Stage Your Home, Even If You Have Good Taste

Staging a vacant or not so cute house is obvious, but your house is lovely. Special. Decorated Perfectly. To your taste, as it should be since you live there. But you are moving, and someone else has to find it lovely, special and decorated perfectly. For their taste, whatever that may be. Staging makes a home appealing to the widest variety of buyers. If done well, it highlights the best parts of the home, shows the best use for every space, and makes it the place where every buyer wants to stay. Permanently.

Don't think of it with a whoa is me my agent doesn't like my house. It is the same as hiring a professional to design a new product for the market.

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This staging has been done by Spade and Archer Design Agency. I know that whatever the style or price range of a listing, they can capitalize on the features of the house and feel of the neighborhood to make a home pop.

February Events

February can be a long month in Oregon, but here are a bunch of activities to get you out of the house. Some will even  keep you out of the weather! Support local theatre, local farmers, and the Community Cycling Center.

• February 24: Free Admission to Portland Art Museum | 5-8PM, Fourth Friday of Every Month
• Chinese New Year at the Lan Su Chinese Garden- Lantern Viewing February 5-6th.
• Winter Farmers Market at Shemanski Park: Saturdays, January 7 through February 25, 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m., SW Park Ave & SW Salmon St. 

• Worst Day of the Year Ride: February 12th, 9am.
• Portland Center Stage: The North Plan, Shakespeare's Amazing Cymbeline, Red.  

Behind the Scenes of a Listing Video Shoot

Real estate videos can be very cliche- and usually not video at all but a slideshow of the still photos. My goal as a listing agent is to make the highest quality and most effective marketing to sell homes, and this includes high end video. It takes several people to make a great listing video that tells the story of a home. We like to make at least two videos: the highlights and the full tour. The highlights video focuses in on the major selling points of a property, such as a gourmet kitchen, great master suite, or killer back yard. The full tour walks the viewer through the entire property from the front door, not missing a room or feature, all the way to back yard. This is a few of us from M at a video shoot, we took several hours to make the videos, and you can see us all staying out of the way of the camera on the roof top deck.

This is the first property we did this extensive video shoot for with in house production. I think we have improved since we shot this, but even with this first attempt we still had about 1000 video views on YouTube, as well as sold the house in 6 days.

Southeast Portland Real Estate Snapshot

Southeast Portland has the most houses and usually has the most listings in Portland. Over the last year I have seen a reduction in the number of properties listed for sale across the Metro area, and this has been very dramatic in SE Portland. Over the last few years there have been around 1300 to 1600 houses for sale at any time, but in November 2011 there were on 800 actively listed properties for sale. The good news is that the number of sales over the last year has increased, so a larger percentage of the homes listed are being sold every month. This is called the absorption rate. On the graph above you can see that the blue bars- the number of properties for sale- trended down over the last year. The purple- sales- did a slight upswing through the summer. Normally the number of listings does a dramatic bell curve, peaking in the summer. This year the inventory of properties available to buy did not rise during the year, and I saw this affect my clients greatly. Qualified buyers have been looking for the right house all summer and fall, and they quality properties sell immediately. I think that there is a backlog of buyers, and once people start putting houses on the market in the spring, people will be surprised at how quickly homes that are in good condition and priced right sell.

The numbers are broken down in the chart below:

Luxury Southeast Portland Homes

Southeast Portland has a bohemian, urban feel. The neighborhoods are focused on high walk scores, and the 2o minute neighborhood idea. Many of the homes in the area are smaller bungalows and English styles houses. The luxury homes in Southeast Portland that are for sale are often on Mt Tabor, in Laurelhurst, and in Sellwood, but there are fabulous homes listed for over $500,000 all over the area. Here are the ones that are currently for sale. Click on the listings to view details and to request showings. [listingsearch shortSale=1 type="layers" layerid="15" hqid="1004" orderby="id" order="ASC" lp="500" ptype="DETACHD"]

Northeast Portland Real Estate Market Snapshot

What has been happening in the real estate market in Northeast Portland? I have used propitiatory software to take a look at how many houses have been for sale, how many of them have sold, and how long they spent on the market. I use this information to tell my clients how many buyers there are in there are for their home.

Below is a breakdown by month of 2011 so far, and the month from the previous 3 years that had the most houses on the market. Every month, March through October of this year, has had a high absorption rate than any time in 2008. Even though there are fewer houses on the market, there are almost as many selling, and as a percentage, the rate of houses sold is higher than it was three years ago. Not everyone is selling their house right now, so if you need or want to sell, there isn't a lot of competition. If it is marketed correctly, in the best condition possible, and priced right, your house will sell. Here are the numbers to prove it.

Marking Listings the M Way

I'm super excited to share how M Realty has been marketing listings. I was on the development team that worked for several months to amp up how listings are marketed to buyers. The part I'm most excited about is that we are really telling the story of a home, and using the best print and online materials to express this story to buyers. Check out the property website to see the Story, the Gallery, and how we communicated the home to buyers. The listing that we first implemented this new strategy on went pending in just 6 days, and I know that is is due to the sheer number of people who experienced the home. The house is a quality property, and the quality was expressed in the marketing materials.

The most exciting thing about the marketing for this listing is that we really show all the main benefits of living in this home. The gourmet kitchen, the great room. the rooftop deck, the neighborhood, these are all things that most buyers are interested in, and by showing how they will be used by the future owner, they begin to be emotionally attached to the home and imagine themselves living in it.

