All Forum Posts by: Catherine Emert

I would say sand and refinish the cabinets - if they are wood they may surprise you and clean up nicely - with a small kitchen sometimes dark on the bottom and light on the top really help make the space feel bigger. 

Nick - I think that I can put your mind at ease on the broker question - broker (good ones) are so used to being told no, or in this case, "hey, I couldn't find a deal here that would work but I found one in Oregon, would you like to refer me to a broker?" I can honestly say we have this happen at least once a month these days because our prices here are so high. Our feelings are NEVER hurt and honestly if you let them know now they may have a great broker in an area that might pencil better for you and a referral fee is better than nothing.

As for property managers - you can use the network tab and look by an area easily. 

And finally, we have a lot of out of state buyers - what we do if they are curious about a neighborhood is we provide a rental analysis, a demographic report, a drone video of the neighborhood, get them in touch with the local PD and anything else they may have questions or concerns over. Broker/Agents have to be careful now days with fair housing and ethics, but we do what we can without crossing a line that we would feel gets us into a bad situation. 

I want to correct a few things I saw people saying in here - check your state laws - in Oregon for example a tenant most certainly can withhold rent from a landlord when repairs have not been made. Years ago I actually had to go this route when renting here in Oregon. I ended up filing a lawsuit against the property management company for severe damage to my personal property and health issues from black mold from a leak they took over 90 days to even address AFTER I filed the lawsuit. The home was deemed uninhabitable by 3 inspectors. I had several attorneys state they had never seen a tenant be so successful in a lawsuit but those texts are threats to me. They are a last ditch effort to get you to repair a property that could have serious health and safety issues for your tenant. 

We represent a lot of out of state investors. We do a few things to help with the process - we ask permission from the seller to do a 3D Matterport scan of the property, we do a video tour, take as many photos as possible, we do a zoom/FaceTime with the client so that they can see it as live as possible. We have a lot of contacts with most of the counties that we service and help get as much information about the property as possible. We have created a waiver of sorts for anyone that purchases sight unseen for our protection though because we have had clients unhappy when they arrive after closing.

If you were my broker then yes, we would take a split from your deals. I would suggest you have an open and honest conversation with your brokerage to see where they stand on this. It may be seen as a fair housing issue as well if your company is a member of NAR.

We had one this summer that we hauled eight 18' foot dump trailers of trash out of - this included an entire Kitchen full of rotten food - the owner had moved out 2 hours prior, not sure how anyone lived there.

Save more than what you need for your downpayment/closing costs. You are guaranteed to need something or something will quickly need to be replaced. 

If the crawl space is only "mostly dry" that's probably the source - I'd work to dry that out. Maybe try some charcoal or baking soda in the crawl space and attic spaces. 

Not sure I can say 20 years - but close enough. 

1. Slow down - working 18 hour days is not necessary. 

2. Make lists - goal lists, to do lists, needs - I do this daily and I get more accomplished in 2 hours than most brokers I know accomplish in a day.

3. It's okay to fail - with each failure comes greater understanding.

Best bet would be to use an online title calculator - we do this often for our clients - you could also call your title company and ask them, most are happy to answer hypothetical questions like this.