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Existing home sales rise in September

October 28th, 2008

The National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales rose 5.5 percent in September compared to August. More importantly, sales volume was 1.4 percent higher than the 5.11 million-unit pace in Sept. 2007, the first year-over-year gain posted in existing home sales since November 2005.

NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun: “The sales turnaround which began in California several months ago is broadening now to Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and Rhode Island. The South was hampered by much lower home sales in Houston in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.”

Calculated Risk points out that September 2007 sales were impacted by the credit crisis that started in August 2007. The current wave of the credit crisis will probably impact sales reported in October and November.

Also see Orgonian Article from from today Incentives bring gains in new home sales


Portland In Top Ten Cities Where Your Dollar Goes Furthest

October 28th, 2008

From Forbes 

Money goes further some places in the United States than it does in others.

Housing, in particular, has remained most affordable in the South and the Midwest. That’s because of less stringent building, an abundance of land and growing populations in the South, says Daniel McCue, a research analyst at Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

To determine the cities that offer the best quality of life for the least amount of money, Forbes magazine calculated the ratios between a city’s median home price and its median household income. It also factored in projected job growth. And it compared median income to Moody’s Economy.com’s cost of living index.

Here are the 10 cities that it found to offer the best value.

Cities Where Residents Get the Most for Their Money

  1. Austin, Texas
  2. San Antonio, Texas
  3. Indianapolis, Ind.
  4. Houston, Texas
  5. Charlotte, N.C.
  6. Columbus, Ohio
  7. Dallas
  8. Minneapolis/St. Paul
  9. Denver
  10. Portland, Ore.


Home Gyms Spruce Up and Slim Down

October 27th, 2008

According to the Sporting Goods Manufacturing Association, between 2000 and 2006 there was a 30% increase in the number of people exercising at home, especially among baby boomers concerned with maintaining their health. About one-third of new and potential home buyers list a home gym as essential or desirable, according to NAHB. The space falls just behind home offices and theater rooms as the most popular specialty area.

Home gyms also are sprouting in spare bedrooms, multi-use family rooms and garages. A few years ago, home gyms were more focused on several single-specialty machines like the Ab Roller or the ThighMaster, says Steve Jordan, president and owner of Steven Jordan Acceleration, a fitness boutique in Los Angeles. Today’s home gym is minimalist. Cables are neatly tucked away, and machines are adjustable to fit any body type and fitness level. “The consumer realizes that exercise and movement can be done in small spaces or on equipment that has multiple uses,” says Jordan, who has designed home gyms in spaces as small as 4 by 4 feet.

In today’s home-gym market, the look of the equipment is just as important as the function. Manufacturers are using “home-friendly” materials and colors, including wood grains and brushed stainless steel.


Greener Pastures for America’s Homebuilders?

October 26th, 2008

A recent survey of the 13 largest publicly traded U.S. homebuilder entitled Greener Pastures for America’s Homebuilders? A Survey of Sustainable Practices by the Homebuilding Industy found that, while every major homebuilder has incorporated some environmental and efficiency programs and products into some of their new homes, none has fully embraced the emerging market of sustainable building design and construction. This study of the sustainable policies, programs, and performance of the nation’s largest homebuilders revealed that the industry has a long way to go before any of the companies can truly claim to be addressing the risks and opportunities inherent in the environmental and climate change dilemmas.

Local builders that ranked among the nation’s Greenest large-scale homebuilders include D.R. Horton and Centex.


African American Alliance Homeownership Fair

October 24th, 2008

Home buying and homeownership professionals will lead workshops for future homeowners, current homeowners and seniors. Free ice cream and activities will occupy the kids. Emanuel Hospital Atrium (501 North Graham), Saturday, October 25, 10:00 am to 2:30 pm. For more information, visit the event website.

Also, don’t forget about the Remodeling 101 seminar which is also tomorrow, Saturday, October 25.


Planners say Portland’s “Living Room” is comfy

October 22nd, 2008

by Eric Mortenson, The Oregonian

Portlanders know it as Pioneer Courthouse Square, a former downtown parking lot turned gathering spot, MAX train hub and the place where that bronze man, Mr. Allow Me himself, is eternally offering to share his umbrella. We call it the Living Room.

The American Planning Association calls it one of the top 10 public spaces in the country, on the list with New York’s Central Park and the Santa Monica Beach in California.

The planning association this week included Pioneer Courthouse Square on its list of the country’s best public spaces, streets and neighborhoods. The designations are intended to honor places and policies that “exemplify exceptional character” and “offer better choices for where and how people work and live,” according to a news release.

The seven other 2008 Great Public Spaces are: Yavapai County Courthouse Plaza, Prescott, Ariz.; Union Station, Washington, D.C.; West Side Market, Cleveland, Ohio; Mellon Square, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Waterplace Park, Providence, R.I.; Waterfront Park, Charleston, S.C.; and Church Street Marketplace, Burlington, Vt.

Pioneer Courthouse Square is a one-block square bordered by Southwest Morrison Street on the north, Southwest Yamhill Street on the south, Southwest Broadway on the west and Southwest Sixth Avenue on the east.

The site was home to Central School, which was Portland’s first public school, then to the Portland Hotel, which was completed in 1890. Meier & Frank bought the site in 1951, tore down the hotel and built a two-story parking structure. The company’s later proposal to build an 11-story parking garage was turned down by the city and touched off a sweeping downtown planning effort. The city eventually bought the site and selected architect Will Martin to design the square. It opened in 1984 and today attracts an estimated 26,000 people a day.

