Tree rules, and trees rule.

Portland, and Portlanders, take great pride in our trees.  Friends of Trees has done a great job making it easy for neighborhoods and groups to coordinate tree plantings.

Unfortunately, much of our aging tree canopy will be dying off from old age and disease.  An amount of the canopy is also threatened by infill, increased density and development. 

To this end, the City of Portland updated the tree ordinance, which took effect the beginning of this year.  Per the website,

Portland's tree code works to:

- Protect trees during development

- Preserve trees as a community asset

- Plant new trees when others are removed, ensuring that the urban forest and its benefits continue to grow

- Educate people about proper tree care and the benefits of trees

- Increase the resiliency of the urban forest in the face of threats such as climate change and tree pests

Along with the updated ordinance came changes to tree removal and pruning permits, along with permits required for planting some trees.    Check here to see about permits.

The code and permit system are long and involved.  Here are a few pointers, but do check the website for information on a specific situation.  You'll most likely need a permit if any of the following conditions exist:

The tree is on a piece of land being developed.

It is a heritage tree.

The area in which the tree grows is in an overlay zone or plan district.

Cascade Station/Portland International Center Plan District

Columbia South Shore Plan District

Johnson Creek Basin Plan District

Portland International Airport Plan District

Rocky Butte Plan District

South Auditorium Plan District

The tree is over 12" in diameter at a height of 54" off the ground.

The tree is in a parking lot.  Think that Joni Mitchell song about paving paradise and putting up a parking lot.

If the tree is a "street tree".

So yes, the majority of the above instances are trees on private property.  Permit fees for removal and replanting can be as low as $25.00, but go up quickly if you aren't replanting, or it is a street tree, if the property is being developed, and so on. 

Before you whine about free will, and all those darn rules, keep a few of these facts about trees in mind, courtesy of the Arbor Day Foundation;

The net cooling effect of a young, healthy tree is equivalent to ten room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day.

Landscaping, especially with trees, can increase  property values as much as 20 percent.

The planting of trees means improved water quality, resulting in less run off and erosion. This allows more recharging of the ground water supply.  Wooded areas help prevent the transport of sediment and chemicals into streams.

Plant a tree, and be careful about and when cutting trees.

Five Sellers?!

I'm selling a house to a buyer client; seemingly a normal house in a normal, bedroom community type neighborhood.  It should be a fairly simple transaction. But...it seems to be some sort of estate, and has five sellers, with varying percentage interests. 

This means five folks to reach agreement on every step of the sale, five folks to sign every piece of paper involved with the sale, and five people for the title company to research in order to insure title.

Wow. I don't know the story of how this came about, but wonder if it isn't a result of poor, or no estate planning. 

To his credit, agent representing the sellers is doing a great job of wrangling the sellers for signatures, and was sure to have the title company do advanced title work to be sure clear title could be provided.  For this, I am thankful.

Over time, we run into a variety of scenarios where getting the proper people signing the listing and sale paperwork can be a challenge.  Aging parents, properties held in trust and dissolving marriages are a few of the forces that can make selling a property hard.  Powers of attorney don't always pass the muster of a title officer, divorce decrees usually have to be signed and filed by a judge, and aging parents may be deemed not of sound enough mind to sign selling papers.

Its best to engage in a bit of pre-sale planning before setting off to sell a property.  Look into who holds title and what might need to occur, well in advance of actually trying to sell the property.  Guardians can be appointed, affidavits signed, powers of attorney clarified and so on.  But really best to do this in advance.

Its a shame to see buyers spend hard earned money on inspections and appraisals, not to mention the emotional investment, only to find the seller can't actually sell the house. 

