What's Happening

It is sitting on your kitchen counter right now, probably under a school flyer and a pizza coupon. Your Washington County property tax statement. Maybe you opened it. Maybe you looked at the big number, winced, and put it back in the envelope. And if you did read it, you may have noticed something that does not seem to add up: the county says your home is worth less than it was last year, and your tax bill still went up. That is not a mistake, and you are not the only one squ

You are standing in the primary bedroom at a Sunday open house. The light is great. The closet is bigger than you expected. And then a thought shows up that you did not invite: why is nobody living here? The furniture is gone. Or worse, all of it is still here, arranged a little too carefully. You lean over to your agent and ask, as quietly as you can, the question everybody eventually asks. "Did someone die here?" I get some version of that question every October (and, to be

The offer comes in at a price you can live with. Then you get to page two. The buyers are asking you to cover their closing costs. They would like you to pay for a rate buydown. And they are asking you to pay their agent's commission too. If you are the seller, your first reaction is probably some version of "wait, all of it?" If you are the buyer, you are probably wondering whether asking for all of it makes you look unreasonable, or whether not asking leaves money on the ta

Your parents' house has forty years in it and nobody handed you a plan. Where to start, what order to do it in, the three questions to take to a CPA, and where to find real help in Washington County.

You painted the whole main floor Agreeable Gray in 2019, back when every design account on the internet agreed that was the answer. New floors while you were at it. New light fixtures. The works. It looked great. It still looks great. And now you are scrolling past headlines telling you gray is over, wondering half seriously whether your house reads as decorated seven years ago. Fair question, and it comes up more than you would think. So let me walk through what changed, and

In July, Beaverton and Aloha had 283 new listings, 175 closed sales, and 65 listings that expired without selling. Here is what separates the two piles, and the fairly long list of things I would tell you not to spend a dollar on.

Where to send money that actually helps, why those FEMA headlines are not what you think, and the insurance and mortgage relief Oregon homeowners can use now.