Our
Portland
Photo of the Week winner gets a
$20 gift certificate to a local Portland business of our choosing.
This week Brock Henderson scores a gift card to Swift Lounge
in NE Portland.
Last week I discussed
libraries and book stores. This week I'm writing about books.
Specifically, books about Portland, and books set in Portland. Portland
is amusing, and has tons of amusements, and has quite a few museums,
but She is also a Muse. Maybe it's the air, or the green, or the spooky
atmosphere; something
makes people want to read and write, and people generally like to read
and write about what they know. This city is so ripe with storytude
it's no wonder many can't resist. Here's a list of greats.
Geek
Love,
by Katherine Dunn, is a novel that defies description, and I can't do
justice to it here without going on for a page. Suffice to say that
you've likely not read anything like it.
The
Lathe of Heaven,
by Ursula K. Le Guin is another that makes a synopsis a challenge. But
those fleeting episodes of deja
vu? Be thankful that's all they
are.
Fugitives
and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon
by Chuck Palahniuk is a treasure trove of Portland arcana. You must
have a copy of this. You must.
Portland
Then and Now
by Linda Dodds is a real page flipper, showing in paired photos the old
town and the new side-by-side. I love this kind of stuff.
Chelsea Cain!
I was a fan of her funny column in The Oregonian back in the day, and
so was intrigued when I learned she'd turned her talents to writing
thrillers. If you've an appetite at all for shudders, Chelsea Cain's
homicidal siren Gretchen Lowell will provide all the shakin' and
rattlin' you could ask for. See
her novels, here.
(Check out the pics of Storm
Large as Gretchen!)
Of course I haven't read
every book about, or set in, Portland but a few of them are on my list
or on hold at the library.
Wildwood:
The Wildwood Chronicles, Book 1,
by Colin Meloy is a definite future read. This city inspires fantasy,
and this book apparently has it in spades. Meloy is frontman for the
band The Decemberists, and I'm always curious as to how a musician
fares with his words when they don't have to rhyme ( I mean besides
Alanis Morissette).
Stumptown
is a graphic novel (fine, comic
book) series set in Portland
featuring a flawed but valiant lady sleuth. Can't wait to get my mitts
on it.
All of these titles
should
be available at Powell's or your local library. Go read!
Powell's
is Having a Read Local Sale this Week!
Powell's
Bookstore Picks
We
love Powells!
Portland
Book Review of the Day
Portland
eBooks Powell's
Author Interviews
Featured
Portland Events this Week
Below
are featured and member added events on the Portland Events Calendar:
The
Pub Presents: Tuesdays
with Morrie by
Jeffrey Hatcher and Mitch Albom.
Produced by Public House Theatre Company.
A
young man, an old man, and life's greatest lesson. The Pub presents the
true story of sports writer Mitch Albom’s weekly Tuesday
visits with his former professor, Morrie Schwartz, during the final
weeks of Morrie’s life. After a lapse of 16 years, their
rekindled relationship teaches Mitch lessons he never knew he needed to
learn about life, love, and letting go.
April
15, 2012 at 6pm to April
29, 2012 at 7pm – Northwest
Film Center
The
20th Portland Jewish Film Festival explores themes of spirituality and
Jewish identity throughout the world, specifically how American Jews
perceive themselves in a larger social context. The fil…
Organized
by Portland Art Museum | Type: film,
festival
April
24, 2012 to May
31, 2012 – Concordia
University George R White Library and Learning Center
Come join us daily 8 a.m.
– 10 p.m. for our annual art show featuring the works of
Concordia University students and faculty. For more
information, visit www.cu-portland.edu/library/events/.
Organized
by Concordia
University | Type: art,
show
April
24, 2012 at 7:30pm to June
3, 2012 at 2pm – Artists
Repertory Theatre - Morrison Stage
So what is it that defines
“crazy” anyway?
Called a groundbreaking, powerhouse rock musical, Next to Normal, is a
heart-swelling, searingly painful dissection of a mother’s
mental illness and her sub…
Organized
by Artists
Repertory Theatre | Type: performance
April
24, 2012 at 7:30pm to May
27, 2012 at 7:30pm – Artists
Repertory Theatre - Alder Stage
When
it comes to race is justice blind?
