Sara Goodwin's Blog

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Real Estate Appraiser - Estimation Nation Corporation
RECENT BLOG POSTS
  It's a sad sign of the times.  I wonder if this Realtor feels the watchful eyes of the neighbors on him as I do when I go to appraise a foreclosed home.  Does anyone else feel the pain of the new experiences in their RE jobs these days?  We (RE pros) all are often blamed for creating 'this mess...
10/19/2008
Portland Oregon was rather late to grasp the idea of condos. It wasn't until the mid 1990s when some developers started reviving the old downtown warehouses into upscale condominiums that people started to eat up the idea of the urban life style.  And then their popularity sky-rocketed.  Around t...
10/11/2008
With the fall of creative financing and option of home buying becoming less available to a larger piece of our demographic, some people are clinging to the idea of co-housing or shared living communities.  One such community is happing just down the street.  The Daybreak Cohousing Community has ‘...
10/11/2008
I've read and listened to a lot of information about how the US got into an economic/housing crisis.  Ira Glass has given the best presentation that I've heard. You can listen to the 30 minute show here.  This American Life always has interesting shows, so don't stop listening with this one.
09/30/2008
  It was nearly two years ago that I happened across a little real estate blog site called Active Rain.  I was immediately hooked, but there was not an appraiser's forum to be found at the time and so I thought it might be fun to start one of my own.  I see that this post (if I hurry and type it ...
09/15/2008
Oregon has a surprising new ballot measure coming up this November.... voters will be asked whether or not permits from the city should be necessary for projects at or less than $35,000 in cost.  This includes electrical and plumbing (!!!).  I realize that this may sound hypocritical after writin...
09/15/2008
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The picture below is an appraiser's rule breaker.  Can you guess why?    Give up? (scroll down) ...         In the reflection of the window is a baby in a swing.  Persons of any kind are not to be in the appraisal report unless it is absolutely unavoidable (ie: you have to submit a street shot of...
09/09/2008
A local appraiser finds out that a manager of an appraisal company had stolen her appraiser identity 'some years ago' and wrote multiple reports under her name.  It was not until a lender contacted the appraiser to do an update appraisal that the appraiser pieced together what was going on. I wou...
08/31/2008
AVM stands for Automated Valuation Module.  The most popular AVM open to the public today is Zillow.  Two other AVMs are Trulia and Cyberhomes.  I marvel at these AVMs, I really do.  They have these amazing algorithms that are constantly being improved upon.  But I start grimacing is when the ge...
08/27/2008
                             It's a lazy Sunday.  I get a call from a friend.  She has an extra ticket to go see the final Summer Concert at the Oregon Zoo for 2008.  Who's playing?  Doesn't matter. I'm in. The summer zoo concerts go back to my childhood.  It was the one event the entire family p...
08/25/2008
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Sara Goodwin

Portland, Oregon Appraiser
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