News & Notes

Here are some Market Notes for You~

According to the just-released RMLS Market Action Report for February 2012, the combined area of Lake Oswego and West Linn  reported:

  • 572 Active Listings
  • 157 New Listings
  • 128 Pending Sales
  • 62 Closed Sales
  • An average Sale Price of $397,000.
  • Average Time on the Market: 152 Days

Also:

For the Portland Metro Area…………….

  • February 2012 showed the lowest inventory (6.5) since 2007
  • Closed Sales rose 17.5% from February 2011,
  • and Pending Sales increased 32.5%,
  • but there were 13.6% fewer Newly Listed residential properties
  • If you compare February to the previous month of January 2012, Closed Sales grew by 3.1%,
  • and Pending Sales increased 15.7%.
  • New Listings dropped  4.6%.

News & Notes

What’s Happening in Lake Oswego? ~

 

* Open City Hall Re: Tri Met Changes –  TriMet is going through a budgeting process, and there are potential impacts to Lake Oswego citizens using bus lines 36, 37 & 38.   CLICK HERE to access information and give your input!

* Capital Improvement Plan Open House – March 8th 5-7PM, City Hall~  See what projects are included in the Fiscal Year 2012-13 to 2016-17 draft funding plan. Some include repaving A Avenue and Kerr Parkway and completing Rosemont Trail. There is also talk of correcting water drainage issues on Rockinghorse Lane. Call Anthony Hooper at 503-697-7422  for more information.

*Adult Community Center (ACC) Happy Hour/Open House ~  Sunday, March 18, 1-4 PM, 505 G Ave – Fun!  Come join other Lake Oswegans and lean about new programs while listening to the musical stylings of  the Old Time Fiddlers on the upper level and singer-guitarist Tom Stroud in the café  (tell Tom I said “Hi” in case I can’t make it : ). CLICK HERE   for more information.

* Daylight Savings Begins! – March 11th, 2 AM  ~  Make sure to move your clocks ahead by one hour so that you are on time for the ACC Happy Hour… and of course on time to work!

 

Some Thoughts on Real Estate  ~

 

* Short Sales and You –  Short Sales have become part of the landscape in real estate. If you become involved in a short sale transaction, make sure to go over the details with your Realtor.  There are differences in how many are presented in RMLS after a Seller accepts your offer. Specifically, sometimes the Listing will be held in the “Active” section until the lien holder(s) (banks) come to agreement with you.  Sometimes you can achieve a change to “Pending” status which reduces the chance of others offering during your open transaction.

Earnest Money Checks – Again, in short sale transactions most Buyers are advised that they are likely in for a long haul as they wait for responses and red tape to be processed.  ***This does NOT mean that your earnest money check can be less than “good” when you hand it to your Realtor.  Your earnest money check will be held (usually by escrow, but sometimes in a client trust account), but in any event, essentially “cashed” and deposited in a safe place awaiting mutual acceptance with the lien holders, Seller and you.

Loan Officers – When setting out to buy a home, talk with your Realtor about options for reputable Lenders.  A good Lender is a crucial asset in the home-buying process.  A less-than-stellar loan officer can throw the entire train off track. Things you might assess include:

  • Expertise,
  • Types and Sources of Funds,
  • In-House Lending Options,
  • Availability and Accessibility of the Loan Officer (i.e., if you call on Saturday or Sunday and need a customized Approval Letter, will he/she be there for you?),
  • Is there a Good Relationship between your Realtor and the Loan Officer (remember… we are all humans, and loyalty comes into play naturally when a relationship exists…. that can work to your advantage when the going gets tough and perhaps extra attention or late hours are required to get the job done), and lastly,
  • Is Mortgage Lending what they do “Primarily”?   (Sometimes, especially in banks, someone can be charged with handling loans as a side-duty in addition to many others…..  You want an expert.)

Hope this information is helpful!

Very Best,

Linda

 

Open Houses 3/4/12

There are 19 houses scheduled to be open this Sunday. Enjoy.

