Cat Zwicker-Grant, P.C., your Central Oregon Real Estate Professional

I adore fall, the crisp feel of the air in the morning, the hotter afternoons that make you think well maybe one more day of summer, the blazing orange sunsets, hot pressed cider, October Fests, pumpkins and corn fields... well maybe just one corn field....

If you Build it.... One Central Oregonian's Field of Dreams

Matt Lisignoli, owner of the Central Oregon Pumpkin Company knows adversity and skepticism when he sees it. Linsignoli not only grows 25 acres of one of the more difficult crops to grow here with our short growing season (pumpkins) he plants 8-10 acres of corn each year, not for consumption or sale, but to turn into Central Oregon's only corn maze! This year look forward to getting lost in roughly 8 acres of corn rows designed with the theme of "Castles and Dragons." (Hint: the maze is laid out in the outline of a castle... but where's the dragon???)

OTHER ATTRACTIONS IF YOU GO:

• Fall Market Place
• Hay Rides
• Hay Fort
• Petting Zoo
• Pony Rides
• Pumpkin Cannon

For directions, fees and times of events (access to the maize is limited to Fri-Sun) go to;

http://www.pumpkinco.org

Saturday October 25th -

You might be a Central Oregonian if....

You have ever been Pumpkin Bowling!

Join the Downtown Redmond Partnership, area vendors, and business as they kick off the Halloween Season with-

• Scarecrow Themed streetlight and window decorating contest
• Pumpkin Bowling
• Spooky Sidewalk Sales
• and more!

October 31st -

4 -6 PM Trick or Treat Downtown; Then gather your treats and beat feet to the Haunted House at Dawson Station! More Details to follow!

Looking for other events and activities in Central Oregon, who better to contact than your local area specialist and Realtor?

"Oregon's statewide population has grown dramatically in the past 30 years from roughly 2.5 to 3.5 million. Our population is expected to grow by an additional 1.7 million new Oregonians in the next 30 years." - The Big Look Task Force Sept. 2008

Oregon is the only state to have a land use and planning system reviewed and mandated at the state level.

Tom McCall, a Central Oregonian native and State of Oregon Governor from 1967-1975, believed that part of the legacy we as Oregonians could leave to our children and our children's children was stewardship of the land and its resources. McCall was dismayed by what he perceived to be the ongoing misuse of public and privately held lands and wanted to set forth Oregon as the environmental model for the nation. To that end, McCall became the founding father of Oregon's Land Use and Planning system which was enacted into law in 1973 under Senate Bill 100.

The Goals & Successes of Land Use Planning

1. Manages growth through a consistent and predictable process
2. Limits sprawl
3. Preserve farm and forest lands
4. Maintain rural landscapes while keeping cities urban
5. Support the agriculture and timber industries
6. Build Healthy livable cities

...And The Hurdles

1. Providing new housing & jobs while maintaining Oregon's high quality of life
2. Addressing farm and forest lands that do not provide an economic benefit; reexamine how they are designated and potentially allow for alternate uses
3. Addressing the implementation of environmental protections where they have been lax in the past.
4. Researching and developing methods to pay for infrastructure and growth.
5. Understanding the effects of carbon emissions on our climate and the challenges that may create.

If you are currently living in Oregon get invovled! go to www.oregonbiglook.org They have several great videos to help you understand the specific concerns and challenges Oregonians face as well as research documents, an on line survey-Statewide Public Opinion Survey and a schedule of Town Hall meetings and upcoming events.

If you are thinking of moving to Oregon, this is an excellent opportunity to learn about our state and Oregon manages her lands to prevent urban sprawl and ovely rapid development, this is one of the reasons' our housing market may recover sooner than most!

The Big Look -Watch the film and get involved!

NOTE: Cat Zwicker-Grant, P.C., a licensed Oregon Real Estate Broker and Desert Sky Real Estate, LLC, are not affiliated with the Big Look Task Force in any way other than personal interest and involvement in land use issues in the state of Oregon.

For those of you unfamiliar with our little town; Redmond has an approximate 'urban' population of 26,000 give or take a few; we've grown leaps and bounds in the past 5 years. Last night, September 12, 2008, at our monthly 'Art Walk' the Downtown Redmond Partnership in conjunction with the City of Redmond and our local area Chamber announced our new logo and tag line. "Redmond Downtown ... Who Knew!" A somewhat off the cuff nod to our our neighboring localities who seem to think on occasion that the 15-20 miles that separates us is an ocean and that there is just not much to do here.

Downtown Redmond, while admittedly a work in progress, offers clean pedestrian friendly streets and locally owned businesses and shops. Locations like Dawson's Station offers one stop shopping where you can buy the latest best seller at Shelf Life Books, participate in one of their several book clubs or just enjoy a mean Mayan Latte with chocolate and chili powder.

The Mustard Seed Cafe, open 7 days a week for breakfast and lunch is a charming and affordable meeting place to dine with business associates and friends alike.

