Living in Portland

As an Exclusive Buyers Agent I tend to witness what is happening with home sales on a daily basis.  Lately I have been showing  First Time Homebuyers foreclosures in the Happy Valley/Clackamas area at around $300-$320K.  We started out looking at short sales but were soon discouraged by all the problems that come with them and the unlikelihood that we would ever get to closing on one.  Foreclosures however are very easy to sell and come with a great price tag.  Over the weekend, three foreclosure properties that we had looked at received offers.  It is too soon to know if those offers were accepted but I’m guessing the answer is ‘yes’.  While this is not good for my Buyers it is a great sign for the Portland Market as a whole.

It used to be unnecessary to check availability by phone on properties shown as Active in the MLS.  Properties were moving pretty slow and the Listing Agents were very fast to update the status in the MLS.  So as a Buyers Agent I would simply choose the best properties and take my Buyers to see them.  The last two weeks however, I have found myself calling on all properties before showing to confirm the status.  This unconscious act on my part is an excellent sign that things are looking up.