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Twitterer? Posted: Wed June 10, 2009, 8:48 pm by Bill Metzker |
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Are you one of the grwing number of who likes to use Twitter? I am. If you'd like my occasional tweets, you can follow me at @mrliam.  Post a Comment :: (0 comments)
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| Quick Stats | Fri June 25, 2010, 6:19 pm | Bill Metzker |
| From my Chicago Tile friends, who sift this from the latest RMLS reports.
PORTLAND... | ||
| Real Estate News | Fri June 11, 2010, 5:54 pm | Bill Metzker |
| There's so much out there that I find I'm having trouble keeping up so many blogs. Rather than do it all twice, go... | ||
| Random Thoughts | Thu May 13, 2010, 4:02 pm | Bill Metzker |
| If you want to have some fun, check out the Footprint Network's... | ||
| Portland area Real Estate Values | Tue April 27, 2010, 8:02 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Zillow's take on market values always differs from the RMLS' a bit. | ||
| Portland area Real Estate Values | Tue April 27, 2010, 8:02 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Zillow's take on market values always differs from the RMLS' a bit. | ||
| The True Cause of the Meltdown | Thu April 22, 2010, 1:59 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I do not recall a time in my life, ever, when the financial markets dominated the news. | ||
| Updated Statistics | Mon April 19, 2010, 12:25 pm | Bill Metzker |
| For the record--a lot of Orenco Station-area homes changed hands in the last month or so, including (especially)... | ||
| Sustainability at Orenco Station | Wed April 14, 2010, 11:30 am | Bill Metzker |
| I have to say, I was thrilled at the turnout for the Neighborhood Empowerment Program at Orenco Station last... | ||
| New Neighbors | Fri April 2, 2010, 6:28 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Orenco Station proper has seen several homes turn over lately. Welcome to all new neighbors, and to old ones--did... | ||
| My Daughter | Wed March 24, 2010, 11:15 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I have to pull away from Portland real estate every so after and do something else. Today, can I direct everyone to... | ||
| Green--The Future | Tue March 16, 2010, 2:38 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I will be taking the two-day Earth Advantage Institute's two-day training course beginning tomorrow.... | ||
| A Buy and Fix Program | Fri February 26, 2010, 1:07 am | Bill Metzker |
| Leissa Gebert of the Mortgage Consulting Group brokered many of the original Orenco Station home mortgages. Later,... | ||
| Newsbreak | Tue February 16, 2010, 5:55 pm | Bill Metzker |
| In the past, this space has been critical of Whole Foods. We stand pat on the legal strategies they used that swept... | ||
| Something to HARP About | Mon February 8, 2010, 5:28 pm | Bill Metzker |
| This is a post I’d usually write for The... | ||
| Why Aren't Townhomes Selling? | Wed February 3, 2010, 12:18 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Why townhomes aren't selling perplexed me. After all, unlike condos, they're eligible for FHA financing. Pricing, in... | ||
| Stiff 'Em | Wed January 27, 2010, 11:44 am | Bill Metzker |
| Maybe It’s Time to Stiff 'em.
| ||
| Sell or Hold? | Wed January 20, 2010, 1:43 pm | Bill Metzker |
| While prices have not recovered and won't for a long time, sales activity may be going up this spring. Most everyone... | ||
| 2009 a Dog Poop Bag | Mon January 4, 2010, 1:56 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I’d racked my brain to come up with a suitable blog post to close out 2009 and welcome 2010, without success.... | ||
| Home Evaluations | Thu December 31, 2009, 12:13 am | Bill Metzker |
| The Orenco Station rowhomes--the brick-faced tri-levels on Rosebay Park, those on the pool/Pavilion... | ||
| Foreclosures, Leases and Market Comment | Fri December 18, 2009, 2:57 pm | Bill Metzker |
| First--whether you're a tenant or landlord, be sure to see if your lease has a Subordination clause. Whether or not... | ||
| 2010 Prices and Sales | Sun December 13, 2009, 2:48 pm | Bill Metzker |
| RMLS and national sources such as Inman News are reporting a stabilization of inventory. That's true, to an... | ||
| Market Update | Mon November 30, 2009, 2:48 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Terradigm Real Estate Consultancy reports on the inconclusiveness of... | ||
| Home Prices | Tue November 10, 2009, 6:56 pm | Bill Metzker |
| The greater Orenco Station area is experiencing what much of the rest of the market is--a lack of sales to... | ||
| Tax Credit Extension and Other Stuff | Fri November 6, 2009, 7:19 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Lots of real estate news today, not the least of which was the extension of the $8,000 federal tax credit first time... | ||
| Rants | Fri November 6, 2009, 12:11 am | Bill Metzker |
| Sorry for the delay in posting. A lot happening lately, with a new business and all. For my view on... | ||
| Market Uncertainty | Tue October 27, 2009, 4:04 pm | Bill Metzker |
|
So much real estate news, and so little time! First, the mortgage... | ||
| Portland Metro Real Estate Sales | Fri October 16, 2009, 8:24 pm | Bill Metzker |
