Tualatin Red Light

Monday night the Tualatin City Council decided to move forward with an evaluation on red-light cameras. Assuming all goes well they will then discuss whether Tualatin's busiest intersections would benefit from the extra attention.

Running red lights is the most common traffic violation people complain to the Tualatin Police about. Especially now with the increase in traffic the accidents have pretty much tripled from 2005-2006 at the Tualatin-Sherwood Rd. and Boones Ferry Rd. intersection.

Many have said that red-light cameras cause more accidents than they prevent because people will slam on their breaks to avoid a ticket, but that's also been said to be a myth. Beaverton has had it's red-light violations decrease since adding red-light cameras to it's busy intersections.

But the system isn't flawless, if you drive a car that isn't registered to you, you cannot get a ticket. If you duck while the camera is taking the picture you can also avoid a ticket because the picture needs to clearly have your face and your license plate. There are people out there trying to sell sprays and plastic covers for your license plate to prevent the camera from getting a good picture, but anyone who has watched Myth Busters knows, they don't work.

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FED CUT!

The long awaited Fed decision arrived with a bang! The Fed surprised many economists and traders with a half percent cut in both the Fed Funds and Discount Rates. Stocks soared higher and enjoyed their largest gain since 2003.

What does the Fed cut mean? Rates on consumer debt, car loans, and Home Equity lines will all benefit. But because Home Loan rates are tied more closely to inflation, it is not uncommon to see less of a reaction...or even an opposite reaction in mortgage rates.

The Fed cut also hurts rates of return on investments, which gives foreign investors less incentive to invest in US securities. This has sent the Dollar much lower against the currency of most major foreign countries. This makes foreign goods more expensive for us to buy, which adds to inflation pressures.

Overall, the Fed cut is good news for the economy, but may nudge inflation a bit higher. Feel free to call or email with any questions.

Have a fantastic day!!

Clint Elliott

NewLine Home Mortgage

1400 NW Irving #108

Portland, Or 97209

888-488-5731 toll free

503-548-4014

503-808-9101

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August Market Report

August Residential Highlights

The market continues to follow the trends of recent months. While new listings continue to grow, the number of transactions are down. However, home prices continue to rise at a steady rate. The number of new listings in August grew 9.1% compared to August of 2006. On the other hand, pending sales dropped 18.1% and closed sales fell 13.1%. At the end of August 2007, there were 15,782 active residential listings in the Portland Metro area. Given the month’s rate of sales they would last 6.2 months (see table to the right).

Year-to-Date Trends

When comparing the period of January 2007-August 2007 to the same period in 2006, new listings have grown 11.8%. Pending sales fell 11.7% and closed sales decreased 8.1%.

Appreciation

Using the average and median sale prices for the twelve months that ended with August 2007

compared to the twelve months ending in August 2006, the average sale price appreciated 7.8% ($337,400 v. $313,000). Using the same formula, the median sale price appreciated

8.1% ($285,000 v. $263,700).

Portland Condos

The table below highlights active condo listings vs. closed sales from 2002-2007 for the month of August.

Active Closed

August 2002 898 169

August 2003 863 169

August 2004 877 281

August 2005 548 361

August 2006 1,476 383

August 2007 2,601 342

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*The information above is from the monthly market action report produced by RMLS and used by permission of RMLS. This information is copyrighted by RMLS, All Rights Reserved.

Corvallis 10th Best Place to Live!

Sperling's Best Places recently ranked the best places to live in the country. The top ten include:

1. Charlottesville, VA
2. Santa Fe, NM
3. San Luis Obispo- Atascadero- Paso Robles, CA
4. Santa Barbara- Santa Maria -Lompoc, CA
5. Honolulu, HI
6. Ann Arbor, MI
7. Atlanta, GA
8. Asheville, NC
9. Reno, NV
10. Corvallis, OR
    

According to Sperling - Corvallis is home to Oregon State University and therefore many young singles. Hewlett-Packard has a major presence here causing low unemployment rate and impressive recent job growth. With Corvallis being a college town and a computer company residing, it's a very intellectual town. A fifth of the people who choose Corvallis as their home have earned a graduate or professional degree. Pacific Northwest weather is temperate with very pleasant but not crazy hot summers are sublime and the winters are mild but wet. The Oregon coast is a 90 minutes to the west for biking or kite flying and the nearby Cascade range offers great skiing. If you get the urge to visit a big city, Portland is about 100 miles to the North. Considering it's affordability ($194,800 median home price), Corvallis presents an attractive mix of youth, intellectualism, and natural beauty.

For a complete profiles of all 331 metropolitan areas, get a copy of "Cities Ranked and Rated." online or at your local bookstore or library. The book also includes maps, climate charts, comparison tables, plus additional profiles of the 45 new fast-growing mini-metro areas and 27 Canadian metro areas.

http://realestate.yahoo.com/neighborhoods/ten_best_places_to_live.html

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New Tigard Plaza 2

Stevens Marine on Burnham Street was chosen,as expected, as the site for a future public plaza that is hoped will become the cornerstone of the Tigard revitalization effort. Currently it is just the concept that has been approved. There are still many more hoops to jump though yet.

This site had been favored because it has the capacity to hold the Tigard farmers' market, with the temporary closing of some side streets, and the owner's willingness to work with the city on this project. Not to mention the available options to make it visible, which is a major problem with downtown Tigard currently.

The next phase includes talking to and working with neighboring property owners. The idea being for all to redevelop the area together, at the same time, instead of the plaza going up and the surrounding properties following the already set up vision. If you include the people in the planning, the local business owners, then it is more likely that the people will use it.

It's supposed to be a shopping center, a gathering place for fun and festivals and a permanant home for the famers' market.

When The Times contacted Page Stevens, owner of Stevens Marine, on Wednesday morning, he said that he was not aware his business had been chosen as the site for a public plaza.

http://www.tigardtimes.com/news/story.php?story_id=118843604191235900

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