HOME REPAIRS TO DO BEFORE SELLING OR REFINANCING YOUR HOME

Property values have come roaring back. Many can now refinance their loans by virtue of having additional home equity. And increased property values can also put homeowners in a better financial position to sell their home without entering short sale territory. But the fact remains: Everyone wants to attain maximum value for their real estate and home repairs can help.
So what’s the best barometer of a home’s true worth? Simple: the amount a ready, willing and able buyer is willing to pay at any given point in time. Unfortunately, appraisal estimates can be skewed, especially when not all the home repairs and improvements are taken into consideration. This is why you should weigh all home improvement decisions carefully before you commit.
When You’re Refinancing
Unlike in years past, the weight of an appraisal to determine the home value for the purposes of refinancing a mortgage is based upon the facts (which are primarily based on other homes that have sold) and what the property description is.
Improvements that may help a refinance valuation:

• Additional bedroom or bathroom
• Addition to the lot size
• Addition to the garage
• Improvement that expands the “use” of the home

When it comes to improvements such as landscaping, painting, any home improvement more “cosmetic” in nature, realize that the primary benefit is for the enjoyment of the property, not for trying to influence value.
When Selling
A home buyer is going to take into consideration all of the facts associated with the property, location, lot size, square footage, bedrooms and bathrooms, as well as additional cosmetic improvements that have been done that add to the look and feel of the home.
Improvements that may help a sale price:

• New paint job
• Freshly maintained landscaping
• Remodeled and/or upgraded interior
• Deck and/or patio addition
• Additional bedroom or bathroom
• Addition to the lot size
• Addition to the garage

What’s the Biggest Bang for Your Buck?
These include the high-ticket items that increase square footage. An additional bedroom or an additional bathroom increases the square footage, which in turn allows an appraiser to make higher adjustments when determining valuation against other comparable homes around the subject property.
Refinancing
Let’s say you have funds ready for possibly improving your home for long-term enjoyment. Instead of using the funds to make home improvements in an attempt to enjoy your home more, you might actually see a greater benefit if you used that money toward a refinance. Over time, the money you save from refinancing could then be put toward those home improvements down the road.
Selling in the Near Future
Typically, you won’t get a dollar-for-dollar recapture on the home improvement cost, even when selling. Because the weight is given to improvements that expand the use of the house (i.e. bedroom, bathrooms, etc.), it’s more common to expect 20 cents on the dollar, or maybe 30 cents on the dollar, depending on the improvement in such a scenario. Because the market is the strongest indicator of price, the market will dictate sales price followed by additional improvements and subsequent marketing of the home.


courtesy of Realtor.com

LOW COST SUMMER FUN IN THE PORTLAND METRO AREA!

Portland Parks and Recreation
has many day camps for children all around the city. Scholarships are available based on financial need. Portland Parks and Rec also has many free activities during the summer, including movies and concerts in the park, a free swim lesson week, summer park activities, neighborhood barbecues, etc.

Portland’s Summer Playground Program
When: Weekdays throughout the summer Where: Neighborhood Portland parks A 100+ year tradition of free summer fun for Portland kids including a mobile climbing wall, crafts, organized sports, camp songs and so much more – it’s like going to summer camp, but at your neighborhood park! Check out the website to see what is offered at the park near your house.

Pioneer Square Events
Pioneer Square hosts Flicks on the Bricks, a series of free movies each Friday in July, and Noon Tunes summer concerts on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They also often have other free events, like ice cream tastings and other promotional events. Check out their calendar for more details!

Open Swim at Portland Public Pools
When: Dates throughout the summer Where: 13 different Portland public pool locations Throughout the summer, Portland public pools open their waters to free open swim times so you can visit and do some splashing for free with the entire family. The website can help you find the pool closest to your house – about half are indoor and half are outdoor.

Learn to Swim Week
When: June 18-22 Where: Neighborhood pools around Portland To kick off the swim lesson season each summer, Portland pools offer a week of free lessons to neighborhood kids! Registration is on Saturday, June 16, just before lessons begin and registration must be done in person, not online. Limited space is available.
Free Swimming! During the summer, Portland Parks and Rec’s swimming pools have a rotating schedule of free days. You can swim for free almost any day of the week, although you may have to travel! Look for the Summer Aquatics
online catalog to find out when to swim for free near you!
Free Summer Meals for children ages 1-18 are provided all over Portland and the surrounding area. Visit
http://www.summerfoodoregon.org or call 1-800-SAFENET for the site nearest you.

Sherwood Robin Hood Festival
When: July 20-21 (it’s always the third week in July)
Where: Sherwood neighborhood, just outside of downtown PortlandHow cool is this? An entire weekend festival based around the original Robin Hood – there is a parade, archery contests, castle building competitions, a knighting ceremony and much more. Fun for the entire family and best of all, it’s free.

Portland Rose Festival
When: May 20-June 17 Where: Locations all over Portland Everyone in Portland loves the Rose Festival each summer and families especially love it because most of the activities are free. Check out the website for a full schedule of the parades, clown appearances, dragon boat races and fireworks.