| For all of Portland Metro, both pending sales and closed sales were up from a year ago. Listings fell off... | ||
| Mortgages | Tue October 13, 2009, 2:12 pm | Bill Metzker |
|
Mortgage rates continue to hover around the 5% level, according to... | ||
| New Postings | Fri October 9, 2009, 8:36 pm | Bill Metzker |
| A lot to write about today. I have real reservations about extending the $8,000 federal tax credit, for... | ||
| Investors | Wed October 7, 2009, 5:01 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I spoke with a woman a few days ago who’d bought some residential rental properties at the height of the... | ||
| An Increase in Renters | Mon October 5, 2009, 12:40 pm | Bill Metzker |
|
Inman News, an online news source for real estate and mortgage... | ||
| Some Mortgage Tips. | Mon September 28, 2009, 7:47 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I wrote this today for Terradigm and wanted to pass it on to... | ||
| Loan Modification Scammers | Thu September 17, 2009, 6:59 pm | Bill Metzker |
| According to Inman News, the Feds are talking anbout cracking down on people and companies, even law firms, who want... | ||
| Loan Modification Update | Mon September 14, 2009, 1:32 pm | Bill Metzker |
| One economist has suggested that mortgage loan servicers are cherr-picking whose loans they'll modify. The... | ||
| Dispatch from Reno | Sun September 13, 2009, 5:46 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Foreclosures, short sales and overpriced homes seem to uneaslily co-exist in Reno, Nevada, were I'm writing this... | ||
| What Will Lenders Do? | Thu September 10, 2009, 12:10 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Bloomberg News is reporting a sixth straight months of foreclosures rising above 600,000 for the sixth straight... | ||
| Foreclosure Myths | Tue September 8, 2009, 7:43 pm | Bill Metzker |
| As with many other aspects of real estate, a lot of myths surround foreclosures and foreclosure avoidance... | ||
| Loan Modification Costs | Tue September 8, 2009, 7:39 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Loan modifications should be free. Don't pay upfront. There are, however, certain cases where you might want... | ||
| Local Foreclosures | Fri September 4, 2009, 3:04 pm | Bill Metzker |
| The greater Orenco Statiion area has seen it's share of foreclosures, short sales and Notices of Default. But... | ||
| Foreclosure Trends | Thu September 3, 2009, 2:37 pm | Bill Metzker |
| RealtyTrac, a national provider of foreclosure data used by major news gathering organizations, often has cutting... | ||
| An Agent's Story | Wed September 2, 2009, 12:08 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I got a kick out of this agent's story. Kind of funny, kind of... | ||
| Loan Modifications | Thu August 27, 2009, 10:53 am | Bill Metzker |
| Check outthis blog for some good information.... | ||
| Is the Market Stabilizing? | Wed August 26, 2009, 8:23 pm | Bill Metzker |
| My own view is that it's too soon to tell. The past few months have seen stabilization and even an uptick in sales.... | ||
| Property Taxes | Wed August 19, 2009, 2:18 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Valuations will come out in October, and if they're anything like last year's, a lot of folks will be... | ||
| Neighborhood Trouble | Wed August 19, 2009, 2:16 pm | Bill Metzker |
| There's been some rather unsavory activity going on at the Seneca Village apartments across 231st from Orenco... | ||
| Deficiencies, House Prices | Wed August 12, 2009, 5:56 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Deficiencies: I had yet another contact for whom short sale was the most likely option, but these folks were, and,... | ||
| Market Update | Thu July 2, 2009, 7:50 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Are we in a Recession or Depression? That depends on who you are and what you're doing. If you have a... | ||
| Market Update | Tue June 23, 2009, 2:39 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Ever think that the number 84.2% would mean much? It has it's fifteen minutes of fame today. It represents... | ||
| Mortgage News | Mon June 15, 2009, 1:11 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Bloomberg is reporting today that the 10-year note and Fannie Mae rates are getting closer in synch, with a... | ||
| The "Market" | Thu June 11, 2009, 11:40 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Of the many things I've become deathly ill of listening to, one is references to the "housing... | ||
| Twitterer? | Wed June 10, 2009, 8:48 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Are you one of the grwing number of who likes to use Twitter? I am. If you'd like my occasional tweets, you... | ||
| Road Trip | Mon June 8, 2009, 6:34 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I just returned from a road trip to Colorado to visit my sons. It took a day and ahalf to get there, and we... | ||
| How Defaults Affect Everyone | Wed May 27, 2009, 11:52 am | Bill Metzker |
| The temptation is to think that if too many houses in your neighborhood go into foreclosure, the value of yours will... | ||
| Sinned Against of Sinning? | Tue May 12, 2009, 2:53 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. I sneaked off and went to a matinee yesterday. Alone. | ||
