Since many of you already own a primary residence, let’s turn our attention to rental properties. There are 4 ways that investors can make money with rental properties; The 1st way is from a positive cash flow. You have a positive cash flow when the rent that you collect exceeds ALL of the expenses of owning a rental property. Your expenses will include (but are not limited to) your mortgage, taxes, insurance, vacancy rate, all repairs and maintenance costs, advertising & signs, legal and accounting costs, gas and wear & tear on your car from your being the property manager, or hiring a property manager, etc. In the beginning years you should not expect to have a positive cash flow, unless you are prepared to invest a substantial down-payment. Since Portland real estate has appreciated at a much higher rate than rent increases, in recent years, you will most likely have a negative cash flow for a period of several (and possibly more) years..
You MUST be able to afford this negative cash flow or you simply should NOT own rental property. However, if you can afford the negative cash flow, I will show you how profitable rental properties can be over time. Of course, you will try to raise the rent every year by a 3% to 5% increase (or whatever the market will bear) and eventually you will begin to receive a positive cash flow.

The 2nd way you will profit is from having your tenants pay your mortgage for you. Due to the way that lenders calculate interest, you actually pay more interest in the beginning of your loan that you do later on. For this reason, the amount your mortgage is reduced is not as big as you might think, but again, this amount gets bigger and bigger over time.

The next way you profit is from tax benefits. Previously called Depreciation, now called Cost Recovery, the government really likes it that you are providing housing to those who can not afford to own. They let you write off the entire purchase price against your income. You can not do this all at once but over time (currently 27.5 years). So if you bought a property that costs $275,000 you would get a $10,000 tax write off against your income. The higher your tax bracket, the better the benefit. As you can see, if you own a handful of properties you can shield much of your income from taxes. As I am not an accountant and can not give tax advice, you must check with your tax adviser before purchasing any investment real estate to see how this will affect your specific tax situation. Plus, this benefit is temporary. Just as your money grows tax deferred in a traditional IRA account and you pay taxes as you receive the money many years later, you will also have to pay the taxes (called capital gains) when you sell the property. I do not have enough space to explain why this is still a great benefit but feel free to call me and ask me about this.

The final way you will profit is from Appreciation. Right now, Portland is appreciating at record high rates, but if you read my last article, you saw that Portland has averaged a little over 7% since 1991. So let’s use that number and see what happens if you buy an average home.

The median price (half sell above & half sell below) is about $250,000. Let’s assume you use a 10% down payment and have a mortgage of $225,000. With an interest rate of about 6.75 (higher for non-owner occupied). your principal & interest payment for 30 years will be about $1,460. With taxes and insurance it will be around $1,750 per month. Let’s assume you can rent the property for about $1,000 per month. You are now the proud owner of a $9,000 per year negative cash flow. At the end of the first year: 1) You should get a tax write-off of $9,000 off against your taxable income. Assuming a 25% tax rate this comes out to $2,250. 2) Your mortgage will be reduced by $2,400. 3) Your home should be worth $267,500. Let’s add it all up and see how you did.

$2,250 (tax write-off) $2,400 (mortgage reduction) $17,500 (appreciation) = $22,150 – $9,000 (negative cash flow) = $13,150 equity growth on your initial investment of $25,000 down. This is a 52.6% rate of return! If you could average 10% appreciation over time, then the amounts change to $20,650 equity growth and an 82.6% return on your original investment. Plus, your mortgage reduction gets bigger every year, your appreciation grows compounded, and your negative cash becomes smaller and eventually turns positive. Please understand that I did not factor in other expenses such as vacancy rates & repairs, etc. This example is to simply have you get the concept. I hope that you have and that you will consider owning a rental property. Of course, real estate, like all investments come with risk. It is absolutely possible to lose money, especially in the beginning before the value of the property grows. Once you get through the first 2 or 3 years it really gets much easier and safer.

One last consideration, the rental market has gotten softer over the last two or three years. As record numbers of renters have been buying their first homes, there are less renters in the market. Also, as more people have been buying rentals, there are more rental homes available. Less demand, more supply. This is what has caused rents to stay low and some vacancy rates to rise. Thusly, it is prudent to have some reserve money in case of any problems.

By the way, the Oregonian just reported on Jan. 17th, 2006 that Portland real estate has appreciated 20.4% from December, 2004 through December, 2005. Wow!

Steve Bennett
Principal Broker, GRI, CRS

We first heard about Taggart when our friend, and former co-worker, Sky Yeager, was turning his one man play, “Body Memories”, into a movie. Sky hired Taggart as his director. Then when we (Kundalini and Steve) were visiting Sky at his home in central Mexico a couple of years ago, we finally met Taggart and his friend, John Petersen, who owns one of the largest organic community supported agriculture farms in the US. Taggart has been filming John for about 25 years!

Well they finally finished the movie and it has been picked up by the people who distributed “What the Bleep Do We Know?” The movie is called, “The Real Dirt on Farmer John”. So far, it has won 16 awards at film festivals, and the Oregonian film critic, Shawn Levy, has put it on his top ten list for 2005! It is a story about the disappearing family farms, and of loss and ultimate redemption through community. It is terrific!

