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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... Needy states using housing aid cash to plug the budgetMay 16 − Hundreds of millions of dollars meant to provide a little relief to the nation’s struggling homeowners is being diverted to plug state budget gaps. In a budget proposed this week, California joined more than a dozen states that want to help close gaping shortfalls using money paid by the nation’s biggest banks and earmarked for foreclosure prevention, investigations of financial fraud and blunting the ill effects of the housing crisis. California was awarded more than $400 million from the banks, and Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed using the bulk of that sum to pay the state’s debts. Read more... |
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Homes & Health |
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Pearl living at its best
Doubts case on the 'Good' in 'Good Cholesterol'May 17 — The name alone sounds so encouraging: HDL, the “good cholesterol.” The more of it in your blood, the lower your risk of heart disease. So bringing up HDL levels has got to be good for health. Or so the theory went. Now, a new study that makes use of powerful databases of genetic information has found that raising HDL levels may not make any difference to heart disease risk. People who inherit genes that give them naturally higher HDL levels throughout life have no less heart disease than those who inherit genes that give them slightly lower levels. If HDL were protective, those with genes causing higher levels should have had less heart disease. Read more... LEED BeachHaus I prefab
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News |
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News from the Pacific Northwest Portal
Milwaukie light rail line attracts $85M from feds
Oregon bans American Indian sports mascot in schoolsMay 18 — Native American-themed sports mascots will no longer be allowed in Oregon public schools. That's the decision Thursday by the state Board of Education. The vote was 5 to 1. Fifteen high schools in Oregon's 197 districts have mascots like Indians, Braves and Chiefs. The new rule phases them out by July of 2017. There is room for Warriors as a team name, as long as the imagery that goes with it is not about Native Americans. Se-ah-dom Edmo is with the Oregon Indian Education Association. She says the mascots that are banned foster negative stereotypes. "It's about objectification. And any objectification is discrimination. And discrimination is a tool of racism," Edmo says. "So no matter how small that racism might be, it's still racism, and it has no place in our public schools." Read more... Danner Boots of Portland crafts its products at home in StumptownMay 18 — Keen Footwear's domestic manufacturing has garnered a lot of attention lately, including a White House visit in January. But another Portland manufacturer wants people to know that it make many of their boots in the U. S., too. Danner Boots has been located in Portland since 1932, getting its start when Charles Danner began making boots for loggers. Today Danner is a subsidiary of LaCrosse Footwear Inc., a publicly held company that moved its headquarters from Wisconsin to Portland in 2001. Danner and Keen both cater to work and outdoor users and are sold throughout North America, Europe and Asia. But it's Danner that has a more significant Made-in-America story to tell. About a third of Danner boots are made at its Portland plant, the only U.S. production site for LaCrosse. Read more... Is it now Lloyd's District turn?
Hales, Smith to offer voters very different approachesMay 18 — Charlie Hales' idea of a good party is a breezy gathering of friends and supporters, an outdoor barbecue, kids eating ice cream, and a passing streetcar to get the crowd energized. The father of the Portland Streetcar took the stage at his election night party Tuesday evening by hopping up on a couple of old desks in rolled-up shirtsleeves and holding his wife in a sweet embrace as he delivered his remarks. Jefferson Smith's idea of a good party is a crowded roomful of 30-somethings holding beverages, a DJ spinning pulsating beats and a wacky Bollywood performer dancing to a remix of "Ice, Ice, Baby. Read more... GDiapers, Keen, New Seasons get kudos for being goodMay 18 — Four jeans-wearing Portland State University seniors spent hundreds of hours this year building a computer-aided pill identifier to help doctors and nurses act quickly in emergencies. The device could save lives, but that's not why they did it. Earlier this month they competed in a battle of computer-aided inventions at Walt Disney World, facing students from the nation's top engineering schools. The four 23-year-olds returned to Portland exhausted but happy, bearing the Cornell Cup USA top prize and a $10,000 check, beating out powerhouses like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California, Berkeley. "We drank a lot of Coke," Hoa Nguyen said of their months of long nights. The four were not just any students, but among two dozen Intel scholarship students from Vietnam at PSU's Maseeh College of Engineering & Computer Science. The team's advisor, assistant professor Mark Faust, says the scholars were selected through tests administered at Vietnam's top technical universities. "We're getting the absolute best of the best," Faust said. Read more... Portland State University students' invention tops the field at national engineering competition
