Susan's Online Guide to Portland Oregon - The City of Roses

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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 __________________________________________________________________________________________________

Real Estate Market

U.S. foreclosure inventory falls, but Oregon's unchanged August 29 − The number of completed U.S. foreclosures continued to drop in July, while the share of mortgaged homes in the foreclosure process also fell. Lenders foreclosed on 58,000 homes in July, California data firm CoreLogic said Tuesday. The nation's inventory of homes with a mortgage in foreclosure fell 0.2 percentage points to 3.2 percent. In Oregon, 3 percent of the state's mortgaged homes were in a stage of foreclosure in July, unchanged from a year earlier. CoreLogic said lenders completed 10,200 foreclosures in the 12-month period ending in July. The month's numbers are the first to reflect major changes in the way foreclosures proceed in Oregon. A new state mediation program brought out-of-state foreclosure filings to a halt midway through the month. Read more... Not your father's short sale August 31− Talking about short sales as a ‘new’ opportunity seems strange. However, we believe that today’s short sale process is so different than the process you have experienced over the last few years that it does qualify as a completely different opportunity. Let’s explain why. The housing crisis created a free fall in prices over the last five years. This collapse in housing values has created a situation where millions of homes today are actually worth less than the mortgage currently on the house (a situation known as being ‘underwater’). CoreLogic in their most recent Negative Equity Report explains that there are over eleven million houses currently underwater. Read more...
Homes & Health
Rethinking storage options opens up a kitchen September 1 − Lori Wolcott stopped at the For-Sale-by-Owner sign, looked past the unkempt yard to the modest house at the end of the gravel drive and phoned her husband. "I think this is it," she told Jerry. The house, situated on a knoll, its property and the surrounding area fit the laundry list Jerry had established when they discussed moving from their old farmhouse in nearby Shedd. He loved living in the country, but Lori had grown weary of all the driving rural life can demand. Jerry had agreed to move to a bigger town but wanted a house in an area that maintained that country feel. He also wanted a location in a close-knit neighborhood and not far from the fire station, since he would continue to volunteer as a firefighter. "It was a tall order," Lori says of his checklist. Once inside the 1940s house, the Wolcotts took "about five seconds" she says, to decide they wanted the home and its view across the Willamette Valley to the Three Sisters and Mount Jefferson in the distant Cascade Range. Read more... From physician glut to physician shortage September 1 − In my most recent post, I made light of the argument that the Affordable Care Act would lead to a major shortage of physicians in this country. I was unpersuaded in part because the newly insured are likely to present only a marginal added demand for physician services. More important, I am not sure what we mean by “physician shortage." Forecasters looking at the health work force have never reached a consensus on the ideal physician-population ratio for this country. Indeed, widespread worries over a looming physician shortage are a relatively new phenomenon. They come at the time when experts are also lamenting an “epidemic of overtreatment” of patients, said to cost America $210 billion a year. Read more... Prefab home for a writer September 1 − Author John Steinbeck (Of Mice and Men, and The Grapes of Wrath, among others) began his 1960 cross-country journey driving to Shelter Island, and he is just one of the many writers that spent time on this beautiful island. The Tess House is a house inspired by a writer who has been dreaming about building his writers house on Shelter Island for sometime now. At 1645 square feet this one story, 3 bedroom really just works. It’s open and comfortable floor plan allows for ultimate relaxation and creativity with the office/den right next to the master bedroom which makes capturing those middle of night "light bulb moments" a breeze. Included are double pane argon windows, Interior & Exterior Insulated Doors, Signature Exterior Wall System with Cellulose Insulation Thermal Envelope, Electrical Outlets, Switches, Recessed Lighting Fixtures, Combination of Cedar and James Hardie Siding (other options available), Drywall, Siding & EPDM Roofing to be finished on-site, Shower Pans are included and are Tile-Redi or White Cast Iron Finish, All in-wall/floor plumbing is installed with bathroom vanities and fixtures (Sinks, Toilets, Tubs & Faucets) included & to be installed on-site, and Hardwood Flooring, Drywall, Interior Trim, Stairs and Railings are provided. Read more...
News
Oregon News from NW Portal OSHU Gets Workers to Pay 6 Percent PERS ...(Willamette Week Blogs - ...) — Oregon Health & Science University won a high-profile concession in its recently conclud... It's Happening Tonight!(Blogtown, PDX, Portland ...) — GO-GO —This summer's Top Down series ends with The T.A.M.I. Show , the 1964 conce... Gov. John Kitzhaber endorses Portland's ...(OregonLive.com: Portland...) — "As a physician, he believes tooth decay is a serious problem and fluoridation is an eff... Stink bug appears on Oregon farms (Capital Press) — HERMISTON, Ore. -- An Oregon State University entomologist last week found the brown mar... Wine cellar at Mahonia Hall represents i...(StatesmanJournal.com - S...) — Bottles of Oregon wine are never too far away from influential guests at Mahonia Hall. Wh... Updated: Ducks Legal Department Nearly a...