If you’ve ever browsed condos in Portland’s Pearl District, you’ve probably had that moment. The building looks great, the space is perfect, the price seems fair — and then you see the HOA dues. $800, $1,000, sometimes even $1,200 a month. What do these numbers really mean? And how do you know if they’re reasonable? … Continue reading Understanding HOA Dues: What They Really Mean for Pearl District Buyers
Both the Elizabeth and Pinnacle Condos are nearing completion in the Pearl. Latest reports say that the Lexis Aparments will be converting to condos priced from $150,000-$500,000. No further details at this time but drop us a line if you want to be kept informed.
People often ask us about the metits of loft living versus condo living. The first step is to define what the difference is in the units. For our purposes and what is generally agreed upon in the portland market is that a loft has open spaces and no true walled-in bedrooms. Condos have solid walls… Continue reading Condo Versus Loft Living
Question: Can you tell me everything you would tell a friend who was thinking of buying a loft in Portland? Question submitted by a client relocating from out-of-state. Answer: First you have the real estate adage of location, location, location. Not only do we need to look at the physical address but we also need… Continue reading Loft Living Considerations
Article in Friday’s (April 8) Portland Tribune by Peter Schulberg about Pearl District real estate says the market isn’t cooling off. There are nearly 3000 residental units in the area and only 84 are for sale according to the article. The search I just ran in the MLS system shows 40 active properties priced from… Continue reading Portland Tribune Article on Pearl District
From May 13th to May 22nd, seven Pearl District units will open to the public. The Pearl CitySpaces project will show units in the Pinnacle, the Lexus and Louisa and will be decorated to showcase seven different demographics. Tickets Monday-Thursday are $10 and $15 for Friday-Sunday. Tickets are available at Powell’s, Whole Foods, Umpqua Bank… Continue reading Pearl CitySpaces- Tour the Pearl
I just did a comparable market analysis (CMA) on a property in the Pearl District. The property is listed for $499,000 so I searched back sold properties since August 1, 2005. There were eleven comparable properties. The average price per square foot was $402. It wasn’t all that long ago that $300/sqft was average.
An unsolicited chain of events over the last couple of weeks has given us an opportunity that very few get: to downsize into a Pearl District condo without giving up our current home for a specified amount of time. Could we be happy in a condo that’s just over 20% the size of our current… Continue reading The Downsizing Experiment
Once we knew we were moving we pretty much had to decide right then where we were going to live. It was a very different experience from any housing decision we had ever made as a couple. I had my house when we got together and Jenny had hers. The subsequent houses that we bought… Continue reading Researching the Move- Tradeoffs
Somewhat regular commenter, Mr. Thrifty, poses the topic of this post on the recent thread about Details of $75B Loan Modifications and Refinances Released. The next topic on here should be “Why the Pearl District is Turning Into a Self Parody”. For all the pretentious hyper self conscious neighborhoods in Portland, there truly is no… Continue reading Why the Pearl District is Turning Into a Self Parody?