Portland Blog - This Week in Portland, July 4 - 11, 2009

Happy Independence Day, Portland! It looks to be another scorcher out there today, they say it will get up to 93 degrees. It got so hot yesterday, I finally caved in and put the window air conditioner back in, so at least *part* of my house can stay cool. I found all my dogs piled up on the rug in front of the air conditioner shortly after I turned it on. :-) If you're looking for the best places to stay cool in Portland, here are a few suggestions...

Portland Parks with Swimming Pools
http://www.portlandonline.com/PARKS/index.cfm?c=38284

Portland Parks with Fountains
http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/finder/index.cfm?ShowResults=ye...

Best Portland Patios
http://www.yelp.com/topic/portland-best-portland-patios

My own favorite local patios include Amnesia Brewing on Mississippi Avenue where you can enjoy a brew under their big white tent, or Bye and Bye on Alberta Street, where they have an amazing private patio out back, now covered, and with lots of bamboo. I also love Lompoc's 5th Quadrant, and Mint/820's private little patio, although it isn't covered. Another favorite summer pasttime of mine is to take my dog on a stroll under Irvington's huge canopy of trees. Irving Park is a local favorite for families in the summertime. Enjoy my photos from last weekend (snaps of Bye and Bye and Irving Park):

If you are planning to head down to the waterfront for Portland Waterfront Blues Festival festivities today, make sure you take a hat, and be prepared to buy lots of cool drinks. Don't forget to take along two cans of food to donate to the Oregon Food Bank. Oh, and you won't be finding any parking spaces downtown...so ride your bike, hop on MAX, or park on the Eastside of the river (like near OMSI) and walk across. Happy July 4th - have a safe and fun weekend!

Featured Portland Events

Fireworks Display and Rides at Oaks Park - Watch fireworks at Oaks Park: Annual 4th of July Celebration. Gates open at 10 am, rides start at noon. All picnic spaces are first come first serve. Gate fee is $4.00 for 16 and over, $2.50 for 15 and younger. All personal fireworks and alcohol are prohibited (bags and coolers will be checked). Ride bracelets valid all day. Live entertainment on the Comcast Stage throughout the day. Fireworks begin at 9:55 pm.


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Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival

Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival - One of Portland's favorite classic summertime events. This weekend down on the waterfront, enjoy blues, food, and a massive people-watching display of Portlanders sprawled on the grass in the hot sun soaking up the life of Portland. Also, helps benefit the Oregon Food Bank. Fireworks tonight at 10pm!


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Culver City Dub Collective at Doug Fir - If it's too hot for you to enjoy the Blues Fest, then head to Doug Fir tonight. Afro Cuban Roots Reggae, Late show at Doug Fir LATE SHOW! Doors at 9pm, Show at 10pm, $10 day of show.


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There are many more great Portland events this week, just visit the Portland Events calendar!

Portland Photo of the Week

The featured photo of the week is Colors of Nature, by Fasai.
Fasai always takes such stunning photos, go check out her entire collection.

Latest Portland Restaurant Review

Read Angela's take on the NE Portland E'Njoini Cafe

Eliot Neighborhood Report by Ross Seligman

Eliot is in the center of it all. Surrounding Eliot are the Boise, King, Irvington and Lloyd neighborhoods as well as the Willamette River. To get a full description and photos of this neighborhood, check out the Eliot neighborhood profile on the .com side of Portlandneighborhood:

http://www.portlandneighborhood.com/eliot.html

In my monthly Portland real estate report, I always talk about how each individual neighborhood is a micro-market. If you are looking to buy or sell in a particular neighborhood, the most crucial information that
you need to know is what is going on in that neighborhood. In this situation, the overall Portland market report is less important and the national real estate report is just about useless. This posting is a real estate report for the Eliot neighborhood of all homes in all price ranges. Feel free to request particular neighborhoods in which you are interested in buying or selling and I am be happy to do a report.

The first thing you will notice about individual neighborhoods as compared to the overall Portland reports are that the numbers can be wildly different month to month. Basically, the bigger the pool of data
you are working with, the smoother the stats become. As we focus on smaller areas, many different things can happen month to month.

On to the report:

Here is the overall chart of inventory, sold, and pending for the Eliot neighborhood from 3/08 to 5/09:

Although real estate activity has slowed over the past 15 months, the Eliot neighborhood is still going strong with 20 pending sales for next month, 20 closed sales for this month, and less inventory than most of last year.