If you think you might have such a scenario on your hands, give me a call, text or email, and I'll refer you to a local real estate attorney to assess the situation.  Occasionally a title officer can even help. leslievjones@gmail.com  503-312-8038

Pricing in this crazy market

I'm hearing from some buyers the thought that real estate agents are under pricing properties in an effort to create bidding wars.  I'm not so sure.  Most of us are pricing properties as we always have; by looking at the recent closed sales of properties similar to the subject property in size, location and amenities.  We might bump the listing price of a property up or down depending on how it compares to the similar properties.  But, in general, we look to recent sales for pricing.

Indeed, as a listing agent, it is my job to get the best price and terms for my seller client.  So indeed, I do try to market the property to maximize the sellers proceeds.  This means counseling the seller to properly prepare the property for sale.  Many sellers spend weeks, if not months on a lengthy to do list which includes minor projects, painting, de-cluttering, oil tank decommission and so on.  We're sure not to market the property until professional photos have been taken, the sign is installed, and the sellers are ready for showings to begin.  Often, I'll suggest sellers take a weekend away when their home first hits the market, so the property can be easily shown.  And, we want to expose it to the market for a few solid days before looking at offers.

I work carefully with a seller client to help them understand why waiting too long for offers can be counter-productive and alienate good buyers.

So the property hits the market well priced (supportable by comps), looking good, and readily available to be seen.  I don't think we've manipulated the market, we're just doing a good job. 

The scarcity of listings, combined with a desperation on the part of buyers, has panicked buyers offering well over the list price.  Yes, it can be nice to have a few good  offers from which to chose. Different sellers have varying priorities, from price to close date, terms or possession date.  A few good offers increases the seller's chance to getting what they want.  We evaluate offers based on these varying factors, usually accepting one offer and perhaps putting another offer in aback up position should the first sale fall through. A side note, with buyers jumping to make high offers, we are seeing an unusually high number of failed sales as remorseful buyers back out.

Above that, as a listing agent, I see very little benefit to a large number of offers.  Oregon statutes require every written offer to be presented to the seller, and I believe every buyer who has written an offer deserves to have their offer considered.  I use a spread sheet to organize multiple offers to help my seller client keep track and focus on the components of the offers.  The seller only has one house to sell, so aside from the insurance of a back up offer, the difference between 5 and 20 offers is rarely a benefit to the seller.

Should I be pricing the house higher then the market data suggests?  That feels reckless, and a bit unethical to me.  And I do know, I could price the property too high, attracting no offers; a real disservice to the seller.  I'd prefer to price a property where I know the comps support the price, and see if the market chooses to take the price higher.  By "the market" I mean see if buyers choose to offer more.

And, unless the offers are cash, in the back of my mind, I'm considering if the appraiser will be able to support the high price when establishing value for a bank loan.   In this market appraisers are allowed to trend prices up a bit if the available comparable properties closed several months ago and thus don't reflect this recent run up.  But, while appraisers may do this, they aren't required to do so.

A low appraisal requires further negotiation between buyer and  seller with the possible solutions being the seller coming down in price, the buyer bringing in more cash, or a combination of the two.

We real estate agents are taking a lot of heat for driving prices up, pricing the working poor out of Portland's neighborhoods, playing pricing games to drive prices up and so on.  Mostly, we're trying to do our jobs by doing right by the seller.  In my most recent multiple offer scenario, I realized, it is the buyers who are driving those prices up, not the supposedly greedy sellers.

If you have questions about this crazy market, from the buying or selling side, I'd be glad to talk with you.  leslievjones@gmail.com  503-312-8038

Exactly what does "low inventory" mean?

RMLS released the March numbers earlier this week, showing a fast paced market with very low inventory.  At our current rate of sales, it would only take 1.9 months to sell the current inventory.  That's quick!  2013 and 2014 were very healthy markets, with inventory never dipping below 2 months, and often over 3 months.

These numbers are for the Portland metro region, which includes not only the City of Portland, but the tri-county area, Columbia and Yamhill counties.

In general, the close-in market tends to be hottest, so I took a specific look at inventory in the close in zip codes.  These numbers are for 9:45 am today, April 16th, detached, houses listed on the RMLS.  Here is what I found.

