I have my ABR and in reading the September/October issue of The Real Estate Professional, I found something that I HAD to talk about. Bruce Benham, the CEO of Re/MAX International, writes an article called “Become Their Trusted Expert.” In the article he talks about helping buyers set attainable goals. He writes, “Once your buyers…
Seller’s are finally starting to understand the nature of the current real estate market here in Salem. Oregon has not been as hard hit as other parts of the country, but make sure your expectations are appropriate. What do you need to know? Real estate is about supply and demand. It’s that simple. The more…
I recently made an offer on a house with some clients for 20% less than the asking price of the house, and the offer was accepted. In addition, it took over a year for the client to find a home they really wanted. Why did the seller accept such a low offer and why did…
Please understand that I want to help you sell your home, but you need to understand a few things first. 1) There are 37% more active listings on the MLS, than the same time last year AND 2) There were only 685 closed sales recorded on the MLS in the month of September. There is…
With the shift in the real estate market here in Salem Oregon, making it harder to sell homes, I am being approached more by sellers unable to sell asking about renting their home. While this might sound like a great idea, being a landlord is not easy. You need to ask yourself, “Am I landlord…
Salem Oregon seems to be having a recent rash of people wanting to retire here. I have several clients that are looking for that retirement property right now. After the hustle and bustle of living in a city, the number one request is to get away from it all. Well…this is easier said than done…
Salem Oregon has many activities for families wanting to get out of the house. For Younger Children The most well known is probably the A.C. Gilbert Discovery Village. Located downtown on the riverfront, the Gilbert House, has many fun activities for children including the Bubble Room, LaBALLatory, and the outside play structure. Pack a picnic…
As someone that has an alternative business model, I thought about the types of questions I encourage my prospects to ask, and that I have in my listing presentation so they can see how I am different. Sometimes people assume that since the company is large, the agents are good. Smaller is sometimes better. I…
I was out the other day with some buyers who are relocating to Salem Oregon. They want a new (2006) or newer built home. After narrowing down their choices to 13, we forged ahead with our day. After walking through several nice homes, we came to a home that we had seen before and to…
“Mortgage turbulence on its way” screams the front page of our local Statesman Journal newspaper. Subprime loans while common in other parts of the country, were much less common here in Oregon. After the first quarter of 2007, Salem had the lowest level of foreclosed properties according to the article. Sounds good… until you read…