You are not alone.  Short sales can be good deals, but require patience on your part.  You can anticipate waiting a minimum of four to six months for a response from the lien holders.  If the wait time is shorter than that, consider yourself lucky.  Once you get a response, usually it will be a counteroffer, increasing the purchase price.  If you are not in a hurry and do not mind waiting an additional month or three, then counter offer back at the price you are willing to pay.  We are seeing short sales being negotiated lower than the bank's initial counteroffer.  You have to have reasoning though... do not expect to get a $300,000 house for $225,000, without good solid evidence to support your price point, which involves several pages of…

Savings Tips

Several Estimates Save a Bundle

Although many people don't bother to get several estimates before signing up with a moving company, moving company prices vary considerably and you can save a bundle. Consumer Reports recommends getting at least three estimates before selecting a mover.

Tax Deductions

Did you know that some of the expenses of moving are tax deductible? If you'd like to get any of the following expenses claimed against your tax, read on and see if you qualify.

• Cost of transportation or hauling from old to new residence.
• Cost of packing, crating and unpacking.
• Cost of shipping your car.
• Cost of moving the pets.
• Cost of the trip to the new residence which includes lodging but not meals

Take into…

JMA's premiere relocation team can help. We specialize in corporate and personal relocations to and out of the Portland Metro area. Let one of our experienced agents coordinate your entire moving process. From finding the ideal area and home to move into, to a lender, to a highly recommended moving company. In fact, when you use our recommended lender you will have access to two professional movers at no cost for 4 hours to help unload your moving van.

If you are moving out of the area or just across town you can have access to two professional movers and 1 truck for 4 hours as well as a moving kit (boxes, tape, marker, paking supplies, etc. delivered to you!

Interested or want more information or a reloation packet mailed to you?

Contact The…

During summer months when gardens are in bloom and the sun is shining bright, curb appeal comes naturally to many homes. But when the autumn chill turns to winter cold and the sun sets earlier in the day, it becomes more difficult to create that inviting exterior look that grabs buyers from the curb.

Fortunately, it is possible to create striking winter curb appeal without expensive or complicated exterior changes, says Charlene Storozuk, a home stager and designer with Dezigner Digz in Burlington, Ontario—a city that averages 51 inches of snow per year. It just requires a little creativity.

She and other home-design experts offer these eight…

Looking for a new home? Is this your first time buying? Your sixth purchase? Do you know or remember how the process goes? Do you look for properties first? Call a Realtor? Or get a preapproval for a loan first? About how much will your closing costs be? How much are inspections and should you even get one.

If you would like to receive a FREE book that is a quick reference on the entire process of buying a home as well as an organizational folder to store flyers of homes of interest and later a permanent folder to store all your loan and escrow papers send us a quick email and we will send you a FREE no-obligation Buyer's Kit.

info@allaboutrealestate.com

The All About Real Estate Team specializes in efficient, technologically advanced systems to…

After months of diligence and patience, Larry and Wendy found their forever home in Camas. We started their search in Beaverton but after months of not finding the right fit we moved their search to Washington. Larry and Wendy relocated from Anchorage, Alaska. Their story is a great example of the benefit of working with a Realtor licensed in both Oregon and Washington.

"We had a very positive experience working with Rick to find and purchase our new home. Coming from another region of the country, we depended on Rick to help us learn the market here and find the home we were looking for. We were not disappointed.

On a number of occasions in the several month process, Rick could have steered us to close a purchase with a word or two of…

September Residential Highlights

Sale Prices

Average sale price for September 2011…

August Residential Highlights

Sales activity in the Portland Metro area showed improvements in closed and pending sales this August compared with August 2010. (Please see “NOTE” below about increased pending sales.)Closed sales grew 30.7% in August 2011 compared to August 2010. Pending sales were up 29.6%, and new listings dropped 24.8%. See residential highlights table below.Comparing July 2011 with August 2011, closed sales increased from 1,709 to 1,805 (5.6%). Pending sales also went up from 1,928 to 2,187 (13.4%). New listings went down from 2,942 to 2,879 (-2.1%).At the month’s rate of sales, the 11,276 active residential listings would last about 6.2 months.

Sale Prices

Average sale price for August 2011 declined 9.2% compared to…

Portland housing prices are at levels not seen since 2003 and it appears the trends are leveling off and prices are up slightly from their low points in every market listed . If this trend continues then this could be a turning point for the market to achieve stability.

Infographic courtesy of the Wall Street Journal.