Dog City USA

Back in May, I commented on the dog-friendliness factor here in Portland. Well, I wasn’t just woofin’.

It’s now official.

Dog Fancy magazine’s October issue ranks Portland at No. 1 as the best all-around city for dogs in America.

In their second annual DogTown USA contest, Dog Fancy states they

“researched, ranked, and rated cities across the nation to discover the best of the best. During our evaluation, we considered access to top veterinary professionals, dog parks, and canine-friendly businesses, as well as shelter-euthanasia rates and owner responsibility. No bone was left unburied.”

Portland’s qualifications as top dog? A high pooch-to-human ratio (there are 136,332 dogs living in Portland, which has a human population of 554,130) and 33 city-maintained parks with off-leash areas, making the city “one giant dog paradise.”

Other factors included the dog-oriented events like the Doggie Dash and Pug Crawl, as well as the proliferation of doggy daycare and grooming businesses.

Portland beat out Sanford, Fla.; Albuquerque, N.M.; San Diego; Bellingham, Wash.; Palo Alto, Calif.; and New York City, which is home to 1.5 million dogs.

Sounds like pints (and water dishes) all ’round at the Lucky Lab.

Technorati Tags: Portland, top, city, dogs, parks, award, Dog Fancy

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4 comments August 28th, 2006

Boyz ‘n Girlz in the Hood (to Coast)

If you’re new to Portland and you’re out and about this Friday night, especially around the inner eastside or Waterfront Park, and you run across a large number of sweaty individuals in reflective vests huffing and puffing through the darkness, don’t worry.

They’re competitors in the uniquely Oregonian Hood-to-Coast Relay–a one-of-a-kind road-running event comprising 1,000 teams of 12 runners, tracing a route from Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood to Seaside at the coast. Elite runners and couch potatoes alike join the fray and the event fills out on the first day of registration each spring. In total, as the largest relay event in North America, it features 12,000 runners and 4,800 walkers.

It’s nearly 200 miles of porta-potties, 700 vans festooned with posters and blow-up dolls, and 36 legs of mileage between 4 and 7 miles each. With severe downhill legs from Mt. Hood and a mix of brutal uphill stints in the Coast Range, the race culminates in a 12-man sprint to the finish through the sand in Seaside.

Every 5 to 6 miles, traffic comes to a major slowdown on main thoroughfares like Highway 26 between Government Camp and Sandy as runners make their exchanges. You may run into some of these congestion zones if you are using Highway 30 or some of the back roads from St. Helens to the coast this weekend.

Due to a change in team organization (and my relative inactivity this year), I will be missing the 25th anniversary of the event that started in 1981 as a bunch of guys riding in the backs of pickup trucks running legs of 5-mile lengths all the way to Pacific City.

As most participants have experienced, it is a grueling event, but the soreness and sleep deprivation is offset by the wealth of stories of lost runners, busted vans, and ultimately, the conquering of 197 miles across mountains, valleys, and coastlines by 12 teammates.

I know this, however, I will sleep (and smell) better tonight than 99% of the HTC participants cramped into mini-vans or in sleeping bags in the fields of Mist, Oregon.

Links:

Blograstinator

UrbanMamas

Technorati Tags: running, relay, Hood to Coast, race

Add comment August 26th, 2006

Guest Post: Discover North Portland

Today’s post comes from Alex Neely, a mortgage banker with Wells Fargo and avid re:PDX reader. He recently suggested a number of blog ideas, including this one about the opportunities that await buyers in “NoPo”.

If you have lived in Portland very long, perhaps you’ve seen the revitalization of communities (like Mississippi, Boise, Humboldt, and Piedmont) that once were classified as avoidable at all costs. Here, Alex touches on the up-and-coming urban alternatives to Portland’s suburbs.

Portland’s inner east side has seen an enormous revival fueled by two factors: proximity to downtown and rejuvenated historic districts. This creates what I like to call the “Urban-Suburban” feel. Residential neighborhoods feel like close-knit communities with an emphasis on walking and biking to nearby restaurants and shopping, and yet they are still a very short drive from downtown. This feel is definitive of the eastside lifestyle.

The historic districts in North Portland, however, have experienced their revival much more recently, and in some cases, have yet to get off the ground.

North Portland has seen some amazing changes due to the MAX line and the Portland Development Commission (PDC). The Mississippi district has grown by leaps and bounds in the past few years and there are many homes in the area that are still begging to be renovated to their full glory (many homes are from the Victorian era). Even distressed homes in this area, however, are pricey.

To find an affordable home in the next “Urban-Suburban” district buyers should look to St. Johns or Kenton. In their present state, these districts are nothing to clamor about. St. Johns is located 15 minutes from downtown and about 10 minutes from Sauvie Island. It has two movie theaters, a few cafes, dark taverns, and five coffee shops. The key to this area is that the historic district bones are there.

The same goes for Kenton (http://historickenton.com/) which is about 8 minutes from downtown. There is little to Kenton now, but in five to ten years it will be a bustling commercial area right on the MAX line. As an added plus, Kenton is within the PDC “Urban Renewal Area” boundaries.

In both of these areas, you can find medium fixers or small renovated homes for around $200,000, which is a significant difference from the Inner Southeast districts where you would be hard-pressed to find even a distressed home within walking distance under $300,000. Think you will miss the large super-stores of suburbia? Don’t worry, Jantzen Beach Supercenter is right up I-5, just 4 minutes from Kenton.

So if you want to get into the next “Urban-Suburban” district before you are priced out, now is the time to think about North Portland.

There is much more to North Portland than just Mississippi, St. Johns, and Kenton. Contact Ron Ares to find out more about the “Fifth Quadrant.”

