Downtown Portland Real Estate Broker~Herb Hamilton

After a long and protracted Spring with cooler than normal temperatures and a rain that I thought would never quit, my Summer flower garden begins to produce.

I love the Dahlia's as they are large and beautiful and they come in a lot of varietys and shapes.

It is fun to play around with the photo editor.

The Fan Palms can grow to over 8 feet in heigth this one is about 2 feet.

The flower garden is a great place to relieve stress. I look forward to it every year.

Now that Spring has moved into Summer, The Big Trees Leaves are out to provide plenty Shade and Beauty for all.

The Once Bare gentle giants are at thier best when full of Leaves.

When I say Leaves I mean Leaves. These Leaves are the size of Dinner Plates.

The Beautiful gardens of Portlander's bring many surprises. I do love living in fabulous Portland Oregon. Perhaps you will too. For more photo's and interesting articles stop by Rose_City_Blog .

As a busy Real Estate professional working in Portland Oregon I am constantly bombarded with sales pitches and offers for free sales seminars. Most of these free classes are nothing more that a platform for the speaker to pitch his wares.

This week however I attended an event put on by Ticor Title of Oregon. The premise of the talk was using the Internet to enhance your business.

The speaker was entertaining and had prepared an extensive slide show presentation. The hall was quite large yet was only filled with as many as 1/3 the amount of people that it could seat. Hence the speaker made the decision to move through the material quickly dropping several slides from the presentation. Most of the slides were screen shots from a myriad of web sites that he had downloaded and thought that they may be of benefit to any willing to listen and learn. I was busy writing down URL's as quickly as I could trying to catch as many as I could as he moved swiftly passed pages he felt would not resonate with this small crowd.

During a brief pause on one such page the speaker took time to answer a few questions from someone from the audience who had blurted out " Your not going to talk about blogging are you?" " No! I won't put you through that " he said. " Good came the quick retort, I was hoping to get some web addresses of sites that might benefit me in my business! "

The entire time I just sat there staring at the screen with the biggest grin on my face. For projected on the Big screen for all to see in this non-live version of the speaker's slide show presentation was my Photo_and_profile_pagefrom my Wordpress Blog. The viral effects of that blog written almost one year ago was amazing to me.

After the seminar I spoke with the speaker about that slide. He said that when creating the slide show it was on page one of a search he did for Portland Bloggers but could not remember the exact keywords used for his search.

I remember writing the blog. I had written it after reading another blog about " How to write a blog that will last forever " But of course what do I know? Blogs don't work do they?

PS : A couple of sites from the seminar worth mentioning :

• www.flyinside.com a Free Virtual Tour web site.
• www.realivent.com a marketing and social web site good place for creating a profile with your links.
• www.retaggr.com an online business card site good for more links etc.

As Spring threatens to arrive Many of Portland Oregon's tree lined streets have yet to produce the leaves that will provide relief from summers heat.

Standing tall and barren like sentinels in Mt.Tabor one of Portland Oregon's Tree Lined Streets.

These giants not only provide summer relief they also help to define a neighborhood. While the leaves are gone for the moment it is the best time to view the trunks and limbs of these gentle giants.

Soon the leaves will return and the interesting shapes will be mostly obscured. But for now the viewing is good.

Yet the signs of Spring time looms large as evidenced by the Azaleas just below these gentle giants.

The Red Letter Day

Have you received THE LETTER?

Perhaps you have or you are anticipating its arrival any day now. What letter am I talking about?

It is the letter that you receive from your home mortgage lender. There notice to you that they have not received payment as normal. It is also notification of potential additional fees and consequences for not paying. Also known as the pre-foreclosure letter it can send a chill up and down your spine.

If you have or soon expect to receive the pre-foreclosure letter it most likely comes as no surprise to you. What actions could or should you take? The last thing you want to do is sit and wait.

Believe it or not your lender did not want to send you that letter. Foreclosures are costly and time consuming and it often times makes more sense for towork out a solution if one is available.

Do you know what your options are? You do have options. As bleak as things may look now they will only look worse if you don't act. Give me a call today and let's take a look at how I can help.

Don't Wait! Call or email Herb today. The longer you wait the harder it will be for me to help. Call now let's get the ball rolling.

Real estate Sales in Oregon are on the move. Recent sales have been brisk and it looks to be a pretty good year.

Many Real Estate companies are reporting gains in sales in all Oregon real estate category's. The increase of sales will bode well for real estate home values for owners of all types of Oregon Real Estate.

