By Alyssa Isenstein Krueger, March 14, 2019
Ali and Jeremy marched into their search for their first home with determination and motivation. They had realistic expectations of where we would find houses in their price range, and after recently getting married after 10 years together, they were eager to start the next phase of their lives. After we met and they got their pre-approval, they set their eyes on the prize. The first step was checking out a few homes at open houses, and then we went and looked at about 5 homes that could nicely be called dregs. While visiting each house, Jeremy would ask Ali what she liked about the house and what she didn’t. Ali is a bright side sider and she was always able to find something about each house that she liked. By the end of our tour, I had a pretty good feeling for what Ali was looking for. The fact that she was even willing to consider a couple of these homes (like the one that had cigarette burns all through the carpeted house, or the one that had two sets of front doors, but no rear or side doors, or that one with the creepy gun room in the basement), told me that her standards were pretty low. After that day I think they felt resigned to the fact that all the homes under $350k with a good sized yard for Moira and Hubble- their shepherd mix pups- and enough bedrooms and space to start a family in, would be less than ideal.
Within a week, a cute up-dated mid-century with beautiful hardwood floors, a roman brick fireplace, a big open kitchen/dining room and 4 bedrooms and 2 baths, plus a giant fenced yard, came on the market in Powellhurst Gilbert. I met Jeremy at the house the evening it was listed. We walked in and after seeing all the duds, Jeremy seemed genuinely shocked that here was a house in their price range that was pretty perfect for them. Having seen and heard Ali’s take on the yuck houses, I knew she would love this house. I called the agent to check to see when the sellers would be reviewing offers, and she said her sellers would be ready to review any and all offers in the next 48 hours. Ali is a nurse and her schedule was such that she was working 12 hour days the next few days and wouldn’t have a chance to see the house before offers were presented to the sellers. So Jeremy made the executive decision to put an offer in on the house because if Ali was willing to settle for any of the other houses we saw, this home would seem like a golden palace to her. We wrote up the offer, and not unsurprisingly the house received 3 offers. Jeremy and Ali’s offer was the first in, and they wrote a few hairs over asking and included a small escalation clause. Thankfully the sellers liked their offer the best, and when their escalation clause kicked in, they only escalated $2k over their original offer price.
Upon arriving at the house for the home inspection and Ali’s first time seeing the house in person,we were greeted with a bashed in garage door off the back of the house, and two dozen egg shells from recent cooked eggs in the kitchen and some scrambled egg crumbs on the floor, a weird mystery solution in a bottle and an ominous knife. It’s always creepy to walk into a home that has been broken into, but thankfully with the exception of the back door, whoever decided to cook eggs (so. many. eggs.) left the house unscathed. I notified the listing agent and she had someone come out to bolt the door shut until it could be replaced, and we left making sure all locks were locked. After the home inspection Ali and I were poking around in the back yard and we found a few storage tubs, one of which was open and practically filled with egg shells, and 2 closed storage tubs. Since Ali is a nurse, nothing phases her, and I’m pretty hard to shock, so we carefully opened up the lids to the bins expecting to find something terrible, but they were just full of fresh food. (and more eggs- uncooked).
The house remained secure for the rest of the transaction, and after 30 days, we closed on time. And now Hubble and Moira have a pretty sweet large fenced in yard to run around in and Ali and Jeremy have a pretty sweet house to start their family in.
Alyssa Isenstein Krueger
Broker | OR
She/Her
I am living the dream. Working as a real estate broker in my home town brings this native Portland gal joy beyond measure.
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I took the round-about-road towards this career. After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College in NY two decades ago with a degree in liberal arts/creative writing, I returned to my hometown of PDX and got a job in a legendary record store of days gone by, worked as a music and culture writer for Portland’s oldest weekly publication while pursuing a graduate degree in Urban and Regional Planning at Portland State University. Armed with my masters degree, I moved into the realm of affordable housing, community development, and urban planning, and then rounded the corner with a long stay in arts management then back around the bend when I got my real estate license and went to work for a non-profit housing builder at the cusp of the market crash in 2007.
In the time between that market crash and the ensuing madness, I’ve stayed on top of the market like a dog guarding a bone. Using a magical combination of experience, instinct, and market data, I know what homes are worth, I know how to write a terrific offer, and I know how to help a seller market a home and receive and accept a great offer.
Mutual trust and tender relationship building is the basis and foundation of my real estate practice. I use my skills as an active listener, creative solution finder and ace negotiator to get my clients the best price on a home, win the multiple offer roulette, and have as smooth and easy transaction as possible. Timely and responsive communication is the most important aspect of building trust and I don’t take that part lightly. I am a stickler for details and nothing pleases me more than guiding a client through the home buying or selling process (and sometimes both at the same time). My role is one of advocate, advisor, partner, transaction organizer, and counselor. I am a partner broker with Portland Housing Center and relish the opportunity to work with eager first time home buyers.
I have a knack for seeing the potential in almost any home and love to help clients see past what is and help them envision what can be. I have a decade of first-hand experience renovating and caressing my bungalow in Ladd’s Addition and had the honor of having my own home featured in a story in the Oregonian’s Homes and Gardens section. I can feel the love for any and almost all homes, but my heart goes all aflutter when entering a museum quality time capsule house -- the solid mid-century ones with the original pink or green tiled bathrooms, those charming early 1900’s farmhouses with the original kitchen cabinets and fir countertops, the cozy bungalows with the built-ins still intact.
When I’m not working with clients, you’ll find me hanging with my two boys, Kalman and Saul, and my husband Robert, a Fine Art Conservator with his own business, Cascadia Art Conservation Center. Retired racing greyhounds have been my constant companions since 1997, and our family includes Peanut the greyhound, Pinto the South Korean Italian greyhound, our 2 cats Spaghetti and Will, and our chickens, Rosie, Lil' Peck, Penelope and Nugget.
I am an obsessive gardener/plant fiend and love that we live in a climate where I can grow eucalyptus trees (I have 3 in my yard including a couple I started from seed) alongside blueberry bushes (6 in my yard). Given some free time, you’ll find me junking at an estate sale, dreaming of high brow junk, low brow art, making things, sewing, reading and dreaming of tropical locales.
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