About Jackson County, OR

It’s that time again, time for the Harvest Fair that is held at the Jackson County Fairgrounds at the beginning of autumn each year. Like Chili cookoffs? Come on down! How about beer/wine tasting? Come on down! Food (oh…I’m IN!)? Come on down! Live music? Come on down!

There is a lot on the schedule both days, when the Harvest Fair will be going on from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. both Saturday 9/26/09 and Sunday 9/27/09.

See you out there!

There is a secret here in Medford Oregon that I’ve been reluctant to let out of the bag. It is selfish to keep it to myself, though, so I guess it’s time I share.

I’ve battled lower back issues since childhood as a result of a little piece of bone in my spine that is missing between L4 & L5. I either broke this bone in gymnastics, or was born without it. This is a condition that roughly 1% of the population has, so it isn’t totally unheard of, nor has it stopped me from being extraordinarily active most of the time. Periodically I have a flare-up, as I did this week. I’ve opted not to have fusion surgery, as it seems like a greater gamble than I am prepared to take with my physical well-being.

At the beginning of this year, Dr. Joe Towne of Towne Chiropractic in Medford Oregon was recommended to me by a friend. Dr. Joe put me back together when I was a mess, after having waited until my neck was almost straight, and treating the tortured muscles incorrectly with heat vs. ice. Through Dr. Joe I met Carla Fuerst, an LMT in his office when I could once again stand having anyone touch those muscles. Oh Lord, what a blessing! Between the two of them, they helped resolve all the shoulder/neck issues I had. I had never had therapeutic massage before - this is NOT the relaxation massage I had previously - and quickly realized that a little bit of initial discomfort leads to a whole lot of relief.

Because I spend so much time seated and in front of the computer, I decided to grab the bull by the horns and finally take a proactive approach to these periodic flare-ups, especially since I was seeing such fabulous results. I have continued to see Carla every two weeks, except for the occasional “can you see me today?” like when I went rafting on the Rogue River for almost 4 hours, using upper body muscles that were totally out of condition!

Because I’ve had the lower back issues almost since the beginning of time (we won’t discuss exactly how long that is!), I’ve learned to work through those spells and keep chugging along. My “regular” appointment with Carla was today, and I finally “got it” – got it that she is able to work out these spasms with her therapeutic massage techniques, and I don’t need to work through them and wait them out. It’s really an amazing thing when constant pain you’ve gotten so accustomed to disappears, and you come to realize what you left behind.

I’m thanking God for Carla Fuerst, L.M.T., and recommending that anyone in Southern Oregon looking for an excellent licensed therapeutic massage therapist contact this personable, competent, highly-effective lady. I already thanked God for Dr. Joe Towne, who I also highly recommend to anyone in Southern Oregon looking for chiropractic care, but thanking Him again is in order. They can be reached at (541)779-8331.

See you out there!

New Medford Oregon Vacant Property Ordinance Does this Effect Short Sales &/or REO's?

According to today's http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090924/NEWS/909240318 it sounds like all homes that are vacant in Medford Oregon, for whatever reason should be registered with the city. I just spoke with the Medford Code Enforcement Department on the phone and they indicated this is NOT the case, it is designed for abandoned homes to make the lien holder responsible. The actual code can be found at http://www.ci.medford.or.us/CodePrint.asp?Branch=True&CodeID=4409.

So how does that affect your Medford Oregon short sale? From my conversation with the City of Medford and from my interpretation of the code itself, it is strictly designed for the lender, not the actual homeowner. Once a homeowner is in default on their loan, it is the lenders responsibility to keep regular tabs on the property to determine it being kept up and secured. If the lender does not register the property, the LENDER can be fined up to $250 per day for a violation of this code, according to the Mail Tribune.

How does that affect a Medford Oregon REO or Bank Owned Foreclosure? Lenders beware, it could be very costly in the City of Medford to have a vacant property. They have options, pay the penalty, upkeep the property, and register the property with the City of Medford.

If you live in the City of Medford and see a vacant property feel free to call the code enforcement division at 541-774-2016 to help keep Medford a cleaner and safer community. For free information on Medford Oregon Short Sales and/or Bank Owned Properties, feel free to call my direct line at 541-772-SOLD (7653) or visit me on the web at www.topsouthernoregonagent.com.

(The above information is courtesy of Jared Hokanson Realty Group PC and is the personal opinion of Jared Hokanson, it is not intended as tax and/or legal advice, please consult the appropriate tax and legal counselors regarding your specific situation)

Now that the Ashland fire is apparently under control, I can return to the boring statistics of Ashland Oregon real estate. I've come to the conclusion that statistics are not exciting for anyone to read. I post them because I personally find them fascinating, but I don't consider myself to be a boring person. I'm not really sure what that says about me.

So perhaps I should start with a joke. This actually comes from the homepage of the American Mensa Societywhich I was looking at to see what you had to do to be part of Mensa. I have no idea what Mensa meetings are about. It seems kinda strange to me, but I got curious yesterday. But when I found that one of their incentives to get you to join was people will understand your jokes. Now that got me interested.

Also, for the record, I'm a sucker for "walks into a bar" jokes. I named my dog after one.

But first, the stats. Ashland specific stats were requested by my friend, and a local lender for BofA, Linda Fitzgerald.

Currently there are 234 Residential listing in the city of Ashland. 33 Pending sales, and 22 places closed escrow in the last month. That actually is pretty good news as far as I am concerned. An absorbtion rate (length of time at current sales volume for inventory to run out) of just over 10 months is really pretty good in the current market. The breakdown goes like this:

• 13 Listings under $250k with 6 pending sales and 4 closed transactions last month...absorbtion rate of 3 months.
• 55 Listings between $250k-350k with 14 pending sales and 9 closed transactions last month...absorbtion rate of 6 months.
• 80 Listings between $350k-500k with 8 pending sales and 5 closed transactions last month...absorbtion rate of 16 months.
• 48 Listings between $500k-750k with 4 pending sales and 2 closed transactions last month...absorbtion rate of 24 months.
• 22 Listings between $750k-1 million with zero pending sales and 1 closed transactions last month...absorbtion rate of 22 months.
• 16 Listings over $1 million with 1 pending sale and 1 closed transaction last month....absorbtion rate of 16 months.

You'll note that below $350k is really strong as far as sales go...and that between $500k and $750k is the hardest competition for sales. By that I mean the fewest sales compared to the number of places listed.

Now:

The CEO of Geico walks into a bar with his spokesperson the lizard from all of those commercial. Bartender comes over, and after getting an autograph asks them what they would like to drink. The CEO says I would like a Bombay Blue Sapphire martini, and can you get a half pint of Guinness for my friend Tiny here.

Bartender says sure, but why do you call him Tiny?

The CEO say well, obviously because he's my newt.

(Let the groans commence)

The biggest difference is the temperature...and the low temp in Bend is makes it unbearably cold to me at night in all but the summer months. The averages are only about 5 degrees difference, but look at the charts for the extremes. The exteme low on record for Ashland is -5 degrees, where in Bend the extreme low is about -25 degrees.

ASHLAND, OREGON (350304)

Period of Record Monthly Climate Summary

Period of Record : 7/ 1/1892 to 4/30/2009

BEND, OREGON (350694)

Period of Record Monthly Climate Summary

Period of Record : 4/ 1/1901 to 4/30/2009

Next time on compare Oregon Weather, we will look at the difference in cloud cover between Ashland and Portland.