Ten years ago or so now, we decided to leave our beloved West Hills of Portland and head down to Salem for a great opportunity for my husband.  I was not thrilled, which is an under statement, about leaving Portland because everyone knew that Salem was ugly and that it sucked. Never mind that I had never lived in, or even visited Salem, but everyone knew that it was ugly. It took me a while to adjust to the slower pace of Salem, and I have learned to love the fact that I don’t sit in tr... Read Full Story

I’m a fall person. I love cool weather and the change of the leaves. I can’t help but think of our fresh local apple cider. I constantly get asked by people considering relocating to the Salem Oregon area about the weather. Now I have talked about our snow...and the city’s one snow plow, but people considering moving here from the east coast typically want to know “do you have four seasons?” Yep. We do. Granted we get rain in the winter instead of snow, but... Read Full Story

I was pointed to this blog today and as a real estate agent, I appreciate architecture.   I strongly suggest when you have a few minutes you head over and look at these photos. The title of the post… 50 Strange Buildings of the World, oh…and there is a Part II and Part III.  Here is a taste of what you will see. Image courtesy of Jonathan Moreau Seriously, check out this post.  Just plain cool. Read Full Story

There is no argument that real estate is changing.  The question is what will it look like.   What it will look like depends solely on what consumers want.  G.D. Gearino wrote in a NC business magazine If ever there’s a field ripe to be made obsolete by technology, it’s real-estate brokerage. There is no objective reason for real-estate agents to exist these days. Buyers and sellers can easily find one another online, and thanks to the endless data capabilities of the Internet, anything you n... Read Full Story

I participate on a couple of real estate forums online.  There is an interesting thread on one of them about lessons learned in real estate.  This is a national forum, not just local Salem Oregon folks. What were consumers regrets when buying a house?  I thought it was an interesting topic and for you first time home buyers out there…here are a few words from your peers on “if I had to do it again…” Don’t overestimate your skills or time. Only buy what you can a... Read Full Story

Today I had to break out my hooded raincoat.  As the rain stopped and started today, I gave in to the inevitable…that our great Oregon summer is over.  I actually like Oregon in the autumn since the colors start to turn, but the first rainy day is always hard for me.  Between having to break out my rain coat, AND wanting to throttle the REO manager at Freddie Mac over a current transaction, I was looking for some good news… Keizer delivered. 5.2 months is the current inventory of ... Read Full Story

As the third quarter has come to an end, we can get a better look at a lot of our local  real estate data.  I’ll write some posts about our small cities in the next two weeks, but wanted to focus this post on Salem Oregon again, specifically looking at the foreclosure data. The rise in foreclosures has been obvious to any local real estate agent. What used to be a rare blip in our market is a daily event. It is hard to do a home search these days and not see some sort of foreclosure or ... Read Full Story

One of the most difficult things about having a blog is that it is an easy target.  I spend a lot of time running data, going to neighborhoods to take photos, and writing content for you all…my readers.  The fact is that my goal is purely selfish: my hope is that you read what I have written and decide that I am the right real estate agent to call when you want help with a home purchase or you’ll give my name to a friend that might need my services.   The point of this real estate... Read Full Story

Last month I talked about that the Salem Oregon real estate market appeared to be entering the skid phase.  Unlike optimists who think some kind of v bounce will occur, I think a skid with essentially no appreciation in home values is more likely. September marked the end of the 3rd quarter.  The nice thing about using quarterly data is that we have more data to work with which gives us more accurate trending.  So…the good news, you ask? Homes sales were up 8.1% in the 3rd quarter this ... Read Full Story

I think one of the most difficult things about moving to a different area is trying to figure out what your income will get you there.  Can you afford to buy a house in Salem Oregon? Clearly real estate in Manhattan is just a tad bit more expensive than real estate in Salem Oregon.  I typically turn green when I hear about how much people will pay for a 600 sq foot condo in NY.  I don’t understand how people can live there. People that relocate here come from all parts of the country. S... Read Full Story