Agent Profile
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To Stay Sharp – Sharpen the Saw
I’ve just returned from my annual visit to The Aji Network Conference in South San Francisco. This year I presented a breakout session with Ron Macklin, Director of Service Operations at Siemens Energy. We did a 90-minute session for conference attendees on the topic of “Constitution: A Concern for Career and Business Enterprise.“ The content for our talk was based on writings and videos by Toby Hecht, founder of The Aji Network, and our session included a lively “clinic” in which the participants constituted new business concepts on the spot.
The Aji Network is a business education company that teaches students how to become knowledge-based and strategic business people so that they develop superior competitive advantage. Ron and I are both graduates of their Business Professional’s Course and are currently members of the LEIP Program, an acronym for leadership, entrepreneurship, innovation and power! These are just some of the capacities we seek to learn to build our careers.
Ron Macklin and Becky Jackson at The Aji Network Conference
At this annual meeting of The Aji Network, students from all classes and the online program called “Aji Space” came together to ‘celebrate’ and practice their learning. Senior students like Ron and myself led sessions on topics relevant to building significant careers in business by learning superior strategic knowledge to enable top 1% performance. This year’s conference theme was “Strategy and Strategic Planning.” Today’s highly competitive and rapidly changing global marketplace requires that we as business people stay engaged in continual learning as all professionals do. Ron and I find that contributing as session leaders is an added dimension to our learning.
Without new strategic knowledge we cannot expect to help our clients compete effectively and cope successfully with the enormous challenges in the real estate business – difficult financing, enormous competition, over supply of housing and limited demand. With a commitment to learning and improving, we develop and innovate our services so that we maintain a standard of care for our clients that helps us all meet our objectives. That’s why I commit the time and expense to study.
Greentree Circle – in Lake Oswego’s Palisades Neighborhood
1462 Greentree Circle, Lake Oswego $435,000
A super traditional family home in a most ideal of family neighborhoods, this new listing at 1462 Greentree Circle is a perfect place to settle. An open floor plan with warm hardwood floors, fresh updates and a bonus room over the garage. The home has four bedroom home including a sexy master suite that has hardwood floors and a cozy fireplace.
The neighborhood is quiet and low on traffic and has the nearby Greentree Park with swing-sets and half-court basketball courts. another great convenience of the area is that from this home it is easy to walk to either the Palisades Elementary School and Lakeview High School. So for the just the two years of Waluga Middle School will parents find themselves juggling rides to school!
An attractive home for $435,000.
Welcome, Sean Becker!
What a pleasure it is to announce the association of Sean Becker with The Jackson Group effective the first of the year. Here’s why it is such good news . . .
Sean is a gentleman, sincere and genuine – the kind of self you want to be around, with the ethics, talent and character that anyone would admire.
My professional relationship with Sean began in 2004 when, as Director of Sales for urban condo projects at Realty Trust, I hired him to be the closing broker for the Henry Condominium. Sean’s skill as an engaged listener and problem solver was revealed immediately. From that position Sean moved to broker at the South Waterfront Discovery Center where we did marketing and sales for The Meriwether, John Ross and Atwater Place Condominium towers. Sean performed so well in his role that he was given the position of Lead Broker for the Civic Condominium in Downtown Portland and he moved to the B Street Gallery to lead the team for that project.
From the Civic Sean moved back to South Waterfront, this time as General Manager of the Discovery Center. Sean demonstrated leadership in sales and proved to be an effective builder of teams in every situation. In 5 fast years Sean gained a career’s worth of experience and credibility in real estate. Each one of these promotions came about because Sean produces results through excellent communication skills, a high standard of service and a thorough knowledge of properties and the real estate process.
At all times during Sean’s ascent in real estate, we stayed connected. We’d meet for coffee and talk – deconstructing the high points of our project work together and speculating about the new realities in real estate and what it might mean for our careers and futures. We helped each other navigate the bubble, and then the bust, staying engaged and active and positively focused. There was always an aspect to how we would stay connected as we planned for the recovery.
At The Jackson Group we have always been organized around the concept of bringing together a team of talented and accomplished brokers with individual specialties and shared values. Our purpose is to serve our clients with superior care in the many different real estate transactions they pursue. Our style is to offer “Ritz Carlton” talent and service from specialization of effort and collective commitment to care for the unique requests of each individual client.
Sean is a perfect fit for this model! Kelly, Sarah and I are thrilled to have him on the team. We welcome him and know that you will as well.
