East Portland Plant Buying Club

The East Portland Plant Buying Club is a beautiful example of regular folks sharing their skills and expertise with the community to make our city more livable for all residents.

Prompted by their desire to have a more equitably distributed tree canopy, Portland resident Chris Musser created a plant-buying club to give residents interested in gardening access to plants well-suited to our climate and environment. The club is free to join and offers members the opportunity to purchase plants at just a bit more than wholesale pricing. They also provide information about planting and care.
Learn more about their Fall 2024 Bulb Sale here>>

Water Wisdom for Your Yard

Are you wondering how to tend to your landscaping in these dynamic climate times? Whether you're working with an irrigation system on a timer or hand watering your raised beds, Multnomah County has assembled resources to help you. 

If you're tending a lawn, consider subscribing to their weekly water number messages. Taking into account estimated rainfall and temperatures for the week, the county calculates how much water is needed to maintain landscaping.

Ready to take the first step towards efficient watering? Learn more and sign up for the Weekly Water Messages here>>

Prepare Your Home for Warmer Weather

It's time to give a little love to the systems and appliances in your home that will work harder when the rain tapers off and the temperatures rise. Cleaning your air vents between the heaviest heating and cooling seasons will help with indoor air quality and keep your HVAC system in good condition. Basic steps: Clean or replace air filters. Remove air vent covers and clean off dust and debris with a cloth or a vacuum.

When the weather heats up, refrigerators and freezers work harder to stay cool, so it's also a great time to clean their coils. Older models have coils mounted on the back; newer models may have coils at the base behind a removable protective plastic panel. Basic steps: Vacuum the coils and the floor beneath your fridge.

Here's a handy guide to recommended home maintenance through all four seasons>>

What are Trigger Leads? (and how to avoid becoming one)

Many of our clients report receiving dozens of calls and emails from various mortgage companies immediately after their first conversation with a loan officer. When a mortgage company pulls your credit report, a trigger lets the credit bureau know you are applying for a mortgage. The credit bureau can add your name and other personal data to a list of leads (aka Trigger Leads) used by data brokers, including competing mortgage companies, who then contact you to solicit business. 

Earlier this spring, a bill (H.R. 2656) to prohibit credit bureaus from creating and selling these lists of consumer information was introduced to Congress. The National Association of Mortgage Brokers favors the bill; lenders report that the barrage of phone calls and emails from competing companies confuses and overwhelms consumers. The Consumer Data Bureau is against it, arguing that its practices maximize consumer choice. 

While we wait for the bill to pass through committee and Congress, you can opt out of having your consumer information included on Trigger Lead lists. 

Learn how to Opt-Out here>>

RMLS Market Action Report: June 2024

The Portland Real Estate Market appears to be gaining some momentum. Both year-over-year and month-over-month statistics show strong gains in inventory. May 2024 shows an 8.3% increase in listing inventory over May 2023–a significant uptick–which we’re feeling in the market. The pressure is not as emotional across the board as it has been, but that’s not to say the market isn’t volatile. That certain property, in the right condition, the right location, at the right price, still makes hearts pound. So, if you’re contemplating a sale, making it sparkle will pay off!

The good news continues as May 2024 new listings are up 12.4% over April 2024. Pending sales continue the upward trend, though not as impressive as new listings and closed sales, which are slightly down year-over-year, reflecting last year’s lower inventory. Comparing April 24 to May 24, we see that uptick in activity on the rise. An increase of 2.2 % month over month is worth noting. Let’s keep watching performance as we move into summer 2024.  

In even more good news, May 2024 closed sales are up a whopping 13.6% over April 2024. Comparing closed sales to new listings for 2024, the delta is telling: demand remains strong and persistent. Median sales price, another indicator we watch closely, shows a year over year increase of 2.2%. Simply put, the market is trending up, the effects of which we can see in the increase in days on market (currently 86). More inventory equals more time on the market. 

What does it all mean? The real estate market is rarely predictable. Forecasting is always backward-looking, which means knowing, understanding, and evaluating the pace and pulse of the Portland real estate market can only happen on the ground in real-time. As always, we’re here to help. We’ll make sure you’re hip to all the breaking Portland Real Estate news! Please stay in touch. Call, text, or email—we always love to connect!

Update on Buyer Agent Commissions

As I have written about previously, the effect of multiple lawsuits and changes in State law are going to fundamentally change the way Realtors work.

As of August 17th of this year, Buyers will no longer be able to engage a Realtor to show them any property (except at an Open House) without signing a Buyer Representation Agreement. This agreement can be exclusive (meaning you only sign with one Realtor) or non-exclusive (if you are working with multiple Realtors). Although this seems like a huge change, it makes sense. When we show property to a Buyer, we are providing access to someone's home on the assumption that they are qualified and in the market to buy a home. While consumers loved the convenience of sites like Redfin and Zillow allowing them to arrange a showing of a house with the push of a button, I think it came at a cost.  As the listing agent, I never knew for sure whether showings by these virtual agents were legitimate or just curious members of the general public. 

The second big shift is that as of that same date (August 17th, 2024), Realtors will no longer be able to advertise in the Regional Multiple Listing Service (the main database that we use that also feeds information to all the secondary sites–Redfin, Zillow, Sotheby's, etc) the amount that their sellers are willing to pay a Buyer's Agent should they bring an acceptable offer on their property. This means that Buyers looking for homes will not know if the price includes the cost of representation for them. Historically, we have been able to easily  show a client what the seller was offering to pay us if we brought an acceptable offer.  

Though listing agents will not be allowed to advertise if our Sellers are offering a commission to the Buyer's Agent on the Regional Multiple Listing Service database, we will be allowed to include this information on our Company websites, signs, flyers, and emails to other Realtors. It just won’t be in the place most of us reference to get all the details of the property.  That means if a Buyer has signed  a Buyer Representation Agreement and agreed to pay their Realtor a fee, the only way to assure that the seller will pay that fee as a part of the transaction will be to make that part of the written offer.

The good news is that lenders (including VA in the last couple of weeks) have agreed that they will allow sellers to pay for the Buyer's Agent Commission as a part of the transaction, so Buyers will not be required to come up with that amount in cash.

The bottom line is that we are all figuring out how to do this in an elegant way that protects our clients and allows us to be paid for our work.  It is a work in progress, and we will keep you posted as it rolls out!