Zip Code	Boundaries	# of houses	Avg. price
97202	Willamette River to SE 42nd and Portland’s southern boundary to SE Division	28	$654,118
97214	Willamette River to SE 42nd and SE Division to E. Burnside	5	$829,931
97215	SE 42nd to SE 82nd and SE Division to E, Burnside	16	$628,894
97232	N Williams to NE 42nd and E Burnside to NE Broadway	10	$672,830
97212	N Williams to NE 42nd and NE Broadway to NE Mason	27	$885,496

For some perspective;  in those same zip codes, a three bedroom, two bath home would cost and average of $574,200 and would have 2483 total square feet, with only 1620 of those square feet being above ground. 

So, where are the more affordable areas these days?  If you get out of the urban core, and outside the City of Portland, some lower prices and better selection can be found.  The more flexible you are about age and style of home, the better values you'll find.  Buyers willing to compromise where others may not, will have better luck finding a house.

Getting an offer accepted is a whole different beast.  A good agent, strong pre-approval letter from a reputable local lender, strong down payment, flexible closing and possession dates are some of the aspects that can help your offer get accepted. 

Clearly, if you've been thinking if selling, NOW is the time.  If you're in the market to buy, be patient, keep your chin up and work closely with your agent.  Either way, get in touch and I'll be glad to help you consider your options and map a plan.

Those Urban Coyotes and your pets

I live in one of Portland's closer, urban neighborhoods - not downtown urban- neighborhoody urban.  We've long known, sometimes a bit too well, about the healthy rat population.  But is has only been of late that I'm realizing exactly how populace coyotes are in our neighborhood. 

On our dog walks, we see a few too many signs about missing cats.  Ugh.  And now, thanks to the neighborhood social networking site, nextdoor, I'm hearing of actual sightings.  Lots of sightings right around SE Brooklyn and Woodward between SE 37th and SE 35th. 

A few years ago we converted our cats to indoor cats.  We live on a busy street, and Guido,

who cut a wide swath on our neighborhood kept coming home limping - the vet called it an athletic injury.  I diverge to tell a Guido story.  This is the cat who thought nothing of going in other people's houses.  One of the last straws was, went he went in a neighbor's house and beat the crap out of their cat.  How embarrassing.

It can be hard to convert cats to indoor cats.  We (meaning my husband) built a catio so our cats could still get out in the fresh air. The cats go out the dining room window; it extends along the house, leading to the enclosed dog house (the dogs never really used it anyway). We hope to build another soon.

The Audubon Society and the Geography Department at Portland State University are working on an urban coyote project.    Part of the project has  map showing actual sightings that have been reported. You can submit sighting data and photos.  Take a look at your neighborhood, you might be surprised.

Oh, and maybe those coyotes will do something about the rat population.  One can hope.

Is that a bedroom?

This has become a hot topic in my office, so I thought I'd share.

We often see properties listed in the multiple listing service, that somewhere in the public or private (viewable only by brokers) remarks say something like, "third bedroom is non-conforming" or "basement bedroom is non-conforming".  And usually that house will be listed as a three bedroom, and come up in searches as a three bedroom, even if only two are "conforming".  Conforming to what?

Much of Portland's housing stock is old, and has had a variety of work done to it over the years.  Much of that work was done without permits.  For instance, consider a house that at one point had an unfinished attic. The real living space of the house was on the main floor. Somewhere along the way, someone slapped some wall board on the wall, installed a few outlets, maybe some heat and maybe walled off some rooms.  Over time, someone else installed carpet and built a closet or two.  Thirty years, and a few owners later, the property is sold with the attic considered finished and with bedrooms up there. 

So what makes a bedroom?  Some say it needs an egress window (big enough and positioned so one can get out in case of emergency), a closet, a heat source and a door.  I believe the City of Portland doesn't care if it has a closet.   Appraisers may.  Appraising is a whole different blog.  The stairway leading to the attic can also enter into this discussion. Is it one of those super steep, narrow stairways?  