Tigard Balloon Festival
When: June 21-23
Where: Cook Park in Tigard
Balloon launches, soccer tournament, carnival, live music and many vendors.
Portland Children’s Museum
When: Free on the first Friday of each month from 4:00 – 8:00 pm Where: Main Children’s Museum location (4015 SW Canyon Road) The perfect spot to escape the hot Portland afternoon sun this summer – the Portland Children’s Museum. Join them on Free First Fridays to let the kids play while you wait for your house to cool down.

Oregon Maritime Museum
When: Families get in free on the third Saturday of every month Where: Near Waterfront Park in downtown Portland (SW Naito Parkway at Pine St) If you have a little one who is obsessed with boats and pirates, you should add the free family day at the Oregon Maritime Museum to your summer calendar. You’ll all love the hands-on Children’s Corner – don’t miss the super loud ship whistle!

Oregon Zoo Summer Concerts
June-August
Every summer, fans of folk, rock, world music and more stake out spots on the zoo’s amphitheater lawn, and enjoy performances from some of the hottest, most diverse acts performing today.
Story and Stroll
When: Mondays at 1:00-2:15 pm and Fridays at 10:00 – 11:15 am Where: Tryon Creek Nature Center (11321 SW Terwilliger Blvd) Designed for families with kids ages 2-6 (though all are welcome), Story and a Stroll is a fun free event that gets you outside and exploring one of Portland’s best parks. The story is read by a park naturalist and is followed by a guided walk through the park that relates to the story. Make reservations on their website, which also shows the theme for each week

Let’s Go Camping – Oregon Parks Let’s Go Camping Program
This program is for novice campers and folks who have not been camping for a long time. Each weekend during the Summer, we take a group camping in one of our state parks. The cost is only $20 PER FAMILY for the weekend. We provide tents, sleeping bags, sleeping bag liners, mattress pads and camp stoves to campers who do not have their own. We camp in a group in a different state park each weekend. Every other weekend, we are camping in a park on the Oregon Coast . Staff and volunteers camp with these campers and are available to help them. Park rangers lead the group in educational and recreational
activities at each park. Campers bring their own food but we provide dutch oven biscuits, fruit upside-down cakes, dutch oven cinnamon rolls and plenty of s’mores for everyone to enjoy around the campfire. We also do presentations to the campers on Camping Basics, Leave No Trace, 10 Essentials of Hiking, Dutch Oven cooking, as well as Fire Building and Safety. Each weekend is loaded with fun activities for the kids as well as the adults.
Trackers NW
Trackers Earth offers award-winning camps. These are some off the best and most engaging summer camps in Portland. They offder day camps fueled by compelling story and old school outdoor adventure. Their overnight camps are rooted in fantastic legend and authentic traditional skills. This summer they have camps on paintball, how to be a ninja, zombie apocalypse, archers, and secret agents. Their camps are very affordable and they will sometimes allow trade for camps (for example, you teach a class on knitting so your child can attend a Harry Potter overnight camp).
Audubon Society
The Audubon Society provides day and overnight camps for children in grades 1-12 Some examples this year include learning to fish, animal tracking, Jurassic Portland, Northwest Canoe Adventure. Ask about scholarships, they are not advertised but they are available.
OES Summer Programs
OES has Lego, Chess, Cooking, Arts, Drama, Sewing, Knitting as well as many outdoor and sports camps.
PDX Kids Calendar Summer Camps Guide

Follow this link for even more summer camp ideas.
Keep an eye on the


Red Tricycle Family Events Calendar as well for more free activities that pop up throughout the summer.

OREGON'S RANKING FOR HOME APPRECIATION IN THE U.S.

It’s getting to be a bit old hat at this point, but another widely-watched real estate index confirms home prices are on the rise both locally and nationally.
CoreLogic Inc., an Irvine, Calif.-based real estate research firm, reports its index of Portland area home prices, including distressed properties, rose 16.2 percent in April compared to the prior year. Nationally, home prices rose 12.1 percent.
Oregon ranked fifth in the nation for home price appreciation at 15.5 percent, after Nevada (24.6 percent), California (19.4 percent), Arizona (17.3 percent) and Hawaii (17 percent).
On a month to month basis, CoreLogic said Portland home prices were up 2.8 percent compared to March. Excluding distressed sales, Portland home prices increased 14.2 percent on an annual basis and 1.9 percent on a monthly one.
In a measure of the strength and depth of the recovery, CoreLogic noted that when distressed properties are excluded, every state saw home prices appreciate in April.
“Increasing demand for new and existing homes, coupled with low inventory, has created a virtuous cycle for price gains, most clearly seen in the Western states with year-over-year gains of 20 percent or more,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO.
The Regional Multiple Listing Service reported the average sales price for Portland was $293,600 in April, up 15.3 percent from the prior year.



*courtesy of Portland Business Journal*