Liz Warren
Displaying blog entries 1461-1470 of 1876
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Copyright 2010 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS
ENJOY PRIDE OF OWNERSHIP!
Remember the day you made the decision to go to college? What about the day you decided to buy that sporty red car? Surely you remember the day you decided you would get married. What about your present career path? Did you purposely decide it's what you want to do? Do you remember making a conscious decision to have three children?
Some decisions are relatively simple. You decide to buy a TV, go to the store, write a check - and it's yours. You own it! Other decisions are also easy to make, i.e. the red sports car, but carry a higher price. The decision comes quickly, but entails both a down payment and a commitment to make payments on time for several years. Again, you make the decision to buy and the car is yours - you own it!
At some point in life come decisions that shouldn't have been made, but were, as well as those you should have withheld. In high school, a day of classes skipped may have resulted in grades lower than acceptable to your choice of colleges. Later, a poor choice of friends may have resulted in a blemish on your "permanent" record. As an adult, poor decision-making not only may reduce the quality of your life, but of those you love.
Regardless, each decision made is yours to keep - you own it! You also own the responsibilities created by the decision, i.e. following a healthy lifestyle to stay trim, working two jobs to keep your commitment to the mortgage company, giving up poorly chosen friends and activities to provide your children with a happy, nurturing home life.
Every decision made can turn positive or negative, depending on the actions taken once the decision has been made. Either way - making the decision is followed by ownership of the results. Does "pride of ownership" appeal to you? Buy it, own it, love it!
Curious what sold in January 2010? Here are the winners:
We've got the highs to the lows in this bunch. One beautiful custom built home in Windtree, one of the mountain subdivisions, was purchased. The higher end market, which in checking numbers from Gresham to Government Camp over $700,000, typically sell 15% to 20% below asking price.
Two of the properties were foreclosures. The home selling at $244,250 was a foreclosure at the Resort at the Mountain. It had originally been priced above $300,000 but had some dry rot issues to repair.
Pricing homes in this market is difficult and if an owner was for sale prior to the market crash, their properties took a substantial amount of readjustment to get sold.
Current pending sales for February show several foreclosures but most on the lower end of the pricing scale.
What was the volume of sales on Mt. Hood including Government Camp, Welches, Brightwood, and Rhododendron at the height of the real estate boom? According to the RMLS multiple listing service our area had $76,354,000 worth of sales in 2005. That number produced 330 sales in the area. In contract, the 2009 sales volume hit $26,705,000 with 105 sales.
This is a fun event called the ABC Auction "adults benefiting children" tonight at the Mt. Hood Village Resort in Welches (also locally called the RV Village).
There are weekend getaways, local artist's works, lift tickets, many local services and much more. February 20th
It's free with an optionsl $10 dinner-southern style menu by the New Blackberry Cafe. Featuring BBQ Ribs and Jambalays
Silent Auction 5-7 pm
Dinner 6-8 pm
Live Auction 7 pm
Here is the flyer with all details!
Mt. Hood area sales saw some good numbers for the forth quarter of 2009. January squeaked by with a total of six sales. Here is how we are stacking up from the regional multiple listing service:
Listing inventory is increasing. Pending sales are up compared to Jan 2009 when buyers were reeling from the stock market plunge and shock. Market time, for the six sales that happened in January totalled 222 days. To sell in today's market, with the increase in number of foreclosures to choose from, takes aggressive pricing. Oregon is currently ninth in the nation in foreclosures according to RealtyTrac.
YOU CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS!
Walk into a totally dark room. What do you see? "Absolutely nothing," you say. Now, turn on the light. Where did the darkness go? Really - where is it now? Hopefully you will agree that darkness cannot exist in the face of light.
During a lifetime, we experience many types of "darkness." It may appear in the form of discouragement, fear, hopelessness, grief, ignorance, or poverty. Yet, in every case, there is a "light" in which such darkness cannot exist.
Fear, for example, cannot exist in the face of courage. Education denies ignorance any chance of survival. Grief disappears in the presence of peace-of-mind. Discouragement ceases when hope prevails. Wealth denies poverty its chance.
No matter what form darkness takes, it cannot exist when faced with its opposite. That also means we have the ability to send darkness on its way at any point in time. No matter how overwhelming the darkness appears, it is our thoughts and our minds that ultimately control the outcome. How powerful is that?
In the words of several favorite authors: "Think you can, think you can't, either way you're right." "Your life is what your thoughts make of it." "We are what we think about all day long." Finally, in the words of Tom Bodett, from one of his Motel 6 commercials: "We'll leave the light on for you!"
Oregon is currently ninth in the nation in foreclosures according to a leading foreclosure site RealtyTrac. Here are the numbers and charts:
Take a look at this map of Oregon to see the foreclosure meter.
What areas have the highest foreclosures according to RealtyTrac for January 2010? Here is a chart showing where they are:
For information on foreclosures in our Mt. Hood area of Government Camp, Welches, Brightwood and Rhododendron, check available properties here.
REPLACEMENT THERAPY!
Ever received one of those emails that contains a touching message, then suggests that if you forward it to ten more people you'll receive a "special blessing" or "ten million dollars in three days"? It usually also warns that the last person who didn't forward it met some terrible fate at the hands of unknown evil-doers. Remember how that last part - the veiled threat - made you feel? You didn't think something awful would really happen, but you resented being put in the position of wondering.
We've been told many times that our worst fears are of the "unknown." An unidentified fear sends our imagination into high gear, conjuring up vivid mental pictures of dastardly plots against us. We ruminate endlessly over the possibilities. Such fear is disruptive to our well-being, and leaves us tired and wrung-out.
So, how do you handle fear? One method is to identify the fear, so that once you do, it is no longer "unknown." That also means it is measurable, and can be logically quantified. Once you know what it is, your imagination can no longer dream up worse things that it is not. Once identified, it is possible to determine possible outcomes.
Most fears will never come to fruition. Those that do are divided into two categories: those we can control, and those we can't. If we have control, we also have the ability to survive our fears, and change their outcomes. Most fall into that category.
One mother's lifelong advice to her daughter who worried too much was to replace the worry thought with another more pleasant thought. The opposite of fear is hope, which also gives us courage. The next time you experience fear of the unknown, try replacement therapy. Think positive, hopeful thoughts when fear knocks at the door. Then, when you open the door - no one is there!
Timberline Rim is a subdivision in our Mt. Hood area that wraps around the Sandy River. It was originally platted in the 1960's and is nearly fully developed except for a few scattered lots that are still vacant. Parts of the subdivision are in Brightwood and others in Rhododendron. The entire area is on sewer and water and the homeowners enjoy a lodge, swimming pool in the summer, tennis courts, basketball hoops, party room in the lodge and other rec facilities, walking paths to the Sandy River and other amenities. It's location is only 45 minutes to an hour from Portland.
Most of the homes are occupied with full time residents and some second home owners scattered throughout the subdivision.
Naturally, some of the benefits of living in this area are its close proximity to the Mt. Hood National Forest with zillions of miles of hiking trails, 15 minutes to ski areas, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, golf, and a multitude of waterways to enjoy from the Sandy River to Salmon and Zig Zag Rivers threaded throughout our area.
Some of the best buys available in Timberline Rim are the foreclosures currently on the market. Today there are three available and here are the details:
It's a great time to buy and take advantage of today's incredible interest rates before they go up!
Displaying blog entries 1461-1470 of 1876