If you own real property in Oregon be it Land, Apartments and Duplex's, or a Single family Home or Condo now is a great time to call your Oregon Real Estate Broker Associate Herb Hamilton of RE/MAX Preferred Inc. Realtors.

If your looking to purchase a Condo with a View. Now offered as a short sale. Check out 1019_NE_68th_97213_in_Portland_Or. priced at $185,000. End unit next to Rosemont Bluff Natural area.

For those who looking for something special with a great view in a quiet setting. A close in Location with Public transportation and freeway access close by.

For those who are looking for something a little more prestigious with plenty of space for all be sure to check out the photo's then give Herb a call on this Beautifully renovated Mid-Century_Classic_132_SE_71st_97215

Home is the renovation project of one of Portland Oregon's fine Contractors. With 4400+- Square feet of living a Large fenced back yard and a beautiful view of Scenic Mt. Hood all in Mt. Tabor Neighborhood one of Portland's Premier neighborhoods.

Five Bedrooms Five Full Baths 3 Levels. Price has been slashed to $669,000

Majestic Mt. Hood as seen from the Master Suite Balcony and Sitting Room of 132 Se 71st in Portland Oregon.

Welcome one and all to the Fabulous Splendor of the Pacifc Northwest and its Crown Jewell Mt Hood.

The Real Estate Housing market has suddenly created a glut in the market place of Real Estate Experts. Each and every one of them in one venue or another spouting the same rhetoric.

" Now is a Horrible time to buy " or " Buy Now if you want to see your Equity go down the drain ". Or how about this one. " It might not be a bad time to consider buying, that is if you could get a loan ".

If there is anything the general public should have learned by now given the position of our struggling economy is this " The Experts Don't Know Crap ". If they did would we be in the position that we are now ?

This week Dave Liniger International Chairman and Co-Founder of the largest and most successful Real Estate company in the world RE/MAX was in Portland Oregon to present his Be Great In 2008 seminar to several hundred eager RE/MAX Agents and Brokers.

Dave Liniger shared with us his view of the market shaped by his 40 years experience as an active participant in the current market.

According to Dave it appears as if the Market that you are seeing this year will most likely be the same market you see next year for recoveries are normally slow moving evolutions. Yet improvements will come and eventually will go as up and down cylces are part and parcel to our business.

In regards to advice to Buyer's wanting to know if the market has hit bottom yet and should they consider buying or waiting to buy. Dave's advice was the following. The market is as of yet not at the bottom. It is probable that it is close but is still not there.

As far as buying goes, one must ask themselves about there purpose of buying. If indeed you are buying for the short term say 1-3 years tops then it is not a great time to make a purchase. That is unless you were presented with a steal of a deal or that your were paying a fair price and even though you would only be occupying the home for a short time, you intend to keep it for the long haul.

If however you intend to move in and or keep the house for 5 to 7 years then it is definitely a good time to buy. Dave follows that with the history of recessions, up and down markets in the US over his 40 years of experience and notes that the real estate market generally has ten year cycles. Stating that the equity appreciation of properties for the most part have never let people down during that cycle.

I have only been in real estate for 20 years. As I look back and analyze the markets that I have lived through I recognize that what Dave Liniger was driving at was what I could consider similar to my experiences. Indeed those who I had sold homes to when the market had previously been on a still downward trim did go on to see positive equity positions when the held there homes for at least 5 to 7 years. And only those who attempted to sell in the short time of 1 to 3 years put themselves in harms way.

The seminar that Dave gave was a three hour event. This portion only covered a brief 30 minutes or so. The rest was Jam Packed with great information and all who attended could not help coming away feeling confident and encouraged.

Dave recommended a Book to read. I am picking up my copy this week. The book written by Jack Canfield and titled " Success principles " outlines a simple formula [ E + R = O ]. The Event plus your Response equals your Outcome.

If the Event is a down market and your Response is one of despair and hopelessness then your outcome will be the same. However if your response to the down market is to embrace it and to look for opportunities then your outcome will be one of success.

Wishing us all great success in 2008 and Beyond.

Are you a professional? Or are you seeking a Professionals advice? As I cruise the blogospehere I come across many a blog who's writers focus on giving "expert advice". Some go so far as to council us all on the right way to do things V's the wrong way.

The truth is that blogs are world wide and advice is often local. In fact most advice given by the "Professionals" is so local that it can be a detriment to your business if you follow it.

My advice before giving or receiving it : First ask or tell if it is Local advice or not? Always think about your advice before counseling others on " The way it Should Be Done".