More stats for you from your friendly neighborhood real estate statistics nerd:

One year change from May 2008 to May 2009:

Inventory (how many homes on the market): Down 3.7%
Homes sold: Down 39.4%
Homes pending sale: Down 52.4%

Chart for average price per square footage:

In an era where we almost only expect prices to decline, in Eliot for most of 2009, price per square footage has been increasing. In May, the average price per sq. ft. was $183. This speaks to the strength of the
neighborhood.

Read the rest of this report by local Portland Realtor and Ecobroker, Ross Seligman. Visit my website where you can contact me and search all Portland Metro Area listings from the RMLS: http://www.propertiesofportland.com

Best Real Estate Deals in Portland

A pick of Ross Seligman's best real estate deals in PDX this week

If you are new to Portland or considering a move to Portland, you'll definitely want to check out our book, a Weekend Guide to Portland.

Urban Renewal, Part Duex by Wade Willis

Whew! What an end to a crazy week! I opened “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” at Broadway Rose Theatre Company, accepted 9 awards for the production of “Into the Woods” I directed at Lakewood Theatre Company, and had several mortgage puzzle pieces that required my full attention pop-up at the end of the week. And in all of the hubbabaloo, failed to submit my article on the exciting world of mortgages.

In order to catch up and make sure opportunities don’t pass by, I will submit two articles this week. The second will be about the possible benefits of refinancing in today’s market.

This article will be the conclusion to the previous episode on Urban Renewal areas. If you will recall, in order to help revitalize certain neighborhoods in Portland, the Portland Development Commission has set
aside and made available, fund for those who wish to purchase a home in an urban renewal area.

The benefit of this in addition to having some financial help from PDC, in short, is that people who purchase homes before a neighborhood is the ‘in’ thing, could see their property values rise more dramatically than already established neighborhoods.

One of the challenges of purchasing a home in one of these neighborhoods is that many of these homes need work before any lender will consider granting a borrower a mortgage that is secured by that property.

FHA 203 (K)
A Loan program that was designed with situations like this in mind and is insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is known as The Section 203(K) program. The primary goal of this program is to create a tool that will aid in neighborhood revitalization through the rehabilitation and repair of single family properties.

In most loan programs, the lender uses the property as security for the loan. This is the reason that in addition to the borrower’s income, assets, debt and credit score, the subject property needs to qualify as well. Risk comes to a lender when a borrower has too much debt, not enough income, has a poor repayment history on existing or previous loans, or if the property is in need of repair. Statistically, homeowners are much more likely to walk away from a property if it needs repair than a house that is in good condition. For a property to qualify for a loan it has to be in very good condition. This is even more true with FHA Loans. Often times, the lender will have very specific repairs that need to be complete prior to granting funding for the property.

Under the 203(K) program, however, a lender will lend money not only the on properties current condition and value, but what the condition and value will be once specific repairs are completed. The program rolls all of these cost into one permanent loan. Out of that loan, the house is purchased and the contractor(s) are paid to complete the repairs.

For example, let’s say a house is on the market for $200,000. In it’s current condition it is worth $200,000. It needs $20,000 in repairs. After the repairs are completed, the home is estimated to have a market value of $230,000. Under most loan programs, the only way for this house to be sold would be to complete the $20,000 in repairs prior to selling the property. This requires the seller to have $20,000 available to him/her to put into the property prior to selling it. I don’t know about you, but I don’t usually have an extra $20K laying around. Under the 203(K) program, the lender might be able offer the borrower $220,000 to purchase the home and complete the $20K in repairs. The final figure is dependant on the type of repairs and the anticipated After-Improved value of the property.

Eligible Repairs
Not all repairs are eligible. In simple terms, only necessary repairs to the interior and the systems of the home are eligible. For example, painting, room additions, decks and other items even if the home does not need any other improvements are eligible.

All health, safety and energy conservation items must be addressed prior to completing general home improvements. For example, weather stripping, caulking or sealing all openings, cracks or joints, insulating exterior walls, and adequate ventilation systems would need to be in place before the money could be used for other general rehabilitation items. Also, replacing the heating, cooling and ventilation systems, and insulating the ducts and pipes must be completed prior to general rehabilitation items.

Luxury items and improvements are not eligible.


Read the rest of this report by Wade Willis.

Wade Willis, Loan Officer, Sound Mortgage, Inc., 503.819.8174 cell, 971.327.9750 office. Visit my website at: www.wadewillis.com.

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