How Does Every Lender on The Planet Know That You're Applying for A Loan?

If you have gone through the lending process recently, you may have received a flood of phone and text messages from lenders other than the one you contacted with information about competing loan offers. Some clients appreciate having lenders come to them with details, but most find it somewhat bothersome. 

When a credit report is pulled for a loan inquiry, the credit bureau can legally sell that inquiry data to other lenders as a marketing lead. The good news? These messages can be stopped. The bad news? The only person who can effectively put a stop to them is you! 

Follow the steps in this Consumer Reports guide to opt out of trigger leads and other marketing initiatives>>

RMLS Market Action Report

We ended 2022 with 2.3 months of inventory reported for December. While this is a drop from November, it is high compared to the first half of 2022 and all of 2021, when we struggled to stay at or above 1 month. Overall activity slowed this year as 2022 had about 4,000 fewer new listings and 7,000 fewer closed sales than in 2021. One cause of this overall decrease in activity was the rising interest rates that we watched rise dramatically during the last 6 months. In conjunction with the average sales price increasing from $571,900 to $610,900, rising interest rates helped cool a seller’s market into a more buyer-friendly environment while pushing monthly costs out of some buyers’ reach. 

Quite the dynamic 2022! Another impact of these changes is that average days on market has reached the mid 50s, a high we haven’t seen since around April 2020. As always, if you’re curious about how this affects your home buying or selling decisions, give us a call! 

View the most recent market action report here>>

Love Big, Give Big 2022

We are so grateful to everyone who nominated an organization and logged into the Love Big, Give Big app to help us spread some love to people working hard to support and improve our communities for all. Extra special thanks to the folks who persisted in the face of the technical glitches we experienced with the app this year to make their contributions!

Animal Aid: $200
Black and Beyond the Binary: $300
Bradley Angle: $600
Camp Blue Spruce: $125
Catholic Charities of Oregon: $150
Common Good Project (by Jenn Louis): $250
Family Dog New Life: $200
JOIN: $600
Mainspring Portland: $150
Milk Crate Kitchen: $475
Northwest Pilot Project: $150
On-the-Move Community Integration: $175
Oregon Dog Rescue: $100
Path Home: $200
PDX Cat Trapper: $250
Portland Animal Welfare (PAW) Team: $350
Portland Audubon: $450
Proud Ground: $300
Resonance Ensemble: $200
Rosewood Initiative: $150
Rural Health Collaborative: $250
STEM Like A Girl: $550
Stumptown Strays: $275
The Black Resilience Fund: $600
Transition Projects: $250
Ukraine TrustChain: $500
WaterWatch of Oregon: $400
Zeb’s Wish Equine Sanctuary: $150

Water Saving Tips

The best FAQ on the Oregon Water Bureau's website is: But we had a wet spring; why are we still in a drought? It is a brain bender, but one atmospheric river cannot make up for the multi-year deficit in our state. Although conditions did improve in 2022 in the Northwest corner, drought is still occurring in 66% of the state.

We know that you know that our current climate crisis cannot be resolved by individual efforts alone. Still, at this point, most experts agree that we need to use every last tool in the box where natural resources and our environment are concerned.

Get started today with these tools from the Portland Water Bureau that can help you assess your usage and help you save water in and around your home>>

Tax Considerations Before Selling

Many forces, internal and external, lead to the decision to sell. Although they are rarely the main driver in a selling decision, taxes are impacted by every property transaction. Earlier this month, we read this helpful article by a local CPA outlining various tax implications of selling your home.

One of the things she mentions is keeping track of any expenditures on capital improvements (very important to hang onto these records!). So, if you're unsure which expenses count toward reducing the taxable profit as determined by the IRS, here is a primer on that topic.

Don't hesitate to reach out if you have other questions. Although we are not CPAs–and, unfortunately, the one who authored the article is not taking new clients–we can likely point you in a direction to get the information and expertise you need.

Bridging Gaps Around PDX

Has there ever been a better time to be a pedestrian or cyclist in Portland? The city completed construction on three new pedestrian/cyclist-only bridges in the last calendar year: Ned Flanders Crossing (June 2021), Red Electric Bridge (July 2022), and Congressman Earl Blumenauer Bridge (July 2022).

All three bridges are part of larger initiatives designed to offer cyclists and pedestrians safer passage through main transit corridors. Ned Flanders created a new route over I-405 (NW Flanders Neighborhood Greenway Project), Red Electric began a car-free link between SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway and SW Capitol Highway (Red Electric Trail), and Congressman Earl Blumenauer Bridge will provide a new route across I-84 when it opens at the end of this month (The Green Loop). Whether wandering on two feet or two wheels, all three are worth a visit.