We recently had out-of-town clients who stayed at a great little Bed and Breakfast called the Briar Rose Inn Bed and Breakfast. We had visited the home a couple years ago when it was still being renovated. It was wonderful to step back into the home recently and experience what a warm, comfortable and inviting place it has become.
The Briar Rose Inn is a 1908 Craftsman style home listed on the Local Historic Register and located in the heart of historic downtown Vancouver, Washington. It is conveniently located just 15 minutes from the Portland International Airport, 10 blocks from the Vancouver Amtrak station, and just a short distance to Hilton Convention Center, Esther Short Park, Vancouver Farmers Market, Clark County Court House, Officer's Row and many shops & restaurants!
You will appreciate the convenience of walking in the neighborhood as you set out for dinner, a local brewpub or the ever-popular Starbucks. The Inn can be your headquarters for exploring the beautiful Pacific Northwest which includes the metro Portland area, the Columbia River Gorge, Wine Country, Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens or the Pacific Ocean.
The inn evokes memories of childhood as many of the guests at the Briar Rose Inn tell stories of their own homes, or grandparents homes, as they relive their favorite memories. Many guests comment on the squeaky stairs, as they recall a time when life was simple and stairs squeaked!
You will be able to choose from four themed guest rooms including:
• Provence Room
• Hemingway Room
• French Toile Room
• Hearth Room
For a limited time, you can pay just $75 a night (plus tax). Price is per room, per night and includes a homemade breakfast.
The Briar Rose Inn is available for special events, meetings, reunions, seminars and retreats. When you visit the Briar Rose Inn, you will relax and enjoy the architecture and charm of a historic home built in 1908 when Vancouver was a small town. You will appreciate the design of a 100-year-old home which has been renovated while diligently retaining the original detail with modern updates. Built by a couple with five children, the evidence of a family home is still apparent today so you will instantly feel “at home."
For more information or reservations, contact:
Briar Rose Inn Bed and Breakfast
314 West 11th St
Vancouver, Washington 98660
(360) 694-5710
Website: www.BriarRoseInn.com
Email: Sallreav@Aol.com
Patty & Scott Carroll, RE/MAX Equity Group, Vancouver WA
Here are some of the events coming up this week in the Vancouver WA / Clark County area:
Now - May 11:
Hulda Klager Lilac Days 2008 (Daily, 10:00a - 4:00p)
Gift Shop open, Hulda Klager Historical House Open, beautiful garden full of lilacs and other plants for your enjoyment. You can even buy lilacs to plant in your own garden or give to your gardening friends. Remember ... Mother's Day is May 13! $2 fee payable at the gate.
Location: Victorian Farmhouse Gift Shop & Garden, 115 S Pekin Rd, Woodland WA
The Slocum House Theatre Company Presents "Everybody Loves Opal" (Thurs/Fri/Sat at 8:00p and Sunday at 2:00p)
Opal Kronkie, a middle-aged recluse, lives in a tumbledown mansion at the edge of the municipal dump. Opal is an optimist, for no matter how mean her friends become, Opal responds with unfailing kindness and an abiding faith in the goodness of human nature. Into her rather strange world come three purveyors of bogus perfume on the lam from the authorities. The unsavory trio concocts an elaborate scheme. Through it all, Opal radiates kindness, affection and, strangely enough, gratitude.
Location: The Old Slocum House Theater, 605 Esther St. Vancouver, WA 98660
May 2:
Camas' First Friday (5:00 - 7:00p)
A Cinco De Mayo Party - Downtown Camas Style! Come see all that's new this spring and join the festivities!
Location: Downtown stores will be celebrating with food, music, and fun!
May 2 & 3:
Clark College Presents "Streetcar Named Desire" (Friday & Saturday at 7:30p)
"Streetcar" hit theaters in 1946. The play cemented Tennessee Williams' reputation as one of the greatest American playwrights, winning him a New York Critics' Circle Award and a Pulitzer Prize. Among the play's greatest achievements is the depiction of the psychology of working class characters. This tragic and effective drama ranks as one of the greatest in our theatre.
