New Year, New Market: PDX Real Estate in 2025
Happy New Year to my dear clients! I don’t know about you, but I’m welcoming 2025 with open arms and my fingers are tightly crossed for an uneventful year ahead, and hopefully a stabilized real estate market.
First, some good news – in case you haven’t yet heard, I’m now officially a licensed agent in Washington!
This has been a long time coming, and I finally had the ability to make it happen (thanks, but no thanks, slower market). This really opens up my options for helping people outside of Oregon’s borders. Soooo many times a client, friend, or neighbor has said, “my co-worker wants to buy in Vancouver…”, or, “can we look at a home on the Washougal River?”, and I’ve had to reluctantly hand them over to a (trusted) Washington peer. I even had to refer out my own mother last year. No more! I just helped some dear clients close on a home in Ridgefield, WA this past month, and stay tuned for my first listing of the year coming this week in Washougal!
If you know anyone who needs assistance buying or selling in neighboring Washington, you can now call on me. I’m VERY excited to expand my services by a whole entire state!
Okay, onto interest rates, which we can all agree are difficult to stomach after years of the fed keeping rates at historic lows. It’s just so hard to mentally re-adjust to the more “normal” rates of today being in the high 6’s and 7’s – not to mention the media getting everyone excited with high hopes that rates would drop lower than where they’ve seemingly settled on for the foreseeable future. Right now, buyers have a ton of negotiating power. Homes are sitting on the market for record amounts of time. It has been so awesome actually being able to crack my negotiation knuckles and bring costs down for my buyers, and this is all because the rates are where they are. It’s hard not to get stuck on interest rates, but the best thing to do is decide what you would like to pay per month, and see what that would translate to in a sales price on a new house. I can help you figure out how much your current house would sell for, and what kind of nest egg you could put toward the new purchase, in a nutshell.
Once the rates drop, there will be a predictable influx of activity for those who are either sitting and waiting, or who simply couldn’t afford to move with the rates being what they are. IF the rates drop, you can seize that window of opportunity to refinance, and your mortgage payment could be lower at that time. So it never hurts to look over your situation, crunch some numbers, and see if a near future move is possible for you if that’s where you feel your lives are heading.
The thing that is really going to impact house prices isn’t going to be interest rates shifting. Long term, it’s going to be more houses being built. And I am hopeful we’re making progress on that front with new zoning laws allowing for more affordable housing to be built…fingers crossed though, we are just at the beginning, but things are already looking up on that front as there are many brand new homes under 400k sitting there waiting for buyers to swoop them up.
Thanks to OnPoint Credit Union for the handy interest rates graph below!
Winter in the Home and Garden
As much as us Portlanders love getting out in the summer, we’re also pretty good at cozying up during the colder months. Hopefully you’ve already prepped your home and surrounds for inclement weather, but there’s still a few things to check off the list, just in case this current temperate winter doesn’t last:
* Vacuum your vents and filters so that you’ve got clear access of heat without the dander and allergens.
* If you hear that a freeze is on the way, drain the water from your hoses, and turn off your outdoor water supply if possible. Covering your outdoor faucets with insulated bags really helps, too. Anything to prevent ice expanding and busting a pipe – that’s not a nightmare anyone wants to deal with.
* Check the seals around windows and foundations to seal air leaks – this is a great way to be eco-conscious and save money.
* If we get a sunny winter day, open your blinds! It’ll help warm your house naturally, and you can close the blinds when the sun goes down to retain all the heat.
* Hold off raking leaves and debris from your yard: loads of friendly bugs and pollinators overwinter in dead leaves, and we don’t want to disrupt their slumber. Speaking of, now’s a great time to put down extra mulch on your garden, readying it for spring.
* If you’re itching to get out there, there’s still plenty of garden-related work to do – sharpen/clean your tools, order your seeds, and plan your garden layout. This part is almost as fun as the actual planting.
* Regularly clean your bird feeders, especially as there’s a heightened concern for bird flu this year.
* Go through your linen closet and gather any unwanted towels or blankets. Check in with your local animal shelters and see if you can donate them, as this time of year it’s needed!
Looking to get out of the house in January? Urban Nest has compiled a tight list of great outings to keep you and the family occupied. We’re so lucky to live in a city where there are plentiful things to see and do, no matter the season. Click below to see what’s happening.
It’s been pretty nice settling in to married life, and surprisingly, it does feel a little different than before, who knew! Ha. We had a most excellent first holiday as a married couple and bopped around from family to family like couples do, I’m sure you all know the drill. The worst thing that happened was one of my HUSBAND’S cats knocking over the Christmas Tree, and yes, I’m shocked it hasn’t happened to me before this. And somehow only one precious ornament was broken but still…cats…I have a lot of them, and they are just so curious and naughty. And I love them anyway. I’m sad to report my elder cat Sufi has been diagnosed with diabetes and asthma, but she’s stable now, and I’m grateful for the 13 years we’ve had together. Here’s hoping for many more years to come.
Recently my focus has been on two spots in town (with very different but worthy missions). The Realm Refillery (“package free grocery”) in NE Portland is a great way to cut back on waste and use those million jars in your basement for getting your products. I recommend at least checking it out in person, it’s such a cool concept. And here’s a quick shout-out to Blanchet House, who do such excellent, compassionate work with Portland’s houseless population. They could really use some extra support this time of year, be it volunteering, or donations of money or clothing. Check out their website to assess their current needs, there’s loads of ways to pitch in and make a real difference.
On the real estate front, I had a very notable and intense transaction this fall that went all they way into mid-December (with the most amazing buyers that found me online) on a real fixer upper in a fantastic SW neighborhood in Portland. There was some long-term mismanagement of water – gutters and drainage are so important, people! – and the repair required the floors to be pulled up in the family room and the exterior siding removed. Plus many more steps that were absolutely a LOT to manage, but I was there to help keep the deal together. I’m so proud of my buyers for hanging tough, because now they’re the owners of a beautiful home with so much equity potential. Real estate is often not smooth, and that’s why you need a top notch Realtor to save your sanity throughout the process. It’s so rewarding to help good people make their dreams possible. I really love my job, even after all these years!
2025, let’s goooo!
Important Resources & Links
View My Urban Nest Realty Profile
Interested in receiving my listings and blog posts as soon as they go live? Subscribe to get automatic weekly updates from my site right in your email inbox.