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Staying Grounded In Difficult Times

It's hard to find words to capture the disruption and sense of anxiety we're all experiencing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this edition of my occasional newsletter series, I touch upon how I'm seeking stability and trying to remain grounded, how local real estate brokers are adjusting, how the housing market is reacting, ways you can use the time to make some overdue home improvements, or to simply connect to the natural world nearby to reduce stress and anxiety.

While the world is changing hourly, always seemingly for the worse, there is beauty all around us. This is especially so in Portland in these early days of spring. Trees and plants are blossoming in ridiculous colors, bulbs are pushing up through the awakening soil, birds are returning with their familiar calls. And the days are getting longer and warmer. To think of these things as small miracles wouldn’t be too far from the truth. The natural world provides us with opportunities for reflection, a deep breath, and a pause in our (new) routines.

Practicing gratitude also grounds me, and I’ve been doing my extra-best these days to take nothing for granted. I know that I’m very fortunate to have my health and a safe home, and food in the pantry. I’m also grateful that I make my living helping others through the process of finding their home, their sanctuary, their private space in the world. This appreciation was brought to me recently, in a text I received from a client that struck me deeply, and filled my heart with joy:

“We were just having a moment about how we feel so safe and grateful to have such a wonderful and private house right now. We are so thankful for the role you had in helping us find this home.”

I hope that this crisis – as terrible as it is in so many ways – can help us all recognize the gifts we have, alone and together, in the natural world and as a society.

Wishing you and your loved ones health and joy during these difficult times.

You're receiving this because you're part of my Portland network - people I'm grateful to know personally, professionally and otherwise. Please enjoy this issue, and I hope to see you soon!

Our New Market Now

Let’s get right to the point: we’re collectively facing what the United Nations Secretary General has called the biggest global threat since World War II. Indeed, not since 2008 has there been a greater disruption to the real estate industry — or life in general — as the coronavirus pandemic has arrived in full force to the United States. The speed and scope of the changes have been mind-boggling, and makes one wonder whether the past four weeks of quarantine have actually been four years.

Read more about my early spring 2020 market update HERE.

Adapting To A New 'How' In Real Estate

Real estate sits at an interesting crossroads between being deemed an essential service and one that’s adapting its intensely personal, local and location-based process. Of course, buying and selling homes is important and essential, and for some the timing is specific and unavoidable — while for others it’s something that can be put on hold until things settle into a more comfortable reality. Indeed, the decision whether to enter the market now as a buyer or seller is a more complex decision than ever before.

While I always start by asking my clients about their ‘Why’ — and those reasons tend to be deeply-held, resilient and long-term focused — the reality of coronavirus has changed the context and process of ‘How’ (and even ‘When’) we can realize those goals together.

Read more HERE about how local brokers are adjusting to the new COVID reality.

*Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Ways To Stay Connected To Nature At Home

A friend of mine, Zoe Kaplan – a Portland-based counselor and certified forest therapist – was recently featured by the Oregonian in two articles in which she offered some perspective and professional insights about the complex emotions we’re feeling at this time. She explains how much good can be accomplished inside our brains and hearts by becoming more attentive and connected to the natural world right nearby. She says, “[t]he way we think about our engagement with the natural world is being challenged right now. There’s a natural grief response to that. It’s not the same satisfaction we’re accustomed to. But there’s a different quality of experience that we can have now, and one that might actually better suit the challenges of stress and the anxieties people are having.”

Click HERE for Ten Ways To Stay Connected To Nature At Home.

New Golden Age for DIY Home Improvements

Are we entering a golden age of DIY home improvement, home organization, and yard and garden projects due to our new realities of working, eating, entertaining and staying at home 24/7? With so much time being spent in the same place, we’re seeing an increased desire in assessing and improving all aspects of our physical spaces. Of course our homes provide safety and shelter, but they also provide us with comfort and inspiration, and can be the perfect canvas to express our unique life experiences and tastes.

Click HERE to read more about some low-cost and rewarding DIY project ideas.

Click HERE to download the 2020 Cost vs. Value chart for higher-end projects

The Winning Contingent

In an ideal world, our homes are our source of stability, our base of operations, and the nerve center from which our lives proceed and evolve and change. So it’s not uncommon that when those life changes require a new home that better fits those changing needs, the question arises: how do I purchase a new home if I need the net proceeds from the sale of my existing home in order to purchase a new home? That's when a contingent offer comes into play.

Read more HERE how a contingent offer could work for you.

*Photo by Natalia Y on Unsplash

Pandemics As Portals

"Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.

We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it." -- Arundhati Roy, April 3, 2020

My Brand + New Website: HousewellPDX

You may have noticed the name HousewellPDX showing up with my content over the past several months. It's not only the name of my LLC, but it's also my brand -- a way to establish and promote my values in the competitive world of real estate.

Simply put, I strive every single day to deliver exceptional, personal service that's built on trust. To build and strengthen that trust, I lead with an unwavering commitment to integrity, transparency and discretion.