| Is the Good News Bad, or the Bad News Good? | Tue May 5, 2009, 12:15 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Go figure. It was just announced on the news that pending sales are up from a year ago. Even... | ||
| Mini Market Update | Thu April 30, 2009, 1:59 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I have two separate sets of people coming in to look at Orenco Station and downtown properties. Nothing really... | ||
| Videos | Sat April 25, 2009, 5:35 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Real estate marketing is, to me, still locked in the 1950s in some ways. I don't know, maybe it works. You see... | ||
| Distressed Property Expertise | Sun April 19, 2009, 7:40 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Last year, for every short sale completed, there were six REO (real estate owned) transactions. That means the... | ||
| Uptick? | Mon April 6, 2009, 11:44 am | Bill Metzker |
| If it fees like there's a little more home sales activity of late, it's because there is. Right this moment,... | ||
| I Heard It on NPR | Thu March 26, 2009, 8:27 am | Bill Metzker |
| Did anyone catch that bit on the house hunters in Boston this morning on NPR? A woman and her husband had... | ||
| New! | Mon March 23, 2009, 11:06 am | Bill Metzker |
| In the coming weeks, watch this space for some really great news on real estate services for the 21st... | ||
| Foreclosure, Short sales | Mon March 16, 2009, 2:23 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Hillsboro and Orenco Station are not immune to the foreclosure wave. Did anyone catch the story on NPR this... | ||
| Property Distress | Wed March 11, 2009, 3:17 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Distressed properties, which include not just those in foreclosure but those whose mortgage payments are behind,... | ||
| News...or Is There? | Fri March 6, 2009, 6:10 pm | Bill Metzker |
| If you go only by the dates of the blog posts, you'd swear I haven't been keeping up. Well, sort of yes, sort... | ||
| Trends | Wed February 18, 2009, 10:36 am | Bill Metzker |
| The real estate website Zillow has come out with its 2008 4th Quarter Report ( | ||
| 25 Things (cont) | Mon February 16, 2009, 3:09 pm | Bill Metzker |
| 8. In the course of showing homes, I have met a Romanian who wanted to create an Eastern European cured meats... | ||
| 25 Things (cont'd.) | Fri February 13, 2009, 4:28 pm | Bill Metzker |
| 5. Noticing similarities between the real estate market and other markets. Such as a report in the New York... | ||
| 25 Things I Like About Real Estate | Thu February 12, 2009, 9:56 am | Bill Metzker |
| 1. Clients, at least interesting ones. Which, I guess, is most of them. When there's no simpatico between... | ||
| Mortgage Rates Up? | Mon February 9, 2009, 3:57 pm | Bill Metzker |
| The 30-year rate move up to 5.44% today. Still good by historical standards, but it's unclear where they're... | ||
| Economic Humor | Mon February 2, 2009, 10:17 am | Bill Metzker |
| A joke I shamelessly stole off a New York Times discussion post. Heaven is a place where the police are... | ||
| Fixing Up Your Home | Fri January 30, 2009, 3:55 pm | Bill Metzker |
| If you don’t have a compelling reason to sell in the current market but think you might down the road in a... | ||
| The Far Future | Mon January 26, 2009, 2:21 pm | Bill Metzker |
| If the economic stimulus packages work (not the plural--they have to work in all countries) and economies stabilize,... | ||
| Is It Hard Times Yet? | Fri January 23, 2009, 2:07 pm | Bill Metzker |
| It was more than Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) when Intel announced yesterday the layoff of 1,000 workers... | ||
| Appraised Values | Wed January 14, 2009, 11:33 am | Bill Metzker |
| Home owners are flocking to their lenders to refinance their mortgages. No surprise--this always happens when... | ||
| Good Real Estate News | Mon December 29, 2008, 5:54 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Don't know if anyone read this article on the Portland real estate market. It gives a little more positive spin for... | ||
| Market Direction (?) | Mon December 15, 2008, 3:13 pm | Bill Metzker |
| The online real estate website Zillow has teamed up with the biz magazine Business Week to digest the national... | ||
| Buying Foreclosures | Sun December 14, 2008, 11:42 pm | Bill Metzker |
| It's possible to get really good deal buying a foreclosed-on home, but not as it was in days past. Too... | ||
| Short Sales (again) | Sun December 14, 2008, 1:33 pm | Bill Metzker |
| When I first started receiving the Notice of Default lists a couple of years ago, you might see one to four pages of... | ||
| Diamonds in the Stone Field | Wed December 10, 2008, 10:05 am | Bill Metzker |
| Yes, a tough mortgage market can be tough on first-time homebuyers, and the resulting problem ripples up the... | ||
| What's Up, Anyway? | Tue December 9, 2008, 1:51 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Bearish real estate markets like the one we're in now take years, not months, to recover. Maybe we'll catch a... | ||
| The Current Market | Mon December 8, 2008, 2:34 pm | Bill Metzker |
| This is my third really, really bad real estate market. The first was in the late 1970s and early 1980s.... | ||
| Defend New Seasons! | Wed December 3, 2008, 9:08 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Whole Foods, whose Tanasbourne location is looking more and more like the aftermath of Requiem, is trying to nail... | ||
