By Kim Parmon, July 22, 2020
I met Lee (over the phone) just as the pandemic hit. He and his husband Jim were looking to move to Portland and they needed to find a place to live. Lee was about to start his medical residency at OHSU and was on a strict timeline. My brother is finishing up his medical residency and I know how grueling it can be (those hours are ROUGH) so I was extra motivated to find these two a home in short order.
Since Lee and Jim were on the other side of the country, I utilized virtual tours and detailed videos to show them around. I even toured the streets around some properties they were considering to give them a better sense of various neighborhoods. Finally, we found a property that jumped out: it was a great, semi-detached condo in the desirable Brooklyn neighborhood of PDX. It had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and its own yard. The catch? It was bank owned AND there was a huge special assessment (read: back HOA dues that were owed) that needed to be paid. The listing stated that the seller wasn’t interested in paying off the assessment (basically, “so don’t bother asking!”), but I thought it couldn’t hurt to try.
We submitted our first offer, which included the seller covering the assessment in full. It was denied. We tried again at a higher price. It was denied again. Frustrated, Lee decided to check out a couple of other properties but he kept being pulled back to this condo. Finally, after some heavy negotiating, we got Lee’s offer accepted! He was thrilled. The special assessment was being paid in full!
The moral of the story: it never hurts to ask! The only time you KNOW you’re going to get a “no” is if you don’t try.
Congrats on your new home, Lee and Jim!
Kim Parmon
Principal Broker | Earth Advantage Certified | OR
She/Her
Kim Parmon
Principal Broker
Lead Listing Agent
Earth Advantage Certified | OR
kim@livingroomre.com
Oregon is the fifth state that Kim has called home in her life, and this one is sticking! After moving multiple times in her childhood, Kim fully understands how empowering homeownership and having roots is. She loves waking up every day in this beautiful place and wants everyone to experience what it feels like to live in their dream home.
As a kid, Kim spent her free time wandering through open houses and exploring construction sites for the fun of it. After careers in the professional ballroom dance world, the entertainment industry, and the service industry, Kim stumbled into real estate as both a passion and a profession through the purchase of her first bungalow. After renovating it with her husband and selling it for enough of a profit to pay off their debt as well as buy a new house to live in, everything clicked: she decided to get her real estate license and help her community experience the emotional and financial benefits of homeownership.
Kim put down roots in Portland in 2015 and has cultivated a referrals-based business throughout the years. She understands that real estate is a service and the experience she gives her clients is first-rate. She works hard to anticipate needs. She is responsive, thorough, empathic, and a skilled negotiator who enjoys market analytics and strategy as much as she enjoys connecting with her clients. Her ethics and reputation are the cornerstones of her business and the happiness of her clients is the yardstick that she measures success against.
Kim merged her business with the best agents in Portland at the beginning of 2022, which has allowed her to give her clients more resources, more advocacy, and a top-notch real estate experience. She is honored to be a part of her incredible team and feels lucky to go to work every day.
In her free time, you'll find Kim enjoying lazy evenings by the fire with her husband, daughter, and rescue dogs. She loves dancing, live music, exploring all of the beautiful places around us in the PNW, enjoying a cider and a good meal with friends, and browsing Powell's for a great new book.
Andee Ziegler
Licensed Listing Team Operations Manager
andee@livingroomre.com
Loving where you live will change your life. Everyone deserves that joy. For me, real estate has been a way of nurturing my community and doing what I can to help people find stability, grow generational wealth, and create a little space of their own in the world.
For 15 years I found the most joy in helping first-time homebuyers, guiding my peers through their first major investment and dreaming up what home means for them. I’ve done restoration work on homes from a variety of eras, 1894 Victorian farmhouse to classic 1950’s ranch. I enjoy empowering new homeowners with the knowledge I’ve garnered over the years, from systems to finishes.
In 2022 I joined forces with some of the best realtors in the biz and shifted my focus to operation management for listings. This welcome change opened up space in my life: more cake, less pants.
Andee Zeigler | Licensed Listing Team Operations Manager | andee@livingroomre.com
Jessica LeDoux | Lead Buyer Agent | Broker Licensed in Oregon | jessica@livingroomre.com
Karim Alaeddine | Operations | Principal Broker Licensed in Oregon | karim@livingroomre.com
Jenessa VanZutphen | Buyer Operations Manager | Licensed in Oregon | jenessa@livingroomre.com
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- kim@livingroomre.com
