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Susan's Online Guide to PortlandLet me Help You Find a Home and a Neighborhood |
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Welcome to my Web site about the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area. It's my way of helping you become acquainted with the neighborhoods and communities of the Portland metro area and to inform you about the Portland area housing market. Your comments and suggestions about my Web site are always welcome. If you have questions or if you are interested in buying or selling a home in the Portland area, contact me online or call me at (503) 497-2984. Susan Marthens
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Real Estate Market |
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Portland home buyers out in force, but sellers a no-show in AprilMay 16 − Home buyers were out in force in April, signing more sales contracts than they have since a tax credit spurred a buying frenzy in early 2010. But Portland-area homeowners are still sitting by the sidelines. New listings aren't showing up, leaving would-be buyers fighting over what's on the market. "This is the time of year when we typically see inventory balloon," said Peter G. Clark, a principal broker with Keller Williams in Portland. "They're just not bringing homes on the market. There's a real scramble for the inventory that exists." April home sales numbers released Tuesday by the Regional Multiple Listing Service show a market where demand outpaced supply. That contributed to an increase in the median sales price, a sign of stabilizing home values. The month's median sale price was $225,000, 2.3 percent higher than a year earlier. The average, however, fell 1.8 percent to $262,400. Read more... Ten housing market set for double-digit price gainsMay 19 − Ten hard-hit housing markets will record double-digit price increases through 2013, according to a report Wednesday. And with mortgage rates low, many house hunters have already started to pounce on bargains, said David Stiff, chief economist at Fiserv, a financial analytics company that prepared the forecast. "Some markets may have overshot to the downside, and people are jumping in to try to catch the bottom," Stiff said. Nationwide, home prices will start rebounding late this year and gain an average of 4% a year over the next five years, Fiserv projects. Read more... |
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Homes & Health |
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Pearl living at its best
A peak into some of Portland small housesMay 20 — I went on a small home tour in Portland last week and met Jordan Palmeri, a Oregon Department of Environmental Quality waste prevention specialist who oversaw this study about the environmental benefits of smaller homes. On the tour, we met people in Portland who are shrinking their environmental footprints by shrinking the physical footprint of their homes. I saw examples of people building a 160-square foot tiny house on a friend’s driveway, people building a 670-foot retirement home in their own backyard, and people sharing acreage to fit four 530- to 1,600-square-foot homes on one valuable lot. Small homes have a smaller environmental impact right from the start because they use fewer building materials, Palmeri said. But the benefits keep accruing as the years of less energy use add up. That quickly puts small homes built to code on par with bigger homes that have all the green building bells and whistles. Read more... LEED BeachHaus I prefab
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News |
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News from the Pacific Northwest Portal
Drive the Coos Bay Wagon Road through Oregon's Coast Range and back into time
Governor signs data center bill into lawMay 20 — Gov. John Kitzhaber got his first look at Facebook’s Prineville data center Friday. The visit wasn’t related to the company’s initial public offering. Rather, the Governor was in town to sign a bill many hope will bring more tech companies to Central Oregon. For a company like Facebook, there’s a lot to like about Central Oregon. There’s infrastructure, the cool air is ideal for servers, and enterprise zones provide a pretty sweet break on property taxes. But one thing companies don’t like is uncertainty. Under Oregon law, tech companies like Facebook are subject to state tax assessment, based on intangibles like brand value. That could make for a big tax bill. Kitzhaber’s signature excludes these companies as long as they are set up within an enterprise zone. Read more... In Portland: 44% less trash at the curbMay 20 — The office of Portland Mayor Sam Adams posted this six-month progress report on the city’s new curbside composting program, which started collecting food scraps last Halloween. The changes are pretty dramatic. According to the city, garbage haulers have reported a 44 percent drop in residential trash at the curb and a 12 percent bump in recycling since the new program started. The reduction in trash going to landfills represents 1,800 truckloads so far – or eight miles of trucks. In actual numbers, residential curbside trash dropped from 23,052 tons in the first quarter of 2011 to 12,902 in the first quarter of this year. The mayor’s office reports “a large increase” in the material collected for composting, though the report didn’t say how much exactly. The city is estimating the compost heap will grow from 30,000 tons in 2010 to 89,000 tons by the end of this year. Read more... Building whitewater community takes as much muscle as paddling Upper Clackamas River