Celebrating “The Village”
We recently wrote about a transaction that we closed for our buyer that “took a village.” All of the parties really worked well together and in everyone’s best interest. By everyone I mean that both the buyer and the sellers took each other’s best interest into consideration when making requests and performing tasks. The buyers stayed reasonable with their requests and the sellers consistantly took challenges with stride and performed without hesitation. I knew from seeing the subject property that it was going to be a difficult transaction. The unknowns were the parties involved. So I truly feel that it was because the parties worked together that this transaction came together.
As a testiment to the village’s accomplishments, the new owners hosted a get together for everyone involved in the transaction. Both listing agent and selling agent, the entire buyers’ family and both of the sellers, and the lender and his team were all there to celebrate. We toasted each other with champagne and once again acknowledged that everyone deserved a pat on the back.
What happier ending could you ask for than a Kodak moment with everyone involved in the transaction. It made my year and I thank everyone once again for all of their hard work!
Buyers and Sellers CelebrateEveryone Cebrates
Sometimes it takes a village to close a transaction
Our team closed a transaction yesterday that proves that even in a tough market, difficult transactions close– it just “takes a village!” We faced and overcame the many surprises outlined here, and if you’d like to read the whole saga – the narrative is below.
Sequence of surprises for Grant Park Duplex transaction:
- Buyer chose a duplex after seeing mostly single family homes
- Seller accepts offer as written – no counter offers – signed on the spot
- Home inspector finds that significant repairs are needed throughout the entire house. There were issues with a cracked sewer line, defective LP siding, cracking foundation, rotted sill plate and posts in the crawl space and basement, old roof, bad plumbing and electrical throughout the home, and the list went on and on
- Seller accepts the buyer’s repair addendum as written requiring over $40,000 in total repair costs
- Lender requires clean pest and dry rot report and the work turns up even more dry rot behind the siding, under the porch and in the crawl space. Seller says they’ll fix it.
- After 3 oil tank scans, soil under the foundation is found to be contaminated by underground oil tank – over $6500 in DEQ required repairs. Seller says they’ll fix it.
- Appraiser requires all peeling paint to be removed and repainted on the inside and outside. Seller says they’ll fix it.
- Siding company gets behind on siding installation due to the extent of dry rot repair and weather. Closing has to be extended.
- Price has to be changed because the exterior paint will not be done by closing so the buyer has to pay for painting after closing
- The transaction actually closes with no last minute mistakes to manage
The Jackson Group relationship began with these clients about 2 years ago when they started searching for homes with classic charm and character in NE and SE Portland. We focused our search on homes that were in great neighborhoods like Clinton, Abernathy, Hawthorne, Ladd’s Addition, Grant Park, Alameda, etc. and most of what we were finding was older homes that needed some work. We even had an escrow on an REO property that ended up being a little uneven on its foundation. When that one failed we took a break for a while.
We started our search months later and prices had come down. We expanded our search to duplexes with the possibility of renting out the second unit until the buyers could someday expand into the entire home. One hot summer Sunday evening, we looked at 3 properties and the last was a duplex in Grant Park right behind the high school. From the outside with the peeling paint, vines growing up the chimney, old roof, cracked foundation and original windows, it was an obvious fixer. But on the inside the original charm was still there. The rooms were large and stately but there was still a lot of work to be done. We were surprised when the clients wanted to write an offer.
The sellers had owned the home for many years and had never lived there but had a steady stream of loyal tenants in both units. The home had gone through quite a history since it was built in the 1910s- it was even converted into a boarding house in the 1950s. It had only been on the market for a few weeks and our offer was below the asking price, so we made the extra effort to present the offer to the listing agent and the sellers in person.
Our client was a very strong buyer with a solid loan approval through one of our favorite mortgage brokers, Mike Hall of Pacific Residential Mortgage. The presentation of the offer went well and on the way back to the office the call came that our offer had been accepted as written. I was so surprised that I almost hit the car in front of me! I called the client right away to deliver the good news. But we all knew that we had quite a ways to go to get through this transaction because of the extent of the needed repairs.
After the 5 hour inspection, Don Hatch of Assurance Home Inspections discovered that almost every element of this home needed some repairs. And, we’re not talking about “the kitchen sink leaks when the hot water is on”. No, we’re talkin’, this home needed a new roof, new siding, new foundation supports, new posts and beams in the basement, code violations in staircases, peeling paint, electrical and plumbing, and more. We could not even find the underground oil tank that we knew existed somewhere. So our work was cut out for us.
