WHAT IF YOU SAW A SIGN: NO CALIFORNIANS WELCOME?

Question

Hey BP,

First off, I love California, great place to visit(I've done so several times and will do so again) and although its expensive as ever, I'm sure just as great of a place to live.

I was trying to find a Subject title that wasn't offensive yet grabbed attention(click the link below to see why). I'll just jot down some keywords later.

So I just thought that this was an interesting article as it seems people are really curving, sharp U turning or rather Pulling No Punches with their marketing appeal to sell their houses. Tasteful or not it seems to be working in some cases.

http://www.realtor.com/news/trends/oregon-resident...

What are your thoughts on it? How far is too far? Do you have any 'out of the box' or perhaps somewhat drastic measure styled marketing tactics to sell your properties? If so, what percentage of the time does it work, if at all? Please share them even if its something that you've considered but haven't yet tested. All niches welcomed, agents too. :-)

Disclaimer: This thread is in no way meant to be offensive nor is it encouraging such activities. It does aim to trigger thinking outside of the box in regards to marketing tactics (for buying as well as selling property) in addition to induce a smile or two.

A few related keywords:  Portland selling - Oregon selling - California -

Kudos,

Mary

Tyson Cross · Answer

Those stickers are hilarious to me. They blame Californians only for driving up the cost of housing. However, they fail to realize the main problem of the increase in home prices is due to the constraints on the urban land sprawl and the lack of inventory. Yes, there are more and more people moving into Oregon. It is the number 1 state for in-migration for the 2nd year in a row. These are not just Californians, but people from all over. The quality of life: access to outdoors, public transportation, and an increasingly well known foodie/beer/wine city is what is attracting these people. Yes, a lot of people from California are moving here to take advantage of what Portland has to offer and/or to break free of California's extreme prices. However, one of the main concerns is the lack of wage growth relative to the rent increases in Portland.

I personally moved my family up here for all that Portland has to offer, both in terms of the quality of life and the more affordable housing. Yes, housing has gone up and that is because Portland is so damn popular. But are we really going to blame Californians for this? And lastly, even if you've lived here for a while or you were born here, why do you get to claim Portland as "your city?". As if it gives them any more right to shun California people for moving here. Everyone moved here at some point for a reason, so don't blame others for realizing the great lifestyle Portland affords and wanting to experience that for themselves.

Matt R. · Answer

@Mary B. I am not sure this sticker is a marketing effort vs just some random dude placing stickers on realtors signs. I am sure that realtor likes to see the Cali area code calling. The funny part is most "Californians" are not actually from Cali. This place is really transplant city. Portland will be the same soon. So a few locals will get bummed out along the way when they can't even buy in their home town. I used to see stickers in California that read " Welcome to California -Now go back home" It did not work very well:)

CK Hwang · Answer

Everyone wants someone to blam. If it's not the Californians, it's the chinese. If it's not the chinese, then the indians, then the federal government, and on and on and on. If i'm just buying to flip it personally won't be a big deal. If i had live there.......

Jeff Pollack · Answer

I lived in Oregon for a few years in the late 80's-early 90's.  Portland and Eugene.  As @Jay Hinrichs said, this is a VERY old sentiment in Oregon.  This article could have been (and something like it probably was) written 30 years ago.

The first thing any Californian was advised to do upon moving to Oregon was change their licence plates to Oregon tags.  If the weather didn't suck so badly that market would be just as crazy as the Bay Area.  I love and miss Portland, but I've gotten used to 10 months/year of perfect weather.

Go Ducks!

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

@Mary B.  The other thing to keep in mind the in migartion from CA is more of a brain drain.. and the folks coming in from CA were highly qualified , had money ( sold their CA home and cashed in) and basically pretty good people  ( I am one LOL). and a lot of other states.. we have a lot of labor that came from Mexico.. but also a lot of white collar professionals from India and China.

This brain drain from other states has made PDX a pretty vibrant place really.. not that we don't have our problems.. but we have NO hoods.... you are not going to find a boarded up house and if you do there are 10 offers on it.  Public schools in most if not all areas of the city are very good with some top on the west coast.. so no need to send kids to private school.

Traffic is becoming an issue its not Atlanta bad but there are certain commutes IE Washington county to Vancouver that can take over an hour one way every day.

Public transport is woefully in adequate compared to say a big mid western city.