In 2005, the Project for Public Spaces ranked Pioneer Courthouse Square third among the top 12 public squares in the U.S. and Canada.


Remodeling 101

October 20th, 2008

Industry professionals guide you through the complete remodeling process in this FREE in-depth seminar.  Seats are limited, call the HBA at 503-684-1880 to reserve your seat today!

Saturday, October 25th 9am-noon at the JMG Conference Center at the Home Builders Association (15555 SW Bangy Rd, Lake Oswego, OR 97035). Click here for more information….


Waste Not, Rot Not

October 17th, 2008

To most people, the rotten fruit that falls from neighborhood trees onto streets and sidewalks is a moldy nuisance. To Katy Kolker and Sarah Cogan, it became a call to action.

During their walks around Portland a few years ago, the two women were struck by the amount of fruit decaying on the curbside at a time when many people in the area were going hungry. That wondered if there were a way to get neighborhood fruit into neighborhood bellies—and it turns out there is.

“There are lots of tree owners who are more than happy to share their fruit,” says Kolker.

What began as a small neighborhood project two summers ago, is now a full-scale, city-wide effort known as the Portland Fruit Tree Project.

Here’s how it works: Tree owners register their trees, and when the fruit is ripe, volunteers show up for a harvesting party. The organization also holds workshops on pruning and food preservation.

In 2007, volunteers harvested 3,400 pounds of fruit, half of which was donated to local food pantries. The other half went home with volunteers. The most common fruits in the program are apples, plums, Asian pears, and figs. The group has also harvested persimmons, apricots, peaches, and cherries.

Kolker is now working on securing funding for a part-time staff person to coordinate the project. And she’s heading up a new group harvest program that would bring out different agencies’ clients to pick fruit. She also recently started an outreach group with a local HUD program for low-income Latina mothers, and with Portland Impact, which serves low-income elderly and disabled adults.


A closer look at Oregon City…

October 13th, 2008

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.


Urban Cycling

October 10th, 2008

Story from sustainlane.com 

Ah, urban cycling – a playground for young, biking die-hards swerving in and out of motor traffic or for those in expensive gear and rock-hard bodies, right?

Well, not exactly. Though some cities’ cyclists still fit the stereotype, there’s a move afoot to make bicycles the vehicle for the masses. And in Portland – recently named “most bike-friendly major city in the U.S.” by the League of American Bicyclists – it’s working. Here, you need neither a hip messenger bag nor bank-breaking gear in order to ride a bicycle.

Everybody’s doin’ it, says Mia Birk, a former city employee who helped lead Portland’s efforts to make the city more bike-friendly. It’s estimated that 16 percent of Portlanders commute on bikes.

Portland devoted itself early on to some pretty serious cycle-conscious city planning, passing a bill in the 1970s that set aside one percent of state highway funds for bike lanes and paths. Today the city has more than 270 miles of bikeways and recently created the country’s first ever highly-visible, bright green bike boxes. The boxes are painted on the asphalt at intersections where bikers share the road with drivers. Cyclists stop in the green boxes to wait for the light to change; cars stop behind them. This way, cyclists are always in drivers’ sightlines, and out of danger.

If you stand in front of Birk’s house, which sits on a major bikes-only boulevard, you’ll see thousands of cyclists pass by daily, she says. Traffic includes men in business suits, women in skirts and high heels, children on their way to school, and any other kind of rider you can possibly imagine.

“We have a surprisingly broad bike culture,” says Birk, who now heads up Alta Planning and Design, a consulting firm that advises cities across the country on how to become more friendly to two-wheelers.

And while no one can deny the health and environmental benefits of all that cycling, there’s another one: cash. And not just a little bit either. A study completed last year for the City of Portland by Alta Planning and Design, found that in 2006 bike-related business generated $63m worth of activity in the city’s economy and employed as many as 800 people. Alta estimates that in 2007, bike-related biz spurred around $100m worth of activity in the city’s economy.

“It’s the American way to look for economic opportunities,” says Birk. “All these businesses have popped up to serve the bicycle community.”

Not included in the study is the growing pedal-powered industry in Portland – businesses that rely on the strength of their employees’ quadriceps. This includes pizzerias and bakeries that deliver by bike, popsicle peddlers, and at least one business that runs on 100-percent renewable energy: Fossil Fuel Free Lawn and Garden Care, a full-service lawn and gardening business, whose workers ride bikes to jobs and have nary a power-tool in their wagons.

As Birk sees it, Portland has two big hills it needs to power over in the coming years. The first? E nsuring that the next generation of Portlanders are taught that biking is the preferred way to get where they’re going. That’s the goal of Portland’s bicycle education program, now in about fifty of its 200 or so elementary schools.

The second hurdle is finding a way to get the cycling message out to immigrant and minority communities. Many of these communities are located far from the city’s center, where major roadways make safe biking less viable.

Still, the sheer number and variety of bikers, Birk says, is eye-boggling. She says visiting a city’s downtown is never a good indicator of bike culture because these areas are typically not safe for cycling.

“Yet even in [Portland’s] downtown, you will see so many bicyclists, you will be blown away . You’ll go down on the waterfront and be blown away. You cannot believe there are this many people biking.”