Over the next week, I went out to that house at least once a day to meet contractors to get proposals on the repairs. And after about 2 weeks we had most of our numbers in order. We were ready to draft the repair addendum. I presented the repair addendum in person again due to the extent of the request (over $40,000 in repairs). We continued to re-iterate our client’s wish to be as reasonable as possible and focus on repairs that the lender would require as a condition of closing such as structural and safety hazards. The buyer was even willing to raise the purchase price to help with the cost of some of the repairs.
The seller accepted our repair addendum as requested. We then had to mutually agree to choose the contractors for each job. Sorting through those numbers took another 2 weeks and 5 additional addendums but we finally set the dates and chose the contractors to do the work. Now there was only the work to be completed and to close.
WRONG! Another surprise hit us when we finally found the oil tank using a geo-tech specialist. The underground oil tank was leaking underneath the foundation of the home. DEQ requires that the soil not be contaminated by leaking oil and, if found to be unsafe, the tank and soil around the tank must be removed. The sellers took charge and found the right contractor for the job and cleaned the site – phew!
The siding company got behind schedule with the installation of the new hardy plank because of poor weather and more dry rot found behind the siding. The lender was requiring re-inspections by the appraiser, the pest and dry rot inspector and our home inspector so we scheduled them all for the same day. But because of the extent of the repairs, there were still some items that needed to be addressed during our final week of escrow. The seller went to task on the remaining list and finished 4 days later. I gave him my pink camera to document the additional repairs to send to the inspectors. Finally, all that was left to do was to get the okay on the paint from the appraiser and push a little paper.
The transaction officially recorded yesterday. Our clients were out to the house last night measuring rooms and creating their “to do” lists for moving in and making the home “theirs”.
I give the most credit in this transaction to the sellers. They were there at every step of the way to make sure that we had everything covered. I even had the seller’s phone number plugged into my phone because we were in such good communication. Our team has never done more paperwork or had a thicker file. This closed real estate transaction shows that even in a really difficult market, tough deals can come together if everyone works together to make it happen. The buyer never stopped wanting to buy, and the sellers never stopped wanting to sell, so everyone did their part and made it work.
Thanks to everyone that helped make this long shot become a success for all!
Atwater Place To Auction 40 Homes!
The owners of Atwater Place in South Waterfront announced recently that 40 homes in the building will be sold at auction on September 20th. Many of you have called or emailed with comments and questions, so I thought I would speak up about this to help others understand what is happening, what it means for the marketplace and what you need to know if you want to participate.
Many people are talking about this auction as if it were a sorry situation, but that is absolutely not the case. The best thing for the marketplace is to have these condo buildings with many unsold homes have an auction to sell condos at prices that buyers are willing and eager to pay, rather than continue to sit with unsold homes that are priced as if we are going to go back to $400/SF! Well, that ain’t happening any time soon, and when the owners of condos understand that, we will have a healthy and active market again. The best thing for the current owners of homes in these buildings is that the rest of the homes get sold and the buildings get fully occupied by new homeowners who move in, shop in the nearby retail, take walks in the neighborhood and help make the building and neighborhood a vibrant place to live.
Atwater Place Condominiums at South Waterfront
The auction for Atwater Place is the first to happen in Portland’s downtown area so we will be learning on this one how the marketplace will respond. I believe it is a terrific opportunity for condo buyers to buy premium homes in a stellar building and a top quality neighborhood. These are all good features of A-grade property, the kind that every homeowner seeks, and the only reason these homes are not already sold is that they are priced too high on the builders’ price lists. The auction should give buyers the chance to set prices they are willing to pay, which may not be as low as the minimum bid, but which will be appropriate for the current economy and today’s market environment.
Here’s what you need to know if you are interested in attending the auction – and The Jackson Group is well prepared and available to assist you with any specific needs, from plain old information to full blown representation for a purchase. The seller will pay the fee for our services to represent you to buy at the auction, though there are some rules attached to that. Call us if you have questions, and plan to have one of us accompany you to visit the Auction Showroom to register you as our client.
Facts to know:
Auction Date and Location: 4:00PM Sunday, September 20, 2009
Marriott Portland Downtown
1401 SW Naito Parkway
Portland, OR 97201
40 Homes are offered for sale at the auction, with pre-set minimum bids which, if offered, will be accepted. The seller reserves the right to change the units offered at the auction and may do so based on buyer interest. The homes range in size from a 931SF 1-bedroom to a 2355SF premium home with minimum bid prices from $169,900 to $899,000. We have the complete list of homes plus floor plans, so call us if you want more details.