In this complex, complicated world acknowledging prejudice is an ugly
venture into discomfort.
In Race, two lawyers (one black, one white) take on a case that…
Organized
by Artists
Repertory Theatre | Type: performance
April
27, 2012 to May
20, 2012 – Portland
http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/ovo/tickets/portland.aspx
OVO is a headlong rush into a colourful ecosystem teeming with life,
where insects work, eat, crawl, flutter, play, fight and look fo…
Organized
by Cirque du Soleil | Type: cirque
April
28, 2012 all day – OMSI
Portland
http://www.wweek.com/portland/eatmobile
With more than 400 mobile eateries selling their tasty goods within our
city limits, Portland has become an international destination for
mobile eats. U.S. Ne…
Organized
by WWEEK and OMSI | Type: eatmobile
April
28, 2012 to April
29, 2012 – "World
Trade Center"
On
Saturday and Sunday, April 28-29, 2012, on the sky bridge level of the
World Trade Center in Portland, the Oregon Distillers Guild will hold
the largest public tasting of craft spirits in North Am…
Organized
by TOAST | Type: toast
April
28, 2012 to April
29, 2012 – "Oregon
Convention Center"
9th
Annual Stumptown Comics Fest April 28 & 29, 2012 •
Oregon Convention Center Sat. 10-6, Sun. 12-6 • Buy Tickets
Now! at TicketsWest Exhibitors • Schedule • Location
• Hotels
he 9th Annual Stu…
Organized
by Stumptown Comics Festival | Type: comics
fest
April
28, 2012 at 9am to April
29, 2012 at 4pm – Vancouver
Lake Park
20th
Annual Spring Paddle Festivalby Alder Creek Kayak & Canoe
April 28th and 29th, 9am-4pm, come to Vancouver Lake!
FREE - TWO DAYS of clinics, boat demos, and paddle sports fun!
Try before you…
Organized
by Alder
Creek Kayak and Canoe | Type: free,
paddlesports,
demo:,
canoe,
kayak,
sup
April
28, 2012 from 10am to 11am
– Hilyard
Community Center
Get
the tools to help you recover both physically and mentally after race
day so you stay healthy, injury-free and ready for your next running
adventure. This is a co-ed clinic for both runners and w…
Organized
by Laura McClain | Type: running
April
28, 2012 from 10am to 2pm
– Beaverton
Hoop YMCA
Come
join us for this free event celebrating Healthy Activities for
children. Enjoy performances from Westside Dance and Gymnastics
Academy, Games with Camp Collins, Crafts with the BEaverton Library…
Organized
by Vickey
Foster | Type: children's,
event
April
28, 2012 at 10am to April
29, 2012 at 5pm – Poynter
Middle School
Donate
your unwanted bicycles to B4HPDX or come adopt a bicycle that fits your
needs! Bikes For Humanity PDX (B4HPDX) is an
all volunteer organization. Our mission is to substantially
increase public…
Organized
by Bikes 4 Humanity PDX | Type: community,
event
April
28, 2012 from 11:30am to 2:30pm
– Noble
Rot
A
three course lunch and a culinary discussion. Speaking at this
year’s annual event will be: Marc Boucher-Colbert - Urban
Gardener and head gardener of Noble Rot Katherine Deumling - Cook,
Owner an…
Organized
by Puddletown Preschool | Type: fundraiser
April
28, 2012 from 12pm to 4pm
– Portland
We begin at Coalition, a small
10
barrel brewery in the inner SE where we taste their handcrafted, highly
drinkable beers that reflect traditional brewing techniques and NW
innovation. Our next spot…
Organized
by Brewvana
- Portland Brewery Tour | Type: brewery,
tour
April
28, 2012 from 1pm to 3pm
– People's
Food Co-op
FREE
Quantum-Touch® (Level I & Level II) Lecture/Demos
– 1pm to 3pm. Dates: April 28 or August 4, 2012
Location: People’ Food Co-op, 3029 SE 21st Ave.,
Portland, Oregon, Upstairs in the Commun…
Organized
by Judith
Maron-Friend | Type: free,
lecture
April
28, 2012 from 6pm to 10pm
– Wieden+Kennedy
Fruit & Flower invites you
to an evening of Jazz, Juice Joints & GenerosityA Gala event to
support Oregon's oldest early childcare facility. Funds raised support
the center and its Tuition A…
Organized
by Fruit & Flower | Type: fundraiser
April
28, 2012 from 7pm to 7pm
– Bread
and Roses Center
Bread
and Roses: Women on the Frontlines of Labor
Commemorate the 100th anniversary of the “Bread and
Roses” strike with Triangle – Remembering the Fire,
a film that depicts one of the galvanizing ev…
Organized
by Radical
Women | Type: film
April
28, 2012 from 7pm to 11:45pm
– Helium
Comedy Club
Saturday
04/28 - 7PM & 9:30PM $25-$30
Best known for his role in the "Police Academy" films, Michael, a
master of vocal gymnastics, can imitate over 1000 sound effects using
his voice alone. Whet…
Organized
by Helium
Comedy Club | Type: stand,
up,
comedy
April
28, 2012 at 9am to April
29, 2012 at 4pm – Vancouver
Lake Park
20th
Annual Spring Paddle Festivalby Alder Creek Kayak & Canoe
April 28th and 29th, 9am-4pm, come to Vancouver Lake!
