Nathaniel Bachelder
Real Estate Broker
Licensed in Oregon
Contact Info
503.970.5210 cell
503.432.8126 office
nathaniel@urbannestpdx.com
Nathaniel got into real estate in order to be his own boss. He had worked in several industries, and most office cultures were way too conservative for him, and he’s not one to check his personality at the door. He went to Burning Man in 2011, and there was a real estate agent in his camp. He ended up having some great conversations with him and then, as soon as he got home, started working on his license.
His ideal Portland day: His ideal urban Portland day would include several meals out - probably brunch and dinner. He would also want to hit up a few local record shops and probably do some second-hand / consignment shopping as well. Urban Portland has a ton of options for all the activities above, making it too hard for him to choose a favorite. For record stores, though, definitely check out Music Millennium. He would probably end up at Powell’s Books at some point in the day.
His superpower: His empathy and compassion. He considers these important qualities to have as a real estate agent. A real estate transaction can be very stressful; it is typically the biggest purchase in someone's life.
Superpower he wishes he had: To be able to fly!
Favorite moments in real estate: The transaction Nathaniel went viral for ended up being called "The Pizza Deal".
This was about 10 years ago, Nathaniel had some friends selling their home in SE Portland. It was a hot market, like most of the time in the Portland metro area. They got 3 or 4 offers, and one had a cool letter with it.
The potential buyer was a son of the owners of a local Italian restaurant. In his "buyer love letter", he offered the sellers 1 free pizza per month.
His offer ended up being the best overall offer, even without considering the pizza, so that is the offer the sellers accepted. Somehow, word got out to local news outlets, and Nathaniel was interviewed briefly about the deal. That clip and story went everywhere within a week. It was a blurb on the Business Insider website; it was on a ton of other national and local news websites, and Nathaniel even did a brief interview by phone with a community radio station in Alaska.
Nathaniel guesses the story still lives on in real estate lore. A lender friend of his was at a conference a year or two ago and said that someone brought up the pizza deal.
It was just a fun unique example of a crazy real estate market. Since then, Nathaniel has seen other interesting things as enticements for sellers to accept an offer including a piece of valuable art, and a signed manuscript.
Favorite Portland neighborhood, and why? Definitely Woodstock. Nathaniel lived in that neighborhood for 23 years and it was so much fun. He was a block from Woodstock Park, which had a nice area for dogs he used often, as well as some tennis courts he used to play on. People also play baseball, softball and soccer there. So many great food options within a quick drive including Division, Foster and Woodstock. Nathaniel recently moved to Wood Village and is loving it out a bit further east, but he does miss a lot from the Woodstock neighborhood.