Jason H. Gomes

This seems like it should be easy but it's not, you actually have to file a formal appeal with the county tax assessor's office, if the difference is completely obvious, they will have the appraiser sent out to re-evaluate your taxes.
The problem ~ The taxed assessed values are not actually determined Year to Year, but rather increase according to a predetermined schedule. Go to the county office and tell them you would like to contest the taxable amount of your home, they should be able to point you in the right direction.

Jason H. Gomes
Prudential NW Properties
cell: 503.608.8785
DesK: 503.350.7378 - Fri Jun 5 2009, 11:33

This is a tough question, I have dealt with the problem with some of my listings, People come through they like the house, the yard, it's clean well kept, but no offers. What I would recommend to your listing agent that you get a new RMLS number. You can do this by canceling the listing, and signing a new listing contract (you can even keep the same expiration date as before) this will re-input it into the system, so everyone that has a property alert will see it as a new listing. This may be able to help you boost the number of showings. When you're staging the home make sure you remove as much of the "personal stuff" as possible, anything that you don't use on a daily basis needs to be put away. Toasters, clean the outside, & top of the fridge, anything that sticks off the wall more then a picture frame should come down, (it makes rooms feel smaller.) Some times it's just a matter of waiting for the right person. I can't say that it's your agents fault that it hasn't sold, do they keep you up to date on what's going on in the neighborhood?

If you want I can set you up on a Property Investment Profile, it shows you active, pending & sold homes, that are specific to your home. This give you an idea of average time on marketing, listing price to sales price, and other market trends that apply specifically to your home. It's free of charge, just send me an e-mail and ask: Jgomes@pruwn.com; or you can go to my website and fill out a request.

Jason H. Gomes
Prudential NW Properties
Greater Portland Area
Cell: 503.608.8785
Desk: 503.350.7378 - Fri Jun 5 2009, 11:28

This is tough, the bank has their own people. Normally I would suggest putting together a proposal for why you're offering at a certain price, they banks will not even receive that info (because they have predetermined paperwork that goes in a file). Call the listing agent make sure there are not any other offers on the table before you submit yours. From my experience anything lower then about 5% below asking price is rejected. You can try to push this a little bit.
I would say the lowest that you would be able to go (and be taken seriously) would be about $350k. You have two options submit an offer lower then that, and hope it's not rejected out right (sometimes they will simply ignore it) or wait for them to re-evaluate the price. If you really like the house, submit an offer, even if it's low. You don't ask you don't get.

Jason H. Gomes
Prudential NW Properties
Greater Portland Area
Cell: 503.608.8785
Desk: 503.350.7378 - Fri Jun 5 2009, 11:17