18630 Kristi Way, $299,900, 3 BR, 2 Bths, open 2 to 4

4573 Oakridge Dr, $374,900, 3 BR, 2.5 Bths, open 11 to 2

5206 Royal Oaks Dr, $379,900, 5 BR, 3.5 Bths, open 1 to 4

5490 Royal Oaks Dr, $389,000, 3 BR, 2 Bths, open 1 to 3

4525 Trillium Woods Lot 16, $409,900, 3 BR, 2.5 Bths, open 11 to 2

4571 Oakridge Rd Lot 32, $419,900,, 3 BR, 2.5 Bths, open 11 to 2

13020 Princeton Ct, $429,000, 4 BR, 2.5 Bths, open 1 to 4

2357 Hillside Ln, $474,900, 5 BR, 3 Bths, open 1 to 3:30

17930 Meadowlark Ln, $499,900, 4 BR, 4 Bths, open 1 to 3

7 Mountain View Ln, $559,950, 5 BR, 2.5 Bths, open 1 to 4

13226 Rogers Rd, $589,000, 5 BR, 2.5 Bths, open 1 to 3

17802 Treetop Ln, $599,000, 4 BR, 3.5 Bths, opn 1 to 3

15633 Fieldstone DR, $618,950, 4 BR, 2.5 Bths, open 12 to 2

5533 Fieldstone Ct, $628,950, 4 BR, 2.5 Bths, open 12 to 2

5604 Grand Oaks Dr, $649,000, 5 BR, 3 Bths, open 2 to 5

14066 Edenberry Dr, $795,000, 5 BR, 3.5 Bths, open 1 to 3

18231 Siena Dr, $994,000, 4 BR, 3.5 Bths, open 12 to 2

18132 Siena Dr, $1,125,000, 4 BR, 3.5 Bths, open 12 to 2

18202 Bella Terra Dr, $1,145,000, 4 BR, 3.5 Bths, open 12 to 2

News & Notes

Here are some Market Notes for You~

According to the just-released RMLS Market Action Report for December 2011, the combined area of Lake Oswego and West Linn  reported:

  • 589 Active Listings
  • 153 New Listings
  • 97 Pending Sales
  • 75 Closed Sales
  • An average Sale Price of $364,800.
  • Average Time on the Market: 176 Days

Also:

  • For January 2012, Average Sales Price for the Portland Metro area ($249,100) was virtually unchanged as compared to 2011 ($248,900)
  • For January 20121 as compared to 2011, Closed Sales increased by a whopping 18.3%
  • and Pending Sales increased by 22.4%,
  • but there were 16.5% fewer Newly Listed residential properties

News & Notes

What’s Happening in Lake Oswego? ~

* Really Local Weather –   Three new weather stations installed at City Hall, the Golf Course and Westlake Fire Station are now recording temperature, wind speed & direction, relative humidity, dew point, soil moisture, soil temperature, precipitation and Evapo-transpiration.   CLICK HERE to access current local weather info.

* Portland International Film Festival in Lake Oswego – Feb. 10-16~  The Bank of Lake Oswego and The City of Lake Oswego are sponsors of the festival, and 16 films will be shown in Lake Oswego.  The festival showcases more than a hundred films around the world.  To see showtimes, location & purchase tickets CLICK HERE.

*Virtual Summit – To see the information presented at the Feb 2nd summit, and to add your own thoughts on “inspiring spaces & places”, and “Complete Neighborhoods & Housing”  CLICK HERE  .  The deadline for submitting comments is Feb 12th.

* Lake Oswego Rides Mink River – Feb 18th  ~  Join Mayor Hoffman for a themed bike ride that visits some of the city’s public work sites and runs along the river winding through Sister of the Holy Names & to the Art Spot. Gather at 9:45 for a 10:00AM bike ride at Millennium Plaza Park.  The ride is 10 miles, and registration is completed by calling 503 675 3730.