Airport is one of the absolute best in the country  ( I know I fly to about 20 of them every year).. Shot taxi times.. when you land the high speed turn off from the runway puts you right at the gate in a matter of 60 yo 90 seconds.. same when you light the fires.. you taxi 1 to 3 mintues and your at the departure end of the runway and never more than number 3 for take off..   I have been number 27 at ATL   and taken 30 to 40 minutes to taxi to the gate.. we we are very very good airport to come into and out of .

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

@Mary B.  this is way OLD news Oregonians have been saying this for 40 years or more.

I started in business in Oregon in 1992.. but did not move there until 2002. I commuted from Napa valley.. I never liked the weather in the Portland area much.

after 13 years of living here full time I still don't like it.. and if I did not have my kids follow me and all my banking and business contacts I would decamp for better weather ( Napa Valley ) in a heart beat.

Its a funny state.. much of it is very rural with little to no population and unemployment rates in the 20 to 40% range... the PDX metro area and Willamette valley down to Eugene

represent 80% of the state population in 5% Of land area.

Oregon flipped from timber and ag to high tech in the 80's and it boomed.. Intel is the largest employer.. along with the fact that Oregon has some of the most restrictive land use laws in the country ( the state thinks it great most developers hate it) LOL.

In the Willamette valley the population is young.. Portland metro average age is 35.. so you have hipsters and millennia's controlling the state politics so its very liberal here.

If this state ever got their heads out of their you know what and became pro growth like the states in the south our values would rival Seattle and the Bay area.. but not going to happen.. those that live here think its a privilege to do business in this state and of Course EVERY one wants to live in Portland  LOL.  If I did not get a chance to travel extensively ( writing this from Singapore and in Thailand next week) like I do I would have been out of here long ago.. granted 3 months of summer is nice the rest well it just sucks.. but thats a Californian view point.. Oregonians will roast me on this no doubt.

On the flip side you can clear cut timber with a cutting permit over the counter that is free. So the timber industry is left alone.. just fly over the state in the winter when there is snow on the ground you will see massive clear cuts as far as the eye can see.

In CA you can't do that they protect the environment far more than Oregon.. even though Oregon thinks they do they really don't  LOL.. I know I logged for 10 years.

Mike Zipf · Answer

@Mary B. I'm not OK with ignorance and would not affiliate with anyone who would perpetuate ignorance to peddle their properties. Just as much as I wouldn't want some Fox News host in my network. I think of it this way, if I am the sum of the 5 people I affiliate most with I would not want one of those five people to be ignorant or worse, someone who regularly justifies ignorance in the name of a small profit.

Jessica S. · Answer

The Portland market is on its way to becoming as crazy as California, albeit without the high price tag.  This summer it was not that unusual to see 25+ offers on well-positioned homes.  I saw buyers standing in line to view houses and listings regularly selling for 10 - 15% over asking.  A house I flipped two years ago and sold for $370k went back on the market and sold for $505k.  The numbers may sound low to someone from CA but look at the percentage increase, it's crazy.

But don't move here, it sucks : )

Mary B. · Answer

There's nothing new about discrimination....  However, I'm wondering if its simply a marketing tactic to stand out and get people inquiring. There was another article via realtor.com about a homeowner putting a sign up something to the effect: ' home for sale neighbor is a douche bag'. Its an extreme attention-grabber no doubt. Whether the neighbor is the neighbor from hell remains to be seen. Of course the sign didn't specify which neighbor was so detrimental to the sellers ability to remain in their home. That would be a lawsuit waiting to happen.

NYC is very famous for its residence not being welcoming of 'outsiders' from one borough to the next and many native NYCers don't include upstate NY in the same boat so to state as they are in so if you're from NJ or anywhere else the unwelcoming gets turned up exponentially in many cases. There's North vs South, east coast vs west coast etc. again its old news yes.

Often controversy sells - this is quite true in the music and movie industry as it has a fictitious base anyway but it seems to be the case in real estate - controversy sells unbeknownst to me, up until now that is. Are we ok with that?

Kudos,

Mary

Mike Zipf · Answer

The exact same thing has been happening in New Jersey, "Go home bennies" "We don't need wall street money" so on, for as long as I can remember. The sentiment at least, is not specific to Californians and the west coast. People don't like outsiders coming and driving up real estate. Correlation is not causation, but try to tell that to someone who makes significantly less then the people moving in and can no longer afford the neighborhood they have lived in their whole lives. The emotion is strong and deeply rooted and not unique to the area.

WHAT IF YOU SAW A SIGN: NO CALIFORNIANS WELCOME?

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