Homes Tell Stories Portland Real Estate
Chylese Austin, Broker

Welcome! This site is designed to help people who are pondering the start of a new chapter in their lives that revolves around place and space.

Our surroundings – particular those which make up what we call “home” – inform so much about what happens to us. Sometimes this takes place in a very literal way, as when we place photographs or hang pictures, or even a postcard or child’s art on the refrigerator. These are placeholders of time, keeping us anchored to what we cherish about the past in the place we know it will most comfort us.

At a different level, our homes record what transpires every day, and over time reflect the paths of our lives – the rooms, walls, windows, doors, and fixtures - in the way they are loved or mistreated, used or ignored, enhanced or simplified. The older the home, the more interesting and textured it becomes, with imprints of the many who came before us.

Sometimes when a house has had only one or two owners in say, eighty years, it tells an especially remarkable and transparent story of the lives who lived in it for so long. New homes, on the contrary, beckon for the opposite reason: they pose as a clean slate, a blank page, even a fresh start. Nothing has been used or told yet. This is an opportunity to write the first chapter!

Many people like to flip through listing photos – kind of like reading through a table of contents - looking for something they hope will resonate with them uniquely. Is a picture really worth a thousand words? Some are. So please feel free to do that here. But keep in mind that, likes armchair travel, the gratification of sifting through images is pretty limited. I encourage anyone who even thinks they might want to buy (or sell) a home in Portland to get help (email or call me) and get out there to see what is on the market. Is is really that cute? That dark? Noisy? Homes do tell stories – best understood and absorbed through a visit.

About Chylese

A passion for vintage homes and interest in Portland’s close-in eastside neighborhoods forms the basis for my real estate career. My business is aligned with the goals of these wonderful neighborhoods, which are re-discovering their roots and value through both residential and commercial restoration, as well as preservation of recreational spaces so important to the sense of community.

A resident of Portland's eastside since 2000, I live with my husband and daughter in a 1923 Waverly Heights bungalow. We are the fourth family to call it home.