News & Notes

Here are some Market Notes for You~

According to the just-released RMLS Market Action Report for December 2011, the combined area of Lake Oswego and West Linn  reported:

  • 601 Active Listings
  • 103 New Listings
  • 84 Pending Sales
  • 104 Closed Sales
  • An average Sale Price of $456,200.
  • Average Time on the Market: 166 Days

Also:

  • For the Year, Average Sales Price for the Portland Metro area overall fell 6.7% as compared to 2010
  • For December 2011 as compared to 2010, Closed Sales increased by 10.3%
  • and Pending Sales increased by 19.3%,
  • but there were 11.7% fewer Newly Listed residential properties

 

Bouncing on the Bottom

I know this is risky. There are all sorts of possibilities that I’ll be wrong and you will be able to come back to me a year from now with “It’s only gotten worse. You were WRONG.” But I am going to take the risk and put this in writing. I think that the housing market is bouncing on the bottom. If there is downturn yet to do then I think it will be minor. And there is even a chance that there will be upturn.
No, I’m not a Nationally recognized economist. Really, what do I know? What I know is that I am down here in the trenches living in this house market. And I see 2 signficant changes.
First, the cash investors are out buying BIG TIME. I am working with 2 cash buyers right now both wanting entry level houses of $150,000 or less. This is partly due to low house prices as compared to high rent rates making the return on rentals look good. But this is the same formula that will turn renters into home buyers. It’s starting to make sense to buy entry level houses because the rents are now getting as high or higher than a house payment.
Second, when I show property I am now finding that more and more houses are going pending. It’s like Christmas is over, the prices and interest rates are incredibly low, so now is the time. Lockbox activity (meaning the number of times lockboxes are opened by Realtors to access listings)has skyrocketed. It always goes up after the holidays, but not like I’ve seen it in the last two weeks.
I am also seeing more positive economic news in the media, including this short article from the Oregoninan on January 10, 2010:

Home values in Portland are predicted to rebound
Portland-area home values fell 3.5 percent during 2011 but are expected to stabilize and even post an increase in 2012, real estate research firm Clear Capital reports.
The California company forecasts a 1.9 percent increase in home values in the Porltand-Vancouver-Beaverton area.
In the company’s ranking of 50 major metro areas’ home prices, that moves Portland from No. 27 in 2011 to No. 14 in 2012. Exactly half of the markets are expected to post home price increases. The Portland market is also among 20 considered to be stable in 2012 with predicted increase or decrease of less than 2.5 percent.
The company also reported 15.5 percent of homes sales in 2011 were bank-owned forcloseures.
U.S. home prices fell 2.1 percent in 2011 and are expected to gain 0.2 percent in 2012, the firm reports.
The Seattle area was one of the hardest-hit markets in 2011, posting a 15.1 percent decline in prices. Clear Capital predicted the city’s real estate would lose 7.5 percent in 2012.

Certainly time will tell. I understand I might be wrong, wrong, wrong. But there is also a pretty good chance that I am right. We will see…
Dianne

Open Houses ~ Jan. 15, 2012

Check out this nice assortment of detached Homes & Townhomes being held Open in Lake Oswego Sunday!

Address L/Price # Beds # Baths Total SF Prop Type Time
1400 BONNIEBRAE DR $150,000 2 1 864 TOWNHSE 1-3PM
18609 KRISTI WAY $219,000 4 1 1400 DETACHD 1-4PM
7 BRITTEN CT $235,000 4 2 2046 TOWNHSE 1-3PM
16212 LAKE FOREST BLVD $239,000 3 2 1267 DETACHD 1-3PM
21 BRITTEN CT $299,000 3 2.1 1972 TOWNHSE 12-2PM
4251 WOODSIDE CIR $304,900 3 2 2032 TOWNHSE 12-2PM
18630 Kristi WAY $314,900 3 2 1725 DETACHD 2-4PM
4793 AUBURN LN $377,900 3 2.1 2083 TOWNHSE 1-3M
5542 DUNMIRE DR $529,900 4 2.1 3204 DETACHD 11-4PM
5515 DUNMIRE DR $536,900 4 3 3287 DETACHD 11-4PM
5595 LUCE LN $579,900 4 3 3613 DETACHD 11-4PM
15633 FIELDSTONE DR $618,950 4 2.1 3047 DETACHD 12-2PM
5533 FIELDSTONE CT $628,950 4 2.1 3115 DETACHD 12-2PM
850 SCHUKART LN $699,000 4 3 4378 DETACHD 1:30-4PM
568 9TH ST $799,900 3 3.1 2825 DETACHD 12-3PM
582 9TH ST $799,900 3 3.1 2841 DETACHD 12-3PM
755 6TH ST $825,000 4 3.1 3973 DETACHD 12-3PM
18024 SKYLAND CIR $1,299,000 4 3.2 4131 DETACHD 1-3PM