Now, lets move that "finished over time" room to the basement.  Same thing right?  It was originally unfinished, and over time growing families eked out extra space by putting in some walls, power and heat.  The work was done without permits.  Many of these rooms do have a window, but its way to high and small for one to get out in an emergency. 

I find there are a few ways to think about these spaces.  Certainly, having the work done with City permits is the best. While we've all seen things slip past inspectors, if the space is permitted, it probably fulfills the life/safety issues (decent stairs, egress paths, reasonable plumbing and electric etc.).  But permitted space is the gold standard, and going back to permit already finished space can have its challenges.

So, next best might be non-conforming space that addresses these issues, but wasn't permitted.  I see LOTS of these properties.  They have an egress window in that basement bedroom, that one could get out in an emergency, but may not fit the specific requirements of a permitted egress.  There is either a grade level exit door from the basement, or a decent staircase out. There is no visible scary plumbing or electric work.

And then there are the non-conforming spaces that really are just a finished room in a basement or attic. No decent egress, maybe no heat, wanky staircase to get there.  These rooms can still be of value to a buyer as many folks don't actually need that space as a bedroom, but want it for office, study, man/woman cave, hobby room, storage etc.  But bedrooms, they are not.

So when I see a listing that is listed as three bedroom, but in the notes it says the third bedroom is non-conforming, I'm expecting a two bedroom house, with some sort of bonus room. Depending on where that comment is written, my buyer client may not even see the non-conforming remark, and is thus expecting a real three bedroom house.  Brokers list that house as a three bedroom for a few reasons; pressure from the seller, and the desire for the house to come up on searches by buyers who are looking, not necessarily for three bedrooms, but for two bedrooms plus a bonus room.

So what?  I really think we need to stop calling something we know is not a bedroom, a bedroom.  No matter what.  But what about the gray areas?  That's the hard place.  There is no definitive way for us, as brokers, to know if a bedroom is conforming.  Oh yeah, if there are recent permits on file and the tax documents show it as a bedroom, that is a good bet.  But otherwise, I think we do our best to call the rooms what they are, and use the "third bedroom may be non-conforming" option when we're pretty sure it is a bedroom, but want prospective buyers and other brokers to know it may not be; lack of permits,  no closet, lack of heat.  Of course, those comments need to be visible to all, and if one got so far as an offer, would also be listed in the seller's property disclosure.

Buyers and sellers out there, what do you think? You are, after all, the customer.

The year end and December statistics have just been released by our multiple listing service.  Boy are these numbers telling.

First a look at the December numbers:

 At our current rate of sales, it will take 2.3 months to sell all the properties on the market.  This is a decrease from November, and close to the lowest our inventory has been since we've been keeping track.  Frustrated buyers, you are right, there isn't much out there.

Pending sales were down a bit from November, by 20.3%  but were up 12.3% from December 2013. Closed sales also rose 25.6%  from November 2013 , and 15.6% from December 2014.

Our market time got a tad longer, 76 days in December 2014 vs. 69 days in November 2014.  December 2013 had a market time of 87 days.   We expect a slowing in the market between Thanksgiving and New Year's, so this is no surprise.

The median year to date sales price for the year 2014 ended at $285,500 up 7.7% from the median year to date sales price in 2013 of  $265,000.

Portland's real estate market typically picks up in January, and not the spring as many people believe.  This is holding true for this year.  Buyers are out in force. Many sellers intend to put their properties on the market, but are behind in the prep work necessary to put a home on the market. 

Yes, lots of houses are selling right now.  But yes, you still need to put a house in decent order, and I still need to get professional photos before we start marketing.  So sellers, get that to-do list done, there are buyers out there waiting!

Call me if you want to jump in.  503-312-8038

See the full report here.