The Jackson Files

Multnomah Village First Friday

By Sarah Norton
11/10/2008 - "Portland's Best Kept Secret"
Picture: Multnomah Village First Friday
Multnomah Village is the neighborhood that I call home. The main strip has some great shops and locally owner and operated restaurants and coffee shops. On the first Friday of every month, many of the shopkeepers of Multnomah Village stay open for festivities and fun. The streets are filled with locals and visitors looking for a classic Portland street scene and possibly a free glass of wine.

My favorite shop to visit is Indigo Traders- hosted with homemade cuisine made by the owner and discounts on their beautiful imported shawls and quick drying towels. Also not to be missed are the burgers and milkshakes at Fat City!

My neighbor and I took my dog, Bubbles, up to First Friday this month and had a great time. We picked up some Christmas presents for family that were on discount. It was a balmy evening and so we ended the night with a micro brew and a slice of Pizza at the Lucky Lab.

If you hove not yet experienced First Friday, mark your calendar for the first Friday of each month and join in on the fun. It is a great chance to sample and savor each unique village shop.


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BEWARE SELLER FINANCING

By Sarah Norton
11/07/2008 -

Because lending guidelines are tightening, buyers and sellers are once again getting creative with the financial piece of a real estate transaction. As a newer broker, I hear a lot of stories from those that were in the business in the 1980s about how interest rates were up to 18% so people had to get creative with financing. There were a lot of sellers carrying notes because that was the only way that they could find a buyer. Now, although money is still cheap to borrow (with interest rates hovering around 6%), not all buyers can qualify for conventional loans. So there might be potentially an increase in seller financing in the coming years.

As real estate agents, we are not attorneys or financial planners so we cannot give you advice on what to do in seller financing. However, there are some points about seller financing that you should ask yourself and a legal advisor when considering this option. When Mr. Seller is considering lending money to Mr. Buyer- he should ask himself these questions-

Why won't a conventional bank lend to Mr. Buyer? What is Mr. Buyer's credit score, employment history and prospect, additional assets? What is the value of the home and is the market in the neighborhood declining or inclining? How much cash does Mr. Buyer have to put down? What are Mr. Buyer's other debts and how long does he have to pay them off? If you feel comfortable with the answers to these questions, talk to an attorney about your options. It might be a good way to make guaranteed interest on your money.

Categories: Real Estate
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Tax Assessed Values vs. Sales Values

By Sarah Norton
11/07/2008 - Compared Values in Sales of homes in the SW Hills from the Last 12 months.

I recently had a request from a friend and client looking for specific data on the homes sold within the last 12 months. He was looking to compare the tax assessed value and the sales price. There is no program that will show us the percentage differences between these values so I had to do the research manually. I focused my research on detached homes in the west hills, sold over $600,000. There were a total of 134 homes sold in the last 12 months. The practice turned out to be an interesting study on tax assessed values and how wide they vary relative to sales prices.

The numbers were all over the board. Some homes had tax assessed values that were half of their sales price and some homes had tax assessed values that were twice their sale price. So what this tells me is that tax assessed value is really a subjective number and varies based on the age of the home, the last time it was sold, the location and the condition. However, if you average all of the percentage differences between assessed and sales price values, then assessed value is 100% of sales value. In the past, tax assessed value has generally been lower than market value or sales prices. However, with the correction in the marketplace- we are seeing very little percentage difference between tax assessed value and sales prices.

Categories: Real Estate
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