All potential buyers must be prequalified with one of the pre-approved lenders (Bank of America or MetLIfe Home Loans) prior to the auction – even if you intend to use your own lender. Cash buyers must provide proof of funds prior to the auction.
All buyers who wish to participate in the auction must be registered by submitting a completed written form by 7pm on September, 18th. On auction day, bidders must have a cash equivalent (cashier’s check payable to yourself) of $2500 for each home they may purchase. Upon successful purchase, buyers must endorse their cashier’s check to Ticor Title Company and agree as part of their purchase agreement to increase their deposit to 3% of the sales price, which must be paid with a personal check payable to Ticor Title that evening.
Closing of all successful purchases shall happen by October 19th, unless an extension is agreed to in writing with the seller.
There are at least a dozen other special conditions, so if you need more information, please call us and we can go through all the fine print with you. Again, we believe this is a positive event for the marketplace and we encourage people who may be interested in buying a downtown condo to get involved if only to learn and then determine if there is a positive possibility for them in this auction.
Have a great holiday weekend!
Becky
Portland Farmers’ Market is Open!
A favorite stop of mine on Saturday mornings after my Pilates and Aerobics classes is the Farmers’ Market at the Portland State University campus. The Portland area has several farmers’ markets, on different days and in different locations, but this one fits my schedule and location best. Another good one for me location-wise is the Thursday afternoon version at the Patagonia Building in The Pearl. Either one of these or the others on the schedule are great open markets of seasonal fresh produce and farm products, dairy and meat offers, flowers and fun stuff. It is fresh, local good food and a totally fun experience. My niece Ashley and I meet up there on Saturdays about 9:20. Ashley arrives from South Waterfront by streetcar, so she is totally sustainable, and we drink coffee and share our interest in food, cooking, gardening and family. We have our favorite spots, the ‘Tart’ Lady from Hood River, the mushroom stand, the grilled pepper man, and any one of the fresh veggie and fresh egg providers.
The crowd is increasing now that the sun has come out! Hope to see you there sometime!
Becky
Are you toast? And if so, what are you doing about it?
For 8 years I have studied business fundamentals with The Aji Network. The learning from this course has helped The Jackson Group experience steady and substantial growth. Our clients have increased in number and value, the team has expanded in talent and our colleagues seek our help and cooperation. Now we are coping with the recession by refining services, managing costs and investing in tools and the knowledge to use them – all to help our clients and ourselves achieve our respective objectives and continue to thrive. I attribute our success, and trust our future, to the learning that comes from the association with The Aji Network.
Aji Network founder, Toby Hecht, recently published a paper titled Reading-the-Economy: Interpretations and Strategies for Fulfilling Ambitions. When I read this paper I was compelled to add my voice to his about the serious problems that Americans face as a result of not preparing for the future; for “disrespecting,” as Toby would say, the fundamental realities of the marketplace. I recommend his paper as an opportunity to learn how to take care of your own situation in this recession and avoid the trap that so many Americans are in today.
What trap is that, you ask? Toby claims in “Reading-the-Economy” that the recession displays for us how people ‘squander’ their opportunities to earn, save and invest adequately to take care of themselves while working and suffer as a result in their retirement. He observes that millions of people (70M Baby Boomers, in particular) have foolishly spent their careers working hard, spending freely, saving little and borrowing heavily while they lived for the moment at the cost of their dignity and capacity to take care of the basics of life in their old age. Toby has been warning students for years that “incomes, savings and investments are far too low while spending and borrowing are far too high” and he poses that most of us have been duped and tranquilized by journalists, entertainers and politicians whose messages have been motivated by the need to sell advertising or get elected. Now there are millions of Americans who have too little saved or invested to support themselves through retirement – the 20-30 years that they will no longer be able to work and will need care and support (food, housing and healthcare) from programs and institutions that are as broke as they are.
This is not a pretty picture. The economic recession shines a clear, cold light on the problem bringing us increasing unemployment, homelessness, bankruptcies and rolling bailouts. The marketplace demonstrates its fundamental mechanics, including – you don’t get to borrow more money just because you need it, you can’t replace a 40% loss in equity without the “time” for compound interest to grow your money again, and, most of all, you can’t fix these problems or support yourself to live well except by out-performing the marketplace with knowledge, strategy and superior competitive action – the key to making money!