NOTE:
Other nice residential neighborhoods include: Overlook, Arbor Lodge, Piedmont, Mock Crest, and University Park. All these are much more residential but Overlook includes the Killingsworth commercial district. Also the entirety of Interstate Avenue (the road the MAX runs on) is being overhauled thanks to the PDC’s designation of the Interstate Corridor as an Urban Renewal Area.

Thanks Alex. I have experienced a noticeable interest in the next hot, affordable urban area, and have pointed several toward the St. Johns and Kenton areas. If you interest in properties in these areas, I suggest you use my HomeQuest service to target listings in specific neighborhoods.

Resources:

North Portland Newspaper: St. John’s Sentinel
OregonLive Blogs: St. Johns, Piedmont, Bridgeton

Contact Alex:
Alex Neely
Home Mortgage Consultant
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
503-244-4729 Tel
503-952-6692 Cell
Contact Alex via email

Technorati Tags: North Portland, NoPo, urban, neighborhood, revitalization, Kenton, Mississippi, St. Johns

Add comment August 23rd, 2006

Condo Market Update - August 2006

The Portland-area condo market continues to generate interest–both from prospective buyers and from those wondering if a ‘condo bubble’ is in the making. I have taken a half dozen calls in the past few months from housing analysts and out-of-state developers who are questioning the elasticity of the Portland market to absorb more high-end developments.

Here is a glimpse at the available inventory in Portland and suburbs, as of August 17. The column labeled ‘DOM’ stands for Days on Market, or the average days listings have been active.

Note these figures are purely a snapshot of the active listings in the local multiple listing service as of August 17. Units marketed by the developer’s sales team or for sale by owner are not reflected here.

Compared to my April post, the downtown inventory is up 75%. So are the Northeast Portland units. Much of that can be attributed to the completion and release of apartment conversions (like the Harrison) and near-completion of new projects like the Vaux. The all-so-important time on market measure hasn’t changed all that dramatically.

My back-of-envelope analysis says that the condo market is reflective of the overall market in Portland–more inventory, slower sales pace, and high-end properties taking much longer to sell than in 2005.   

* Of the West Portland listings, 415 units are located in the city center. Several listings are pre-sales, including The Benson, The Civic, and The Atwater. The Pearl properties appear to be holding their own, but a considerable inventory exists for the high-end riverfront properties like the John Ross, Riverscape, Meriwether.

** North Portland’s figures are skewed by 49 high-end riverfront listings in Jantzen Beach/Tomahawk Island, priced between $400,000 and $2,276,500. Without these properties, North Portland’s condo stats would be: 40 listings averaging $183,534, 811 sq. ft, $226 per square foot, and 66 average days on the market.

Photo by: Portland Ground: Pictures of Portland Oregon. Used under Creative Commons license.

Technorati Tags: condo, Portland, inventory, average, prices, condominiums

7 comments August 18th, 2006

Portland Real Estate Market Activity - July 2006 results

The transition to a more balanced residential real estate market continues in the Portland metro area, as July 2006 results are released. In a nutshell, although average prices are still continuing an upward trend, the pace of sales has slowed dramatically, creating a wealth of available inventory for buyers to pursue.

Compared to last year, there is nearly 70% more available housing inventory—partially brought on by increases in listings, but affected mostly by fewer sales year-to-date. New listings are up 11.4%, but pending and closed sales are down 21% and 16.7% respectively. At the current rate of sales, the current inventory of homes would sell out in 3.5 months, the highest ratio of active listings to closed sales since February 2004.

Over the past 12 months, Portland-area properties averaged 17.4% appreciation over the previous 12 months. Average appreciation gains continue to range between 14 and 25% (depending on the community) over the past 12 months.

The average sale price year-to-date in the market is now $319,200 (vs. $271,300 for 07/2004 through 08/2005). Half the homes in the metro area sold for more or less (the median) than $269,000 (up from $227,200 last year). The average market time for properties year-to-date is 42 days, versus 47 days this time last year.

I’ve posted the year-to-date market activity in the Portland metropolitan area through July 31, 2006, sorted by community and average sale price.

Source: RMLS, August 2006.

Technorati Tags: homes, prices, average, median, appreciation, Portland

Photo by 24thcentury used under Creative Commons license.

1 comment August 16th, 2006

Portland Foreclosure Rate Up Nearly Double

Is it time to dust off those Carleton Sheets books?

In a study of the top 100 metropolitan areas, Portland ranked 25th in foreclosure rates in the second quarter of 2006, but saw an increase of 188% over Q1. The Q2 stats showed 3,943 foreclosures in the metro area (one out of every 228 households), a little over the national average.

Like Portland, cities like Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington DC reported increases, too, but the majority of the 100 largest metros actually showed decreasing foreclosure activity in the second quarter.

Analysts warn, however, that adjustable rate mortgages taken out during the housing boom will be resetting soon, causing some homeowners to see 20% increases in their mortgage payments. Result: more foreclosures, particularly in markets with slumping real estate activity or economic growth.

Indianapolis (at nearly 1% of households), Atlanta, Dallas, Memphis and Denver were again on the top (or bottom) top of the list of metropolitan foreclosure rates. Here is the dubious Top 10 list:

I am a little puzzled, with Portland’s relative market strength, as to why the local foreclosure rate is up. Is it from ARMS resetting, inadequate wage growth, overconsumption? Thoughts?

Survey results by RealtyTrac. Business Week has coverage this week on the report.

Technorati Tags: foreclosure, mortgages, ARM, default, Portland, ranking

7 comments August 10th, 2006