Susan Marthens

Principal
Real Estate Broker
CRS  GRI

Phone
(503) 497-2984

ABOUT SUSAN

Working Together
Testimonials
Contact Susan

MOVING TO
PORTLAND

Find a Home to Buy
Rental Information
Find a Job
Moving Helps
Free Newsletter
BUYING A HOME
IN PORTLAND
First-Time Buyers
Home Styles
Green Homes
Portland Home Prices
Home Inspections
Landslides
Real Estate Law
Property Taxes
Measures 37 & 49
CONDOS & HOMES
List of Condos
Downtown Condos
River Front Condos
So. Waterfront Condos
Other Condo Projects
New Homes
SEARCH FOR HOMES
Search by Metro Map
Search by Neighborhood
Search by Listing No.
Quick Search
Search Guide
Login
MORTGAGES
Mortgages
Mortgage Rates
Calculators
SELLING A HOME
 IN PORTLAND
Selling a Home
How I Sell Your Home
Moving Helps
PLACES TO LIVE
 IN THE CITY
Neighborhood Guide
Close-in
> Goose Hollow
> Pearl
> Nob Hill/Northwest
> South Waterfront
West Hills
> Arlington Heights
> Forest Park
> Hillside/King's Heights
> SW Hills/Portland Heights
Southwest
> Bridlemile
> Hillsdale
> Multnomah
> So. Portland/Lair Hill
> Sylvan-Highlands
Southeast
> Eastmoreland
> Hosford-Abernethy
> Mt. Tabor
> Sellwood-Moreland
> Sunnyside/Hawthorne
Northeast
> Alameda
> Beaumont-Wilshire
> Concordia
> Grant Park
> Irvington
> Laurelhurst
North
> Boise
> Piedmont
> University Park
PLACES TO LIVE
 IN THE SUBURBS
Beaverton
Lake Oswego
Tualatin
West Linn
PORTLAND
The City
Geography
Weather
Praises for Portland
Buses & Trains
Commuting to Work
Planning for Growth
Outdoors
Food & Drink
Farmers Markets
Portland & Pets
Portland Links
Portland Views
VISIT PORTLAND
Hotels & Eating
What To Do
House Hunting
Beyond Portland
SCHOOLS & KIDS
Public Schools
Private Schools
Preschool
Oregon Tests
National Tests
SAT Scores
Report Cards
No Child Left Behind
Evaluate Schools
Oregon Colleges
Tested Toys
OREGON
Oregon
Geography & Climate
Oregon Outdoors
Oregon Taxes
Oregon Golf
Oregon Links
OTHER
Search
Site Map
Feedback
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use Policy
 

 

 

Find a Home
in Portland

Looking for a home to buy?
Use our
Search for Homes Tool

Neighborhood Search
or
Metro Map Search

 

Custom "Oregon Trail" plate - the last "Trail" plate was issued in 2001.

Oregon standard "tree" plate that has been issued since 1989.

This blue-on-yellow baseplate was introduced in 1975 and was issued through 1987 - you still see the plate on a few Oregon vehicles today.

Custom salmon plate.  The extra proceeds from sales are used for the following: Litter Patrol Fund, Governors' Watershed Enhancement Board, and State parks.

1947 Oregon plate.

Custom Crater Lake National Park Centennial plate - released in 2002.  The extra proceeds are distiributed to the Litter Patrol Fund and National Park Foundation.


Susan's Online Guide to Portland

Let me Help You Find a Home and a Neighborhood

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
Principal Real Estate Broker/CRS GRI


Community News

THOMAS BOYD/THE OREGONIANColumbia River salmon runs plentiful now, but don't count on the trend continuing   February 8 − In some Northwest streams, it seems like a return to the storied days when it was said salmon ran so thick you could walk across their backs. Record numbers of coho have returned to the Columbia River in recent years, and this year forecasters predict the same for spring chinook. But it's not time to pop the champagne corks and declare victory in the nation's most expensive wildlife restoration venture. The reason: Most scientists agree much of the thanks for the recent runs, in addition to improved river conditions and more hatchery fish, goes to favorable circumstances in the ocean where the salmon mature after being born in fresh water. "It looks like the abundance of adult salmon that we see come back to the rivers appears to be set or at least strongly regulated by their early ocean experience," said Nate Mantua, a climate scientist and fisheries researcher at the University of Washington.  Read more...

'Leverage' holds 'thug camp' casting workshop to help unemployed construction workers in Portland   February 8 − Douglas Hines is feeling, in his words, like "a fish out of water." "I've never done this before," he says, as he looks at a script. Hines, a burly 42-year-old, is attending "thug camp," part of a weekend "Leverage"; seminar. Hines has never acted before. Now the Vancouver resident, who's unemployed, is trying to figure out how to convincingly portray the prosperous owner of a sports team on TV. It is, Hines says, kind of a stretch. The "Leverage" event, which ended Sunday at the University of Oregon's Portland campus, was designed as a combination showbiz/work-force development effort, according to organizer Lana Veenker. Classes for experienced local actors provided behind-the-scenes insights about "Leverage," which stars Oscar-winner Timothy Hutton.  Read more...