| With Gratitude | Wed November 26, 2008, 2:23 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I've had so much to blog about lately but I've kept my keyboard quiet. I was going to do a piece on the market ,... | ||
| Short Sales (Redux) | Tue November 18, 2008, 9:00 pm | Bill Metzker |
| If I seem to be fixating on short sales lately, it's for a reason. Think there aren't many foreclosure or... | ||
| Housing Solutions | Mon November 17, 2008, 9:58 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Bloomberg had yet another okay article on what to do about the housing mess. You can read it at | ||
| Orenco Woods Denial | Thu November 13, 2008, 11:28 am | Bill Metzker |
| The Hillsboro Planning Commission on Nov. 12 denied the developer of the Orenco Woods Crossing subdivision... | ||
| Short Sales | Sat November 8, 2008, 1:47 pm | Bill Metzker |
| The number of short sales in Portland Metro started popping up about a year ago. Now, sometimes it seems as... | ||
| Market Musings | Tue November 4, 2008, 3:42 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Everyone knows the real estate market is down. One of my peeves is the number of people saying it's the media's... | ||
| Home Selling 101 | Mon November 3, 2008, 1:33 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I take a long time with buyers, especially first-timers. I want them to see as many houses as they can stand to... | ||
| Home Prices | Wed October 29, 2008, 1:45 pm | Bill Metzker |
| The Oregonian reported today that local | ||
| Interesting Facts | Tue October 28, 2008, 2:37 pm | Bill Metzker |
| One of my favorite sources of information is Harper's Magazine. For years, I've enjoyed Harper's Index, which... | ||
| Solar World | Wed October 22, 2008, 2:41 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Amidst the gloom and doom making the headlines, let's not forget to note the opening of Solar World. Its $400... | ||
| Financial Crisis | Wed October 22, 2008, 1:31 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I thought I'd write a couple of blogs about the financial crisis (no more "bailout," huh?) and try to... | ||
| Zillow (Redux) | Sat October 18, 2008, 2:21 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Of interest to Orenco Station Neighbors buyers and sellers--or just property tire kickers--is a story in both the NY... | ||
| Aloha | Tue October 14, 2008, 1:31 am | Bill Metzker |
| Aloha is both "hello" and "goodbye" in Hawaii, where I've been for the last few days. The... | ||
| Bailout III | Mon September 29, 2008, 3:28 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Let's hope this "bailout" metaphor that's in use to characterize the Treasury Department's plan to call in... | ||
| More Bailout Thoughts | Sun September 28, 2008, 3:51 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Whether it was to make Wall Street safe from Wachovia or because of the Great Wail Of China, we may never find out.... | ||
| Bailout | Sat September 27, 2008, 10:51 am | Bill Metzker |
| As I make these notes, the U.S. Congress is trying to cobble a deal together that, by all accounts, will save the... | ||
| Home Price Forecast | Mon September 22, 2008, 4:50 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Good news/bad news for home sellers. Economic forecaster Global Insight teamed with financier National City... | ||
| Rock Creek Golf Course | Fri September 19, 2008, 2:51 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I'm not a golfer, so I didn't realize the Rock Creek Golf Course was not open to the public. I was surpised to... | ||
| Bookends | Wed September 17, 2008, 10:51 am | Bill Metzker |
| What a day for real estate! Anyone see todays' Oregonian business section? One front page article... | ||
| Current Market Data | Tue September 16, 2008, 3:59 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I admit to being an information nerd, and one of my chief complaints with RMLS data is that it's a month old... | ||
| Wall Street and Main Street | Mon September 15, 2008, 11:59 am | Bill Metzker |
| Remember the kind of loopy homily from the 1960's, "What if they had a war and nobody came?" Now,... | ||
| Tax Appeals | Thu September 11, 2008, 11:54 am | Bill Metzker |
| Ah, spring, when young peoples' fancy turns to love. Ah, fall, when a property owner's fancy turns... | ||
| Freddie and Fannie | Mon September 8, 2008, 2:09 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Freddie and Fannie. Fannie and Freddie. Almost sounds like a Coen Brothers movie, doesn't it? Or... | ||
| News | Wed September 3, 2008, 4:53 pm | Bill Metzker |
| A bit of good news arrived in my mail box for Orenco Station area home (and other property) owners. I receive... | ||
| Real Estate Tidbits | Thu August 28, 2008, 10:51 am | Bill Metzker |
| One of the things I struggle with when talking about real estate data and trends is the reliability of the... | ||
| Book Review | Thu August 28, 2008, 10:27 am | Bill Metzker |
| My New Year's Resolution, to be made either tomorrow or next Tuesday, is to post every day. First, a slight... | ||
| Hateful Property Searches | Thu August 21, 2008, 3:16 pm | Bill Metzker |
| An article on property searches in real estate trade journal Inman News caught my attention this... | ||
