Portland Real Estate - Full Price or Nothing

Real estate prices in Portland, Oregon continue to soar. Everybody knows that. This is already a national phenomenon.

As a Realtor, sometimes I'm in awe at the speed and price of properties sold. Just when I finished doing a CMA, thinking that the price of a piece of property should be X. Before I get a chance to recommend a reasonable offer price to my client, the house was sold at X + a hefty premium. Honestly, some of the homes I've seen are not even fantastic. They get sold anyway, either at offer or above offer. It's almost reached a point of "I like it, I buy it" type of mentality. The fact is, if you don't, somebody else will.

My client and I tried to buy a home listed at $215,000. The price wasn't cheap, just above "market", I'd say. My client insisted on bargaining it down to $213,000. Well, $2,000 isn't a big deal so I let him. After all, we Realtors are supposed to follow instructions. The seller came back with a BIG "Rejection". Didn't even want to bargain or counter. That's the kind of sellers' market we're in these days.