FREE - TWO DAYS of clinics, boat demos, and paddle sports fun!
Try before you…
Organized
by Alder
Creek Kayak and Canoe | Type: free,
paddlesports,
demo:,
canoe,
kayak,
sup
April
28, 2012 at 10am to April
29, 2012 at 5pm – Poynter
Middle School
Donate
your unwanted bicycles to B4HPDX or come adopt a bicycle that fits your
needs! Bikes For Humanity PDX (B4HPDX) is an
all volunteer organization. Our mission is to substantially
increase public…
Organized
by Bikes 4 Humanity PDX | Type: community,
event
April
29, 2012 all day – Both
our Portland and Beaverton Studios
Kritagya is a Sanskrit word
meaning
'gratitude'.
And we mean for this day to be exactly that - to offer our gratitude to
our community selflessly. So we open our doors to celebrate
you and your supp…
Organized
by Raj
Patra | Type: free,
yoga,
April
29, 2012 from 2pm to 3:30pm
– The
Portland Art Museum
Join
us at the Portland Art Museum to hear Klaus Ottmann, director for the
study of modern art and curator for the Phillips Collection in
Washington D.C. discuss the art of Rothko. The discussion wil…
Organized
by Portland Art Museum | Type: art,
talk
April
29, 2012 from 7pm to 11:45pm
– Helium
Comedy Club
Sunday
04/29 - 7PM & 9:30PM $30 - $35
Emmy-nominated actor Rob Schneider, well known for his trademark blend
of character and comedic acting, has broadened his focus to include
directing, produc…
Organized
by Helium
Comedy Club | Type: stand,
up,
comedy
May
1, 2012 from 10am to 11am
– The
Portland Art Museum
The
first Tuesday of every month, the Museum offers the opportunity for
babies and their caregivers to enjoy art together. The group will
explore art with a docent for 45 minutes of slow looking in t…
Organized
by The Portland Art Museum | Type: kid,
friendly
Add
your own events to our Portland
events calendar! Its totally
free. If we like it, we'll include it in this weekly Portland blog.
New
to
the site and want to add your own two cents to the Portland
blog? Please
do! But please remember to keep it real and community
focused. Read our terms
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keep the site valuable and hassle free for our members.
Thanks!
April 2012 - Portland Real Estate Market Report
By
Ross and Leah Seligman
April
2012 Portland
Oregon Real Estate Condo Market Report: What's Happening?
Here
is a chart of all
condos for sale, pending for sale, and sold in Portland, Oregon for the
last 15 months:
In
March 2012, inventory
was 557 on the market. In March 2012, 95
condos sold and 134 are pending for sale.
Yearly change from
March 11 to March 12:
Inventory is Down
32.5%
Closed Sales are
Down 16.7%.
Pending sales are
the same as last year at this time.
Chart
for average price per square footage:
In the past 15 months, the average price per square foot for condos in
Portland, Oregon has been between $213 and $259. In
March 2012, the average price per square foot in Portland was
$223.