| Celebrate Live Theatre | Tue August 19, 2008, 1:57 pm | Bill Metzker |
| The Venetian Theatre in downtown Hillsboro is open for business with a delightful expresso and wine bar... | ||
| Luxury Home Sales | Fri August 15, 2008, 3:38 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Sales patterns in the greater area of Orenco Station might reflect the upper end market. Today's... | ||
| Places to Go | Tue August 12, 2008, 2:45 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Now and then, I need to break away from the Orenco homes for sale and Bethany real estate news and all that to... | ||
| Market Snapshot | Mon August 11, 2008, 4:30 pm | Bill Metzker |
| In looking at the homes in the Orenco Station, Orenco Gardens and other nearby areas for the last sixty days, I... | ||
| Orenco Area Rowhomes | Wed August 6, 2008, 3:45 pm | Bill Metzker |
| A questioner on Truila asked a couple of weeks ago about the value of Hillsboro rowhomes as an investment. She'd heard... | ||
| Good News? | Sat August 2, 2008, 2:15 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Since I've been kind of P & M'ing about mortgage rates and the ten-year Treasury bonds, something good needs to be... | ||
| Updates | Wed July 30, 2008, 5:07 pm | Bill Metzker |
| This space will soon undergo a major site reconstruction to include a stronger presentation of the greater Orenco... | ||
| Look Homeward, Angel | Tue July 22, 2008, 4:16 pm | Bill Metzker |
| We lived in San Francisco until 1994, with my three children all graduating from high school there. Two attended Urban... | ||
| Interest Rates | Fri July 18, 2008, 5:20 pm | Bill Metzker |
| The 10-year treasury moved past 4% today, settling in at 4.08%. This move probably portends two things--a rise in... | ||
| Your Kids | Fri July 18, 2008, 5:12 pm | Bill Metzker |
| A curious feeling comes over me on occasion when I look at my adult children. Curious, I say, because I can't really... | ||
| What If? | Mon July 14, 2008, 4:57 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I read an Inman news article wherein the author recalled walking through his town, and a sign on the savings and loan... | ||
| State of the Market | Mon July 14, 2008, 4:44 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I did not take the time to post the May RMLS stats. No excuses, except for the arrival of our daughter and first... | ||
| Earnest Money | Sun June 29, 2008, 10:21 am | Bill Metzker |
| Two different buyers have asked me over the past few weeks about earnest money--the why and the how much. The main... | ||
| Name the (New) Fairgrounds | Sat June 14, 2008, 10:33 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Plans for rebuilding the Washington County fairgrounds into an events center are underway (cut and paste into your... | ||
| Real Estate Commissions | Tue June 3, 2008, 5:19 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Since most of my professional life has been in real estate investing and developing, I understand the public's... | ||
| Istanbul Diaries | Sun June 1, 2008, 2:55 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Here's a typical instance of how her Turkish MIL annoys my daughter. Yesterday (Saturday), she called Sarah up and... | ||
| Market Action | Sun May 18, 2008, 4:25 pm | Bill Metzker |
| The latest data from RMLS has been posted under Data and Trends. Market activity remains slow over all. Worse, we... | ||
| Curiouser and Curiouser | Tue May 13, 2008, 3:00 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I updated a price evaluation for a customer who owns a condominium in the Pearl District. The initial report was... | ||
| Market Trends | Mon April 21, 2008, 3:24 pm | Bill Metzker |
| If you're a seller, the numbers stink. But they don't if you're a buyer. Time on market is up. The numbers say 98... | ||
| The State of the Market | Thu April 17, 2008, 5:46 pm | Bill Metzker |
| People trying to sell their homes right now must feel cursed. It's taking longer. Prices get cut. No one even comes to... | ||
| Explaining the Mortgage Crisis | Thu March 13, 2008, 12:04 pm | Bill Metzker |
| While I'm not adept or educated enough to fully explain the mortgage and credit crisis, I'm offering a bit of a primer.... | ||
| Market Thoughts | Fri February 22, 2008, 9:44 am | Bill Metzker |
| The current RMLS data has been posted. Portland Metro is trending towards longer market times and price stabilization.... | ||
| Goodbye, Super Tuesday | Wed February 6, 2008, 2:30 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Remember Y2K? That moment in transitioning from the 20th to the 21st century and how all the computers were going to... | ||
| Market Report | Wed January 23, 2008, 1:03 pm | Bill Metzker |
| There still hasn't been a lot of sales activity in the Orenco Station/Orenco Gardens area. There aren't a lot of... | ||
| Whither Sell? | Sat January 12, 2008, 3:34 pm | Bill Metzker |
| New listings are popping up on RMLS like puppets in a broken Whack-a-Mole game. Nothing unusual, there. At the risk... | ||
| Building Defects | Fri January 4, 2008, 2:05 pm | Bill Metzker |
| A word to the wise, for Orenco Station cottage owners: Do not put off having your invasive home inspections done and... | ||
| Market Action | Fri January 4, 2008, 1:58 pm | Bill Metzker |