We may be bookish, but then again, it does rain a lot hereMay 17 — The annual "Most Literate Cities" report ranks Portland No. 11 nationally. That puts us somewhere behind Washington, D.C. (No. 1), Seattle (2) and San Francisco (9). Apparently a gigantic bookstore and a large population of out-of-work young creatives can only take you so far. But, hey, at least we beat out dead-last Jacksonville, Fla. (52nd), and Plano, Texas (46th) and New York City, which tied with Austin at No. 22. The annual rankings, out of Central Connecticut State University, are based on hard data that includes total newspaper circulation, educational level of residents, number of bookstores, library resources, magazine publishers and Internet use. The study evaluates how much people in different cities read, not how well they read. Read more... Oregon Zoo bans tobacco starting May 26May 17 — The Oregon Zoo will ban all tobacco products starting May 26. Cigarettes and other tobacco products will be banned on all zoo grounds under a new policy governing facilities operated by Metro, the regional government. The Metro Council approved the tobacco policy a year ago, but implemented it in four stages. The zoo has long prohibited smoking in buildings, but allowed it in designated outdoor areas. The zoo is one of Oregon’s most popular visitor facilities. In 2011, it admitted more than 1.5 million visitors and resulted in $43.1 million of direct spending in the local economy. The zoo supports 760 area jobs and $30.1 million in wages in the Portland area, according to an economic impact study by Crossroads Consulting Services. The zoo gained a measure of worldwide fame earlier this month when video of its “lazy lioness” Kya seemingly attacking a toddler named Jack through a glass enclosure was posted to YouTube. "Lion tries to eat baby Part 1" has been viewed more than 4.3 million times. 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 18 — Oregon’s U.S. senators announced jointly Thursday that the Portland area’s transit agency will receive $85 million in federal money for the new Portland-Milwaukie light-rail line. The money, which goes to 
May 18 — That was the vision for the blocks around the Lloyd Center adopted by the City Council when it approved the Central City Plan in 1988. A 2007 analysis shows the area is zoned for nearly 32 million square feet of additional development, including more than 11,000 new housing units. Now, the first multi-block project to embrace this ambitious goal is beginning to move through the city's development review process. The proposal includes 780 new housing units and nearly 51,000 square feet of new retail space on four blocks at the intersection of the existing MAX light-rail line and the eastside Portland Streetcar extension that is scheduled to open later this year. Langley Investment Properties, a development company that owns the blocks and a number of adjacent parcels, submitted the proposal. According to documents submitted to the city Bureau of Development Services, the project would include four residential buildings ranging from seven to 32 stories. The tallest building would be 325 feet, roughly the same as the tallest residential tower in the South Waterfront project. Each of the structures would have retail stores on the ground level. 
May 18 — The annual "Most Literate Cities" report ranks Portland No. 11 nationally. That puts us somewhere behind Washington, D.C. (No. 1), Seattle (2) and San Francisco (9). Apparently a gigantic bookstore and a large population of out-of-work young creatives can only take you so far. But, hey, at least we beat out dead-last Jacksonville, Fla. (52nd), and Plano, Texas (46th) and New York City, which tied with Austin at No. 22. The annual rankings, out of Central Connecticut State University, are based on hard data that includes total newspaper circulation, educational level of residents, number of bookstores, library resources, magazine publishers and Internet use. The study evaluates how much people in different cities read, not how well they read. Portland ranked fifth for the education level of its residents and 11th for number of bookstores, which shouldn't have taken too long to count. Mark Warren McLaughlin, spokesman for the Central Connecticut State project, says there may be a reason for that. 