Yearly change from
March 11 to March 12:
Average Price/Square
Foot has decreased 4.5%
Days on market and
sold/list price %:
This chart is showing us two things. First, how many days on the market
that a condo is spending, on average, before being sold. In all of
Multnomah County, in all price ranges, a condo is taking, on average,
100 days to sell.
The other thing that this chart shows is what percentage of listing
price the condo, on average, is selling at. This is a great indicator
of pressure on prices. In March 2012, sellers were getting, on
average, 92% of their original asking price.
Yearly change from
March 11 to March 12:
Average time it
takes to sell a condo has decreased 2.9%.
The percentage of
original listing price that was paid has increased 2%.
Average price for sale
vs. average price of sold:
The largest segment of condo sales have been in the price
range under $400,000. You can see this reflected in the average price
of a condo that has sold. In March 2012, this figure
was $247,000.
Yearly change from
March 11 to March 12:
The average price of
a condo listed has not changed.
The average price of
a condo sold has decreased 12.1%.
Months of inventory:
Months
of inventory
gives a timeline of how long it would take for all of the current
listings to sell. Anything above 4 months is considered a buyers
market. In March 2012, this figure was 5.9
months based on closed sales.
This does NOT mean that it will take, on average, 5.9 months for your
condo to sell. That number was, on average in all price ranges, 100
days. It means that, if not a single listing were to come on
the market in Portland from this moment, it would take 5.9 months for
all available condos to sell before there would be none left.
Yearly change from
March 11 to March 12:
The months of
inventory figure has decreased 19%.
About
the report:
They
are a comparison of
the past 15 months (including a percentage change analysis for the last
12 months) for all of Portland and are taken directly from the RMLS.
What follows is my own analysis of these statistics. For our purposes,
I thought it best to analyze Portland as a whole. Each neighborhood,
however, is a little micro-universe and has its own market. Changing
the parameters of the zip codes, price variables, or time periods can
lead to very different results. This analysis is of all condos sold in
all price ranges in Portland, Oregon. If you have any
questions about specific zip codes, or any questions about the market
in general, please reply to this forum with those questions or feel
free to contact me at: http://www.propertiesofportland.com.
Since Portland is a neighborhood city, you can now search by
"Irvington, Alberta, etc.". You can check it out by clicking here.
This information doesn't matter if you have a particular neighborhood
in mind since Portland neighborhoods are their own micro-markets. If
you have one in mind to buy or are selling your condo, please request a
report for that neighborhood and I am happy to post it on this blog or
send it to you. The complete Portland report is useful for an
overall snapshot of the Portland market.
Hey everyone, I want to know what you think of these reports. Too many
stats? Just right? Something missing? Let me know so I can make these
more useful for you. What are your thoughts about real estate right
now? What do you think of the information in this report? Post to this
blog so we can discuss.
Visit our website
where you can contact us and search all Portland
Metro Area condos for sale from the RMLS in Portland, OR, including
school and neighborhood reports: http://www.propertiesofportland.com
Best
Deals in Portland this Week
Each week Ross and Leah
share five great Portland real estate deals. We share two of
them here on the blog each week.
Here is this
week's list.
3110
SE REX ST Portland, OR 97202 - Eastmoreland - $929,000
Click
the image to see the full listing
LEED
Platinum 1455
N Killingsworth ST #312 Portland, OR 97217 - Overlook - $204,900
Click
the image to see the full listing
Visit
our website where you can contact us and search all
Portland metro area homes for sale and real estate from the
RMLS, including neighborhood and school information: www.propertiesofportland.com
Did
you know there are
nearly 100 unique Portland neighborhoods? Read
and learn all about these interesting urban communities.
We
hope you enjoy reading our weekly Portland blog. Want to see
more or less of something? Let us know! Once again,
thanks for being here and making this Portland website such an asset to
the community! If
you love this site as much as we do, tell your friends!
Have a great weekend!
First up this week, I would like to share this amazing time
lapse video of Portland. It's a feel-good video with
beautiful
images of the Rose City and surrounding areas.
I hope it makes you feel a love
and appreciation for this beautiful place we live in. Thanks
to Rob Creighton Garrison for sharing this on the site this week, and a
hats off to the team that created this: Uncage the Soul Productions!