Hard working people are good a decent and they are also a-dime-a-dozen. They are the ones who have denied the imperative for learning and becoming expert with new knowledge and we will observe the harsh reality of that mistake for some time to come. The unfolding crisis and the consequences of people losing their homes, their cars, their healthcare and their dignity will be the vivid reminder of what we risk when we fail to learn and develop our personal value in the marketplace.
Aji Network students practice “Reading-the-World” to 1) plan action for coping with threats, 2) discover new obligations that matter to us (those things we do to avoid problems or fulfill our promises), and 3) observe and take advantage of new opportunities that will help or improve our lives. We do this practice out of “respect” for the marketplace. After this recession there will be the inevitable expansion and all of us must prepare now for the new marketplace that we will live in when that happens.
As the marketplace evolves old products and services are abandoned and we must invent new ones. We must not be gripped by the recession, but use its lessons to develop new ways to help our customers. We must be responsible for producing our own new value in the marketplace. Toby claims that through the strategic use of computer-driven tools we can be more effective at developing competitive advantage – and competitive knowledge is the source of power for that invention. We must drop the common and obvious work that is priced on the margin and pay attention to proven superior offers of help. The new power for business people is in communication, coordination of action and production – all of which are augmented with the knowledge to use computer-driven tools effectively. This is where design and innovation will trump hard work and task-oriented processes and enable us to produce highly-valued and scare help. There is no shortage of the former, and customers willingly pay for the latter.
So, rather than be toast, let’s make one! Here’s to life-long learning and the stable future that uncommon knowledge and superior offers in the marketplace will produce!
Becky
How are you doing in real estate? – Part 2
Okay, so nothing about this real estate market is easy, yet we are busy, working and handling it! Don’t hesitate to call us for help or send us your friends. We can make things happen.
We recently wrote about “how we are doing in real estate,” the question that we hear often from our friends and clients. And, I can still report that, while we could certainly be busier, we are selling homes, we are adjusting to the new realities and we are counseling our clients daily on how they can prepare and adjust in order to reach their goals for moving.
None of this year has been easy! That came home to us clearly this week while working on wrapping up records for the year and preparing for year-end planning and communications with clients. Sarah was packing up all the year’s transaction files when she made the observation, “You know, Becky, none of these were easy.” Well, that is true, and it also doesn’t matter.
Sarah at work on files at the office
Recognizing that our real estate market is new territory with unexpected challenges is something we can notice and learn from, but from my perspective of 25 years of selling real estate, our challenges today are new to us today, but not original or out of the ordinary in prior markets. So, this tells me that we are managing through this because we know what to do, and when the hiccups of the process cause us problems – we solve them.
Like what, you wonder, is causing us problems? First and predominately, surprises in the lending arena. And that should really be no surprise at all – the lending world has been turned on end this year. In some ways it is settling back into the guidelines and practices of a decade ago, and in some ways it is all new territory. So, when the surprises come, new conditions or new rules, for example, The Jackson Group as a team, together with our transaction partners, goes to work to find the solution and to take care of our clients.
The second main area of challenge is the disconnect between buyers and sellers regarding the market. We handle this one, as best we can, with well documented information to help both sides see “reality” for what it is and in context for what they want it to be. Sometimes this works, and sometimes not, but we do our best to bring people together. It is up to them to transact.
If you need help with a move, a transaction or a decision, give us a call. We’re getting more and more resourceful all the time. Here’s our number: 503-416-4177.
Becky
New Look and Features at Realtor.com!
The new features of Realtor.com will help home shoppers search through listings and obtain detailed information more quickly and conveniently. The Jackson Group offers enhanced features on this site for all of its listings, meaning prominent placement in searches, more and larger photos, expanded notes and details for buyer information and direct links to our email and contact information for inquiries.
Searches are now more simple and streamlined and searchers can set up an email alert service to notify them of new listings within their search criteria. 
Check it out at www.Realtor.com and let me know what you think!
Becky
Recent Blog PostsTo Stay Sharp – Sharpen the Saw
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010
The association I have with other ambitious business people at The Aji Network - people who are seeking competitive knowledge - helps me continually improve the services The Jackson Group offers to clients so that we can help them succeed with their property objectives in spite of a challenging marketplace. Greentree Circle – in Lake Oswego’s Palisades Neighborhood
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
A super traditional family home in a most ideal of family neighborhoods, this new listing at 1462 Greentree Circle is a perfect place to settle. An open floor plan with warm hardwood floors, fresh updates and a bonus room over the garage. The home has four bedroom home including a sexy master suite that has [...]John Ross Auction Results!
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