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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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Regulators outline new plans for Fannie, FreddieFebruary 22 − The regulator of housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Tuesday outlined a new strategic plan for the two government-controlled firms, stepping into a void left by congressional inaction. The Federal Housing Finance Agency said the main goal would be to steer the mortgage finance market in a direction that leaves it dominated by the private sector instead of the government. The 21-page plan, which has taken FHFA a little more than a year to pull together, is meant as a temporary substitute until Congress and the administration put in place a lasting framework for housing finance. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed in government conservatorship in 2008 as mounting mortgages losses threatened their solvency. Read more... Some doubt a settlement will end mortgage illsFebruary 21 − Even as government officials prepare to unveil new standards this week for how banks treat millions of Americans facing foreclosure, housing advocates and homeowners are skeptical the rules will be able to do something past efforts have not: provide a beleaguered borrower with one individual to help them navigate the mortgage maze. While the entire process of seeking a mortgage modification is complicated and time-consuming, few elements are as maddening as the inability to get through to a representative at the bank, or being asked for the same documents again and again. Read more... |
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Home & Health |
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Forest Grove home in historic district Located in the historic neighborhood of Forest Grove, this well-built house has an open floor plan with many upgrades that add up to easy living. The new windows throughout provide extensive light. Behind is a back yard with low-maintenance native plants, a new cedar garden shed, and wonderful places to sit, all surrounded by a cedar fence. It is just a short walk to the many delights of a charming small town--city park, downtown shops, and Pacific University, to name a few. Forest Grove has two historic districts, the eighteen block Clark District and the Painters Wood District. They are Washington County’s only designated Nationally Recognized Historic Districts with homes dating back to the 1850’s. Directions: West on Highway 8, South on Elm, west on 16th. MLS 11664015. Read more...
New guidelines planned on school vending machinesJanuary 21 − The government’s attempt to reduce childhood obesity is moving from the school cafeteria to the vending machines. The Obama administration is working on setting nutritional standards for foods that children can buy outside the cafeteria. With students eating 19 percent to 50 percent of their daily food at school, the administration says it wants to ensure that what they eat contributes to good health and smaller waistlines. The proposed rules are expected within the next few weeks. Efforts to restrict the food that schoolchildren eat outside the lunchroom have long been controversial. Representatives of the food and beverage industries argue that many of their products contribute to good nutrition and should not be banned. Read more... Brick House Beautiful in Laurelhurst is a testament to the long-lasting charm of bricks
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News |
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News from Pacific Northwest Portal
Oregon Legislature approves 3 new no-fishing marine reserves
Apple buys land from Crook County for new data centerFebruary 22 − Apple Inc. confirmed today that it bought 160 acres near Prineville in central Oregon for a new data center, making it the latest tech giant to locate a server farm in the state. Crook County commissioners signed the $5.6 million deal Feb. 15, said county judge Mike McCabe, who chairs the commission. The Oregonian reported in December that Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple was eyeing the land, about a quarter mile south of a data center operated by Facebook. "We're just delighted they decided to sign on the dotted line and come to Prineville," McCabe said. "We're going to forbear some taxes, but gosh darn, we're looking at a couple hundred jobs for quite some time in the construction phase and maybe half that many after that." Read more...Forest Grove envisions transit link, Congress envisions cuts to projectsFebruary 22 − Opposition from the U.S. House of Representatives to dedicated transit funding could hamper efforts by local elected officials to extend a high-capacity transit link from Hillsboro to Forest Grove. In 2008, Portland and Western railroad unveiled a plan that would have sent passenger trains on its freight rail line – running from downtown Hillsboro to Forest Grove – during off hours, but the plan never stuck with regional leaders and TriMet, which would ultimately need to operate the trains. Now, local leaders are floating a new idea: build up the infrastructure around the rails and include a bicycle and pedestrian pathway as well as bus stations. Buses could run during the day and freight could run at night. Read more... Bikin' in the rain
