Her music rang in my headphones for many years - Whitney Houston’s voice clear as a bell. Not once did I take that amazing talent for granted. More often than not - while listening to the song and busily getting ready for the next break - I'd think of her personal pain, and send quiet messages to the universe to help her heal.

As a radio personality, it’s easy to observe what the music industry can do for people - and sadly, sometimes, to people. Whitney’s meteoric rise was buoyed by phenomenal talent, and a musical family - mother, Cissy Houston, and her cousins, Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick. Aretha Franklin was her godmother - imagine.


She was destined for big things. Grammys, movie roles and the spotlight seemed to come easy, but it's rarely ever easy. Whitney was found dead in a Beverly Hills hotel room yesterday afternoon. This is a sad time for the music industry. It’s also a sad reminder of the private pain too often felt by others. Ironic that tonight is the Grammys. Let’s try to remember a beautiful woman, a beautiful voice, and the gift of music - the rest no longer matters.

Real Estate and Homes Sales in Clark County Still Challenged with Distressed Properties

We are now far enough into February 2012 to take a snap-shot look at the Clark County WA real estate results for January 2012. What you'll find in the table below are the approximate number of listings Active, Pending and Sold at the end of the month. The columns then break out the elements by Categories: Total Homes; Short Sales and PreForeclosures; Foreclosures (Bank Owned).

Without too much analysis in this report (the more in-depth report is due out next week - stay tuned!) we see that the total Inventory is way down from prior years; with Closed Sales down (typical for January) to a near-term low; although the Pending Sales were quite strong.

The Distressed Property results are the most challenging to the housing recovery for the Clark County real estate market. With Short Sales and Bank Owned properties combined runnig at 53% to 54% for Pending and Sold listings, the ability to heal the market quickly faces some tough hurdles.

For Home Buyers with a good source(s) of income this is probably the best time to purchase a house or investment property in decades.

For Home Sellers, this type of market is the near-term "normal." Do you want to sell now at the market price or, bet that that the market prices won't slip further? -- not an easy call.

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This report was prepared by John Slocum, Realtor & Broker with Vancouver WA REMAX. The data provided by the RMLS is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Here in Vancouver WA (just next to Portland) it is big news when the Weather Service expects a big snow storm to come through the area. We don't have snow on the ground often enough, and for long enough, for the local road crews to budget adequately for the rare large snow storm.

When I know a big storm is on its way I like to make certain we have a week's worth of supplies on and be ready to stay real close to home for a few days. This time around I felt we we ready BUT, saw no need to start the "hunkered-down" phase just yet -- if we did I know the onset of the dreaded Cabin Fever would happen sooner! So, even though there was a slight drizzle outside (and most home buyers were getting ready for the storm) I felt I better get a bike ride in.

Thankfully the signed bicyle routes in Vancouver and parts of Clark County have improved greatly over the years. When I lived in Everett many years ago while working for GTE, Everett and Snohomish County had been very progressive with Bicycle lane and separate path deployments, and was at that time many years ahead of Southwest Washington in this regard. I think we've caught up quite a bit now.

The Destination this time was the Renaissance Trail on the Columbia River Waterfront. Okay, so this trail is several miles long, and it takes me several miles just to get there -- this turned out to be a two hour ride! Some of the sights included:

First Stop at the Western part of the Trail we find: The Angry I-5 Bridge over the Columbia River -- could it be upset that its days are numbered?

A couple of miles up the trail I stopped at the boat basin used by the Christensen Luxury Motor-Yacht (they make these awsome yachts here in Vancouver WA) company. Today the Aghassi ccan be seen, awaiting a new owner perhaps?

Another mile up the trail and the turning point for my ride is the tip of the break-water at Tidewater Cove. This can be a great place to see Mt. Hood or watch the planes landing at PDX across the Columbia River. Today, it was too blustery to linger...

