When preparing a home for sale in Oregon, it's important to remember that details make a huge impact to potential buyers. Taking the time to enter the market with the best presentation possible can yield great results.  What has happened lately for some of our clients has blown us away -- full price offers within days of listing! The last three houses we staged in Corvallis have moved so quickly -- all had offers within days. Their secret -- attention to every detail. Clean - white glove clean - from pressure washing to windows washed Maintained - Completing those deferred maintenance items helps buyers see the home as "their perfect home" instead of a "to do project". Professionally Staged - Some of these properties had been on the market for months.  As one of the sellers noted (whose... 10/04/2011

Corvallis           Price Range Active Listings as of 9/30/2011 Sold Listings Last 6 Mos. Average Sold Per Month Months of Inventory Av. Days on Market Solds $0 - $99,999 3 5 0.83 3.60 155 $100,000 - $149,999 11 9 1.50 7.33 111 $150,000 - $199,999  25 40 6.67 3.75 104 $200,000 - $249,999 52 100 16.67 3.12 104 $250,000 - $299,999 37 58 9.67 3.83 132 $300,000 - $349,999 22 28 4.67 4.71 156 $350,000 - $399,999 36 22 3.67 9.82 132 $400,000 - $449,999 10 6 1.00 10.00 118 $450,000 - $499,999 16 7 1.17 13.71 156 $500,000 - $599,999 6 3 0.50 12.00 402 $600,000 - $699,999 3 2 0.33 9.00 200 $700,000 + 7 2 0.33 21.00 172   228 282   4.85 162 10/03/2011

The Admissions Office at Oregon State University has done a good job of thinking about questions prospective or current students' parents might have regarding either potential or current enrollment at OSU. We came across a special page dedicated to just this topic and some other good resources and have brought the site map to you, to assist your own research about what makes Corvallis and OSU such a good place to grow and learn. Parents of pre-college (K-12) students will also find helpful information for future consideration. Learn More A complete set of topical links is below for your convenience. We are proud to live and work in Corvallis, and we are pleased to help spread  helpful information about anything regarding our great community. Future Students Apply Now Get Info Visit OSU ... 09/28/2011

As we have shared before, each month our valued past clients hear from us by mail. We aren't asking for anything except for the opportunity to thank our past customers for working through their real estate transaction with us. Our clients are memorable because we work closely with them to make sure everything goes as it should. We think the postcards we send help them remember us should a friend need a trusted Realtor to work with in Linn or Benton counties. Below is what this month's mailer will look like. We thought that getting a fresh loaf of bread in the fall would be a nice treat. 09/23/2011

Monday, October 24th Basketball Skills Clinic #6: Shooting when:Oct 24, 2011 All Day where:Corvallis, OR     Beginning Tumbling (Fall 2011) when:Oct 24, 2011 All Day where:Corvallis, OR category Tots Tap & Ballet I (Oct - Nov - 1 pm) 2011 when:Oct 24, 2011 All Day where:Corvallis, OR category Tots Tap and Ballet II (Oct - Nov 2 pm)2011 when:Oct 24, 2011 All Day where:Corvallis, OR Bedtime Storytime when:Oct 24, 2011 at 7:00pm where:645 NW Monroe Avenue, Corvallis, OR from:Corvallis-Benton County Public Library category 09/22/2011

Do you live in Corvallis and love to read? Corvallis, Oregon is a town of educated people, and we have an impressive array of library resources (over 172,000 volumes just in the public library) given the population of 54,460 (City of Corvallis, 2010 census data). Below is some information on both our dynamic public library with children's programs and meeting facilities and the beautiful library on campus. Corvallis-Benton County Public Library645 NW Monroe Avenue   Corvallis, Oregon 97330website The Corvallis-Benton County Public Library consists of 3 branches, 2 bookmobiles and more than 172,000 volumes. Check their event calendar for children’s programs including daily story times.   121 The Valley Library, OSUThe Valley Library, OSU   Corvallis, Oregon 97330website The Valley Librar... 09/21/2011

There are actually more than 40 public parks in the immediate Corvallis area, and they offer everything from walking paths and picnic areas to ball fields and swimming holes. Here are a few photos which almost capture what we have to look forward to in the near future. Try looking around this year with fresh eyes to take in what a gorgeous city Corvallis Oregon is to visit or live. Corvallis Oregon is always lovely, but there is something about the number of trees changing colors all at once that makes fall in Corvallis truly special. Corvallis is both a "Bike-Friendly City" and a "Tree City USA" qualifier. The bike-friendly designation relates to the fact that the city offers numerous bike trails and paths, some of which cater to mountain biking enthusiasts. As for the Tree City USA di... 09/14/2011