Mapping the terrain of a land called PIFFFebruary 22 − No festival is an island. They’re regional importers, which is why the Portland International Film Festival shares so many titles with its sisters in Seattle, San Francisco and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. But even as PIFF opens up avenues to the wider world, it exists within an insulated and unmistakable festival ecosystem. PIFF movies share so many common elements that, as you enter the third weekend of global tourism, you might miss the forest for the trees (weeping willows, probably). After reviewing 59 features—find our Week 3 favorites here—we’ve identified the common ground. Read more...Bend FedEx driver predicted Jeremy Linn's fameFebruary 21 − Far from the glamour of Madison Square Garden, aboard a FedEx delivery truck in this small Oregon town, sits the one man who saw Jeremy Lin coming."I've always had a mind for numbers, the statistical side of sports," Ed Weiland explained.He spends his days as a driver for FedEx, but once he punches out, he goes to work at his true passion: finding the best college basketball players in the country. He publishes his assessments on the sports blog hoopsanalyst.com.In 2010, he chose Harvard senior Lin as his top point guard prospect, when no one else was paying much attention to the Ivy Leaguer.Weiland never even saw Lin play, basing his assessment solely on stats.He breaks out every possible statistic when analyzing a player. He keeps all the information in an elaborate spreadsheet on an old Toshiba laptop in his modest apartment.Weiland said Lin caught his eye because of his high two-point field goal percentage and his ability to rebound, steal and block. Read more... House approves easing limits on urban-level development near cities February 21 − A bill that would make it easier for developers to build on land within the Portland area's urban growth boundary narrowly passed the House Monday. Opponents say House Bill 4090, which was approved 32-28 and now goes to the Senate, strips cities and voters of their power to regulate growth and forces them to provide sewer and water service to unincorporated areas. Backers said the change is necessary because landowners can't develop their property even when it abuts subdivisions and is within Metro's urban growth boundary. The bill addresses two issues. It is intended to resolve boundary disputes between special districts, such as fire departments, and to aid property owners in the Portland area, such as Michael A. Nelson, who owns eight acres he can't develop in northwest Multnomah County. His land is bordered on two sides by Washington County, where subdivisions are at his doorstep and sewer and water lines extend to his property line. "I'm stuck there," Nelson told a legislative committee recently. Metro and cities argue that the bill would allow developers to hopscotch around the region and undo efforts to orchestrate orderly growth. Metro must maintain a 20-year supply of developable land. Read more...
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February 21 − Although Standard Brick & Tile no longer exists, A. Harvey Wethey Jr.'s house stands as a testament to the beauty and durability of brick. It also still charms the experts. Running his hand along the brick facade, Dale Keller looks up and down Sue Carter's house. Gently tapping the wall, Keller immediately starts talking about hollow-wall construction and kiln temperatures, rug bricks and the flashing process. Keller, who is semi-retired after 47 years in the masonry business, doesn't pretend to know the complete history of brick, but the things he does know, "you can take to the bank," he says. Things like why some of the bricks are as black as burned toast. Those were closer to the oil-fueled fire in the kiln, says Keller, who still does some work for his longtime employer, Mutual Materials. They simply burned. Others, he says, pointing to a brick blackened only in the middle, had bricks stacked on each end, blocking the heat from burning tho 
February 22 − Gov. John Kitzhaber unveiled the notion of fishing-free
February 22 − The rain will stop. When it does, thousands of smiling noobs will pedal shiny candy-colored cruisers and used mountain bikes with fake suspension forks along our streets. They’ll ride to work a couple times and to Apex for Soyrizo burritos and beer, and on the weekends they’ll swarm up and down Mount Tabor and Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard and the riverside paths. And then, when the first drops of autumn rain moisten their spring-loaded seats, they will stop. Don’t be one of them. If you want to commute year-round in this town, don’t wait until the weather’s so nice that your morning ride feels like a gift. Instead, earn your badges and chuckle at the fair-weather commuter crowd that retreats back to cars and buses at the slightest sign of cold. Start now—the worst of winter is over, but there’s still plenty of sodden weather ahead. If you can make it through the next three months, the subsequent nine will pose no challenge. And you can ride year-round in Portland. This isn't Minneapolis; knee-high snow is an unlikely problem. With a little forethought and fortitude, it's easy. 