| The latest market data from RMLS was just posted. Sorry for the delay, but then, it doesn't look like the world was... | ||
| End of Year | Sun December 23, 2007, 3:04 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I've been remiss in keeping postings current, of late. We have quite a houseful--our two sons are in from Colorado, our... | ||
| An Oregon Moment | Mon December 10, 2007, 12:04 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I was walking a treadmill at the fitness center this morning and was joined by another agent from our office. I'll... | ||
| Mortgage Rates | Thu December 6, 2007, 11:27 am | Bill Metzker |
| The San Francisco Chronicle reports today, December 6, that mortgae rates have fallen to a two-year low. Freddie Mac... | ||
| People Buying and Selling | Tue November 27, 2007, 5:33 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Years ago, when I was part of a management team at a small, high-end department store, we frequently talked about why... | ||
| October Market | Mon November 19, 2007, 2:39 pm | Bill Metzker |
| October's data seems to continue September's trend--number of transactions dropping and prices still increasing a bit... | ||
| Market Comfort | Sun November 18, 2007, 12:13 pm | Bill Metzker |
| There are two basic types of stock market investors. One buys stocks to hold over time for retirement, college savings... | ||
| Politics, the Media | Thu November 8, 2007, 4:39 pm | Bill Metzker |
| We've all been inundated with the presidential race, and lately, more and more, we're being told who the primary... | ||
| Real Estate and the Media II | Tue November 6, 2007, 2:02 pm | Bill Metzker |
| The news media's effects on the market are, in my view, more ancillary that direct. I do not concur with many of my... | ||
| Real Estate and the Media | Sat November 3, 2007, 1:22 pm | Bill Metzker |
| At our last sales meeting, several experienced agents expressed irritation with the news media, blaming it for the... | ||
| More Fall | Tue October 30, 2007, 3:22 pm | Bill Metzker |
| For some of us, it's in our DNA to lament the end of the major league baseball season. It seems to me that more and... | ||
| Hillsboro Appreciation | Thu October 18, 2007, 4:41 pm | Bill Metzker |
| In the September RMLS report for Portland Metro, three regions clocked in with better than 9% appreciation. Southest... | ||
| Things I Wish For | Thu October 18, 2007, 3:24 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I love Fall. In Nevada, where I grew up, the changing light just before sundown glimmered a pale gold as the distant... | ||
| Correction | Sun October 7, 2007, 9:50 pm | Bill Metzker |
| A trivia buff site URL correction, from an earlier blog: poodwaddle.com doesn't go anywhere very interesting, but... | ||
| Istanbul Diaries | Wed October 3, 2007, 1:59 pm | Bill Metzker |
| My daughter, Sarah, had decided to do her own blog. You can follow her thoughts by clicking Istanbuls Stranger. If... | ||
| Tech Support | Thu September 27, 2007, 2:28 pm | Bill Metzker |
| My grandfather was a teamster (a real one) in the early 1900's. His advice was to always buy the best, because the best... | ||
| Market Trends | Mon September 17, 2007, 2:49 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Well, it continues to be a great market if you're a buyer and a so-so one of you're selling. In the Hillsboro MLS... | ||
| The Market | Sun September 16, 2007, 9:46 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I worked an open house in Sherwood today. Yeah, it's a long ways away, but you do what you have to do. There were... | ||
| Amusing Website | Thu September 13, 2007, 12:09 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Check this one out: poodwaddle.com It's for true trivia lovers!... | ||
| Foreclosures | Thu September 13, 2007, 11:57 am | Bill Metzker |
| Interesting info from Civic Realty, a PDX firm specializing in short sales and mortgage workouts: 1. What percentage... | ||
| Istanbul Diaries | Thu September 6, 2007, 3:25 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Long-time readers of this blog know that I occasionally write about my daughter, Sarah, who lives in Istanbul with her... | ||
| Market Trends | Thu September 6, 2007, 3:11 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Market data and trends from RMLS has been out for a few days. While it's too soon to make any definitive judgments,... | ||
| Giants' Fans | Tue August 28, 2007, 8:55 am | Bill Metzker |
| Is anyone excited about the future of the SF Giants? I remember the Braves in the early 1990's, when they were a... | ||
| Zillow | Thu August 23, 2007, 11:48 am | Bill Metzker |
| Over the weekend, I once again became a non-agent house hunter. I think real estate agents often forget what it's like... | ||
| Market News | Wed August 15, 2007, 4:17 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Watch for (or if you don't get it--ask for) my newsletter, coming out probably next week. It talks about market... | ||
| Orenco Station | Mon August 6, 2007, 4:06 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I just returned from a wedding of my young cousin at Lake Tahoe, CA. Wonderful time! She's an adorable young woman,... | ||
| Market Conditions | Fri July 27, 2007, 5:33 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Activity was slow, then it tapered off. Wish I had some good news, but it seems as though buyers are outta here so... | ||
