After nearly 50 years building homes, this Oregon builder just sold his last. Here's
Oregon homebuilder Bob Vetter has been constructing and selling dwellings for almost half a century, but he says the sale of a new contemporary-style house south of Portland is his last.
He designed the single-level residence on a scenic lot in Oak Grove, east of the Willamette River, for him and his wife to age in place. Then they changed their minds, opting to live in downtown Portland near the Portland Art Museum and travel.
Vetter listed the residential property for sale Oct. 28, and he has accepted an offer. The transaction is expected to be finalized later this month, he said.
While the property was on the market, the veteran builder experienced several firsts, he said.
During an open house, at one time there were five separate parties looking at the same time. “I couldn’t give a good focused tour to anyone because of the crowd,” he said.
One person wanted to hire Vetter to design him a new house. “For the first time in my life I turned down a design job,” Vetter said.
After the initial rush of interest, no offers came in. Vetter decided to wait out the holiday season between Thanksgiving and New Year. “I put no effort into selling because I knew from experience no one would be looking to buy at that time,” he said.
On Jan. 7, Vetter dropped the price by $25,000 — from $765,000 to $740,000 — a 3.3% reduction. This generated a lot of new interest, he said.
“Having been involved in selling dozens of new houses, I had learned to drop the price enough to get attention,” he said. “Dropping the price of a house by a couple of thousand dollars doesn’t help much in attracting buyers. Dropping the price by 3 or 4 or 5 percent very often does. In this case it did.”
Less than three weeks later, he received an offer and negotiated the sale terms via text message while waiting for a flight at the Palm Springs airport.
A home shopper who had never visited the property made an offer of $735,000, which Vetter accepted. The buyer relied on the description and photos in the real estate listing.
“He was attracted by the low maintenance aspect of the home as well as the very private site and the open design and fine detailing of the house,” said Vetter, who adds that he is now fully retired from construction and real estate.
A builder’s home is a culmination of a long career
The Oak Grove home is the culmination of what Vetter learned as the owner of Gizmo Properties, which completed 70 new homes and remodels for other people mostly in the San Francisco Bay area and some in the Portland area.
The 1,800-square-foot new home sits on a lot where Forest Creek flows through the backyard toward the river. Views of bigleaf maple, oak and other native trees can be seen from the home’s U-shaped courtyard.
The high-ceilinged living and dining areas with glass sliding doors are on one side of the shaded, secure courtyard, and the primary bedroom is on the other side.
Inside, Vetter installed hardwood planks, plywood and tile he collected over his long career. All window sills are made of figured maple. The most prominent ones feature birdseye maple, a rare variation with small, circular eyes scattered across the surface.
Feature walls are clad in tiger-stripe maple or candleflame birch plywood, both with decorative wavy lines known as flames in woodworking.
Consistent with his low-maintenance goals, Vetter planted water-wise, seasonally colorful landscaping.
A passionate gardener for decades, Vetter also wanted landscape that was aesthetically pleasing and easy to maintain. The large boulders he installed will be covered in moss over time.
A meadow was created to serve as a large infiltration basin to manage stormwater. Energy-efficient features as well as structural and earthquake engineering were also part of the design.