How much do you charge to sell and buy a house?” asked the gravely voice on the other end of the phone. The caller was a retired woman in her 70’s and her husband in her 80’s. She and her husband purchased a house at the end of 2005 thinking this is where they would…
Being the owner of the cutest dog in town, I decided to write a brief blog for those other dog lovers out there, who might be relocating to Salem or are new and maybe not sure of what is out there. Salem is dog friendly and dogs are allowed in all parks, provided they are…
I recently had a gentleman call me about two lots I have listed for sale for a client here in Salem Oregon. There are some restrictions on the type of home that can be built. As the man was talking about what he wanted to build, I stated “that sounds like a Cape Cod style…
I recently read a post on another real estate network site that I belong to. I was stunned by some of the comments, not because they were negative or rude, but because of how many MLS’s require NAR membership. According to the article 82% of real estate agents have no choice. While I knew that…
I have some great buyers that have been looking at homes for a couple of months. We looked at a cape cod style home on small acreage, and there were several red flags about the property which I pointed out to the potential buyers. The house was built in the 1930’s and had a very…
I wrote an earlier post about Dutch Colonials in Salem Oregon. The Georgian Colonial is one of my favorite styles of architecture. I think it’s because I have images of images of carriages dropping off couples for a state dinner when I think of Colonial architecture. Women in long dresses with petticoats and men in…
It’s raining, it’s pouring… What does this have to do with real estate? Nothing, but it is pouring rain here in Oregon today and NASTY out, so I decided to take my kids (7 and 5) to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry today in Portland. If you have a membership to the AC…
The National Association of Realtors has been touting that the real estate industry has been a return to normal for many parts of the country with just a very really devastated areas. While there are many things I like about NAR, I think it is really important to be completely honest about the market. So…
Craigslist…. That is the next suggestion from Kelman on selling your home in this market. If you didn’t get why I am doing this series, you can go to my first post. So here’s the deal, on his web site Kelman compares traditional agents, Redfin, and MLS only companies. On it he states that traditional…
Okay okay my feathers are a little ruffled… Are agents really honest with their clients when it comes to pricing a home? On a recent today show, it was implied that agents aren’t telling their clients the truth. Now here in Salem, OR , I , for the most part, have worked with really great…