Oregon Zoo's orangutans say New Orleans Saints will go marchin' into victory at Super Bowl   February 8 − Orangutans at the Oregon Zoo "voted" 2-1 this year, picking the New Orleans Saints to win the Super Bowl. But Kutai, the orang who picked four of the past five winners, is going with the Indianapolis Colts. Since 1996, the apes have made their "predictions" by selecting and trying on team jerseys placed before them, surprising the oddsmakers with their abilities. This year, Inji, matriarch of the clan, chose a black-and-gold Saints jersey. So did Batik. Kutai, Inji's grandson, went for the Colts' blue-and-white.  Read more...

Portland's services to students learning English still need work, state says   February 8 − The Oregon Department of Education continues to withhold a portion of federal funding from Portland Public Schools after state officials found the district still isn't meeting federal standards for serving students learning English. In a letter to Portland last month, officials said the district had only fixed some of the problems outlined in a 2009 audit. Furthermore, the state reported new problems with the program.  Some students still don't have access to core classes such as algebra and history or are not receiving support in those courses. New findings reported that some students were exiting the English Language Learner program without evidence they had learned English.  Read more...

Poor snowpack could shrink NW hydropower   February 7 − A thin snowpack and predictions of low runoff this summer have the Bonneville Power Administration forecasting a financial loss for the year, and Northwest water watchers hoping for more snowy weather before the winter's through. In a forecast issued Friday, the National Weather Service's Northwest River Forecast Center predicted that water flows past The Dalles Dam will be 79.2 million acre feet between January and July. That would be 74 percent of the 30-year average for the period -- 107.3 million acre feet -- and the eighth lowest flow in the past 40 years. Anxiety levels remain fairly low. February and March can still be big snow months in the Columbia River Basin, filling the region's virtual reservoir. But the numbers have gotten progressively worse since the early bird forecast in December. As winter pushes on and the big snows fail to fly, the predictions begin to harden into reality.  Read more...

Oregon leaders shrug as pension crisis looms   February 7 − The elephant in the room, the Oregon public pension system, is about to swallow an additional $1 billion-plus from school districts and other public employers over the next two years. Members of the board that governs the Public Employees Retirement System warn this is only the beginning, that without a strong runup in the stock market, PERS could pull billions more out of the operating budgets of schools, state agencies and municipalities over the next two decades. Yet there is no sense of urgency in Salem. On the contrary, when senators raised a PERS issue last week it was only to discuss the Democrats' desire to override a governor's veto and repass a bill requiring the system to pay retirees extra benefits mistakenly promised as a result of miscalculations. That won't cut PERS' costs -- it will increase them.  Read more...


House, Home, & Health

Hillsdale 2-story home   February 7 − This house combines style and spaciousness near walking trail. Easy to entertain inside and out: the gourmet kitchen opens to family room with fireplace with views of landscaped backyard. Outside slate patio features another kitchen, surrounded by yard and trees. Plantation blinds, built ins, high-end sound system, gleaming floors. Master bedroom on upper level, Bay windows, bonus room, many built-in features, central vacuum system, closet organizer, formal dining room, formal living room, kitchen island, pantry, security features, high-end sound system, walk-in closets.  This 3,519 square foot home just $670,000.  Read more...

Stumptown rock   February 7 − Even before construction was complete, the Stump House was turning heads. When its green-minded future owners learned of its shining environmental résumé, they knew they’d found a place to call home.  Perhaps it was Jess and Jered Bogli’s colossal-but-cordial rottweiler, Oliver, who spearheaded their move to a highly sustainable home in Portland, Oregon’s Alameda neighborhood. While walking Oliver one day, the couple spotted a contemporary-looking house under construction and got to talking with the builder, Darryl Erlandson, about its green features. They passed by the house frequently after that. “It was on my running route,” Jess recalls, “and eventually one of the builders yelled to me, ‘Come in!’ Another day one of them even said, ‘Throw out an offer.’ And we did.’”  Read more...


Living Green

Trash in Portland: Hold your nose and dive into your bin   February 7 − In a perfect world, the city of Portland would whisk away my household trash twice a day in a pneumatic tube. Instead, the city wants me to spend more time with my garbage -- smelling, sorting and staring at it as part of a plan for all residents to recycle their food scraps. The plan is rather nauseating, considering the shrimp peels, poopy diapers, expired yogurt and other aromatic items that make my trash a poor companion. The idea's also ripe for mockery: Once again, Portland tries to out-liberal itself, this time by pushing collective composting onto the masses.  Read more...

