Ultimate Open House

In Oregon City, a larger number of people have these characteristics than in surrounding neighborhoods:

Education: Bachelor’s degrees, Did not complete college, Master’s degrees
Employment: Self-employed (incorporated businesses), Work in construction and extraction occupations, Work in management-level occupations, Work in office and administrative support occupations, Work in sales and related occupations
People & Culture: Born in this state
Transportation: Drive to work alone

The Main types of people are…

Movers and Shakers - Mobile suburban couples without kids. More than 50% of these younger married couples have moved in the past five years. They earn comfortable incomes and work in management or professional careers. Some have completed college.
New Suburbanites - Mobile suburban singles. A high proportion of these pre-middle-age to middle-age singles have moved to the suburbs in the past 4 years. Some have a college education and work in professional or management careers.
Upwardly Mobile - Suburban couples living in mobile homes. A higher than average percentage of these married couples with no children live in mobile homes or non-conventional homes (boats, RVs, etc.). Education level varies from high school to college.

From the Oregonian by Connie Potter 

Builders use brick for all kinds of reasons, from its strength and durability to the value it adds.

But to Jerry Reeves, the bottom line is: Brick is beautiful.

Reeves, owner of J.C. Reeves Development & Construction, combines brick and cedar siding on virtually everything his company builds. It’s his signature look.

One of his newest developments, on Sitka Court in Tualatin, features six luxury homes, all with brick and cedar exteriors, used in differing combinations for unique looks. The homes range from about 3,500 square feet to more than 4,500 square feet, with prices of $790,000 to $995,000. A gated entrance is anchored by a brick wall that borders the project.

There’s a perceived value in brick that buyers appreciate, said Reeves. And there are benefits beyond beauty. Brick is durable and won’t warp, rot or burn. It never needs painting. Because of its dense mass, it can help moderate temperature extremes and even lower heating and cooling bills.

Reeves, who started his company in 1980, also appreciates the feng shui qualities that brick and stone and other natural products bring. Feng shui is the ancient Chinese practice of arranging home or work environments to promote health, happiness, and prosperity. Natural products have an energy that man-made products don’t, he said.

Buyers of his homes are drawn to the classic look of brick and the fact that natural products are proven, said Reeves. There are no questions about whether the product will wear well over time or whether it will be adversely affected by the elements.

“That’s a huge benefit to them,” he said.

Although brick adds beauty and interest to the architecture of a home, it also adds to the cost. It takes more time to build a brick house, said Reeves, and engineering costs are higher because of the extra weight. On the plus side, many insurance companies offer lower fire insurance rates for brick houses.

While people use various adjectives to describe brick homes — classy, timeless, high-quality, to name a few — Reeves said many buyers don’t know exactly what it is they like about brick. They just know that they like it.

“When they come up to a home and see brick and stone, it has a higher perceived value,” he said, “and they feel better about their home.”

From the Portland Tribune by Peter Korn 

You can call it the New Seasons Effect, or the Whole Foods Effect, but developers and city planners have talked about it for years. In short, nothing says you’ve arrived as a neighborhood quite so emphatically as a New Seasons specialty grocery store down the block.

And now there’s evidence showing how much that upscale grocery means to Portland-area property values – an extra 20 percent or so for homes within a block and a half, according to a study by local economic consulting firm Johnson Gardner.

Everything else being equal – same home, same neighborhood – if a specialty grocery store sits within a block and a half of your house, your property values should be 20 percent higher than if you don’t have the store nearby.

And specialty groceries aren’t even No. 1 on the list of shops that will elevate the value of nearby homes. That distinction belongs to small neighborhood movie theaters, according to the Johnson Gardner report.

All things being equal, a small movie theater can raise property values somewhere between 14 and 30 percent, according to the study. Wine bars and garden shops also provide a boon to homeowners. Bookstores, fitness centers and bike shops do the same, to a lesser extent.

Read the rest of the story at the portlandtribune.com.

Read more about the Johnson Gardner urban living study.

Looking for demographic information on a particular zip code?  Check out ZIPskinny.com.  On ZIPskinny.com you can find basic demographic information, school information, maps and even compare multiple zip codes…cool!

