Susan Marthens

Principal
Real Estate Broker
GRI

Phone
(503) 497-2984

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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 is my way of helping you become acquainted with the neighborhoods and communities of the city and to inform you about the Portland area housing market. Your comments and suggestions about my Web site are always appreciated.

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/GRI


House and Home

Mad about the Mediterranean  November 16 − The architecture and decoration of Mediterranean-style homes springs from a romantic interpretation of the sun-washed, lavender-scented villages and cities hugging the coastlines along the Mediterranean Sea. Warm colors, stucco walls, red-tiled roofs and an open floor plan create a welcoming ambience for entertaining, even if the American-made Mediterranean may owe just as much to California as to Cartagena. Stylistic features of these homes include defined outdoor entertaining spaces such as courtyards, decks, stone terraces and patios linked to the interior with French doors. Airy rooms framed by curved archways, a flat, rather than pitched, roofline, and restrained exteriors in colors of clay or sand are hallmarks.  Read the full story in The Oregonian...

Street of Dreams builders downsizing dream   November 17 − The flagging economy will suck some of the starry-eyed extravagance out of the 2009 NW Natural Street of Dreams. Promoters insist the 34th annual show of luxury homes will survive the downturn, but houses will be smaller, far more energy-efficient and perhaps half the cost of last year's edition. And, with the exception of the two or three houses that show host Chad Eslinger had already planned to build at his 7-acre Bella Terra development in Lake Oswego, they will all be sold before so much as a single nail is driven. "These are all just signs of the times," said Eslinger, owner of Eslinger Builders, based in Lake Oswego. "The goal here is to bring this back closer to reality."  Read the full story in The Oregonian...


Green Zone

FREDERICK JOE/THE OREGONIAN    Metro Metals Northwest is stockpiling about 250 tons of recycled cans at its Portland scrap yard for lack of a market. With huge yards in Portland and Vancouver, Metro Metals has the storage space and the financial ability to withstand a sharp downturn in the recyclables market, company officials say. Smaller recyclers could have a tougher timeWeak economy crushes market for Oregon recyclables    November 17 − The market for recyclables in Oregon and around the globe, riding at or near historic highs a few short months ago, has tanked along with the economy, marking what industry experts say is the largest, quickest drop ever in prices paid for recyclable material. Among other consequences, plummeting prices for plastic, cardboard, newspaper and metal could boost garbage rates across Oregon as haulers collect far less recycling revenue to offset costs. Orders for recyclables, typically converted to raw materials for manufacturing, dropped abruptly about two months ago as factories worldwide slowed down or shut down. Demand from China and the rest of Asia, the engine of the recycling boom, is now feeble at best, recyclers say.   Read the full story in The Oregonian...


Sports and Outdoors

National forests see fewer visitors   November 18 − National forests have long been prime recreation spots in the Pacific Northwest and around the nation, but new federal figures show far fewer people are visiting them since 2004 -- especially in this region. Now researchers are trying to determine why people are staying away from the prized public playgrounds, including the nearby Mount Hood, Gifford Pinchot and Deschutes national forests. Their ideas include high gas prices, rising visitor fees, youths glued to television and video games and a busy, urban society with little time for outdoor pursuits. They say the decline is troubling for rural economies that increasingly look to tourism and recreation to replace revenue lost when logging dried up. It also may leave fewer people who champion the value of public lands.  Read the full story in The Oregonian...

Starkey Experimental Forest and Range banishes humans for the winter   November 17 − Biologists buttoned up the lonesome Starkey Experimental Forest and Range for the winter Saturday, banishing the public from the large fenced wildlife research enclosure until May 1. Relatively unknown to most Oregonians, the Starkey Project in northeastern Oregon's Blue Mountains encompasses 40 square miles of alpine meadows and pine and fir forests surrounded by an 8-foot fence. It is open to the public from May until November or December. Field crews plan to spend much of this winter live-trapping and radio-collaring up to 40 Rocky Mountain elk and as many deer inside the fence, one reason the gates have been locked.  Read the full story in The Oregonian...