Location: Clark College - Decker Theater - 1933 Fort Vancouver Way Vancouver, WA
May 3:
Ride Around Clark County (Registration, 6:30a - 8:30a / Course opens at 6:30a and closes at 5:00p)
Beautiful and challenging rides through the scenic Clark County, Washington countryside. Day of Ride Registration and Pre-Registration Packet Pickup.
Location: Clark College, Hanna Hall, 1820 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver WA
17th Annual Walk Run for the Animals (7:30a Registration / 8:45a Fun Run / 9:00a Walk)
Step Up for the Animals Today! Create your personal fundraising page to earn an iPod, Wii or 2 round trip tickets on Alaska Air! Choose between a 5k Fun Run, a 3 mile walk, or a 1.5 miles walk.
Location: The routes begin and end at Esther Short Park in downtown Vancouver.
May Day Concert and Arts and Crafts Festival (11:00a - 7:00p)
Join the second annual May Day Concert and Arts and Crafts Festival. "May Day is Lei Day" in Hawai`i, so come enjoy a full day of live Hawaiian music and hula performances by a variety of Pacific Northwest groups from 11:00a-5:00p. Then from 5-7:00p Kaloku Holt, the 2005 winner of the Hapa Haole Hula Competition-Vocal Division, will appear in concert with his brother Keawe, ukulele sensation extraordinaire. Browse dozens of vendors, enjoy Hawaiian plate lunch and shave ice, enter the lei-making contest (Northwest plants and flowers only). Admission: $5.
Location: Thomas Jefferson Middle School, 3000 N.W. 119th Street, Vancouver WA
Party like Rockstars with the YWCA (starts at 5:30p)
Location: Hilton, 301 W Sixth St, Vancouver WA
May 3 & 4:
Vancouver Farmers Market (Saturday, 9:00a - 3:00p/Sunday, 10:00a - 3:00p)
Family, pet-friendly place to spend the day right across the street from Esther Short Park. Get fresh produce, plants & flowers, baked goods, delicious food, unique accessories and lots more.
Location: 8th & Esther St, Vancouver WA
We had the opportunity to meet Kim Pierson while visiting the Woodland Tulip Festival this weekend, along with Timmy (a miniature horse that stand only 30 inches tall) and a baby Wallaby!
Kim has recently launched a business called Magikal Miniatures. Based in Woodland WA and servicing Clark and Cowlitz counties, Magikal Miniatures offers a unique, fun and educational party experience for children.
‘Tiny Tim' and family will come right to your home or nearby park and offer carriage rides for parties of up to 12 children, as well as instruction and hands-on experience feeding and petting small animals. Children will also get a chance to touch a newborn foal and learn how mommy 
Farah takes care of her babies. The minis will even perform tricks at the party and pictures will be added to the Magikal Miniatures Photo Gallery.
The miniatures are hand trained from birth, have gentle personalities, and love children. As you may imagine, these parties are quite the hit with children and surprisingly affordable.
If you're looking for a unique and memorable event for your child, grandchild and/or children's group, we encourage you to give Kim a call at (503) 593-1048 or visit the Magikal Miniatures website for more information.
Patty & Scott Carroll - RE/MAX Equity Group, Vancouver WA
We took at short drive from Vancouver up to Woodland this weekend to check out the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens during the Annual Lilac Festival and we're glad we did. The gardens are absolutely beautiful, boasting some of the best and largest specimens of several tree varieties in addition to the beautiful lilac and flower gardens.
The Story of the Lilac Lady
Hulda Klager came to the US from Germany with her family in 1865 when she was two years old. Her family moved to Woodland, Washington in 1877 when she was 13 years old, purchased farmland and built a home.
While she was recovering from an illness in 1903, some of her friends brought her a book by a renowned hybridizer at the time. In 1905 she began hybridizing lilacs and by 1910 she had created 14 new varieties. By 1920 she had developed so many new varieties that she decided to hold an open house each spring when the lilacs were in full bloom to share her efforts with other lilac enthusiasts. This practice caused her to become known as "The Lilac Lady."