| Thanks | Tue July 17, 2007, 4:28 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Before I forget, I'd like to give a quick and sincere thank you to all the neighbors who have referred someone to me,... | ||
| Istanbul Diaries | Tue July 17, 2007, 4:21 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Well, Sarah and baby Ender departed for Turkey on Monday after staying with us for a month. They're gone and we're... | ||
| Home Sales | Tue July 17, 2007, 4:00 pm | Bill Metzker |
| This is the time when I'm supposed to offer some sort of perspicacious analysis of the market data (see the link Data... | ||
| Fallout from Politickin' | Thu July 12, 2007, 12:07 pm | Bill Metzker |
| My July 3 blog generated the second highest number of replies since this site began. One neighbor said she was... | ||
| Pardoning Scooter Libby | Tue July 3, 2007, 3:22 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Newshounds have been patiently waiting for the moment when President Bush would/should/might/won't pardon Scooter... | ||
| Currently Reading | Tue July 3, 2007, 2:37 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I'm currently reading Cosmic Jackpot by renowned physicist Paul Davies, author of the popular work, "The Mind of God."... | ||
| Market News | Wed June 27, 2007, 12:26 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Well, it's in: For May,listings are up and both closed and pending sales are down 8.3% and 16.4% respectively.... | ||
| Istanbul Diaries | Wed June 20, 2007, 10:49 am | Bill Metzker |
| Istanbul meets Portland Metro for about a month, as daughter Sarah arrived with son (grandson) Ender James over the... | ||
| Mortgage Rates, House Prices | Wed June 13, 2007, 5:31 pm | Bill Metzker |
| What will rising mortgage rates do to house prices? Last week, a client closed a loan at 6.2% or so. The loan had... | ||
| Survivor | Thu June 7, 2007, 5:08 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I've written a little about my daughter in Istanbul, but this time, I'd like to talk about my younger son. Ben is 31... | ||
| Istanbul Update | Wed June 6, 2007, 11:39 am | Bill Metzker |
| Chores we consider routine in the U.S. have a different slant in Turkey. Here's sarah's rendition of a recent outing... | ||
| Hamlet Follow-up | Sat June 2, 2007, 12:04 pm | Bill Metzker |
| How do I deal with the conflict raised in an earlier blog? I pretend as hard as I can that I'm buying the house and... | ||
| Lobbyists | Sat June 2, 2007, 12:02 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Between 1998 and 2004, 43% of ex-congressmen and congresswomen became lobbyists at salaries near or exceeding $1... | ||
| A Hamlet Moment | Wed May 30, 2007, 2:49 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Ever thought your real estate broker wasn't representing you? I was having lunch with an attorney friend at Hale's... | ||
| Latest Market Action | Wed May 30, 2007, 10:19 am | Bill Metzker |
| We have a mixed market in Portland Metro. Closed sales increased a measly 1.4%, while new listings shot up 23.1%.... | ||
| Istanbul Diaries | Mon May 21, 2007, 3:09 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Sarah's mother-in-law, Sirin, called her again to ask about Ender. Sirin says, "How is he," and Sarah says, "He's... | ||
| Market Musings | Tue May 15, 2007, 4:35 pm | Bill Metzker |
| It's weird how some homes are staying on the market for months, while others are still getting multiple offers. The... | ||
| Market Report | Tue May 8, 2007, 4:54 pm | Bill Metzker |
| ORENCO STATION MARKET REPORT (Last Five Months from 5/8/07, according to RMLS) Rowhomes ... | ||
| March Market Action | Mon April 30, 2007, 4:52 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Portland Metro is showing clear signs of slowing. New listings have increased nearly 24% (check the Data and Trends... | ||
| Istanbul Diaries | Sun April 22, 2007, 9:26 am | Bill Metzker |
| My daughter, Sarah, has been fretting over getting her new baby son, Ender James, an American passport. She's had to go... | ||
| Last Place Giants | Tue April 17, 2007, 1:09 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I kind of suspect the SF Giants will trade for some major offense. They've got a closer available in Benitez and even a... | ||
| Market Musing | Mon April 9, 2007, 12:04 pm | Bill Metzker |
| The latest RMLS reporting period (ending 2/28/07) notes a 5.2 month supply of homes in the Portland Metro area. It's... | ||
| Istanbul Diaries | Sun April 1, 2007, 12:21 pm | Bill Metzker |
| We just returned from nine days and eight nights in wonderful Istanbul and can confirm that our new grandson, Ender... | ||
| EFIS, LP Siding | Sun March 18, 2007, 7:55 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Two months ago, I submitted an offer for clients on a home in the $300,000 range (not in the Orenco neighborhood, I... | ||
| House Values | Wed March 14, 2007, 1:56 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Before looking at a house on which she thought she might want to make an offer, a buyer sent me a list of homes sold in... | ||
| Low Mortgage rates | Thu March 8, 2007, 3:00 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Th San Francisco Chronicle reports today that mortgage rates hit the lowest point yet for 2007. Freddie Mac says that... | ||
