What's this all about?

This blog is intended as a personal diary of one real estate broker's travels through the latest new residential listings in the city of Portland, OR.

Because the RMLS descriptions are written by the properties' listing agents, they are subjectively written - which is to say as "sunny" as possible - and are meant to showcase the best elements and minimize or even ignore sometimes glaring deficits. In the perpetual quest for the best home for each client, the author personally tours possible matches as they come on the market.

It is true that the best go fastest, so this is an effort to share one objective (and hopefully entertaining!) perspective on some of the latest listings for the benefit of "armchair" potential buyers and sellers in the Portland area.

Enjoy - and please, feel free to comment or even request that a particular listing be toured. If it's located within Portland city limits, I will do my best to see it and post my thoughts. Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

3 Flavors of Bungalow: Perfect Peach, Neopolitan and.... Cherry Garcia

Oh, I do love ice cream! And for me, touring interesting Craftsman bungalows is almost as gratifying as licking away at some delectable confection squarely planted on a crispy sugar cone - yum! This week's flavors are named (subjectively of course) according to their overall, um .... mouthfeel?

1. Perfect Peach $329K 4274 SE Morrison St. 2BR/1BA A taste of heaven - delicately remodeled with a sweet layout - friendly front porch, small entry, nice living room-into-dining room layout with a re-done clawfoot-comprised period bath, spruced kitchen (fresh paint, nice countertops) and private - though petite - backyard entertaining yard. Also boasts a cool semi-finished entertainer basement and most notably, all new beautiful, double-hung wood windows throughout. Heard they had a buyer already for this one.



2. Neopolitan $393,9K 2006 SE 32nd Pl. 3BR/2BA Like the ice cream, this house has at least something that everyone digs - whether it be the fabulous location, perfectly refinished hardwoods, updated kitchen or master suite. But some people don't like a "mix" of flavors together, which admittedly this house has too:  a  lousy staircase up & atticky master bath are surprisingly married to a spacious, tall-folks-friendly bedroom with mahogany floors. Lovely kitchen cabinets lose some luster under some shlocky tile counters. A corner lot but no parking. Still, it's a great deal, needs nothing major and you can't beat the spot.



3. Cherry Garcia $289K 1315 NE 74th Ave. 2BR/1BA Before you even set foot on this property, you'll have an idea where the flavor name came from: homemade, studded sliding doors must be parted to take the first step inside the yard. Once in, a pleasing, tranquil oasis does greet you. A sleepy, hospitable front porch rests above a carefully-tended front, landscaped to highlight a sweet water feature. Once in the house, the first impression is of a cabin with all the original, unpainted millwork & builtins nestled in a shaded grove. But it's a wacky house, to be truthful, with a small and too-worn kitchen missing all the cabinet doors, miniscule 2nd bedroom and kooky, draped-but-really-unfinished upstairs that must be hot as hell later in the day. Location feels far out, too.

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