FHA and VA are both lowering their cost of lending
A little bit of good news: Both the FHA and VA are lowering their cost of lending in the next month. For FHA loans closed after March 20th 2023, the monthly mortgage insurance premium is going down from .85% to .55%. ...
Real Estate Basics: Getting Started With Financing
Thinking about how you can buy your first home? Regardless of price, buying real estate takes a lump of money up front, but it may not be as much as you think. Things to consider: How much of a down ...
How to make a more competitive offer
It is hard out there for buyers right now. In Portland there's so much competition for the small amount of listings we have that along with high all-cash offers some buyers are doing things like waiving all inspections and agreeing ...
Real Estate in the age of Coronavirus
People have asked "Are people still buying houses during a global pandemic?" Yes! At least in Portland they are. We had a quiet month or so but that seemed to create more demand and buyers are back with a vengeance ...
This Year’s Market Report is here
It's true, real estate has slowed down here in Portland! The annual neighborhood stats from Portland Monthly are here. After years of double-digit growth, the Portland market only had 5 percent growth in the median home sale price this year ...
Seeing Beyond the Surface Part 2: Exteriors
Looking for a new home can be stressful and part of that comes from assessing something so important in such a short amount of time. When you buy a home you should always get the appropriate inspections, but before you ...
Seeing Beyond the Surface Part 1: Interior Systems
Looking for a new home can be stressful and part of that comes from assessing something so important in such a short amount of time. When you buy a home you should always get the appropriate inspections, but before you ...
Real Estate Basics: What Is Escrow?
When real estate agents talk about “Escrow” what we’re really referring to is the escrow period in a real estate transaction – the period of time between having an offer accepted and the closing or finalizing of the sale. During ...
Real Estate Basics: What Is Earnest Money?
Earnest money is good faith funds the buyer deposits into an escrow account when their offer to purchase a home is accepted. It acts as an assurance for the seller that the buyer is not entering into multiple purchase contracts ...
