There were 25 results and one without the HOA dues listed so based on 24 properties that averaged 997 SQFT, the average HOA dues were $333 per month.  The average HOA cost/SQFT is $.33 and the average $335/SQFT.  At least in this case, we can take the first two numbers of the price/SQFT and get the HOA cost.  I ran a second RMLS search around 1300 feet: average HOA dues: $.33/SQFT.  There is a spread of $350-$475 per month at the 1300 SQFT range.

One thing to consider is that no two HOAs charge for the same thing or have the same costs.  Within the search results, I cannot list what each HOA includes automatically in its charges which will make it a bigger research project for another day.  There is no APR-like metric for dues like there is for financing.

Pearl District condos (59 Active):

• High Price: $2,500,000
• Low Price: $215,000
• Average Price $752,900
• Median Price: $599,900
• Average Cost Per SQFT: $548

South Waterfront condos (35 Active)

• High Price: $2,499,000
• Low Price: $189,950
• Average Price $570,879
• Median Price: $424,000
• Average Cost Per SQFT: $361

The Pearl’s current asking price per square foot is $187 higher than the South Waterfront.

Flash back to 2006.  Both areas had 12 sales recorded in RMLS of 2005 or newer construction.  The average sold $/SQFT in the Pearl was $470.  In the South Waterfront it was $451.  Nineteen dollars per square foot separated the areas.  The asking price in the Pearl District is now 116% higher than the cost per square foot in 2006.  In the South Waterfront, it is 80% of the 2006 sold price!

We can’t tell what is for sale through other sources.  The Awater Place auction has a low bid price of $169,000.  There is a reserve-not-met auction at Realtybid.com that closes today priced at $232,000 for a loft in the Elizabeth in the Pearl District.

Disclaimer: I lived in the Pearl District, in an apartment built as condos, for five months at the beginning of this year.  We have never sold to the buyer in the South Waterfront but have in the Pearl District.  I have shown property in most but not all of the buildings that fit into this search criteria.  I took the photograph in 2005 as part of a post on new construction condos,  The cranes are working on the Meriwether Towers, the first condos completed in the South Waterfront.  The second photo is the Pinnacle in the Pearl shortly before move-in.

End

1. there is no smoke billowing from the building
2. there is only one fire truck (Lovejoy’s fire merited 7)
3. there are a whole bunch of our fellow residents watching from their balconies

Sailing in the ocean, we have a “ditch bag” with the things that cannot or should not be lost in the event we end up in the life raft.  We didn’t leave the condo with any such thing, Jenny didn’t even put shoes on.  Hiking down the stairs I started thinking about a theortical ditch bag for real estate.

Most of our important documents are in the safe deposit box at Wells Fargo but some of the most recently used documents are locked up here.  Nothing irreplacble but not easy.  I didn’t pick up my camera (iPhone used for one above).  Most of our pictures are digital but most are not stored online.  They are backed up but most of the backups are here.  Both laptops remained in the condo.  We had keys to one of two cars (but since both are parked in the basement it might not have been useful).

Ultimately if the building had burned to the ground and we were standing out there in boxer shorts it wouldn’t matter if everyone was safe but it does give one pause to consider certain things and exit routes.  We had no way of knowing if it was serious our not from our vantage point so had to assume it was.

Coming up with fresh topics isn’t always easy so I think it’s worth discussing regardless whether it is a perception or reality.  We are currently renting in a recently constructed building in the Pearl (why).  I like living here but it is currently a temporary situation and I can’t say at this point whether I would want it to be “permanent”.

The Pearl District started its shift from mostly industrial to mostly residential and business supporting the residential in the mid 90s.  My belief is that Chown Pella was one of the first residential spaces and that the building is on SHPO’s Special Assessment program which froze the tax assessed value for 15 years.  A partial list of other buildings specially assessed includes The Avenue, The Edge, and Marshal Wells.  The annual tax bills in these buildings should be under $1000 for the most part during the program.  The program does not apply to new construction buildings.  The incentive is for historic buildings.

I like the accessibility.  We walk to Safeway, the Rose Garden and other services that we used to drive to.  When we do drive, I’m not  fan of winding up three floors of parking garage to reach the street.  Paying a meter or risking a ticket to run back inside (after unstrapping and therefore schlepping the toddler) because you forgot something is a pain.  A large percentage of the population commutes without a car (obviously that’s not exclusive to the Pearl but the location makes that easier).