The Other Blotter

Thank you to the Lake Oswego Review for being the namesake of The Property Blotter.  Here, for your reading enjoyment, is a reproduction of the best of the Police Blotter from 2011, as appeared in the December 29, 2011 Lake Oswego Review:

Best of the blotter

Look back at 2011’s reports from the Lake Oswego Police Department

The Lake Oswego Review, Dec 29, 2011

(news photo)

What do UFOs, Saran Wrap and chickens have in common? All were the subject of 9-1-1 police calls in Lake Oswego this year.

Information for the public safety column comes from the public records of the Lake Oswego Police Department.

Authorities filed reports on the following incidents in 2011. This is a look back at some of the more interesting reports:

January

1/16/11 1:15 p.m. A Chihuahua wearing a pink collar was picked up for running in traffic.

1/16/11 8:34 p.m. A drunken female, sitting on a downtown park bench, yelled for a man to come over because “I want to show you my knife.”

1/19/11 10:32 a.m. A woman believes she is being stalked by members of a stalking organization.

1/19/11 7:45 p.m. After leaving her phone inside a gift shop, a woman requested that a police officer break in and get it for her.

1/26/11 2:46 p.m. A car buyer found he had been defrauded when an oil change at Oil Can Henry’s revealed that his car had 116,750 miles on it. This was 80,000 more miles than shown on the odometer when the man first purchased the car.

1/27/11 9:02 p.m. When a couple finally answered a late-night doorbell, they looked outside and found that their car had been Saran Wrapped.

February

2/1/11 5:12 p.m. A woman called to say she was being held against her will in the X-ray department at Providence Milwaukie.

2/1/11 5:40 p.m. A man who allows his spaniel puppy to run off leash yelled at a woman to control her dog. She did not appreciate this blatant hypocrisy.

2/1/11 9:33 p.m. A possible UFO was sighted over 62nd Avenue and Southwest Southwood Drive. The strange flying object had a bright light and crisscrossed lights on its bottom, and it was spotted several times tonight.

2/4/11 12:13 p.m. A teenage son traded the family car for one he saw on Craigslist.

2/8/11 4:48 p.m. A 100-year-old woman, who is hunched over and has a white beard, is being dropped off every Saturday morning at a super market. She is very filthy and smells of urine, and it is doubtful she is being taken care of.

2/10/11 7:23 p.m. Road rage arose on 10th Street and A Avenue when a man driving an Outback yelled at another vehicle to pull over so he could beat him up. But when the driver pulled over, the road rager quickly drove away.

2/11/11 1:27 p.m. A church is praying that a belligerent transient will take his presence to another denomination.

2/17/11 5:13 p.m. A litter bug is putting Kleenex and Kleenex boxes all over a complex on North Shore Road and State Street.

2/22/11 1:04 p.m. A confused-looking man began changing his clothes inside of a fast-food restaurant. However, it turned out to be a mixed martial arts competitor.

March

3/14/11 6:51 p.m. A husband has started video taping his wife when they have arguments.

3/21/11 7:33 p.m. A woman expressed the wish that she was dead. She then changed her mind and went to Albertsons.

3/22/11 7:59 p.m. The continual gathering of young guys (ages 18 to 25) hanging out on the sidewalk on Parrish Street is making some neighbors paranoid.

3/24/11 1:37 p.m. An 11-year-old son threw a bottle of urine on his father, who became quite upset.

3/29/11 7:45 p.m. A red-headed woman whose age was estimated at 40 to 60 and who was wearing a white hat, coat and boots, came walking down another woman’s front steps on Village Park Lane and put her newspapers by her door. “We like to keep our neighborhood tidy,” the redhead said.