RICHARD COCKLE/THE OREGONIANOregon's Steens Mountain could soon have wind farms   February 7 − Ruggedly beautiful Steens Mountain stands in an area of southeast Oregon so isolated that it's barely changed since cattle king Pete French arrived in the late 1800s. Coyotes yelp at sundown. Drivers are so few that they wave to each other as they pass. Campers, hunters and bird-watchers trek from across the state to breathe in the majestic emptiness and to gaze from the Steens summit across a seemingly endless tapestry of high desert and open range. But soon, the scenery will change. Harney County has cleared Columbia Energy Partners of Vancouver to build a wind farm on the mountain's north slope. By year's end, 415-foot turbines could start rising from the juniper and sagebrush, among thousands of towers that developers are stampeding to build across eastern Oregon.  Read more...


Sports and Outdoors

Northwest Outdoors calendar, Feb. 6-21 − Saturday, February 6, 1 p.m. Learn how you can join other outdoor enthusiasts to raise funds for breast cancer research at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Peaks include Mount Adams and Mount Kilimanjaro. To register for the meeting, call 206-667-6252 or send e-mail to dkirsner@fhcrc.org; to register for Climb to Fight Breast Cancer, go to www.fhcrc.org/climb. REI Portland, 1405 N.W. Johnson St.  Read more...

RICHARD HALLMAN PHOTOHail to the reef   February 7 − Even from a safe distance, surfers say, you can feel the concussion in your chest and stomach, rattling internal organs. When the wave breaks, the impact sounds like a shotgun blast. During a big swell, the Scott's Reef wave 15 miles north of Newport has so much energy it pulls water backward as it forms, opening what looks like a hole in the ocean. Curling, it kicks up a blast of white foam -- Devil's Breath, they call it -- that shoots sideways out of the tube just before it topples and explodes on the reef. Boom. "If you ride that wave and you don't die, it was a good day," said Hawaiian pro surfer Garrett McNamara, who cut his face on Scott's Reef last January and had a sea urchin spine removed from next to his eyeball.  Read more...


Portland Blogs and Web Sites

  • Bright Neighbor  A social networking web site that helps Portland communities thrive.

  • Burnsider  Stories and pictures from the Burnside Bridge, Portland, Oregon.  The e bloggers live near the bridge and walk across it as part of their commute every day.

  • Documented Lifee  Planet Earth as seen from Portland Oregon.

  • Community & Parents for Public Schools in Portland  They seek to redefine parent and community involvement in Portland Public Schools.

  • Discovering Portland  Two women flee California for Oregon to ask if Portland is the city they've dreamed of.

  • Ever Day is a Miracle  A blog about families, kids, politics and current events, travel, books, and living in Portland.

  • Good Stuff Northwest  Kab is a  writer and designer who loves living in Oregon with its combination of urban style and down-home friendliness. Lots of recipes on Kab's blog.

  • Home Ownership  A blog about the "Neighborhood Housing Program" sponsored by the Portland Development Commission.

  • Kids in Portland   This site provides a resource for parents to come together and find out all of the attractions, restaurants, activities, ideas, issues, art, music, for kids in the area.

  • Oregon Fly Fishing  Fishing reports, conservation news, fishing advice, and hot fly patterns.

  • The Oregonian Neighborhoods  Covers Portland metro area neighborhoods and communities.

  • Pat's Blog  Whatever ticks Pat off or tickles his fancy: politics, news and society, music, movies, books, cooking, autism, and anything else bright and shiny in the world of ideas. And Pat does it with humor.

  • Portland Architecture  If you're interested in buildings, this is the site to visit.  RSS feed and newsletter.

  • Portland Blogs  A complete list of all the bloggers who call Portland home.

  • Portland Dog Blog  For people who exercise their dog at Portland parks.

  • Portland Housing Blog  Real estate and economic discussions.

  • Portland Metblogs  Written from the perspective of people who live, work, and play here every day.

  • SheSue Experience  Shelley blogs about events, restaurants, attractions, outdoor activities, curiosities and more.

  • Upper Left Coast  Thoughts on politics, faith, sports and other random topics from a red state sympathizer in indigo-blue Portland, Oregon.

  • Walking in Portland  This blogger walks around Portland with his wife and dogs taking photos and making notes about living in Portland.

  • inPortland  A magazine, published every Thursday, has stories about neighborhoods and communities.

  • Portland Tribune  Published on Thursday, one of the Tribune's strength is their neighborhood news.

  • Oregon Newspapers  Links to over 100 newspapers in Oregon. This includes community weekly papers check out the stories in smaller towns like Astoria and Pendleton.



(866) 368-7878

Susan Marthens
Principal Real Estate Broker
CRS, GRI

(503) 497-2984
Fax (503) 220-1131


6443 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway
Suite 100, Portland, Oregon 97221
(503) 297-1033


© Copyright 2000-2009  All rights reserved
Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy policies
If you have comments, write Webmaster

Web by Dasan Design   ●   Telephone (503) 819-0011