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Susan's Online Guide to Portland Let 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.
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Real Estate Market Trends |
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Case-Shiller numbers show improvement in Portland July 28 − Portland's residential real estate market did slightly better in May than in prior months, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Housing Index released Tuesday. On both a year-over-year and month-to-month basis, Portland showed improvement, according to the newly issued numbers. The Portland index improved 0.7 percent from May 2009 to May 2010, and 1.2 percent in May compared to April. The S&P/Case-Shiller's 20-city index showed considerably more robust activity, posting a 4.6 improvement in May 2010 over May 2009. San Francisco, San Diego and Minneapolis all showed double-digit percentage improvements in May. Officials warned against reading too much into the numbers, saying national housing prices moved mainly sideways over the last 12 months. Plus, the May numbers may be skewed somewhat by a residual impact from the homebuyers' tax credit. Read more... Follow the Portland metro area housing market and subscribe to Susan's free monthly newsletter... |
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Community News |
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Lake Oswego gives property owners more flexibility to develop on sensitive lands July 30 − City councilors this week approved a sweeping update of the city's natural resources protection policy, giving owners of environmentally sensitive lands more flexibility and leeway to develop and install gardens, barbecue pits and other small changes within buffer zones. Councilors also instructed planning staff to return with a supplemental budget request for community outreach and public education efforts. And the city will study development of an online data service program similar to the Portland Maps website and will work to craft a more holistic, watershed-based environmental management system. Read more... City Council allows planning to build marine terminals on West Hayden Island July 30 − Despite pleas from conservationists and East Hayden Island residents, Portland's City Council authorized staff Thursday night to plan for building 300 acres of marine terminals on 800-acre West Hayden Island. The hearing on the issue stuffed the council chambers, which had to be partially cleared to comply with the fire code. The undeveloped land near the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette rivers is both a unique environmental gem and a prime spot to develop industrial terminals for exports, imports and jobs. Read more...
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Home & Health |
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Portland brothers teach Living Building by example July 30 − After first targeting the world’s toughest green-building certification for a house being constructed on Southeast Woodward Street in Portland, brothers Dustin and Garrett Moon have now decided the lessons they’ve learned, and hope to teach, are much more important than any certification. In July 2008, with the help of family members, Dustin and Garrett set out on what they believed would be a yearlong process of deconstructing the old house and building a new one in its place. And as the project developed, it looked more and more likely that the home would qualify for Living Building certification. The Living Building Challenge is a three-year-old worldwide certification program that challenges builders to construct structures that produce all of their own energy on-site. Read more...
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Living Green |
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Solar manufacturers struggle to meet demand July 30 − Manufacturers are producing solar modules as fast as they can, but not fast enough to meet demand. Manufacturers and solar installers say demand for modules is increasing because of low prices, new feed-in tariff programs and greater public awareness. Now, some people are predicting that a module supply shortage could be on the horizon. “We are starting to see signs that the pendulum is shifting in the direction of less product,” said Andy Noel, Northwest regional manager for REC Solar, which has an office in Portland. “I am not suggesting that (solar module) prices will be going through the roof. But with more demand and less product, prices could go back up.” Read more... |
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Sports and Outdoors |
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Water, parks and wildlife measure is the fourth, and possibly final, to make the November ballot July 29 − A measure that would continue to channel lottery revenue to Oregon water, parks and wildlife was certified Wednesday by the secretary of state's office. Unless a lawsuit changes the fate of one measure, the parks initiative will be the last to make the Nov. 2 ballot. If it passes, the measure would amend the state constitution and indefinitely extend the 15 percent of lottery money that benefits parks and salmon habitats. That designation is scheduled to sunset in 2014. Read more... |
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Susan Marthens |
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© Copyright 2000-2010 All rights reserved Web by Dasan Design ● Telephone (503) 819-0011 |
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Sunset
Transit Center now holds eight fewer cars -- but 74 more bikes
July 30 − Ask anyone who has wasted time circling the ramps inside the Sunset
Transit Center's park and ride garage, and they'll tell you that it's nearly
impossible to find an open space after 7 a.m. TriMet says the three-story,
622-space parking facility in Beaverton is the MAX system's most popular
-- and most maddening. So, why has Oregon's largest transit agency sacrificed
eight car spaces for more bicycle parking at the Sunset station? Don't look
at it that way, TriMet officials and bicycle advocates said today as they
opened the Pacific Northwest's first "bike and ride" garage within a garage.
Look at it this way: There are now 74 parking spaces where there was once
just eight -- as long as you're riding a bike to link up with light rail
or a bus. "That's potentially 74 cars that won't be using the park and ride,"
said Rob Sadowsky, executive director of the Portland-based Bicycle Transportation
Alliance.
Keen's
new green line set to launch, Portland store to open July
30 − Seven-year-old Keen Inc., maker of ubiquitous rubber toed shoes and
sandals, is pushing the sustainability envelope with a new collection of
shoes. The company also plans to open a retail store in Portland at the
end of August. Next week at the
The
Heritage Home Tour opens the door to a range of Portland architecture
July 29 − This Saturday, the
Girls
ages 12 to 17 realize their roller derby dreams with the Rosebuds junior
team July 29 − Imagine you are a 12-year-old girl. Not
quite a teenager, you weigh maybe 80 pounds; a lightly sketched collection
of elbows, knees, blond hair and shining eyes. A midsummer's afternoon could
take you to a grassy field, the neighborhood pool, anywhere sunny, carefree
youth takes place. But Sierra Skye, who is, in fact, 12 years old, has another
destination in mind. She's walking out of the sun and into a metal-cloaked
hangar. She's lacing up a pair of roller skates and adjusting the pads on
her arms and legs, and the helmet protecting her skull. Now she's skating
onto a track already alive with skaters. All of them bigger, older and entirely
capable of shoving a smaller girl off the track and down onto her unpadded
rear end. Which is, as it turns out, what they are all training to do. Still,
they nod and make room for the newcomer in their orbiting pack. Sierra skates
in, puts her head down and tries to keep up.
