington County since this time last years is 30.95% 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 4.05% since in the last month. 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

Aloha Neighborhood, Beaverton, Oregon :	154
Bull Mountain North Neighborhood, Tigard, Oregon :	80
Bull Mountain South Neighborhood, Tigard, Oregon :	116
Cooper Mountain Neighborhood, Beaverton, Oregon :	104
Greenburg Neighborhood, Tigard, Oregon :	55
Greenway Neighborhood, Beaverton, Oregon :	27
Hart Neighborhood, Beaverton, Oregon :	79
Highland Hills Neighborhood, Beaverton, Oregon :	51
Lexington Neighborhood, Aloha, Oregon :	34
Mountainview Neighborhood, Tigard, Oregon :	99
Murray Hill Neighborhood, Beaverton, Oregon :	82
Sexton Mountain Neighborhood, Beaverton, Oregon :	93
Sorrento Ridge Neighborhood, Beaverton, Oregon :	58
Summer Lake Neighborhood, Tigard, Oregon :	43
Summerfield Neighborhood, Tigard, Oregon :	31
Tigard Neighborhood, Tigard, Oregon :	27
Walnut Grove Neighborhood, Tigard, Oregon :	30

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

There are many reasons people call and tell me they want to start to look for their first home. Many reasons include that they are expecting, they are getting married, their rent is going up, prices are falling, or interest rates are low. There are many great reasons to buy a home and each person seems to have their own.

But, the one thing I find in common with the ones that end up not buying versus the ones that do buy is that the ones who buy do what it takes to purchase that home. They have a goal and that goal is home ownership. The ones that don't are always full of excuses why they don't buy. I can't go look today, my kids are sick... I can't get that paperwork to the mortgage broker, my fax machine isn't working. The excuses go on and on. When I start to hear excuses from a buyer, there is only one thing left to do. I sit them down and explain that if you really want to buy, than you need to stop making excuses or I don't see a reason to keep looking.

I've had two buyers that I actually told them this and then I told them that if they want to continue looking, then I need to be paid a retainer as I want to make sure I get paid for my time. The first ended up buying, because they realized I was right. The second realized I was right, but let the excuses win and they even told me that.

So, stop making excuses and give me a call, I would love to help you in the search for your first home.

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

As many of you know, my family has chosen to home school despite my parents, grandparents, and even my brother all being teachers or having been teachers. But, one of the things that they criticized us for in that decision is that our children weren't getting the social interaction that they needed.

Now, I personally disagree with that because they are involved in sports, church youth groups and even girl scouts, so they get plenty of social interaction as far as I'm concerned. Even if you talk to most people who meet our kids they say they are the most well spoken and polite children they have ever met. (Not to toot my own horn, but I think my wife and I are raising some pretty darn good kids.)

But, last night during our family game night we realized that we are sheltering our kids, but sometimes that isn't always a bad thing. While playing a game with the kids, my daughter was beating the heck out of my wife. So she laughingly said to my 10 year old daughter, "AHHHH, this is child abuse starts, so cut it out!" It was a joke, of course, and we were all laughing. But, then in all seriousness, my 10 year old daughter looked at my wife and asked, "What is child abuse?"

WOW! We were sheltering our children, but I think we may be sheltering them from what the real world is like. The weird part is that we were able to shelter her from this despite me being involved in the Cinderella program that has a lot to do with abuse of young girls from family and or other figures that most kids look up to.

So, my question is, can we really shelter our kids too much or maybe kids should be in such a position that they can be kids and not have to worry or ever know what such things in life happen? After our other younger children went to bed we sat her down and had to explain what child abuse was and she didn't know that people could or did treat kids that way.

We had to explain to her that is why her uncle is a foster parent. Most of those kids were in exactly that situation before going to his house to live with him. I think she was a little saddened that kids she may even know on the baseball team, or kids she knows from girl scouts could be in this situation. Her perfect world may have been shattered by a innocent comment during a family game night.

I wish we didn't live in such a world, but I'm glad she didn't have to find out about it until she was 10.

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

Sounds crazy, doesn't it, to go from a phone call that ends with the buyer telling you that they aren't committing to any one agent and are just gathering information, to two hours later getting a call that they would like to use you exclusively to help them find a home.

Well, I'm going to let you in on a secret. If you ask the right questions and can find that one little hot button, they could be your exclusive buyers or sellers in less than 2 hours also.

I discovered this method about 2 years ago and I try to use it with every person who calls. I know they are looking to buy or sell, but there is always more to a person than real estate, they key is to find out what that is!

I had a caller call and was asking me about information on one of my listings. He told me straight out that he wasn't looking for an agent and was just gathering information. Now he's made it a challenge and I wanted to change that mind. I can tell you I did and I'll do it again.

I started to ask questions that really have nothing to do with real estate, like what he did, what his hobbies were and mixed that with real estate questions. During that conversation, I found out he was a vet and was hoping to find a home that could be bought with a VA loan.

BINGO!

Here was his hot button, he was a veteran and he wanted to save money. I told him that I thought I had the perfect home for him and if I could get his e-mail address, later that day  I would send him some information on it.

That is when I went to work! I found out all I could about savings offered to veterans in my area and I wrote a blog post about it called, "Are you a veteran living in, or wanting to live in, Washington County?" Then I called him back and said, "I was thinking about you and I got some information that I just sent you via e-mail as a kind of a thank you for our service to our country."

He was so grateful that I had listened to him that he and his wife wanted to meet with me immediately and he made me his exclusive buyers' agent that day, within 2 hours of the initial contact. He had talked to 7 other Realtors that day and not one of them had caught the fact that he was a veteran and that he was looking for savings.

I ended up saving him over $5,000 that day because of my post and he said he wasn't going to forget that. It pays to ask questions and to listen, because if you do, you will truly find what they are looking for and it may not be real estate related.

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

One of the biggest mistakes most agents do is they lie to their potential clients right from the beginning. They meet someone, make promises, and set up expectations that they can't possible keep up with.

One of my favorite questions from potential buyers and sellers is, "Should I wait about six months and see what happens?" Most agents tell their clients that if they had a crystal ball, they would tell them, but their opinion is that they should buy or sell now, because you don't know what the future will bring. Give your clients the facts and let them decide for themselves. If you tell them what to do, you may be setting yourself up for a lawsuit.

I tell my clients, "If I owned a crystal ball, I wouldn't be standing here because I would be at the lottery counter buying tickets!" Don't set yourself up by promising your clients things you can't possibly deliver on. I say, under promise and over deliver is the way to true success and client happiness.

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