Do you ever think about how you might react in a genuine catastrophe? As a result of any such thinking, have you done any actual planning or preparations? Nature has sent the US and the world some surprises: hurricanes, tornadoes and floods continue to make the news, and often people are surprised that this happened to them, in their town. The best you can do is have a plan for when disaster strikes - and that includes reviewing your insurance policy. Many homeowners are unaware of how their insurance policies work in the event of a storm. According to a recent survey by the Insurance Information Institute, 48 percent of homeowners believe they will be reimbursed for the market value of their home if it is destroyed. Insurance policies, however, are actually designed to cover the cost o... 09/02/2011

Corvallis           Price Range Active Listings as of 8/31/2011 Sold Listings Last 6 Mos. Average Sold Per Month Months of Inventory Av. Days on Market Solds $0 - $99,999 2 5 0.83 2.40 116 $100,000 - $149,999 11 11 1.83 6.00 103 $150,000 - $199,999  28 42 7.00 4.00 110 $200,000 - $249,999 53 91 15.17 3.49 105 $250,000 - $299,999 44 53 8.83 4.98 127 $300,000 - $349,999 30 28 4.67 6.43 153 $350,000 - $399,999 41 20 3.33 12.30 129 $400,000 - $449,999 14 7 1.17 12.00 127 $450,000 - $499,999 14 7 1.17 12.00 156 $500,000 - $599,999 5 3 0.50 10.00 417 $600,000 - $699,999 3 1 0.17 18.00 182 $700,000 + 8 1 0.17 48.00 134   253 269   5.64 155 09/01/2011

Elementary School Calendar Middle School Calendar High School Calendar When do school offices open? The school offices at Crescent Valley and Corvallis high schools will open Aug. 8. Linus Pauling Middle School's office also will open Aug. 8 and Cheldelin Middle School will reopen Aug. 15. Elementary school offices open on Aug. 25. What is the first day of school for kindergarteners?   Kindergarten students in Corvallis experience a “gentle start” to their first year in school. During the first week of school (Sept. 7-13), kindergarten teachers will meet one-on-one with students and their parents. This gives teachers an opportunity to get to know the children and complete some quick, informal assessments with each one. Kindergarten students will attend their first day of class along wi... 08/31/2011

      Calculated Result - Mathematical Art What a perfect idea for Corvallis! The city of educated people and engineers have created an art exhibition that was also a social experiment. If fine art and/or an intellectual outing like this interests you, don't miss out. It all begins in September. Dates: Sep 1, 2011 to Sep 25, 2011 Brown Bag Talk: Wednesday, September 7, Noon to 1pm. Maureen Frank will speakReception: Thursday, September 1, 5:30 - 7:30 pm. (In collaboration with First Thursday Corvallis) For additional information: info@theartscenter.net "We proposed to make a link between mathematics and art, either calculated or intuitive and asked both artists interested in math, and artistic mathematicians to send us work.It is interesting to see that these two groups have distinctly... 08/25/2011

Corvallis Oregon Yard Care: What to do in July Manage your lawn Lawns want the most water now, when we have the least rain. It takes an inch of water a week to keep turf green, but if water is tight where you live, cut that amount in half. The lawn will fade to a straw color ― that’s summer dormancy ― but come back when shorter days, cooler nights, and fall rains kick in at summer’s end. Remove suckers from apple and pear trees Because summer pruning doesn’t encourage as much regrowth as winter pruning, you can take off suckers (vertical sprouts that shoot up from horizontal limbs) now. Rub little ones out with your thumb, and nip bigger ones out with a knife, pruning shears, or saw. Use water-saving containers To minimize the amount of time you need to spend watering, use pots that are... 08/25/2011

It is another beautiful day in Corvallis, or, to be more precise, in East Lewisburg, right in between Corvallis and North Albany in Benton County, Oregon. Are you thinking about moving to the Mid Willamette Valley in Oregon? Do you have specific ideas about how the ideal weather should be? Consider the Mid Willamette Valley, and with that Corvallis, Philomath and Albany! The mild climate lets our gardens look like a (cultivated) jungle for a long growing period. Beans, egg plant, squash, peas, tomatoes, berries, and so much more grow like weed. One of our neighbors even has an Olive Tree, wine is doing incredibly well, cherries, nectarines, peaches,  all in great supply. Yes, it rains. In the late fall, winter and spring, it can be very wet and this year there were periods when I though... 08/21/2011

