On a basic level, I’d like real estate, which I think appears to many as something nebulous and/or totally pejorative, to become tangible, accessible, and even attainable. To do that, removing preconceptions—the veneer—is the core, and offering candor as the baseline is the key. The result, I hope, is something edifying and entertaining, especially as sincerity and RE may often be in direct conflict…But, my goal is to provide specificity, illumination, nuance, and enough engagement for you to not opt out (haha)…I’m going to include (something like):

I’m a bit of a luddite (already been working on this for months…), so the format will be bare, content potentially a little derivative in the beginning, but I’ll implement some more advanced features this platform (beehiiv) has built-in, expand the scope, and include some video(?), as I get more familiar with the interface…Anyways, I hope I deliver, and any feedback on what’s working, what’s not, anything else you’d want to see, let me know.

Working in real estate has been everything all at once. A paradigm beset by paradox where the cataclysmically inane is analogous to “productivity,” and work/life balance is hamstrung by "flexibility". It’s where you often don’t work a full day, but work quite literally every single day (side note: I’ve never had a job, including teaching--was only ESL teacher in Japan of about twelve, at my school, that had a Tuesday-Saturday schedule--that I didn't work Saturdays in my entire life and weekends for me are purely hypothetical) for months to quite literally no end.

You’re on Mauai Vacation for example and clients you’ve been engaged with for two years, but never having even set foot in a house, let alone write an offer on one, find one, new construction, need to write an offer ASAP (deadline), so in the middle of the most lavish wedding of your life, friends inside, their jobs outside, your outside with yours, advising in front of some place called the The Slippery Monkey and the next morning, post Mai Tai(s), at 4:13 a.m. (time difference/stateside offer deadline 9:00 a.m.) you're rifling through some 169 pages of new construction docs, uploading via DocuSign, tediously placing the little initial/signature/date logos, page by page, copy, pasted on each page, after which you submit to your clients for signatures, finessing urgency to them to sign prior to the deadline, so you're not rushing to get it forwarded, only once all that's all done, offer submitted and reviewed, the offer is summarily rejected. No surprise. The whole time you were in the throes of the DocuSign doldrums, friends blissfully asleep, you’re in rumination nation because your client’s ceiling/highest price was healthily below where the other offers were at or going to be, which, of course, is totally understandable because that number is an egregious overpay. But you do it anyway, in part because you never know, but in full; that's the job.

The Birth of Your Child: Not a vacation, but another instance that could warrant a little disconnect or privacy, yet I spent at least a few hours rewriting listing descriptions, itemized bulleted addenda w/ hundreds of pieces personal property conveying with a house, re-tooled a listing website and re-listed a house all while my wife was in labor (may expound on this for another episode, but don't want to get that inside baseball yet...). You can say, well that's ridiculous, surely that didn't HAVE to be done then, nobody would require you to do that, but I can assure you they can, they did, and you did as asked, as it was required simply because you gave your word and word is bond...Don't overpromise and underdeliver—if there's a platitude to take away from it all, it's that, and I've learned the hard way to be impeccable with MY word—That’s the job.

All lessons for life in the paradigm of course, and we all have our own. Could call this section 'Real Estate Lessons for Life' or 4 Lyfe. Maybe I will. But, yet..at the root of it all, it fits my skillset that I sort of cultivated from years of bartending, teaching English/ESL and Yoga, that’s molded my personality, some of which I feel like I'm watching outside my own body as there's this weird assembly line of things rolling out of my mouth, despite myself; a haplessly curated trait. And I like the job. I like the competition. I like it when there are multiple offers, mine gets picked over six others with a lesser price, or my client gets first look at a new listing, offer written at the showing and taken off the market before anyone else sees it because the price will drive up if they do, or bidding the price up on a listing for my clients when they're trying to move on to the next stage of life and every little bit extra they get makes that vision come more alive. It's a little dopamine hit. I've been able to find things off-market, something most agents don't even try to do, and when one of my other outside-the-box ideas works, it's satisfying. I like the hustle, I like being told I'm doing a good job--divorced only child thing probably, I don’t know. I like that my output for working harder and smarter is directly correlated to my success; no matter what the macro-micro-economic conditions are, I’m still here nine years later when 95% are gone after three. AND…, I like my people. I get to be around my people, engage with them, see them, take them out, and take care of them. I like to think I have a cult following--not big enough to be mainstream (yet), haha. Anyways, you didn't ask for my opinion, but if you did, this is basically what I'd tell you.

And I have something very relatable for the next story, next month…

Let’s kick off staples with another broad-sweeper of a statement that may not be that big of a secret, but still useful.

You want to save money, remodel your house, build on your property, remove a few trees, have more space, and less riff-raff? Clackamas County is where it’s at.

Obviously, Portland is Portland, and many want to stay in the city, but if there’s a way to get some value on the house itself, save money on updates and property taxes, while leveling up on schools and infrastructure, Clackamas County has that potential.

Bonus: Look for Unincorporated Areas - Clackamas County and Washington County offer some similar traits, and there are also some unincorporated areas like Terra Linda, Oak Hills, Sylvan, Milwaukie, and even parts of Lake Oswego that don’t have the same city property tax overlay, and taxes are also comparatively cheaper. So, even if you want to stay in/close to Portland, but want the benefit of lower taxes, that’s where to look.

As noted below, I have a client who will base many of our project searches on this rule as a way to find value. Good for remodels, great for resale, and long-term personal residence investment. With this listing, there are actually two other “rules” I’ll probably find and expound on again.

When I was just out of college, I attempted this and made it, idk, call it eighty-eight days. I always thought it was a great idea, if you want to be well-rounded, creative, insightful, inspiring, interested/interesting, if you did one thing, this would be it, save actually experiencing life. But, anyways, thought it would be a fun idea to share for yourself, your kids, creatives, whoever. And I hope one of you tries it!

Till next time,