Neighborhood and Communities News

THOMAS BOYD/THE OREGONIAN     he growth of solar manufacturers such as Solaicx, which has a new Portland facility, has not been enough to offset the loss of other manufacturing jobs in the state.Oregon's jobless rate spikes to 7.3%   November 18 − Consumers slapped shut their wallets in October, helping drive the unemployment rate to 7.3 percent in Oregon, which lost 14,100 jobs since September -- the worst seasonally adjusted monthly decline since February 1981. Tom Potiowsky, Oregon's state economist, called the numbers horrible, saying Oregon's unemployment rate could reach or exceed 8 percent. The recession appears to be getting deeper than predicted, said Potiowsky, who doesn't expect better economic growth until 2010.  Read the full story in The Oregonian...

Comcast revs up Internet access in Portland   November 18 − Comcast is pushing the pedal down. Starting next month, the cable company plans to give faster Web connections to all its Internet customers in Oregon and Washington -- twice as fast -- without a rate increase. Comcast will also add a premium service with hyper-fast downloads for $140 a month. Verizon already offers similar speeds to its Internet subscribers in Washington County, east Multnomah County and parts of Clackamas County. In Portland, however, Comcast's upgrade brings fast connections that were heretofore unavailable to most residential customers.  Read the full story in The Oregonian...

Motoya Nakamura/THE OREGONIAN      The East Side Big Pipe tunnel reaches northward from the Opera Shaft. When finished in 2011, the tunnel will divert storm water and sewage to a treatment plant instead of the Willamette River. The story of the East Side Big Pipe is told in numbers   November 18 − The group converges on the gaping hole in the ground (67 feet wide) near the Portland Opera headquarters and travels down several stories (115 feet) to the floor of the East Side Big Pipe tunnel (6 miles long when completed in 2011). It quickly becomes evident that the tale of the biggest construction project in the city's history is told in numbers -- large numbers and a lot of them. The Big Pipe is a series of tunnels designed to divert Portland's combined storm water runoff and sewage to the city's treatment plant on the Columbia River. When it's done, raw sewage will flow into the Willamette River two or three times a year instead of every time it rains like it does now.  Read the full story in The Oregonian...

Regional leaders push lame duck Congress to fund construction projects   November 17 − Portland-area politicians are hoping Congress will approve millions of dollars in regional infrastructure projects at the lame duck session scheduled to begin today. City and county leaders say new public works projects will create thousands of good-paying jobs. The elected officials have released a list of construction projects they say can be started in coming months if the federal governments agrees to help finance them. "It's just a matter of political will," Commission Randy Leonard said of Congress and the Bush Administration.  Read the full story in the Tribune...

Major US cities preparedness for an oil crisis   November 17 − Common Current just released a new study, "US City Post-Oil Preparedness Ranking," which looks at the largest 50 cities and their readiness for a new Presidential Administration that is weighing ongoing energy price volatility and climate change policies expected to impact all levels of government. The cities with highest overall ranking in “Major US Cities Preparedness for an Oil Crisis” are as follows: San Francisco, New York, Washington, DC., Seattle, Oakland, Chicago, Portland, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston. Ranking highest are cities with strong public transit system ridership, well-organized and relatively dense city centers, a high degree of mixed real estate uses (retail, office, residential), and medium-to-high city population density.   Read the report at the Common Current Web site...


  • 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 Life  Planet Earth as seen from Portland Oregon.

  • Commission Sam Adams  Sam's Web site and blog is full of information about the neighborhoods of Portland.

  • 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.

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

  • Kids in Portland   This blog provides a venue for parents to come together and find out all of the great attractions, restaurants, activities, ideas, issues, art, music, and discussions for and about 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.

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

  • Portland Dog Blog

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

  • Upper Left Coastt  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 Tribunee  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.


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

Susan Marthens
Principal Real Estate Broker, GRI
(503) 497-2984
Fax (503) 220-1131

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