A while ago I wrote a blog about how electronic signing works. Today I want to encourage more market participants to use it - or demand it if they are sellers or buyers. I vaguely remember the times of faxing, driving out to get signatures, the waiting for scanning, printing, signing and faxing or emailing back, usually resulting in something that barely could be made out as a certain document, all fuzzy and hardly legible. I use DocuSign for about 2 months now and what first looked like a tool only to be used when there are clients elsewhere than in town turns out to be the tool I use most at anytime. Whatever needs to be signed, it takes just a few minutes to create it  and then download it to DocuSign, email it out to my clients and receive it back usually in a matter of minutes as w... 08/10/2011

Ah, Summer. Even with the clouds I am looking at right now, the time when we wear light clothing, when the children are more out- than inside, when the animals are frolicking, when the calves on the pastures at the foot of our hill are having a play date and the mother cows are laying in the grass, enjoying a moment of peace (just like in the human world), when the grass fields swaying  in the wind look  like the surface of a green lake, when our sons climb the big old cherry tree in our backyard and eat ripe cherries until their tummies hurt and the chicken are dust bathing, when I drive down our hill and look into a clear blue sky with the Cascade Mountains and the still snow covered Three Sisters in the distance – it is just glorious. Ok, our weather has so far not been perfectly sum... 08/03/2011

I know very few and after having worked with lousy ones and great ones here is my summary: A great loan officer: gets ALL information needed upfront so that there is no unpleasant surprise tells it like it is, if this is a pipe dream, let's face it early notifies ALL parties immediately should there be any kind of problem communicates diligently answers the phone or promptly calls back is accessible does not loose patience or temper knows his or her stuff to the T says so if he or she does not know something and gets the information right away never delays anything sends updates stays within the time lines stays on top of material he or she needs from others like the appraiser loves the job and that shows does not hide behind rules if something is stuck but takes responsibility and solv... 08/02/2011

Corvallis           Price Range Active Listings as of 7/29/2011 Sold Listings Last 6 Mos. Average Sold Per Month Months of Inventory Av. Days on Market Solds $0 - $99,999 1 3 0.50 2.00 116 $100,000 - $149,999 8 11 1.83 4.36 104 $150,000 - $199,999  27 34 5.67 4.76 101 $200,000 - $249,999 60 75 12.50 4.80 104 $250,000 - $299,999 39 44 7.33 5.32 141 $300,000 - $349,999 28 24 4.00 7.00 119 $350,000 - $399,999 46 16 2.67 17.25 164 $400,000 - $449,999 13 7 1.17 11.14 138 $450,000 - $499,999 14 6 1.00 14.00 157 $500,000 - $599,999 8 3 0.50 16.00 417 $600,000 - $699,999 6 1 0.17 36.00 182 $700,000 + 11 1 0.17 66.00 134   261 225   6.96 156 07/29/2011

The home was inspected and things need to be repaired. In OR we write a repair addendum. However and where ever you do this, there is very often one problem arising after the document is presented: What did you mean??? Here is an example: Carpenter Ants have left tiny holes all over a part of the deck. Those pieces are rotted and need to be replaced. The repair addendum asks for replacement of rotted pieces and for treatment for insect damage. But if the pieces are replaced, that damage is gone so what is left to treat? The correct way to word this would have been "replace damaged deck parts, treat deck against future insect damage" (although in this case the replacement has taken care of the problem alltogether since the deck is built and renewed with treated wood) When the buyers read... 07/29/2011

A cloud on the title can be a lot of things. It can be old mineral rights It can be an exemption from set back requirements with the caveat that the structure needs to be built back if the neighbor ever want to expand his house. It can be an easement for somebody to walk over the property or a for a driveway to reach a land locked parcel. It can be water rights that might be a problem in the future, especially with droughts spreading There are plenty more examples. The question is is there a remedy and if not, is it worth to buy the property anyhow. The one person who will be able to answer this best is your escrow officer at the title company. Then there is the city or county or township or whatever the governing entity is where the property is located. Carefully think if the problem i... 07/27/2011

    The 33rd Annual Fall Festival Run will be Sunday, September 25, 2011.Thanks to Kiwanis Club of Corvallis for being a great Race Team.For links to Online Race Registration, Paper Registration or to see More Info, go to the Kiwanis of Corvallis web site. Here are the 2010 race results!   07/26/2011