The 2022 Salem Oregon Real Estate Market Report

The 2022 Salem Oregon Real Estate Market Report The real estate market shifted in 2022. Like all market shifts in the past and future ones to come, buyers don’t want to be the ones buying at the top of the market before it shifts downward while sellers want to sell their home at the peak…

The home buying process step by step

The home buying process step by step Step 1 Pull your free credit reports from Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.  You can’t buy a home if you have credit problems.  You also can’t buy a home with a loan if you have no credit. This is common with people who were raised by their parents to…

What are buyer closing costs?

Buyer Closing Costs You are ready. You have been watching house hunter on HGTV and stalking Redfin and Zillow in your spare time “for fun.”  You’ve been browsing refrigerators. You’ve been looking at dining room sets. You even have a new espresso machine picked out that would go perfectly in the corner of your new-to-be…

What is a buyer agent worth to you?

What would you pay for a buyer agent? All industries have systems that have evolved over time for a certain workflow.  Sometimes these flows make sense to consumers and sometimes they don’t.  Most consumers don’t spend a lot of time following real estate events and more specifically lawsuits.  Right now, there are several lawsuits, one…

End of year report for Salem’s real estate market

The 2021 Salem real estate market in review As most of you know, the real estate market in Salem is pure insanity.  It is an exhausting market for buyers and sellers are filled with stress for pretty much everyone.  I know most of you are thinking that sellers shouldn’t be stressed out, but trying to…

3d Printed Homes are here

3D Printed Homes in Oregon? The first 3D printed homes were completed, put up for sale, and sold. 34 Millbrook Ln in Riverhead, NY was the first 3D printed home that was made to sell.  The house was made with concrete walls and the exterior was printed in about 48 hours. Now, ICON and Lennar…

Relief in sight?

Is the real estate market slowing? June 2021 market update   If you talk to any agent that does a decent amount of real estate transactions they will tell you that the market is shifting.  The June 2021 market update numbers are showing the beginning signs of a shift. There is definitely a slowdown happening,…

Introduction

Introduction to my podcast I’m going to be doing a regular podcast that merges all things real estate with construction and investing.  Having been in the construction industry for 22 years from building custom homes, to being a landlord, to doing flips, I’m going to share my knowledge with you via my short video clips…

So you want to sell…

Ways to sell without being homeless The real estate market in the Salem metro area is hot. With about a half of month of inventory (how long it takes to sell every home on the market), sellers are often leery of placing their homes on the market.  Selling a home in a hot market often…

Hot market paralysis

Buying in a strong seller’s market I get it.  You are feeling gouged.  The market so strongly favors sellers that you can’t help but feel it is grossly unfair.  Buying in a strong seller’s market might feel like your hard-earned money being thrown away due to bidding wars.  I am not without empathy for those…

Marion county real estate market 2020 year in review

    I previously discussed the real estate markets for Salem and Keizer, but the smaller towns outside of Salem had good years in 2020 as well.  The Stayton market was the slowest of the group, and it was still selling well. Aumsville had an incredibly hot market and was the only city in the…

The Keizer Real Estate Market in Review 2020

Keizer has always had a tight market since they need the urban growth boundary to expand in order to build more homes.  They were the first local market to stabilize in the real estate crash because of the good schools and easy jump-off point for split commuters to Portland and Salem. The following data is…

The Salem market 2020 year in review

The Salem Oregon real estate market 2020 year in review   The pandemic. The wildfire. Covid fatigue.  2020 has been a very long year.  I know that many people thought real estate would slow down with the pandemic, but here locally, we saw the exact opposite: home sales soared.  No one wanted to be trapped…

MCMs in Salem Oregon

Mid-Century Moderns in Salem Generally, the conversation goes something like this… “I don’t want a cookie-cutter house.” Period, end of story. As the conversation flows, inevitably a potential client sends me a link to a mid-century modern home; that is what they are looking for in the area. Homebuyers looking for mid-century moderns in Salem…

DOJ VS. NAR

DOJ VS. NAR impacts on Salem Oregon real estate agents   Recently the DOJ announced an anti-trust lawsuit against the National Association of REALTORS for anti-competitive policies.   At issue were the lack of transparency around buyer agent commissions, telling buyers their buyer agents are “free,” non-MLS agents not having lockbox access to show homes, and…

Historic Districts in Salem

The National Reigster Our office is on the National Register of Historic Places from 1895 and we love old homes. Picture rail, leaded and stained glass, detailed trim work, and built-ins are just some of the charm that comes along with these old beauties.  They aren’t for everyone as they won’t ever be as energy…

The Best Coffee in Salem Oregon

Find The Best Coffee in Salem Forget the franchises…local coffee houses are in abundance in Salem.  Salem is fortunate to have some really good local coffee houses, all with a slightly different vibe so that you can find the place that feels most comfortable to you.  Let’s face it, you can’t say you live in…

Salem Oregon’s Downtown Historic District

Horse-drawn carriages clip-clopped, streetcars clanged, long skirts rustled. Like many people, I find the history of people and places interesting. As much as humanity grows and changes, we also stay the same. While we have gone from horse-drawn carts to rockets, humanity still experiences joy and sorrow that defines us as human. As you walk…

Soup for you!

Good Soup in Salem Oregon Anyone of my generation knows about the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld with his infamous soup and not so great customer service.  While Salem doesn’t have a soup nazi, there are some great restaurants that consistently have good soup.  It is that time of the year when a nice warm bowl…