Well, I had better pedal back home and get back to work. Hope you enjoyed this winter ride! /p>

The Form 35R Request for repairs was much less demanding than we had anticipated. Out of the 19 things that the inspector called out, only 5 repairs were requested. Jackpot! We had thought that the inspection may have blown the deal. I was confident as I called my seller with the good news.

As they say, "one man's treasure is another man's trash" and my client wasn't nearly as happy with the requests. He looked at each request as a check that he had to write and didn't want to hear how I saw it as a small obstacle to overcome before closing on his FULL PRICE offer.

Of the 5 issues, 3 were electrical and dangerous, 1 was the replacement of faulty wall heaters (DANGEROUS!), and the last was a window with leaky seals. My thoughts were to agree to the 4 "things that could kill a guy" and let the buyer worry about the window. What I did not consider was the theseller/owner was the one who had performed the dangerous electrical work!

After an hour of heated discussion I finally reached an agreement with my client to repair the 3 electrical issues and replace the heaters which had been recalled. I was on the home stretch! (I thought.)

"REPAIRED OR REPLACED BY A LICENSED ELECTRICIAN" was how the request was worded but, I can now tell you, that was not what the seller read. The seller's impression of the contract seemed to be that he had to go back in and make the issues "look" like they were safe. Boy was he wrong!

Rather than call a licensed electrician to do the work, he decided to do the work himself and save a few bucks. He re-wired the spots in question, bought new heaters online and installed them himself. That seemed like a good idea until the bank appraiser guy comes along (who used to be a county building inspector) to do the appraisal and discovers the poor quality work. He called it out as a condition of lending and went on his merry way.

The seller blew a gasket but had no choice but to now hire an electrician to fix his shoddy work. Electrician's bill = $375.

Closing came and went without a hitch. On a cold day in November (about 2 days after the closing date) my phone starts to ring off the hook. It seems that the buyer/new owner decided that she needed a little heat in the home and turned on a few of her new wall heaters. The home filled with smoke in about 2 minutes flat and everyone evacuated. She gathered her courage and ran into the smokey house to turn off the heaters.

After several hours of convincing my client that it wasn't actually "her problem" and explaining the fact that he was most probably going to end up in court and ALSO POINTING OUT THE OBVIOUS FACT THAT HE COULD HAVE CAUSED THE HOME TO BURN DOWN AND MOST LIKELY KILLED SOMEONE, he finally agreed to replace the heaters (again) and have a licensed electrician repair the burnt wiring and install them. New heaters (this time the right ones) = $675.00. Electrician's bill = $450.00

In an effoort to save a few hundred bucks the seller cost himself an extra $1000 and almost landed in jail!

Do you have what it takes to be a green business? Clark County, Washington has a new program designed to help businesses flourish in an environmentally responsible manner. In addition, the program is directed toward the local economy.

The green economy is growing 10 times faster than the general economy as consumers demand more green products and services. Businesses with the green designation are poised to better handle the recession and realize growing sales in the future.

Implementing sustainable business practices can reduce the amount of materials used and operational costs, thereby saving money. Plus, Green businesses help protect, preserve and sustain our environment.

Are you interested in learning more? The Clark County Green Business program is hosting an event next Wednesday, February 14th from 12:00 PM to 2 PM at the Heathman Lodge in Vancouver.

The Clark County Green Business program will explain what it takes to get, and stay green, as a business owner. Plus, they’ll be honoring 13 local businesses who are the first in Clark County to receive the Green Business designation.

Lunch will be provided too at the Heathman Lodge, Fort Vancouver Ballroom, 7801 NE Greenwood Drive, Vancouver 98662. You can Register online, and seating is limited. Attend, and learn more about the new Clark County Green Business program.

What does it mean to be green?

There are currently 270 Green Built homes in Clark County, Washington. If you'd like a complete list, give me a call or send me an email today. As an EcoBroker, I can also help you live in more beautiful and comfortable and healthier environment - and save you money!