Around 1930 neighboring towns began sending delegations during Mrs. Klager's "Lilac Week" to choose one of the new varieties she had developed to be named for their community. In this manner lilac varieties such as the "City of Longview," "City of Kalama," "City of Gresham," and "City of Woodland" were designated. Through the years, Mrs. Klager has been honored by many organizations for her work as a leading hybridizer of lilacs.
A Tough Row to Hoe
But Hulda Klager's career as a hybridizer had many challenges to go along with her great success. Following the death of her husband, Frank Klager, in 1922, she contemplated abandoning her work with lilacs, almost throwing away a number of hand-pollinated plants she had taken a special interest in. But her son Fritz insisted that she continue to nurture them and from these plants came some of her very best lilacs.
The spring of 1948 brought another great adversity when the swirling waters of the Columbia River swept across her property, wiping out her lilac gardens and nearly every other shrub on the place. Only the big trees withstood the flood but undaunted and at the age of 83, she set about rebuilding her garden. Many people who had purchased her lilacs in the past returned starts to her so she could replace her losses.
It took two years and a great deal of work but in 1950 she was able to again open her gardens for Lilac Week once again - a practice she continued until her death in 1960.
A National Landmark
After her death in 1960 at the age of 96, Mr. & Mrs. Van Eaton cared for the estate for a time but sold it after it became too much for them to handle. When the Woodland Federated Garden Club heard it was to be bulldozed to make way for an industrial site, they decided to save it and succeeded in having it declared a state and national historic site.
In order to get a grant-in-aid to restore the house, it would be necessary to purchase the entire property. One of the members of the Woodland Federated Garden Club, Daisy Button Grotvik, traded seven acres of land she owned in the Woodland bottoms for the four and a half acres of the Klager property. She then deeded the property to the newly formed Hulda Klager Lilac Society, a nonprofit organization that had been formed in 1976 to administer the estate. In this way the land was secured, but the house also had to be purchased. The ladies of the newly formed Hulda Klager Lilac Society raised half of the purchase price from the community of Woodland and the state of Washington matched it with a like amount. Finally, the contractor who owned all the trees and shrubs, Daryl Brown, generously donated all of them to the Society so that the entire estate was intact and ready for restoration.
Visit the Garden
Each year, thousands of visitors step back in time to discover the 1880's Victorian farmhouse and country garden that comprise the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens, a national historic site located 30 minutes north of Portland, Oregon at 115 South Pekin Road, Woodland, Washington 98674. The woodshed, water tower, windmill and gardens have all been restored through another grant-in-aid from Washington State and by the Hulda Klager Lilac Society, a nonprofit organization with approximately 95% of its work force derived from volunteers.
The garden is open daily from 10a - 4p from now until May 11, 2008. The cost is just $2 and is payable at the gate.
As real estate agents in today's market, we keep hearing ‘Have we hit the bottom yet?' The truth is that it will likely be months after we hit bottom before we realize that it actually happened and, by then, prices will be on the rise again.
So is now a good time to buy? For many, the answer will be ‘yes'.
Interest rates are still at near historic lows ... and the selection of homes is incredible. Just this morning, our RMLS data indicated that there are 4,693 properties available in the Vancouver WA / Clark County area. Of those:
Of the 653 properties priced at/below $200,000, 283 were detached (single family) homes. Of the 283 detached homes, 96 are priced at/below $175,000 and 24 are prices at/below $150,000. 3 of the properties are actually priced under $100,000!
Of the 24 homes priced at/below $150,000, 1 is bank-owned, 1 is a trustee sale, and 7 are being marketed as short sales. However, 11 of the homes appear to be standard sales of pre-owned home, 3 are brand new homes under construction, and 1 is a vacation property at Lake Merwin Campers Hideaway.
Square footage of the homes priced at/below $150,000 are being reported as low as 640 sq ft (new construction in Battle Ground) and as high as 3,168 sq ft (a former church in Amboy).
Are you looking for a rental or investment property? Are you or someone you know getting married, recently engaged or maybe just running out of room in their current apartment? There are some well-priced homes out there and we'd love to help you find one that works for you.
Patty & Scott Carroll - RE/MAX Equity Group, Vancouver WA
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