Certified Realty

Oregon's Choice Since 1950

Lessons My Prisoner Clients Taught Me

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Perhaps you’ve seen TV shows and movies about life behind bars, or read prison-related books. But regardless of how stories about prison are shown in the media, the simple fact is that most people have never been incarcerated. As a result, one common question about prison life is if it’s very much like how it’s portrayed…or is it significantly different than that?

There are also other questions you may never have considered. Like what happens if you’re selling your home…from prison? In other words, is it possible to sell your house…from the big house? In today’s program, we go behind the walls of freedom to see what it’s like to work with multiple convicted homesellers. We’ll also learn some life lessons from each individual behind bars. Find out more…in this insightful feature article and podcast!

Homebuying In A Pandemic

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Pandemics can provide unique home buying opportunities. That’s because market disruptions often propel motivated home sellers to action. Yet outbreaks like the Covid-19 virus don’t automatically favor home buyers. So what’s the real scoop on buying a home during the Covid-19 pandemic? Do home buyers have more, or less of an influence in today’s real […]

Homebuying In A Pandemic

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Despite the significant disruption of Coronavirus in our daily lives, homes throughout Oregon continue to be bought and sold. Inventory currently remains low, meaning buyers compete more for fewer available homes for sale. If you plan to buy a home now, you need a game plan to score your home purchase touchdown. Here are five helpful home purchasing ‘plays’ to help you get over the goal line and reach ‘paydirt’ into your next home.

Real Estate Soft Landing – Or Crash?

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Real estate isn’t always predictable. Given changing conditions, language used to describe housing is rife with lingo from other industries that experience constantly shifting events—some catastrophic—like aviation. While housing is axiomatically ‘grounded’ compared to the aircraft industry, from time to time Oregon real estate market activity is described as akin to a ‘bumpy recovery,’ ‘hard ride,’ ‘crash,’ or ‘soft landing.’ This raises the question among those buying or selling a home of how real estate crashes are avoided and what does a ‘soft landing’ mean?  Find out more in this insightful real estate podcast!

How Winning Homesellers Make Homebuyers Compete

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When multiple buyers express interest in a property by each writing an offer, the balance of power has shifted substantially in favor of the seller. As a result of this decided shift, buyers typically become more competitive. Why? Because fear of loss can be a powerful motivator. What can home sellers do to maximize their leverage in getting the best possible offer? Find out more in this informative real estate podcast!

How to Sell Your Home with Minimum Hassle

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  Most of us are interested in avoiding hassles. Selling your house is no exception. But what about selling a home that could use some work, before you put it on the market? Concerned about the grind of preparing your property for sale? You’re not alone. Don’t fret about the work ahead! You have options. […]

The Perfect Home Sale: Fact or Fairytale?

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Most residential real estate transactions are ultimately successful, meaning they actually ‘close.’ Such a ‘happily ever after’ scenario has sellers receiving their money and buyers, their new house. However, given the many steps along the way, many real estate transactions have a few ‘bumps in the road.’ Sometimes it’s a home inspection defect. At other […]

The Perfect Home Sale: Fact or Fairy Tale?

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Most residential real estate transactions are ultimately successful, meaning they actually ‘close.’ Such a ‘happily ever after’ scenario has sellers receiving their money and buyers, their new house. However, given the many steps along the way, many real estate transactions have a few ‘bumps in the road.’ Sometimes it’s a home inspection defect. At other times it’s a lendability issue, like an appraisal. Or maybe a legal or title issue, such as an unexpected lien or easement, like a highway or railroad right of way, or perhaps a faulty legal description. Successfully helping home buyers and sellers navigate through these kinds of transaction challenges is a Realtor’s job. Many people are wondering…is the thought of a perfect real estate transaction fact…or fairy tale? Find out more, in this helpful Oregon real estate podcast episode.

When’s Too Soon to List My House for Sale?

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‘When’s too soon to list my house?’ is a common homeseller question Realtors are asked. To be sure, there are a host of factors that influence the optimum time of year to sell. When considering the best time to sell your home, several factors stand out. One is the amount of homeseller competition based on […]

How to Take Advantage of Your Realtor

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Gaining Advantage When buying or selling a home, any advantage could be helpful to make your decisions easier and more profitable. Few are more experienced and better positioned to provide homebuyers and homesellers with a meaningful advantage than an expert Realtor. That’s because seasoned real estate agents hold access to a literal wealth of information, which […]

How House Color Affects Your Selling Price

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How Color Affects Us-The affect of color on human emotion is well known.  It’s helpful to realize that buying a home can involve emotions, sometimes more than we might imagine. And because colors are all around us, sometimes we’re not even aware of the impact. Yet did you know that different colors can even influence the taste of food we eat? Compounding the effect of color on Oregonians is our often gloomy Northwest weather, as the impact of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is well documented, plus the effects of color and light are frequently inter-related. As a prospective home seller, it’s reasonable to expect certain colors to not only enhance your home’s appearance from the outside, but make it appear more livable on the inside, too.  

Deputized: How 2 Realtors Become Policemen For A Day

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Working as a real estate agent can present some unusual situations. Here’s one story you probably haven’t heard before. It includes two mild mannered Realtors being deputized, or ‘sworn in’ on the spot, since the local, short-handed police force is about to commence a house eviction that turns out to be a bit more than routine.

We’d been asked by our seller client to assist with the removal of squatters on her property and also make suggestions prior to our selling her home. As a result, we were told to meet police at the property to assist with access, so the house could be vacated. Little did we know that this visit would not only include providing access, but also our becoming temporary police officers! For more, listen to this interesting and true story.

Is Oregon A Buyer’s or Seller’s Real Estate Market?

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Two common real estate terms are ‘seller’s market’ and ‘buyer’s market.’ What exactly do these terms mean and how do they apply to our current Oregon real estate climate?