Clearly times have changed.  RMLS says that there are 348 “condos” listed for sale in the 97209 zip code.  Apartments were converted to condos (Lexis).  The Wyatt reversed that trend when the developer couldn’t sell the units.  Like the Louisa, there aren’t a lot of available units as rentals.  The Asa, built as apartments, also claims to be doing well.  The Sitka and 10th and Hoyt are two additional rental buildings, along with private party condo rentals, in the Pearl.  I don’t know how the Encore and 937 are doing selling their newly constructed units.  The concept for these buildings probably occurred three to five years ago.b

Construction plans for Fields Park are firming up.  When the plans for Centennial Mills and the train crossing modifications are approved (eliminating the need for horns), construction of the first traditional park in the Pearl District will be possible (this month’s Northwest Examiner newspaper has an article).

There’s not a neighborhood in Portland (the country) that doesn’t have pros and cons.  I expect that just about everyone has a, “I would never live in XXX, ” for their own personal reasons.  The Pearl is no exception.  One man’s garbage is another man’s treasure.

We pretty much knew we wanted to live in the Pearl District. We had a budget that we wanted to stay in and frankly, we wanted it all for that budget! We wanted a view, two bedrooms, some outdoor space and parking for two cars. No matter what we did, coming from 5000 square feet was going to be an experience in closeness. There are two primary sources for rentals: the leasing offices and individuals on Craigslist (though the leasing offices post heavily on Craigslist). Over three days we whittled the list down to four units and discovered that to stay close to our budget we were not going to get it all:

1. A one bedroom with an AMAZING corner view. We couldn’t figure out a good sleeping arrangement with a two-year old. One of the features of many of the units in the area is a lack of a true door to sleeping spaces. There was no outdoor space but this was the least expensive of the options. Best view but lacking almost everywhere else.
2. The next unit had we figured our two-year-old would have the master and we would sleep in the living room. It had everything else we wanted sans the second bedroom. It too had a great downtown/Mt. Hood view.
3. The third unit was what a friend described as “a bar with a bedroom.” He had lived in the same floor plan previously. It had one true bedroom and a nook where we could have put our son. It was the largest space, had a good view and is located closer to what one would consider the center of the area.
4. We’re completely moved in to the fourth option. 1054 square feet with a Fremont Bridge north facing view (though right now I can barely see the edge of the balcony through the fog). The downtown/Hood views are more appealing to me but I’m not complaining about what we have. It has one true bedroom and a second bedroom where we have installed the baby gate and hung a curtain for our son’s room. Toddler-proofing is proving to be a challenge: the first night he walked out the front door into the hallway- he couldn’t open the exterior doors at our house. Child-proofing is a topic unto itself though.

We did push our budget a little but negotiated to get ourselves into a unit that we really like and will be happy in for close to what we wanted to pay. What it really boiled down to was the addition of a toddler; we couldn’t make a one bedroom work and the two bedrooms units in our budget gave up some of the features that we wanted. Two of us and the dog could have done any of these units or even something smaller and we would have liked to have saved some money but we decided that even in a temporary six month situation we weren’t going to be happy. If Jenny had written this, there was a fifth option. It had two sleeping areas with no doors. She’s heavy sleeper. It never would have worked for me.

The leasing office behaved as I believe it should have. They didn’t show us the unit when we first came in because it was out of the price range that we’d given. When we started asking, this unit came up as a possibility. I’ve always felt that it is the client’s duty to push the price range, not the Realtor.

We’re now living in 1054 square feet plus a balcony in the Pearl District; one happy family including a two-year-old toddler and Tasman, the 60 pound, nine-year-old, Australian cattle dog (red/blue heeler). We just spent our second night here and turn the keys over to our house at the end of the week. Our goal is not to have to go back and disturb the tenants for things we can’t live without. The move has been a much bigger chore than either of us expected. I think that’s partially due to the downsizing; picking what you think you’ll need but leaving everything else behind. We can’t just box it all up and figure it all out later. Though not a real estate transaction, the experience parallels it in an expedited manner. By the end of the two week Friday-Friday period we will have:

• Offered the opportunity
• Decided to move
• Researched condos and apartments
• Negotiated two contracts
• Decluttered as if we were listing for sale
• Bought and sold some stuff on Craigslist
• Packed
• Moved
• Assembled some Ikea furniture
• Completed (with help) a long list of “house projects” that as the owner you see every day but ignore with mild disdain. Every project we’ve done would also have needed doing if we were listing for sale.

I’ll be writing more details about what we’ve experienced with each topic above in the future along with the usual market reports and commentary. There will be a new Case Shiller report out tomorrow. I expect that the report will not be glowing and that market reports that reflect the Arctic Blast and holiday slowdown will be especially brutal. Antidotally, we’ve seen more client activity in the last three weeks of January than we saw in the last six weeks prior to that. That could mean anything in the long run but keeps us busy today.

Tickets Monday-Thursday are $10 and $15 for Friday-Sunday. Tickets are available at Powell’s, Whole Foods, Umpqua Bank and other retailiers throughtout the Pearl. Tickets can also be bought online.

Expect a sellout and SmartPark will provide three hours of parking with your event ticket.