(Willamette Week Blogs - ...) — Anybody who thinks lawyers are boring should tune into the University of Oregon's legal ... A decade later, water lovers still help to keep Clackamas clean September 1 − In its 10th year next Sunday, the Down the River Clean Up on the Clackamas expects to become a confluence of kayakers, found-object artists, scuba divers, anglers, canoeists, rafters, recyclers and, perhaps most importantly, "garbage scow leaders" (more delicately known as participating drift boaters). If they match last year's effort, more than 400 volunteers will pull more than 3 tons of garbage from a 15-mile stretch of river between Barton Park and Clackamette Park, where the Clackamas River flows into the Willamette River. More than half of last year's haul was recycled, which is "pretty tremendous and goes to show there's a lot of metal," says event organizer Nastassja Pace of the nonprofit We Love Clean Rivers. Some of that metal ends up as sculpture, as about 17 artists will sift through the take. Organizers say items dredged up have included a monster truck tire, propane tanks, sex toys, random messages in a bottle, an Xbox, sleeping bags and, Pace adds, "lots of full bottles of alcohol." Read more... Dry spell likely to continue in Northwest September 1 − Northwesterners heading out for the Labor Day weekend have a pretty good chance of staying dry. The region is in the midst of one of the driest streaks on record. And there's little chance of that changing soon. It hasn't been your imagination. It's been really dry in the Northwest this summer. In fact, it's been mid-July since Seattle, Portland and Boise have recorded any measurable precipitation. Summers are typically dry in this part of the country, but this stretch is almost one for the record books. And it looks like the dry spell should continue, says National Weather Service forecaster Liana Ramirez. "We don't have any measurable precipitation expected for the next week or so and possibly even longer," she says. "If the models stay on track, it looks like we're going to have a pretty lengthy summer pattern lingering over the area." Read more... 'Portlandia' Season 3: Director Jonathan Krisel says, 'It's getting weirder' September 1 − If you thought that the creators and cast of "Portlandia" had possibly gone as far as they could go in terms of taking chances and experimenting,Jonathan Krisel has news for you. "It's a weird show," says Krisel. "And it's getting weirder." Krisel directs every "Portlandia"episode, and he co-created the series with stars Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein. The cast and crew have been back in action, filming around Portland since early July. At a media lunch on Thursday, Krisel, Armisen and Brownstein all sounded enthusiastic about some of the changes coming up in Season 3. The biggest overall shift, they say, is less of a focus on individual, self-contained sketches, and more emphasis on the characters created by Armisen and Brownstein that "Portlandia" viewers have come to know: Toni and Candace, the humorless proprietors of a feminist bookstore; earnest couple Nance and Peter; "Fred" and "Carrie," the actors' fictional counterparts; and the equally fictitious Portland mayor, played by Kyle MacLachlan, who was also on hand for the lunch. Read more... Demolition of Condit Dam nearing completion September 1 − Federal regulators have granted a short extension to complete the removal of Condit Dam on southwest Washington's White Salmon River. Originally, demolition crews were supposed to be done with the nearly year-long project by August 31st. The hydropower dam's owner asked for and received a two week extension from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Portland-based utility PacifiCorp now has until Sept 15th to take out the last bits of what was once 125-foot tall Condit Dam. Utility spokesman Tom Gauntt says the dam is all gone except for some stubborn footings and an arch. "It's down to just the very bottom of the canyon now," he says. "And that was indeed why we needed the extension. It gets pretty slow going when you're working in that kind of enclosed space." Pacific Power chose demolition of the 100-year old dam over relicensing. The relicensing route would've required adding a fish ladder among other expensive upgrades. Gauntt expects whitewater kayakers and rafters to get clearance to run the newly freed White Salmon River fairly soon after the last of the dam and a log jam are gone. Read more... TriMet: 'It's a massive undertaking that touches the entire agency' September 1 − Some big changes are in store for TriMet riders and the transit organization is working hard to make sure everything goes smoothly. Starting on Saturday, Sept. 1, the zone system that TriMet has used for years is going away for good. That includes the Free Rail Zone (formerly known as Fareless Square) in downtown Portland and the Lloyd District. The idea is to make riding TriMet a lot simpler by switching to 'go anywhere' fares. Now, all riders will have to do is buy one ticket to travel anywhere they like. That means no more worrying about which zones a ticket is good for. "It will be so much easier," said TriMet spokeswoman Mary Fetsch. The switch is also expected to help TriMet with their $12 million budget shortfall. They are looking at saving nearly $9 million by eliminating zones and increasing some of the fares, which is normally done this time of year anyway to keep up with inflation, and in this case will also help with the budget problem. Read more... Gasoline usage at lowest level in 50 years September 1 − As Northwesterners head to the pump for Labor Day weekend, a new report shows gas usage at its lowest level in 50 years. Last year, each resident of Oregon and Washington burned an average of about a gallon a day. At its peak in 1978, we were using 1.5 gallons. Clark Williams-Derry of the Sightline Institute conducted the report and says there are multiple reasons. He explained, "Cars are getting a little bit more efficient, we're tending to drive a little bit less. We are seeing gains in mass transit and alternative transportation, like bicycles. But really, behind all of these changes appears to be the rising and volatile price of gasoline." Read more... Man sentenced for urinating in Portland reservoir August 31 − A 23-year-old man who urinated into Portland's water supply last year has pleaded guilty to misuse of a reservoir and been sentenced to community service. Joshua Seater must complete 24 hours of service at a food bank by Oct. 10. If he fails, he faces five days in jail. The Colton resident and his attorney declined comment after Thursday's brief hearing in a downtown Portland courtroom. A security camera caught Seater urinating into the Mount Tabor reservoir in June 2011. "Within a split second of me taking a urine in there, right afterwards, I felt guilty," he told KATU at the time. "I knew I did wrong when I did it." The incident led the Portland Water Bureau to drain the 7.5 million-gallon reservoir at a cost of about $36,000. The action helped swell the seemingly minor act into a national news story. "Josh Seater isn't necessarily a bad person, he just did a really stupid thing," said David Shaff, administrator for the Portland Water Bureau. Read more...