Too nice yesterday to be out looking at houses. It seemed like everyone was out having fun or working in the yard. Not us. Greg and I spent the entire afternoon showing houses in Southeast Portland.

Some general observations from our day in the market:

• There are a growing number of short sales in the Portland real estate market. There are some potentially attractive buys out there. We were in one short sale that was both move-in ready and has nice remaining improvement opportunities in a GREAT location in Hawthorne. It is being shown with rotting food in the kitchen, and garbage throughout. For a little garbage cleanup and some patience in the short-sale process, and you might get a great deal.
• Homes that are ideal rental properties for investors are not always positioned and marketed that way. We’ve seen a few properties in the last week that we think could cash flow, if purchased at the discount to list that we think is possible.
• Look for easy opportunities to add living space by looking at the attic and basement. We were in a number of homes yesterday that had high basement ceiling heights, and attic spaces that could be inexpensively improved to create significant additional living spaces. We often find these opportunities are over-looked by listing agents, and omitted in property descriptions.
• Look for homes that you know are over-priced, for they might very-well become a future deal. Track them. By the time the price is reduced to where it should be, the property will be stale. They will likely need to drop below market value to stimulate buyer activity.

If you are interested in learning more about the opportunities we’ve found, give us a call or send an email.  Our contact information is at the bottom of our website.

Related posts:

1. Determine Your Wants and Needs in a Home
2. Preparing Your Home to Sell
3. Southeast Portland’s Sellwood - Westmoreland Tour of Homes for April 5, 2008
4. Prices flat, NOT DOWN for Portland Real Estate in March