Happy Valley is unique because a large number of naturalized U.S. citizens live and a large number of people born in Oregon live there. In Happy Valley, a larger number of people have these characteristics than in surrounding neighborhoods:

Education: Did not complete college, Did not complete high school, High school graduates
Employment: Work in production occupations, Work in sales and related occupations
People & Culture: Born in this state, Naturalized U.S. citizens, Not U.S. citizens, Wealthy retirees
Transportation: Drive to work alone

The main types of people are…

Scrappy Homeowners - Homeowning urban singles with low income. Pre-middle-age to middle-age singles on a lower to middle income who own their own home. Some have a college education and work in services and the professional sector.
Upwardly Mobile - Suburban couples living in mobile homes. A higher than average percentage of these married couples with no children live in mobile homes or non-conventional homes (boats, RVs, etc.). Education level varies from high school to college.
Dollars and Sense - Suburban, financially savvy families. More than 20% of these middle-aged married couples with children have a second mortgage or home equity loan. Most earn moderate incomes and work in management or professional occupations.

Luxury homebuilder, Beacon Homes, is preserving trees and nativescaping in its newest neighborhood, Lady Apple in Tigard.  The site had many western red cedar, oak, hawthorn, big leaf maple, douglas firs and red alder native trees.  Arborists, local landscapers and tree preservation experts aided in saving over 50 mature trees, plus Beacon was able to plant over 7,000 natives such as currants, Oregon grapes, alders, douglas fir and three kinds of native roses in the neighborhood. 

“The beauty of the site was clearly the trees and native plants.  Our team did an outstanding job of preparing the site and the result is a really beautiful neighborhood.  The buyers have certianly pointed out the trees, plants and landscaping of the site as one of the main reasons for deciding to live there,” said Kurt Dalbey, chief executive officer.

According to the Cohousing Assocition of the United States…Cohousing communities are old-fashioned neighborhoods created with a little ingenuity. They bring together the value of private homes with the benefits of more sustainable living. That means common facilities and good connections with neighbors. All in all, they stand as innovative answers to today’s environmental and social problems.

Although Cohousing communities may seem radical to some they are becoming more and more mainstream.  As a matter of fact there are at least 3 cohousing projects under construction right now in the Portland Metro area.  Plus, later this month a symposium is scheduled at Portland City Hall to discuss collaborative housing developements and a community-based approach to design and developement.

Read more about cohousing in the Oregonian…

• Cohousing Condos Unite Bicyle Fans
• Metro area co-housing communities have units available for sale
• Portland renters have an new option

and the Daily Journal of Commerce….

• Fostering a sense of Community
• Cohousing is an attractive investment for bank

First-time home buyers are primarily concerned with affordability when choosing a new home, but their expectations may be too high relative to their current financial buying power, according to a recent Coldwell Banker® survey conducted among its brokers. While nearly half of the Coldwell Banker broker respondents reported that affordability was the No. 1 concern for this group, 81 percent said today’s first-time home buyers consider move-in conditions to be very important when searching for homes. In contrast, only 7 percent are looking to purchase “fixer-upper” homes that they could buy at a lower price and renovate themselves. 

Read more of the report here….

Consumer interest in real estate surged in July with significant month-over-month increases in both traffic (29%) and time spent on site (26%) on Realtor.com, the #1 homes-for-sale-site. In fact, year-over-year page views on Realtor.com increased by 22% as consumers spent more time this year searching properties in popular and unexpected metro areas than they did this time last year.

Read more on Market Watch.

Back to school time can be especially stressful after a recent move.  These 5 tips will help your child make a smooth transition to your new school.

Keep a positive focus - As the first day draws near, begin talking to your child about her expectations, hopes and fears for the upcoming school year. Reassure her that other children are having the same feelings and that she’s sure to have a great year. Present school as a place where she’ll learn new things and make friends.

Early to bed, early to rise - If your child has enjoyed a vacation of late nights and lazy mornings, getting him up for school on the first day can be difficult. Help make this transition easier by starting his school-year sleep routine a week or two in advance.

Take a trial run - Take some time before the start of school to make sure you and your child know where to go and what to do on that first morning. Show your child where the bus stop is, or, if she walks, map out the safest route to school, avoiding vacant lots and places where there aren’t a lot of people. Warn your child to always walk with a friend and scout out safe houses to go to in case of emergency. If you can find out what classroom your child will be in, visit the classroom ahead of time so she knows exactly where to go in the morning. You may even want to call the school in advance to find out about any special first-day procedures.

Prepare the night before - To avoid the morning rush, organize what you can the night before. Lay out clothes, make a lunch and assemble any supplies your child may need. Be sure to get everyone up extra early so you’ll have plenty of time to calmly get ready and get out the door on time.

Get a healthy start - Encourage your child to eat a good breakfast and pack a healthy snack to help her get through the day.