April

4/8/11 11:18 a.m. A man with a “spinning head” was acting suspiciously at a store on Pilkington Road.

4/10/11 8:10 a.m. A disgusting scene on Yorkshire Court included a teddy bear hanging from a tree and sanitary napkins hanging all over a garage door. The suspect is a 16-year-old boy who had been trespassed from the location and told not to call the residence or the daughter who lives there.

4/10/11 12:37 p.m. A woman’s special rocks were spray painted yellow by a city crew on Hampton Court.

4/12/11 3:38 p.m. A man wearing no pants disturbed a woman on Parkview Drive.

4/17/11 12:02 p.m. A voice emerged from a speaker phone in a hedge on Palisades Crest Drive and threatened a man that the Russian mob was coming to get him. In the background, a female was heard laughing.

4/19/11 2:50 p.m. Strange voicemails are being sent to a woman by a person claiming their brain injury and prison sentence were her fault.

4/23/11 12:44 p.m. A duck and ducklings were reported wandering on Kingsgate Road, but they were shooed to safety in a yard.

4/27/11 7:43 a.m. Seven rogue chickens are roaming around on Carman Drive and destroying yards. The chickens’ owner was warned about their feathered terrorism.

4/27/11 8:23 a.m. A middle school-aged girl was waiting at a bus stop when a man wearing a beanie stopped and asked her if she was a prostitute and what her fee was. He broke off the inquiry when another student arrived at the bus stop.

4/28/11 10:33 a.m. An alert mother performed double duty on a stroll down Kruse Way, pushing a baby in a stroller and throwing rocks at a coyote.

4/29/11 12:45 a.m. A sleeper is concerned about his future after having a dream in which the devil told him he was going to die in his sleep. Upon awakening, the man immediately made a trip to the doctor.

4/29/11 7:13 p.m. Some oddball juveniles on Bangy Road are lying on manhole covers and talking into them.

 

May

5/2/11 11:16 p.m. A driver thought to be drunk was actually delivering newspapers.

5/4/11 12:57 p.m. A presumptuous neighbor threw away two trees on a porch because she thought they were dead. She thought wrong and may be hearing from the neighbor’s lawyer.

5/9/11 11:26 p.m. Two desperately drunk people were walking down the middle of State Street, stopping only to vomit.

5/11/11 4:55 p.m. While leaving a bank, a woman was honked at by a man, who told her he could fix the dent in her car for $300. When he finished the car looked even worse, so she wants to make the police aware of this phony fix-it man.

5/15/11 11:52 a.m. A woman keeps finding notes on her car that say, “I really like your car, call me if you ever want to sell it.”

5/15/11 10:05 p.m. A coyote confronts a man every day when he takes his dog outside on Wheatherstone Court. The man wants to know what his rights are if the coyote becomes confrontational.

5/17/11 10:02 a.m. A woman became infuriated when she found that her hair had been turned purple at a salon. When she went back to complain, she was kicked out.

5/19/11 8:35 a.m. A woman told an officer she becomes upset every time she walks by her neighbor’s house because her dog was attacked by the neighbor’s dog several years ago. The officer suggested that she not go by the house.

5/24/11 2:18 a.m. Now that Oswego Lake is again full, parties are taking place. One became worrisome because of the sound of people being thrown into the lake.

June

6/4/11 9:04 p.m. A man thought to be bleeding had actually spilled ravioli all over himself.

6/18/11 12:35 a.m. A very bad and loud musician is playing his bass in an apartment on Jefferson Parkway.

6/20/11 4:05 p.m. Nothing but a hound dog was howling and standing in the road on Ninth Street.

6/20/11 10:23 p.m. A resident of Delenka Lane had his garbage returned to him after he left it in the middle of the street. As a bonus, he received a warning.

6/22/11 1:49 p.m. Twelve goats went AWOL from their pen on the campus of Marylhurst University. However, the horned rascals were rounded up and returned to their corral.