If you are looking for a start to your weekend, a quality house warming or good neighbor gift, Wine Styles has a multitude of offerings from gourmet snacks and custom gift baskets to wine tastings on Thursdays and live music and wine & beer by the glass on Fridays. Wine Club Memberships are available but not necessary to participate in these events. The new Healing Hub offers a buffet of holistic healing and alternative health options from massage therapy to natural wellness products for your home and family. Also on this block: Cooks -N-Counters kitchen supply and gourmet cooking equipment, Doggie Styles, a boutique for Fido that includes gifts for the pet lover as well as in house grooming. Edward James financial advisers, Bank of Oregon Home Loans Office, Blue Moon Boutique, The Hen's Tooth, Aqua Escapes and Desert Sky Real Estate, LLC. (Okay perhaps I have a tiny shopping addiction, at least to good coffee and books!)

Other downtown area shops not to miss include Goody's Ice Cream Shop in the Old Redmond Hotel, Paulina Springs Book Store, Santiago's Yerba Matte bar and for a trip back in time Cent Wise Hardware and Sporting Goods.

In the summer there are flower baskets hanging from the street lamps, and we line the main streets with flags for all of the major federal holidays so you literately drive through a sea of flags! Come this fall we will have scarecrows decorating the main downtown corridor. Local area groups for adults and kids alike will participate in dressing up the downtown for fall with a contest to adorn the lamp posts with a variety of scarecrows in various themes to warm our hearts through Thanksgiving. By Christmas window decorations are a favorite and it brings in our local populace as well as tourists from the surrounding destination resorts on a daily basis to see which shop will offer the daily advent window through the Christmas season. Of course their is community judging, prizes and the all time favorite, downtown dollars to be won for shopping sprees in our city center.

So if big city life has got you down and you have a hankering for local community spirit and some good old fashioned fun come to Downtown Redmond, "Who Knew" we had all of this to offer and more!

(Trust me there are more stores and businesses than I have creative copy, but if I've missed someone, contact me and I'll gladly put you in the mix.)

For more information on Redmond, Oregon follow this link.

...Or What H.R. 3221 means to me.

Do you ever feel the more things change the more they stay the same? H.R. 3221, a.k.a., "The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008" is just one such example. Granted, I have not delved into all 260+/- pages, but from what I have skimmed over, and tried to read, this act is not in actuality the panacea we are hoping for. In my opinion it's not even a high quality band aid.

(Or am I a duck out of water here?)

Let's start with the $4,000,000,000 in aid to those states and government localities for the "emergency assistance and redevelopment of abandoned and foreclosed homes" to be allocated to these areas based upon a funding formula from HUD. Currently, there is no allocation formula or a viable plan on the table for this allocation. However, HUD has 60 days to come up with a plan and another 30 to implement it; so we are at a minimum 90 days out from an actual start to this plan. I don't know about your locality, but 90 days will see more than a few more homes go to foreclosure, sit at county auction and return to the bank that holds the note. Where is the "recovery for these individuals or are they just a necessary loss on the way to recovery?

And "Riddle me this Batman..." what happens when the localities buy back these properties with government funds (also known as our tax dollars) to "refurbish" these houses? The banks get paid, but then the property is at the mercy of it's locality to liquidate after rehabilitation. Has anyone stopped to think what type of financial burden creating a program to manage these properties will create on the individual localities and how that portion of this grand plan is to be paid for? Now as local and state tax payers we possibly have the added joy and burden of helping further offset this investment until qualified buyers are located and these distressed homes are liquidated.

Here in Central Oregon, we have great prices and great inventory we just don't have many qualified or cash ready buyers given the tightened lending restrictions and lack of private market competition against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. By eliminating the Down Payment Assistance Programs H.R. 3221 has ensured that we have even fewer qualified buyer's than before. And I personally would like to see the statistics that supported the thought process that first time home buyer's using these programs are the bulk of our defaulted properties as in my locality during the "boom" years we had little concept of Nehemiah, or other down payment assistance programs and generally used the conventional financing vehicles offered at that time.

Then of course there is the ubiquitous "First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit." In actuality, what we have here is a first time home buyer's tax advance/loan. The actual amount of this "credit" is tied into gross adjusted income therefore the entire $7500 is not available to all buyers and decreases in proportion to the buyer's income. However, what needs to be made crystal clear is the fact that this is a loan to be paid back over 15 years and not a gift. Beginning with the 2nd year of home ownership and ending with recapture of the balance owed at time of sale or final payment in the 16th year of ownership.

In closing, while solutions to our housing market crisis are needed H.R.3221 is not the answer we think it is. At best it is political "smoke and mirrors" act to allow our government officials to look involved and concerned in a process they obviously know little to nothing about while seeking reelection in their districts this year.

(The Views and opinions expressed within this post are those of the author's soley; they do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of COAR, OAR, NAR or the other agents of Desert Sky Real Estate, LLC.)