Matt Love revisits the summer of 1970, when the stars of 'Sometimes a Great Notion' mingled with the localsMay 20 — "Sometimes a Great Notion" is the other Oregon movie made from a Ken Kesey novel. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" swept the major Academy Awards after it was released in 1975 and put the Oregon State Hospital in Salem and Depoe Bay into cinema history. It's a stone-cold, time-tested classic, easily the best movie filmed in Oregon. "Sometimes a Great Notion" is no classic. Filmed five years earlier than "Cuckoo's Nest" in Newport and elsewhere along the Oregon coast, it is best known for an incredible scene in which Joe Ben Stamper (Richard Jaeckel) is trapped by a log and the incoming tide despite the best efforts of his cousin Hank (Paul Newman) to rescue him. The movie is also the answer to a trivia question: What is the first program to be broadcast on HBO? It was also known, at least among those who were there, as a never-ending party during the summer of 1970. Newman, the biggest star in Hollywood at the time, was a heavy drinker, and a keg of beer was often available on the set. Newman, Henry Fonda and the rest of the cast mingled easily with locals at a time when security was nothing like it is today. Read more...Oregon PERS: Private equity investments pose an unclear future for public pensionsMay 20 — The river of profits welling from investments in private equity partnerships has long been a point of pride for Oregon's public pension managers. Oregon was the pioneer public investor in this asset class. And the state remains one of the largest, after pumping tens of billions into these partnerships, which invest in corporate buyouts, real estate, distressed debt and startup companies. The Treasury Department's investment prowess is so firmly rooted in Salem that there was barely a peep when the pension fund increased its allocation in these so-called alternative investments from about 11 percent of fund assets at the beginning of 2006 to more than 30 percent today. Read more... Residents of remote Oregon town build a gathering place
Gerry Frank's picks: Tillamook County Pioneer Museum and Indian Head CasinoMay 20 — Take time to visit the Tillamook County Pioneer Museum (2106 Second St., Tillamook; 503-842-4553) especially for "Weaving Traditions," a Native American handicraft exhibition, offered through July 24. Although the display shows only a small portion of the anthology, the 62 baskets, hats, purses and other works are a wonderful representation. Most of the baskets were made by the best-known basket-maker in Tillamook, Lizzie Adams, daughter of Chief Illga and Maggie Adams; Lizzie Adams, in turn, taught her talent to others to carry on the traditional craft. The museum offers a lecture on May 26, "Uniquely Oregon; Native American Arts in Oregon" and a basket-weaving workshop by fifth-generation Grand Ronde weaver Stephanie Wood on June 30. Oregon's newest gaming opportunity, Indian Head Casino (3236 Highway 26, Warm Springs; 541-460-7777) is near the Kah-Nee-Ta Resort & Spa (6823 Highway 8, Warm Springs; 541-553-1112), a great support facility offering hotel, spa, dining, golf and other amenities. Read more... |
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Imagine browsing at Powell's Books, catching a play at Portland Center Stage, people watching, and walking in this vibrant corner of Portland! This and more are possible while living in this light-filled two bedroom/two bathroom unit at The Pinnacle, situated in a quiet corner of the Pearl. You will be steps away from parks, shops, cafes, restaurants, galleries, and the Street Car. You can read the paper, have morning coffee, or afternoon treats while enjoying your northeast view of the river and Mount St. Helens. Unit includes deeded parking space and deeded storage space. Walk to three parks: 
May 18 — This is BeachHaus I in the White Rock area of British Columbia. The home (like the neighbor, BeachHaus II) is on the market, should you have an interest in a luxe, modern, prefabricated home with incredible views. BeachHaus — located at 15611 Columbia Avenue — is waiting for LEED certification from the CAGBC and has three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, two half bathrooms, a two-car garage, and about 2,085 square feet. BeachHaus is listed for sale at $1,350,000, which includes a clean design by noted architectural firm Pb Elemental, a factory-built structure of four modules by Method Homes, and the full project development by InHaus Development. To keep energy in check, BeachHaus has dual-pane low-E windows, Control4 home automation, an air-to-water heat exchange system, energy monitoring, soy-based spray foam insulation, an automatic skylight, Bosch appliances, and ultra-efficient laundry with steam dry, etc. For water conservation, the 
May 20 — The Coast Range, lowly sister to the Cascades, stands between Oregon's fertile farm valleys and the Pacific Ocean. No glaciated peaks, no looming volcanoes, no bare summits lord over these forests; instead, matted humps labyrinth together and precipitous rain-swollen hillsides regularly crumble into streams and earth below. Tendrils of moss drip from elbowed limbs up the tree trunks. There are nearly a dozen ways to cross the Coast Range -- from following the Columbia River in the north to the dubious Galice-to-Agness crossing next to the Kalmiopsis Wilderness in the south, which is advisable only in the summer. Each has its own character and culture. One, the Coos Bay Wagon Road, despite the Internet and satellite TV, is only slowly creeping into the 20th century -- forget about the 21st. Carved over Native American footpaths in 1872, the 11-mile run through Brewster Canyon has yet to be paved. The federal government in the late 1860s handed out four road contracts in Oregon to tie together the territory's far-flung corners. They were to facilitate freight travel and were sometimes called military roads (a custom that continues; the interstate highways were originally billed as a "defensive necessity"). Of those four original roads, only the Coos Bay road still exists. 
May 20 — The announcer was barely audible over the roar of the whitewater, rushing almost 3,000 cubic feet per second down the Upper Clackamas River on Saturday. Spectators dotted the rocky shore, watching bobbing specks of color come closer until the dry-suited paddlers appeared. The crowd cheered each racer as they passed in the annual 
May 19 — Nearly every Northwest city and town has a center of gravity -- a place with a heartbeat. You know: Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square or Seattle’s Pike Place Market . But in the remote town of Arock , in southeast Oregon, that kind of spot has been missing for a long, long time. That’s about to change. Anna King has this story about a far-flung community that’s building a new place to gather. On the twisting gravel road to Arock, there isn’t much. Sagebrush, tall grass, barbed wire and a whole lot of wind. The nearest big town is Boise -– two hours away. This is way out there -- like way out. So when construction recently started on a new community center in town people in Arock took notice, including Kirk Eiguren. He’s 12 years old. He tells me about the winter day a truck dropped of the community center’s new septic tank. 