6/22/11 6:23 p.m. A strong chemical smell was coming from inside a convenience store where the employee was acting silly. It turned out that the chemical smell is nothing unusual and that the employee is always silly.

6/22/11 9:21 p.m. A bag tagged “dead raccoon” was found in an alley on Second Street. Sure enough, a dead raccoon was found inside the bag.

July

7/3/11 5:03 p.m. A swarm of bees got inside the church at Our Lady of the Lake.

7/5/11 10:37 p.m. Four juveniles were getting out of a vehicle on Kilchurn Avenue and slamming their bodies against houses.

7/10/11 7:38 a.m. After exposing himself on Woodland Terrace, a screaming man was taken to Meridian Park Hospital.

7/11/11 11:32 a.m. A father and son got into a shoving match over whether the boy would go to summer camp.

7/12/11 5:02 p.m. A dog suspected of unwarranted urination on Pioneer Court is being threatened with stoning by one of its victims.

7/15/11 9:28 p.m. Wild behavior broke out at a sleepover when some youngsters started screaming and yelling as they bounced up and down on a trampoline.

7/20/11 10:09 a.m. Mysterious eyes peered out at a woman from a bush on Hallinan Circle.

August

8/3/11 9:04 a.m. A customer entered Flying Elephant Deli and became so enraged by a painting on display that she started yelling at employees and customers. Her hostility kept mounting until she threatened to come back and destroy the painting. However, she was trespassed before she could trash the work of art.

8/5/11 3:21 p.m. An indecent exposure occurred at the Griffith Office Building near the Lake Corporation. The exhibitionist was a man of average size.

8/7/11 7:58 p.m. The apparent case of a reckless driver doing cookies in a church parking lot turned out to be a mother teaching her daughter how to drive a car with a clutch.

8/8/11 9:31 p.m. A husband and wife got into a spat over the wife’s efforts to disconnect the television. She also wants an annulment of their marriage.

8/9/11 5:07 p.m. Overly aggressive juvenile lemonade sellers are upsetting drivers on Melrose Street and Westlake Drive by sticking their heads into car windows and yelling.

8/11/11 4:54 p.m. A woman calling 9-1-1 for spiritual support is upset because she cannot get through.

8/17/11 3:29 p.m. A sinister raccoon has been entering a woman’s house, stalking her cat, opening her refrigerator and drinking milk.

8/23/11 12:27 p.m. A loud and lecherous 70-year-old man has been harassing his neighbor on First Street for a year by peeping into her windows and yelling at her all times of the day.

8/23/11 7:36 p.m. A groper came to Safeway and rubbed himself against an unfortunate woman twice.

8/26/11 12:52 p.m. After responding to a woman’s report about smelling meth on Carman Drive, police determined that the smell was actually that of a skunk.

8/30/11 6:06 p.m. A married couple sharing a smoke outside of its home on Foothills Drive were shocked when its upstairs neighbors came down and sprayed them with cleaning fluid.

8/31/11 8:22 p.m. A group of fugitive youth were seen running toward Westlake Park. However, it was later determined they were members of a cross country team.

September

9/1/11 5:52 p.m. A dead squirrel was preventing a woman from getting out of her driveway on Kingsgate Road.

9/7/11 11:32 a.m. A man painted up like a clown aroused suspicion on State Street when he dropped to the ground after he spotted a woman staring at him.

9/8/11 9:28 a.m. While spying on her neighbor through a fence, a woman spotted two marijuana plants. It turned out the neighbor had a medical marijuana card.

9/12/11 3:16 p.m. A man is feeling guilt ridden about firing his pellet gun in 1995 and wants to come clean about it.

9/22/11 8:58 a.m. Strange sounds like flying saucers taking off and landing were heard on Hallinan and Laurel streets.

9/24/11 4:02 p.m. A dog keeps running in and out of Safeway and grabbing food. The pilfering pooch was returned to its home and the owner was warned about allowing his dog to run at large and steal.

9/24/11 6:10 p.m. A rabid squirrel is chasing people at Waluga Junior High.

