The results of a few of our recent inspections:

• An oil tank found under a driveway
• An oil tank found on the opposite side of the house from the existing furnace
• What was believed to be a public sewer actually connected to a septic system (cracks and party sewers are also common discoveries)
• Radon at 7.1pCi/l- “acceptable” is below 4.0pCi/l (radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer behind smoking)

The Professional Inspection Addendum describes what inspections the buyer wants to have and who will pay for them (typically the buyer pays).  The form gives the buyer permission to conduct test where samples may have to be taken that could be considered invasive (such as stucco &  soil sampling).

Today’s Market Action report:

“Comparing February 2010 with February 2009, closed sales increased 18.4%. Pending sales also jumped 45%, and new listings rose 12.4%.

When comparing February 2010 with the month prior, January 2009, closed sales grew a slight 2.9% (1,015 v. 986) and pending sales were up 20.5% (1,850 v. 1,535). New listings, on the other hand, dropped just 1% (3,902 v. 3,937).”

Both Case Shiller and RMLS put today’s home values at roughly June/July 2005 prices from their latest reports.  Case Shiller’s latest report was released at the end of February for December.

We’ll know some time in April what Congress is or isn’t going to do with the Home Buyer Tax Credit.  We have to operate under the assumption that it will expire on April 30th (must be under contract (accepted offer)) and closed by June 30th.  It was extended November 7th- just 23 days before the prior expiration.  April 30th is a Friday which bodes better than what would have been a fairly useless last week of November had it expired just days after Thanksgiving.  There is very little to be found on the Internet even just talking about the subject of an extension.  I still feel that the Credit has been a good thing for real estate but not the make or break for it.

I attended an oil tank locate that came up inconclusive today done by Alpha Environmental.  There are supply lines in the basement which “proves” that once upon a time there was a tank but it could have been above ground in the basement our outside or buried.  Portlandmaps shows a permit for an underground tank in this case (under historic permits tab).  There is a concrete driveway up the side of the house that the furnace is on and the back yard is also impervious near the house.

The first step is a metal detector sweep around the property:

The next step was to hook this machine up to the actual supply line in the basement.  There may be rebar touching the line as the machine pings all around the basement!  Normally the trace of the pipe’s directionality would be clear.

Though inconclusive, the buyer is now possesses all the available information regarding the tank.

The Mirabella, a senior community, looks like it has topped out to the north of the John Ross.  It is obscured by the Meriwether Condo in this photo, taken from the Willamette River, but now that it is at full height, potential John Ross buyers will be able to confirm their view corridor when looking towards downtown.

Real estate auctions aren’t new but are becoming more prevalent in the Portland Real Estate Market.  This will be the second high rise auction we’ve seen in the last six months and REDC and other firms have held (primarily) single family home auctions.

“The US Bancorp Tower is the second tallest skyscraper in Portland, Oregon. It stands at 536 feet (163 m) with 42 floors. The building has nearly 1.1 million square feet (69,000 m²) of office space inside, making it the largest office building in Oregon in terms of volume, and the second tallest building in Oregon, with only the Wells Fargo Center exceeding its height.”  (Wikipedia)

The highest point in Portland is rough 1000 feet above the Willamette River!

The proposed tower has 1050 condo units.  According to RMLS, there are a total of 278 active condo units in the 97209 zip code which encompasses the Pearl District.

“EVACUATION SYSTEM:

It is a building-wide solution for safe evacuation of tenants and quick transporting of rescue personnel to elevated floors.

The system is an array of five collapsible cabins permanently stored on the roof in a folded position. Upon deployment, the cabins array is lowered to the ground, it then unfolds, enabling emergency responders to board the cabin.

It travels upwards until it stops opposite five elevated floors simultaneously, enabling 150 occupants to enter through specially configured exit windows.  The array is then lowered to the ground and tenants exit as it refolds.”

Guess it beats taking the stairs.

January:

March:

The photos aren’t taken from the exact same angle but are both looking down the street into the cul-de-sac.  Portlandmaps.com shows two open permits online.  There are no active listings in RMLS.

Eighteen homes are featured in this year’s show and they are located all over the metro area.  The $17.50 ticket (one size fits all, including children) is valid for both days (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.).

Image purchased from iStock.com

The signs will coexist for five years and then the 39th signs will be removed.  I have not driven the whole 7.2 mile length of the street but did not see new signs around SE Division.

For real estate, the change has been made.  There are 178 active listings on 39th Ave right now and just two on Cesar E. Chavez BLVD.  Property entry into RMLS starts with the tax ID number and the address is auto-populated.  When I tried, it used Cesar E. Chavez BLVD.  I can manually change the street (but why would I?).  A Cesar E. Chavez listing is going to show that it is a new listing (or manually changed) for a time being, much like an MLS number starting with 100 was entered in 2010 and a 90 was entered in 2009.  The difference being that the street can be changed without creating a new listing.

We have history to look at too.  Rosa Parks BLVD was Portland BLVD.  The last house sold on Portland BLVD closed on 5/8/2008.  The official change was made on 12/14/2006.  It isn’t a huge deal for real estate.   I don’t think property values are affected by the change.  When a Realtor is asked, “I saw a house on 39th,” if they can’t find it, they are going to have to search Cesar E Chavez and vice versa but that’s not tough.  Old legacies die hard.  Portland Brewing became Pyramid in 2006 but we still “meet at Portland Brewing.”