March 11th, 2010
How to find affordable Portland homes
Like all areas around the country since mid 2005, Portland, OR homes have become more affordable in recent months and years. This is advantageous for home buyers wanting to invest in a Portland area home for the first time, or move up to a bigger property. You can now find spacious, gorgeous places to live in Portland to give your family a better lifestyle, and you can find them at steeply discounted prices compared to a few years ago.
There are several methods to find homes in Portland that fit your lifestyle and budget. With purchase price being such a big issue for most home buyers, it definitely pays to develop a strategy that works for your personality to find that perfect piece of property.
Generally, the right path for getting into a home you can afford with the least amount of setbacks and frustrations is to get preapproved. There is a significant difference between getting prequalified and preapproved, though. Getting pre-qualified is merely meeting certain general requirements for credit worthiness. Getting pre-approved is when you have actually applied for a mortgage and been approved by the lender.
You will find that getting approved in advance for a Portland house will make your life much simpler when it is time to make your offer on a home.
Of course, the most enjoyable part of the home buying process (most of the time) is scouring for homes on an easy to use website. Yes, this can be challenging at times when you are not finding the perfect match, but there is generally an ample supply of inventory to find the perfect home withing a reasonable amount of time.
Another great technique to use to search for properties is to search for Portland homes on your mobile phone. This can save you a lot of time by giving you the freedom to drive around to properties and get more detailed information on them when you find them.
Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, you need to find a qualified Portland real estate agent to help you in your search. There are thousands of properties out there in hundreds of neighborhoods in Portland and its suburbs, like Lake Oswego and West Linn. It will save you a lot of time to have a conversation with a real Portland property expert.