9/24/11 6:22 p.m. An ex-husband testified that he saw his ex-wife giving marijuana to their son. However, the substance turned out to be catnip.

October

10/1/11 8:50 p.m. Flying bologna struck a car going down Boones Ferry Road. It is suspected the source of the airborne lunchmeat was a wild party on Carman Drive.

10/12/11 12:29 p.m. A female roommate may be having mental issues. She has been preaching to nobody for hours about the devil, and now her roommate is seeking advice on how to get her out of the house.

10/24/11 10:30 p.m. A man with a reputation for violence was heard yelling and screaming inside of his residence. It turned out that he was playing video games.

10/27/11 9:40 p.m. A missing woman was found in a tanning facility in Portland.

November

11/3/11 10:47 a.m. An unconscious woman woke up to find that her head had been shaved by her landlord, with whom she shares the house. The woman claims the landlord is a Wiccan and is trying to destroy her because she is a Christian.

11/4/11 6:08 p.m. A man came home to his residence on West Sunset Drive and found that his bed had been stolen.

11/6/11 10:06 a.m. A woman says her house was robbed by aliens who got away in a space ship.

11/25/11 1:29 p.m. After getting slapped, a neighbor picked up a pickaxe in a dispute over a pathway on Crest Drive.

December

12/3/11 11:20 a.m. A golden retriever on Edenberry Court is being routinely allowed to illegally romp on a protected wetlands area. However, the dog was found to be clean and dry when an officer came by to investigate.

12/4/11 10:45 a.m. A guest is refusing to leave after staying for three weeks at a residence on Lakeview Boulevard. The unwelcome guest is associated with Occupy Portland.

12/6/11 4:56 p.m. A woman grossed out customers at a restaurant by walking in, wiping her nose on a napkin and setting it on a table. When questioned about this questionable action, she flew into an obscenity-filled rage.

12/7/11 11:12 a.m. There was concern when a friend did not show up for an appointment on Dec. 7. However, it turned out he was safe inside the Multnomah County Jail.

12/14/11 12:02 p.m. Two teenage mooners exposed their nether regions to a class of junior high students walking on the trail from the tennis center. The identities of the moon men remain unknown.

As always, thank for reading.

Dianne

News & Notes

Here are some Market Tidbits for You~

  • According to RMLS, showing activity 12/5 – 12/11/11 was down by 10.8% in the state of Oregon from the week prior.
  • As always, the holiday season brings more attention to thefts at Open Houses and fraudulent activity of all kinds.  When holding your home Open, make sure to talk to your Realtor about precautions you should be taking such as putting valuables and prescriptions in a safe place.
  • Bank-owned properties are often great bargains.  Make sure to ask your Realtor to check with the Listing Agent and/or your escrow officer if you are entering into a bank-owned transaction, specifically to make sure that a title policy will be issued.  We have heard that there has been some hesitation here & there due to fears of reprisals by former owners, so best just to double-check on your particular property.

What’s Happening in Lake Oswego? ~

* “LO Reads!” – Jan 9th at 6:30PM  ~  There will be a kickoff event for this 6th annual tradition.  Be at the Lake Oswego Library for a free copy of Lake Oswego’s own Brian Doyle’s book, “Mink River”.  Kathryn Claire and Eddie Parente will play the rish fiddle and refreshments will be available.  To learn more about Lake Oswego Reads, CLICK HERE.

* Holiday Tree Recycling – Dec. 30, 31, Jan 1, & 2  + 7 & 8~  The Boy Scouts are recycling trees again this year at George Rogers Park for a small $6.00 donation.  They will be waiting to help you from 9-5 the first four days, and then from 8-4 on Jan 7 & 8.  Make sure to remove all decorations & anything non-organic from the tree before bringing it down to the park.

*Block Foam Recycling! – Sat, Jan 21 ~ If you’re like me, you wonder what the heck to do with this prevalent packing material.  The West End Building at 4101 Kruse Way will be taking it off your hands from 9 AM – 2PM or until the truck is full.  Please read more about it so that you understand what does NOT fall into this category (such as foam peanuts, foam rubber & food packaging).  CLICK HERE