This is not a Pearl District related post, this is a freedom of speech post. There is something going on in the real estate blogosphere, that really needs more attention. I won’t go into too many details of what happened, that can be found here, but in summary Vlad Zablotzkyy did a paid review of a product called e-perks. Here is his account to what happened. The comments from users of the product followed, and they had nothing but bad things to say about it. Shortly thereafter, Ben Behrouzi of e-perks sent a Cease & Desist letter. From there, the bullying began. Including ridiculous attempts to to smear Vlad’s name.
Much of the information has been published on the web, and I will help spread the links:
Bloodhound Blog
Russell Shaw at agentgenius.com and his other website.
Mary McKnight, from RSSPieces.com wrote this summary here on herReal Estate Blog
Andy Beard wrote this post and a follow up here that does a fantastic job of detailing what is happening.

The best thing we can do is to get the word out there. Spread the word. Donate to the legal defense fund.

Support Vlad Zablotskyy’s Defense Fund
Defend your own right to free speech!

I’ve updated the latest numbers for the Pearl District through May 2008. The biggest surprise to me was the drop in average sales price. It’s sitting at $504,650 for the month of May, though year to date we are averaging $609,058. Sellers are still asking quite a bit more, as the average asking price is $687,737. Anyway, check the numbers out for yourself. Don’t forget to check out the numbers on your favorite building as well. Just look at the sidebar to find your building. All the numbers should be updated by the end of the day.

Here are the absorption rates for the Pearl:

Building	Active	Pending	Sold (last 6 months)
937 Condominiums	21	4	0
The Avenue Lofts	6	3	8
Block 90 Condos	9	0	0
Bridgeport Condominiums	8	3	3
The Casey	17	2	28
Chown Pella Lofts	6	0	1
City Lofts	1	0	0
The Edge	12	1	8
The Elizabeth Lofts	8	4	9
Encore on the Park	17	1	0
Flander’s Street Lofts	2	0	1
The Gregory	3	0	6
The Henry	7	0	4
Hoyt Commons	2	2	1
Irving Street Lofts	0	0	1
Irving Street Townhomes	0	0	0
Johnson Street Townhomes	1	0	2
Lexis on the Park	13	1	5
Marshall-Wells Lofts	11	0	5
McCormick Pier Condominiums	22	5	6
The Metropolitan	25	5	18
The McKenzie Lofts	3	0	1
Modern Confectionery Lofts	1	0	0
North Park Lofts	2	1	2
Pacifica Tower	37	19	17
Park Northwest	0	0	0
Park Place Condominiums	11	2	3
Pearl Lofts	0	0	0
Pearl Townhomes	0	0	0
The Pinnacle	18	0	4
Riverscape Townhomes	12	6	3
Riverstone Condominiums	4	0	3
align=”Left”The Streetcar Lofts	9	0	3
Tanner Place	3	2	1
The Waterfront Pearl	21	9	0
Totals	312	70	143

If we divide the total sales over the last 6 months we end up with about 24 sales per month. (We do this to even out the seasonality of the market). So 312 active listings at 24 sales per month equals about 13 months of inventory for the Pearl District. That means we would run out of places to sell in just over a year, if no other homes came on the market. To put it in perspective, less than 6 months is considered a sellers market. Over six months is a buyer’s market.

Remember, these numbers were pulled from the RMLS on June 4th 2008 and are deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

The Waterfront Pearl

1200 NW Naito Parkway

The Waterfront Pearl Real Estate Statistics

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Tanner Place

1030 NW Johnson Street

Tanner Place Real Estate Statistics

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The Streetcar Lofts

1030 NW 12th Ave

The Streetcar Lofts Real Estate Statistics

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