This year has started off on a stronger note. We’ve seen improvement in the sales activity in the Portland metro area in both closed and pending sales when comparing this time to that of a year ago. Closed sales saw an 18.3% increase, and the highest numbers for January since 2007. Pending sales increased 22.4% in the same comparison. We also saw Market Time decreasing from 160 to 136 days. There were also 16.5% fewer newly listed residential properties, which [...]
2012 Business Workshop Launch: Join us on March 14! 8 Tips To Telling Your Personal & Professional Brand Story
Feb, 15 12 Post by: DCG | No Comments
We had great feedback from our Fall Business Workshop Series, and are pleased to continue building on the resources we provide to our valued clients and partners next month!
Please join us on March 14 from 12-1pm for a “Lunch & Learn” session with Big Small Brands. We’ll explore an important topic and trend in small business marketing today: Telling Your Personal & Professional Brand Story. Below is a brief description of what we will cover. Spots are limited, so please [...]
Monthly Question: What Is The Biggest Myth in Credit Scoring?
Feb, 08 12 Post by: DCG | No Comments
I recently received an email from Lea Snyder, Senior Mortgage Broker at Summit Mortgage who forwarded important insights from Thomas McKee from New West Credit Consultants (His great information was repurposed for this blog. Thanks, Thomas!). In the email, Lea said that she often hears Buyers explain that they are trying to “clean up their credit” prior to buying a home by paying off old debt collections. Most credit is repairable within a reasonable amount of time; however, you may be unaware [...]
5 Things You May Not Know About Carol Hushman
Feb, 04 12 Post by: DCG | No Comments
Our series on little known facts about The Dennison Capen Group team continues. This week, we are pleased to introduce you to Carol Hushman, our Lead Buyer Agent:
Carol was born and raised in the Yakima Valley in Washington State on a concord grape and asparagus farm. She did my share of farm work growing up and attributes most of her good work habits from working with her dad. However, life on the farm was hard work and she has no romantic notions of farm life whatsoever. Carol loves to explore the [...]Reflections from the DCG Client Appreciation Event
Feb, 03 12 Post by: DCG | No Comments
Last weekend, we gathered at the Davis Street Tavern for a new Dennison Capen Group tradition— honoring our clients, and referring friends and partners for the tremendous support they gave us in 2011 and past years.
There’s no doubt that one of the greatest things about this business is being able to make so many incredible connections as we help our clients through the various phases of the real estate process; the relationships we develop with each of you extend well [...]
5 Things You May Not Know About Karrie Ruby
Jan, 27 12 Post by: DCG | No Comments
We want to continue our series on getting to know our team at The Dennison Capen Group. This week, we’d like to introduce you to Karrie Rubie, our Transaction Coordinator:
Karrie was born in the midwest, but grew up in our very own Tualatin, Oregon. When Karrie has out-of-town visitors, she likes to take them to the classic natural beauties of our area: The Rose Gardens or out to Multnomah Falls. One thing that people might be surprised to hear about Karrie is that she likes to take cooking classes. Maybe we should be watching [...]Portland Residential Real Estate Report: December 2011
Jan, 17 12 Post by: DCG | No Comments
December brought a typical reduction in listing inventory, but significantly, it also brought us down to levels we haven’t seen in some time. We ended the year with only 5.3 months of inventory down from a high of 11.3 months in January of 2011. This represents an interesting level as a Buyer’s Market is triggered at 6 months of inventory. This technically shifts us back to a Seller’s Market, although we will need to see a sustained level below 6 [...]
What You May Not Expect Bank Lenders to Check
Jan, 17 12 Post by: DCG | No Comments
What information and pictures are you posting on your social media profiles? We’ve all heard the stories about potential employers looking through the social media profiles of interviewees and using information they gather to determine whether a person is worthy of hiring. However, did you know that bank lenders may also be scouting your online identity to determine whether you will receive a home loan?
Bankers are using social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to help determine whether a [...]
DCG Community Spotlight: Books Make It Better & Reach Out and Read
Jan, 13 12 Post by: DCG | No Comments
This year, we continue our Community Spotlight series to highlight community organizations across Portland who need our help. This week, we’re profiling Books Make It Better, a grassroots early literacy program based here in Portland.
We were first introduced to Books Make It Better through its Founder, Jen Barth, who also runs Big Small Brands, one of our service partners. When Jen shared with me a startling statistic — the ratio of children to books in low income zip codes in [...]
5 Things You May Not Know About Jeff Capen
Jan, 09 12 Post by: DCG | No Comments
Happy 2012! We hope that everyone had a fantastic 2011, and that the new year is just as great.
To start off what were are sure will be a wonderful new year, we at The Dennison Capen Group wanted to start a blog series that will help you learn a little bit more about our team. So to begin, here are 5 things that you probably didn’t know about Jeff Capen, our Buying & Listing Agent:
Jeff is not a native of the Northwest, in [...]