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This marketing plan will be applied to all of my listings, if you or someone you know has a property that needs this level of marketing to sell a home, please contact me for a presentation of the full marketing materials.

December 2011 Events

What To Do in Portland for December 2011

The Nutcracker- Keller Auditorium, Portland Center for the Performing Arts- Running December 10th-24th

The Wanderlust Circus -White Album Christmas- Running December 8th-10th at the Alberta Theater

Christmas Ship Parade- Willamette River- Running December 8th- 20th

Christmas Around the World at Pittock Mansion- Running November 21st through January 2nd

Zoolights Festival- Oregon Zoo- November 25th- January 1st

Custom Built Reedway Home

Just Listed: 5130 SE 34th Ave

ML# 11141310

Offered for: $410,000

Schedule a Showing

Features:

Custom 1960 Ranch, with Full Basement

3000+ Square Feet, Including Finished and Unfinished Basement, and Two Car Garage

Formal Living and Dinning Rooms

Informal Family Room Off Kitchen

Hardwood Throughout Main Floor

Gas Furnace, Decommissioned Oil Tank, Tank-less Hot Water Heater, Heat Pump

Three Fireplaces

Large Yard with Fruit Trees, Berry Bushes, and Garden

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[listingsearch type="layers" layerid="14" hqid="165" orderby="id" order="ASC" lp="405" hp="411"]

Front Yard Gardening in Rose City Park

Front yard gardening is popular all over Portland, you have to plant where the sun shines in Oregon. Vegetables gardens are usually thought of as being a SE Portland staple, but with cedar planting boxes, they have made inroads in NE Portland. Here are some of the nicest looking ones, and most functional, that I saw this week in Rose City Parks. To view homes for sale in this neighborhood, see the real estate page for Rose City Park.

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Arbor Lodge Park

Arbor Lodge Park is an 8 acre park located in the middle of the North Portland neighborhood of the same name. It has an off leash dog area, two baseball fields with bleachers, tennis courts, and the fantastic Harper's Playground. The neighborhood of Arbor Lodge is great place to live, for all the active real estate listings near the park, view the interactive real estate map.

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Buckman Farmers Market

The Buckman neighborhood in Southeast Portland has a great farmers market that runs from May through September, and is every Thursday from 3-7pm. This unique time is perfect for the neighborhood because it allows people to stop in after work and pick up food for the rest of the week, and weekend entertaining. In a neighborhood so close to downtown and in such a bike friendly area, having a farmers market that is accesable by bike and walking is a big plus. Check out their site, Buckman Farmers Market.  If you want to live close the this great market, check out all active real estate listings in Buckman on my interactive real estate map. [nggallery id=9]

Buckman Neighborhood Bike Shops

The Buckman neighborhood in SE Portland is known for being bike friendly, and there are tons of bike shops to back that up.From large to small, custom to off the rack, road, track, cyclecross, or mountain, you can get any type of bike you need! My personal favorite for custom bikes is the new L'Ecu at the ActiveSpace on SE 9th and Main. For general bikes and supplies I like River City Bicycles on SE Morrison and Grand Ave, and outlet on SE Belmont and 6th. Sound like a great place to live? Click here for a complete list of homes currently for sale in Buckman, or create your own custom search for houses for sale in Portland. [nggallery id=8]

River City Bicycles

L'Ecu

Bicycling Hub

Bike N Hike

Splendid Cycles

A Convenient Cycle

Clever CyclesC

Coventry Cycle Works

Citybikes Workers' Coop Annex

Crank

View Larger Map

Photo Tour of Homes in Grant Park

Grant Park has homes of many ages and styles, but is especially known for bungalows, English cottages, and classic Four Squares. Below are many typical homes in the neighborhood, and luckily I took the photo when it was sunny and the yards were in beautiful conditions. View homes that are for sale on the neighborhood real estate map. [nggallery id=5]

Grant Park Summer Photo Tour

Grant Park is a part of the campus of Grant High School in Northeast Portland. It has a outdoor public pool open during the summer, tennis courts, playground, track, baseball and soccer fields, as well as an off leash dog area. It is known for it's statue and fountain of Beverly Cleary's Ramona. It also has gorgeous trees and meadows that are perfect for picnics! To view all the homes for sale in Grant Park, view the interactive map and neighborhood info page.

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Beaumont Photo Tour

The Beaumont Neighborhood of NE Portland is known for a variety of house styles, mainly bungalows, English cottages, andclassic Four Squares. The neighborhood is also known for great yards, with lots of flowers, vegetable gardens, and unique landscaping features. I have taken many photos of the neighborhood and have made a gallery of them so you can see what the area is like.  If you are interested in what's happening in the real estate market you can view homes for sale in Beaumont. [nggallery id=3]

Beaumont Village is a Coffee Lover's Haven

Beaumont Village is the quaint name for the strip of NE Fremont Ave between NE 33rd and 57th Avenues. It is full of many shops, restaurants, and coffee shops. If you are a coffee lover, then being able to live in Beaumont would put you in walking distance to many great cafes. Below is a photo gallery of my favorites, from Starbucks, to Ristretto Roasters, and local favorite Jim and Patty's. You can can see  homes for sale in Beaumont and other neighborhood info on the Beaumont Neighborhood page.  The coffee shops and cafes on Fremont include: Jim and Patty's Cafe, Starbuck's, Ristretto Roasters, Bagel Land, Bumblekiss, Red Fig,  and the Alameda Cafe.

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