So how's the real estate market doing?

[jbour]

As a buyer or a seller.....you must educate yourself. Get the help you need from a good inspector, and Realtor in town. Interview them like you would a doctor. You need to have a trusting relationship with the team you work hire.......and yes LOCATION! LOCATION is very important.

[HonuMan]

Originally Posted by t03033

Originally Posted by Mt-7
Stay out of the condos

why? other than the concept of sharing a wall (which i am loathe to do), what's the issue here? low occupancy rates --> high HOA dues for those who are actually in the unit? poor construction? murky resale future?

I look at it as more of a lifestyle choice. As someone who lived in apartments for years and had to put up with noisy neighbors, thin walls, and views of parking lots, once I finally bought a house, I swore I'd never buy a condo, because I thought they were just like apartments. But my wife and I recently condo-sat for some friends who live at the Atwater on the South Waterfront, and my opinion changed. The units are beautiful, as are many of the views, and the walls are insulated so well that we never heard a neighbor. We liked being so close to downtown Portland, we decided we could live without a yard and the maintenance required, and we liked the idea of simplifying our lives and living in a smaller space. We looked into what it would it would take to move there, as prices had really come down after the housing bubble burst. Unfortunately, what we could get for our three-bedroom/two-bathroom house would only pay for a tiny one-bedroom condo, and we weren't willing to scale down that much. Then we learned that the HOA dues and taxes were based on the originally assessed values of the units, which were almost twice as high as current market value, and even a tiny condo was out of our price range.

We've heard from other people that condos historically haven't held their value as much as houses, unless the condos are in prime in-town locations. Also, HOA dues can rise dramatically over the years, and you can get hit with high repair-assessment fees. In the current economy, many people are refusing to pay, so either the other people pay more, or the work doesn't get done.

On the other hand, owning a house comes with high, unexpected repair bills, and houses have dropped in value just as condos have. Overall, I think you get more for a given amount of money with a house than you do with a condo, and for people who want a yard, a house wins hands-down. But for people who don't want a yard, or who travel a lot and want to be able to just lock up and leave, a condo is a better option. The very cheapest type of new construction seems to be condos in the suburbs, but those are more like traditional suburban apartments than urban high rises.

[hamellr]

Condo's have always been a hard sale in Portland. All the newspapers have been full of stories of new buildings being built, and then only selling 1/3 to 1/2 the units - usually the ones with a view and top floors. I know at least one, and possibly two new buildings in the South Waterfront area were killed in about 2007 because pre-sales of the condos were something like 10% of the proposed available units. A couple of other buildings in the Pearl were shortened by several floors for the same reason.

[imphouse]

Originally Posted by t03033

you did pay for it though

depending on what route we go* we may in fact wind up getting a buyer's agent since the savings on it is relatively trivial.

*we're basically trying to decide if we want to go with a larger house that we can grow into or stick to a smaller house and save some money. no, we won't be overextended either way, but the direction the market is going has some guiding light on what we want to do (hence the thread)

so, yeah, if we get something cheap, saving 4-5k by not having a buyer's agent isn't worth it. saving 10k is

Really? How do you figure? The sellers wanted $380K, regardless of whether I was using a buyer's agent or not. And actually, BECAUSE I used one, I got it for $360K through his excellent negotiating skills and knowledge of the market and home condition that I do not possess. So, I actually feel that he SAVED me money. Whatever - everyone has their own way of doing things, but I would never even consider moving to a new city and not using a buyer's agent!

[Charvelle]

I don't know if you've already thought of this, but a twenty minute chat with someone in our local auto insurance agent's office was a real education. They see the condo claims, and a lot of the new (post-1995) constructions are real burdens, with structural issues which leave the owners with no-one to sue. I was advised flat-out not to buy a condo, and if I really had to to check with them. Might be worth checking in with your agent in the same way...