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A ugusi 11, 1993 • T he P ori land O bserver
P age B4
JJarHanb (Observer
President Of Homebuilding to Speak
how T o Make A Winning Offer On The
Home You Really Want
Fuller a millionaire business m an by
age 29 who divested him self of his
w ealth in exchange for his health,
m arriage and integrity nearly 20 years
ago. created the successful grass roots
fhe dynam ic president of w hat
next year w ill become the nation’s
largest homebuilders w ill speak in
Portland on Fridas August 27 H abi­
tat for Humanity President M illard
McMurphy's
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organization that ’s the stufTof dreams
Portland public figures Earl Blu­
menauer and Vera Katz are actively
involved with habitat for H um anity s
Portland Affiliate (there are close to
1,000 affiliates nation wide)
Fuller will address the public,
“No More Shacks: M aking D ecent
Shelter A M atter O f Conscience And
Action ”, on the 27th of August, at
7pm at M aranatha Church near Lloy d
Center, NE Skidmore and 12th.
Habitat for Humanity, w ith other
affiliates in the W illamette Valley
and Vancouver, works to elim inate
pov erty housing worldw ide by build­
ing in partnership w ith homeowners,
requiring each family to invest a set
num ber of "sweat equity” hours into
their new home, the nonprofit group
is best known for the support it has
g a rn e re d from form er P re sid en t
Jimmy Carter, the Clintons, the Gores,
Corretta Scott King, as well as for the
quality o f their homes, w hich filled
headlines when 27 Habitat houses in
the greater Miami area stood up to
H urricane Andrew while the rest of
the area homes crumbled.
E ach H abitat project enables
people from diverse cultural, eco­
nomic and religious backgrounds to
work together toward a com m on goal
W ith P ortland's increasing gang ac­
tivity and tensions on m ultiple politi­
cal fronts, no other Portland avenue
offers as great an opportunity for real,
constructivecommumtv advancement
free o f political and cultural debate
J J Flowers &. (lifts
itt/n/ner < iìiecfaciua/1
E V E R Y T H
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by Steve Carter
O ffering to much or too little
money for a hom e can be one o f the
many pitfalls involved in the home
buying process Obviously, offering
too m uch money can be costly but if
the offer is unrealistically low, the
negotiations can be stym ied by an
insulted seller who may refuse future
counter offers.
W ith help from a real estate sales
associate and a little com m on sense,
however, a hom e buyer should be able
to m ake a reasonable offer A good
first step is to com pare the seller's
asking price w ith the prices actually
paid for sim ilar hom es in the same
area w ithin the past year. U sing local
M ultiple L isting Serv ice (M LS) data,
a real estate agent can prov ide a list of
selling prices for sim ilar homes and
help m ake com parisons Researching
selling prices o f sim ilar hom e usually
prov ides a figure w hich can be used as
a starting point for the negotiation
process. Some hom es may not com ­
pare with others in the area. In this
case, the buyer could have the value of
the hom e professionally appraised
There is always the risk, however,
that another buyer could make an
offer an d purchase the home before
an appraisal is com pleted
T h e a c tu a l o ffe r sh o u ld be
m ade in w riting and accom panied
by a deposit, or "earnest money”
T he w ritten offer should be drafted
w ith your real estate ag en t, and
because it is a legally binding docu­
m ent, you may choose to have it
reviewed by a lawyer. It should also
contain a tim e lim it for the seller to
accept, reject or negotiate your offer
on the property, by subm itting a de­
posit check w ith the w ritten offer, the
buyer dem onstrates that he or she is
serious about purchasing the home. A
deposit o f three to five percent of the
j
buy er s offer is norm al, but a larger
deposit may be more encouraging to
the seller In a situation where two
buy ers m ake the same offer, the seller
w ill often select the buyer with bigger
deposit
I n certai n areas, the deposit check
should be pay able to an escrow com ­
pany This is usually done sop the
earnest money can be immediately
returned to the buyer if the seller
rejects the offer The earnest money
can som etim es be turned over to the
seller, however, if an offer is accepted
and the buyer later defaults on the
purchase
M aking a w ell-researched offer
and applyi ng a reasonable am ount of
earnest money best dem onstrates a
buyer's serious interesi and encour­
ages the seller. These are the best
steps a buyer can take towards suc­
cessful negotiations in the home buy­
ing process.
Six Reclaimed Homes Available
Six hom es in Portland neighbor­
hoods will be offered to low er-incom e
residents at the upcom ing Homestead
O pen House on Sunday, A ugust 15,
1993, from 1:00 to 4:00 p m. The
Portland Developm ent Com m ission
adm inisters the H om estead Program,
w hich prov ides hom e ow nership op­
portunities to those who otherw ise
m ight not be able to afford their own
home. T he program prov ides a sig­
nificant tool to help the city reclaim
vacant and abandoned housing, w hile
encouraging neighborhood preserva­
tion, revitalization and stability
T h ro u g h the H om estead P ro­
gram , PDC acquires vacant hom es in
need o f repair and transfers them to
q u alified H o m estead ers In tu rn .
H om esteaders agree to make neces­
R O S E S
sary repairs before mov ing in, accept
a low -interest PDC home repair loan
and liv e in the house for at least five
years T here is no dow n payment
involved in becom ing a Homesteader.
H om esteaders pay a one-tim e charge
for taxes an d insu ran ce o f $500
M onthly pay m ents on the hom e re­
pair and acquisition loans average
$350, including taxes and insurance
Each o f the six hom es to be of­
fered A ugust 15 will be open between
1:00 and 4:00 p in. Potential hom e­
steaders must visit each hom e i n w hich
they are interested to be considered
for ow nership. PD C will hold a ran ­
dom draw ing for each hom e and will
not ify those whose names are selected
PDC advisors w ill be at each home to
answ er questions during the open
Watch Out For
C H IL D R E N
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house T he addresses o f the hom es
being offered arc:
•
3338 S. E. 16th A ve., 2 bedroom
•
7216 N. E. R o d n ey Ave., 2 bed­
room
•
330 N. Skidm ore St., 3 bedroom
•
9509 N. E. G ertz Circle, 2 bed ­
room
•
5611 V. E 23rdA ve., 3 bedroom
•
5815 N.E. I Ith Ave., 2 bedroom
Individuals interested in being
added to the H om estead Program
m ailing list should call P D C ’s N eigh­
borhood Housing Preserv ation Office
at 823-3422 between 8:00 a m and
5.00 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The Portland Dev elopm ent Com ­
m ission is the City s agency for urban
renewal, housing and econom ic de­
velopm ent
Celebrate
Diversity
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