| Market Time | Mon March 5, 2007, 2:41 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I'll be updating the market Data and Trends later today or tomorrow, but there's really not much new. The current... | ||
| Economic Development | Tue February 27, 2007, 3:38 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Yesterday, I attended a part of an all-day economic trends workshop at the civic center downtown (thanks to a tip from ... | ||
| It's a Boy! | Mon February 26, 2007, 2:11 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Sarah gave birth to a marvelous and healthy baby boy. Ender James weighed in at 8 lbs. after kind of a hard birth from... | ||
| Istanbul Diaries | Tue February 20, 2007, 3:09 pm | Bill Metzker |
| A baby alert just arrived from Istanbul. Saturday will mark Sarah's 42nd week of her pregnancy. Her water is okay,... | ||
| Listed and Sold | Tue February 20, 2007, 2:36 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I don't know how many real estate agents live in our neighborhood, but please-if you're going to list your home for... | ||
| Reality Bites | Tue February 20, 2007, 11:08 am | Bill Metzker |
| Reality does bite at times. In January of this year, closed sales in the Portland Metro area fell 9.4%, while new... | ||
| Market Musings | Fri February 16, 2007, 10:21 am | Bill Metzker |
| A seller called me yesterday on her home, which I have listed for sale. She lowered the price last week from $250,000... | ||
| There Are Faces I Remember | Thu February 15, 2007, 2:01 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Why do real estate agents nearly always have their mug shots on their business cards? I've done a random interview... | ||
| Istanbul Diaries | Mon February 12, 2007, 3:35 pm | Bill Metzker |
| A warning from the Turkish doctor! Sarah's doctor is a German-Turk. Or Turk-German. She's Turkish, but grew up and... | ||
| Market Heating Up? | Mon February 12, 2007, 3:28 pm | Bill Metzker |
| We drove through several East Side Portland neighbrhoods yesterday to look for invesment properties. I was struck by... | ||
| Istanbul Diaries | Sun February 11, 2007, 9:59 am | Bill Metzker |
| We're going crazy. It occurred to us first thing this morning that Sarah's baby is due today. We called, and... | ||
| Pending Sales (Redux) | Thu February 8, 2007, 1:25 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Today I re-thought the issue of posting pending sales. I think I'm right not to post them as "solds," but I probably... | ||
| Rowhome Insurance | Tue February 6, 2007, 4:58 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Most major companies offer two types of homeowner insurance--detached and condominium policies. Insurance for detached... | ||
| Istanbul Diaries | Sun February 4, 2007, 9:59 am | Bill Metzker |
| Sarah finally sent us pictures of herself so we could see what she looked like when pregnant. A very emotional moment... | ||
| What Happened in 1971? | Tue January 30, 2007, 9:24 am | Bill Metzker |
| 1971 Was a big year. Here are a few of the events that occurred: New York Times begins publication of classified... | ||
| Quick Notes | Mon January 29, 2007, 9:39 am | Bill Metzker |
| Several people have asked when stuff gets updated. Like this blog, maybe, or market stats. I've tried to be as regular... | ||
| Market Time by Type | Fri January 26, 2007, 5:24 pm | Bill Metzker |
| The average time-on-market varies by residence type, i.e., condominium, rowhome/townhome, or detached home. For the... | ||
| Istanbul Diaries | Tue January 23, 2007, 4:20 pm | Sarah Metzker |
| More from daughter Sarah on idiosyncracies of Istanbul society. She teaches there and along with her husband, Engin,... | ||
| Market Update | Tue January 23, 2007, 2:37 pm | Bill Metzker |
| Ok, according to Regional Multiple Listing Service: All of Portland Metro has a 4.5 month supply of houses. Closed... | ||
| Market Opinion | Wed January 17, 2007, 2:40 pm | Bill Metzker |
| After visiting with all the other agents, I think we're in a nether market. Not "neither," as in neither buyers' nor... | ||
| Stasis | Wed January 3, 2007, 11:45 am | Bill Metzker |
| We had our first REMAX sales meeting for 2007, where the Hillsboro agents kvetch in the conference room. Actually, we... | ||
| Istanbul Diary 12/17/06 | Wed December 27, 2006, 10:36 am | Bill Metzker |
| Well, my daughter finally got around to e-mailing us pictures of our first grandchild. This has been difficult for... | ||
| A Modest Proposal | Wed December 13, 2006, 1:14 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I'm English major. I worry about lots of stuff. Not just sometimes, but somewhere between all the time and most of... | ||
| All Real Estate Is Local | Mon November 6, 2006, 2:26 pm | Bill Metzker |
| OK, real estate market time! We've all read the news articles and have seen statistics. So, what does that mean to... | ||
| Istanbul Diary | Sun November 5, 2006, 5:58 pm | Bill (and Sarah) Metzker |
| ISTANBUL, Turkey -My daughter, Sarah, lives in Istanbul, where she's married to Engin Erdemir. Sarah, who received her... | ||
| Voice Mail Hell | Sun October 22, 2006, 3:14 pm | Bill Metzker |
| I'll try to be both accurate AND useful with this blog, depending on the time of day I might be writing it--in which... | ||
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