PortlandMetroLive.com

The charmed history of the first  condominium project to rise in the South Waterfront district—the  Meriwether—is entering an unpleasant chapter. The Meriwether  Homeowners Association has sued Gerding Edlen Development Company and  its partners, seeking $5.2 million for various “defects, resultant leaks and property damages.” Gerding Edlen CEO Mark Edlen says the allegations in the lawsuit …

With signs of a housing recovery just beginning to materialize, one thing has economists and real estate professionals looking over their shoulders: a massive backlog of foreclosed properties. All those foreclosures hitting the market at once could send home values plummeting. Don’t sell enough of them, on the other hand, and they could be a …

A low appraisal can prevent you from buying or selling a home at the price you have negotiated. Here’s what you can do about it. In the volatile real-estate market of the past several years, prospective homebuyers and refinancers have encountered the same frustrating obstacle: a low appraisal. Appraisal complaints have risen in recent years, …

Home prices eroded further in February both locally and nationally, hitting their lowest point since the housing bubble burst in 2007. The Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday showed a 0.8 percent decline in U.S. prices in February, the sixth month in a row prices have dropped. In the Portland area, prices …

Housing counselors can be a key ally for families in danger of losing their homes and are a key component of the state’s plan to address the foreclosure crisis. But if you want to see one in the Portland area, get in line. You’re likely to wait weeks to get an appointment, and the situation …

Sales of U.S. new homes fell for a third straight month in February. But prices surged to their highest level in eight months, suggesting builders anticipate more demand in the months ahead. The Commerce Department says new-home sales fell 1.6 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 313,000 homes. Sales have fallen …

Portland-area home prices made a relatively strong showing in February, and the volume of sales continued to climb. The median sale price — the middle sale price, with half of sales falling above and half falling below — was $211,000 in February, according to the Regional Multiple Listing Service. That’s a 1.7 percent increase compared …

When Debbie and Scott Viegas started looking for a new home in June, they  didn’t leave a stone unturned. Foreclosures, new homes, old homes: they toured  them all. Problem was, there wasn’t much to see. With the number of Portland-area  homes on the market peaking near 12,000 last summer — and falling to 8,500 by  …

Payroll growth and a  decline in vacancy will push the Portland area into one of the country’s top  retail real estate markets for investors, the commercial real estate firm Marcus & Millichapreported Monday. In an index that covers 44 metro areas across the country, Portland rose  from No. 13 in 2011 to No. 6 in …

How rotten is the state of the U.S. housing market? A foreclosed home for every single person currently living in Denmark still wouldn’t exceed the number of homes expected to be foreclosed on in the U.S. by the end of 2013, according to data from one Federal Reserve President. All told, roughly 5.6 million homes …