Portland Real Estate Consulting, Inc. /Melissayoung

Portland Real Estate Consulting, Inc. /Melissayoung PORTLAND REAL ESTATE CONSULTING For Client Reviews visit:
http://www.zillow.com/profile/M-Young/

A Beaverton buyer almost walked away from a resale home last year because she assumed new construction meant fewer surpr...
09/25/2026

A Beaverton buyer almost walked away from a resale home last year because she assumed new construction meant fewer surprises. Six months after her neighbors moved into a brand-new build down the street, that household had already filed three warranty claims.

New construction and resale each have real advantages. The trick is knowing which trade-offs actually fit your life.

🏡 New construction wins when you want:
- Modern floor plans, current energy codes, and finishes you picked yourself
- A builder warranty covering major systems for the first year (and structural for longer)
- No one else's renovation decisions to undo
- Flexibility to wait 6 to 12 months for your home to be built

📍 Resale wins when you want:
- An established neighborhood with mature trees, sidewalks, and known schools
- More square footage per dollar, especially in Southeast Portland and parts of Hillsboro
- A faster closing, often 30 to 45 days
- Room to negotiate on price, repairs, and closing costs

One quiet truth about new builds in the Portland metro: the builder's preferred lender and title company are not always your best deal, and the standard contract favors the builder. A resale purchase gives you more leverage on inspection findings and pricing, but you inherit whatever the last owner did (or did not) maintain.

Neither option is universally better. It comes down to timeline, neighborhood, and how much control you want over the details.

Weighing a new build in North Bethany against a resale in Sellwood or Cedar Mill? Send us a message and we will walk through the numbers and the fine print with you.

Most people don't realize Oregon's property tax system works fundamentally differently than they expect. Your assessed v...
09/25/2026

Most people don't realize Oregon's property tax system works fundamentally differently than they expect. Your assessed value, which is what actually determines your tax bill, can only climb 3% annually even when the market doubles or triples. In Portland especially, where prices have moved far faster than that over the past two decades, long-time owners can be paying a fraction of what their neighbors just paid for similar homes. Understanding this gap matters whether you're buying, selling, or just planning ahead in Portland.

09/25/2026

Schedule a buyer consultation with us to get your questions answered and discuss your options.

If you're a homeowner here in Portland, radon testing isn't something to put off. Northeast Portland and much of the are...
09/24/2026

If you're a homeowner here in Portland, radon testing isn't something to put off. Northeast Portland and much of the area sits in a higher risk zone than most of the country, with one in four homes testing above the EPA's action level. You can't see it or smell it, but it accumulates in basements and crawl spaces where families actually spend time, making it worth understanding for any property you own or are considering. A simple test now can catch something that matters for your family's health long term.

A retired couple relocating to Beaverton almost bought in the wrong zip code last spring. The house checked every box on...
09/23/2026

A retired couple relocating to Beaverton almost bought in the wrong zip code last spring. The house checked every box on paper. The neighborhood didn't match a single thing about how they actually wanted to spend their week.

Most Portland metro buyers search by price and bedroom count, then try to reverse-engineer the neighborhood. That sequence is backwards, and it costs weeks of second-guessing.

Here's the order that actually works:

📍 Step 1: Map your daily life first. Where do you work, walk, shop, and unwind? Beaverton, Hillsboro, and Southeast Portland pull very different lifestyles.

🚗 Step 2: Test the commute and the community. Drive it on a Tuesday morning and a Saturday afternoon. Walk a 10-minute radius. Being there tells you what Zillow can't.

🏡 Step 3: Match your shortlist to your budget. Sometimes Tigard or Clackamas gives you 90% of your first-choice neighborhood at a meaningfully lower price.

The right neighborhood at the wrong price is still a better starting point than the wrong neighborhood at a great price. Thinking about a move somewhere in the Portland metro? Send us a message and we'll help you build the shortlist before you open a single listing.

Brian Malarkey's back in Portland, and The Malarkey in the Pearl is the kind of restaurant that changes how you think ab...
09/23/2026

Brian Malarkey's back in Portland, and The Malarkey in the Pearl is the kind of restaurant that changes how you think about a neighborhood. The space itself is a journey, ten thousand square feet of theatrical design that moves from a psychedelic forest to intimate rooms, including one dedicated to aviator Hazel Ying Lee. Wood-fired steaks, whole fish, and a raw bar built on what the team sources locally make every meal feel rooted in the Pacific Northwest. If you're in or around the Pearl, this one's worth your time.

Nob Hill is telling a different story right now. Values are down 2.5% over the past year, inventory is climbing, and hom...
09/22/2026

Nob Hill is telling a different story right now. Values are down 2.5% over the past year, inventory is climbing, and homes are sitting longer at an average of 74 days on market. For buyers who've been waiting for their moment in one of Portland's most established neighborhoods, conditions have shifted noticeably in your favor. Nob Hill / Northwest District.

Broadway Books has been a Northeast Portland cornerstone since two friends decided to leave publishing and build somethi...
09/21/2026

Broadway Books has been a Northeast Portland cornerstone since two friends decided to leave publishing and build something of their own back in 1992. What started with borrowed money and a shared vision became a woman-owned space where the staff knows regulars by name and the shelves feel like they were curated by people who actually love books. Michelle Obama chose this spot for her memoir event, but honestly the real magic is in how it welcomes everyone, from the thoughtfully stocked kids section to the author events that keep the community coming back. 1714 NE Broadway.

Three showings in two weeks. Zero offers. Then we opened our own listing on a phone and understood why.The kitchen we lo...
09/21/2026

Three showings in two weeks. Zero offers. Then we opened our own listing on a phone and understood why.

The kitchen we loved in person looked dark and cramped in the photos. There was no video tour, so out-of-state buyers scrolled right past. And we had listed the house vacant, which made every room feel smaller and colder than it actually was.

Here is what we got wrong, and what fixed it:

📸 Phone photos instead of professional ones. Over 90% of Portland buyers start online. Your listing photos are your first showing.

🎥 Skipping the video tour. Relocating buyers, and plenty of local ones, will not book a Saturday walkthrough for a home they cannot preview from their couch on a Tuesday night.

🏡 Listing before staging. Empty rooms photograph small. Once we staged the main living spaces, we had more showings in the first week than in the previous three combined.

Most buyers form an opinion about your home before they ever pull into the driveway. If you are thinking about selling in the Portland metro this year, send us a message and we will walk you through the prep sequence for your neighborhood.

Same commute time. Two completely different lives.That is the honest tradeoff most Portland metro buyers face when they'...
09/21/2026

Same commute time. Two completely different lives.

That is the honest tradeoff most Portland metro buyers face when they're weighing a bungalow off Division Street against a four-bedroom in Beaverton. Both are 20 minutes from downtown on a good day. What changes is everything else.

🏙 Portland pulls buyers who want walkability. Coffee on the corner, dinner without driving, front porches close enough to know your neighbors' dogs by name. Homes are older, lots are smaller, and the character is the whole point.

🌳 Beaverton pulls buyers who want breathing room. Bigger yards, quieter streets, and access to some of the top-rated schools in the state. You trade the walk-to-brunch lifestyle for a two-car garage and a cul-de-sac.

Neither is better. They solve different problems. The buyers who regret their move usually chose the house first and the lifestyle second.

So we'll ask the question: Portland or Beaverton? Drop your pick in the comments and tell us why. If you're still deciding, send us a message and we'll walk you through what your day-to-day actually looks like in each.

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Portland, OR

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+15035773371

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