The photo above is the John Ross Condominiums. I used to live in this building, so I know it quite well. Call Brian Porter for condo information. I am extremely familiar with just about all of the Portland Condos that are for sale, and I have been selling Portland homes and condos since 2003. Please give me a call 503-810-2219

 "Your home is your unit" by guest blogger Wade Nkrumah

Get used to it: You live in a unit. For you, the owner, your condominium is home. For others – many a single-family homeowner – a condo seems anything but.
It’s shared walls. It’s an apartment. It’s a unit.
Even condo-friendly professionals, such as developers, mortgage brokers and real estate agents – those who often make a portion of their living off condos – refer to condominiums as units.
Such disrespect of this not-of-the-American Dream housing option comes with the territory.
Still, condominium living is a popular defining signature of urban lifestyle in Portland, in particular, and, increasingly, in the ‘burbs.
So, what’s the lure and why buy a condominium instead of a house?
Maybe it’s the sales price – more affordable.
Maybe it’s the view or a higher proximity off the street that affords more privacy than a house.
Maybe it’s being in the middle of downtown.
Or maybe it’s lack of a yard – no grass to mow in spring and summer, no leaves to rake in fall, no gutters to clean in winter.
Whatever your reasons, legions of others share at least some of them.
Why? Because living small is in.
It’s not as much about leaving a smaller imprint on Earth by reducing your carbon footprint as it is about simplifying your life. Bigger isn’t always nor necessarily better.
Going smaller means less: cleaning, clutter, things. And more: appreciating life’s little things and simple ways.
Equally appealing and important, housing options for going smaller – lofts and townhouses – increased as condominium numbers grew.
Plus, in the past few decades, evolving style and substance have enhanced life in condominiums, lofts and townhouses.
Higher ceilings and rooms with outside-the-box angles make condos feel less cave- and more house-like.
Finishes and touches (such as gas fireplaces) long associated only with houses now often are standard.
Dramatic improvement in soundproofing makes sharing walls less of an apartment-like shared experience.
Condominiums and their loft and townhouse kin dot the cityscape in numbers few could have imagined at the dawn of last decade, even. But at some point, someone dared to think: if builders built them, the masses would come.
And yes, builders built and buyers have come, one unit at a time.