This film is only being shown in 4 cities with a very limited release, just as “What the Bleep” was scheduled. Hopefully, this newsletter will get to you in time for you to go see the movie at Cinema 21. It will run from Feb. 1st through Feb. 9th. If the film does well at the box office in these 4 cities, it will then get released nationwide! Taggart is moving his family to Portland this summer. Let’s show him how Portland supports local artists and people who are trying to bring community together. Please tell your friends.

Go to www.therealdirt.net

Steve Bennett

If you are looking to be a tenant, call and ask for Melissa or Nick and they can talk to you about what they have to offer.
Fox Management, Inc
Melissa Blackburn/Nick Rossi
1734 NE Broadway
Portland, OR 97232
503.280.0241

We can vouch for Alan’s ability to work with property owners:
Reliance Property Management
11830 SW Kerr Pkwy #325
Lake Oswego, OR 97035
503.244.1359
Alan’s Cell: 503.781.8753

People we trust & respect also use this company to manage their properties:
Barker-Calkins
3216 SE Milwaukie Ave
Portland , OR 97202
503.239.9050

In addition to these companies, here are three nearby property management companies that list houses they offer for rent on their websites:

The Conifer Group
503.239.0015

Alder Property Management
503.419.9798

Rappold Property Management
503-232-1462

To go beyond Craigslist, we recommend PadMapper, a map-based search tool.

If you are looking for affordable, accessible or special needs housing, try Housing Connections.

Good luck with the hunt! We look forward to working with you when you’re ready to purchase a home of your own.

(All information correct as of June 2010)

From April 2007 to April 2008, we have just seen Portland’s first price decline in average price since 2002 (from $338,200 to $325,000). One factor that has contributed to this decrease is the drop in sales for higher end homes (over one million dollars; from 43 down to 21), which has skewed the average lower.

The number of homes for sale is 10.3 months of inventory. This is down from January’s high of 12.8 months of inventory but is still considerably higher than last April’s 4.4 months of inventory.

The average time it takes to sell a home in Portland has increased from 63 days to 82 days. This is from the first 4 months of 2008 compared with the first 4 months of 2007.

While the Greater Portland metropolitan Area has just started to decrease, there is still good news for the majority of our clients as the close-in neighborhoods and areas that we specialize in are still increasing in value. From April 2007 through April 2008 single family homes in:

North Portland increased in value by 7.7%.
Northeast Portland increased in value by 6.7%
Southeast Portland increased in value by 4.5%

Additionally, as first time buyers are waiting to purchase now, rents in Portland have really started to rise over the past 3 years. Rental vacancy rates are historically quite low. This could be a very good time to purchase a rental property or consider exchanging your single family rentals into a larger multifamily complex.

If you have any questions about the Portland market, or your home specifically, please call us at 503.238.7617 or e-mail us at info@altpdx.com

Is there anywhere good to invest your money? Maybe this is the right moment to begin buying investment real estate. When the stock market goes down, smart investors consider this as a buying opportunity to add to their portfolio. For the past 20 years, in Portland, no such buying opportunity has been available in real estate. The residential market has gone up every year for the past two decades. Investment real estate had become unaffordable to most investors as prices went so high that rent could not come close to the mortgage payment (and other expenses). One year ago, in Portland, it was almost impossible to find a solid house for under 250k Now you can find many homes priced under 225k in the Portland Metro area.

Although home values have decreased, rents have not. With much tighter credit criteria; no more zero down payments, no more interest only mortgages, higher down payment requirements, and less new first time home buyers, the rental market is very strong right now and rents are increasing.

Almost four trillion dollars has been pulled from the stock market. If you are one who has pulled money from the market, you might want to consider this as a prime time to begin your investment real estate portfolio. As one of my mentors told me, “Investment real estate is a great way to become wealthy over time; it is not a get rich quick scheme.” I believe that you should plan on holding investment real estate for ten years or longer. It is quite possible that real estate prices will continue to decline for the next six months but it is impossible to time the market exactly. If you are going to hold this real estate for ten years or more, it is not so important that you buy it at rock bottom prices. It is more important that you actually do purchase a good property while prices are down, even if you don’t purchase at the very bottom.

If you choose to purchase investment real estate, consider operating this as a business. Speak with your accountant and attorney about the advisability of establishing a limited liability company, or another legal entity, to protect your other assets in case you are ever sued. Plus there are many possible tax deductions such as depreciation and expenses for managing the property that can really reduce your normal tax obligations. Not a bad thing while someone else is paying off your mortgage. If you have any questions about purchasing investment real estate, please call the office at 503.238.7617. Most of us own investment real estate and can easily guide through the process.

Lastly, I am coming out of retirement for 2009 and will be available to work with buyers + sellers. My cell phone number is 503.810.5260 and my e-mail address is steve@altpdx.com.

North Mississippi Avenue, home to several well-known if eccentric carts, will be the scene of a new slice of food-cart culture.
Stephanie Yao Long/The Oregonian Developer Roger Goldingay (left) and designer and contractor Michael Tunson will open Mississippi Marketplace in this open lot in August. The building will house a brewpub called Prost! adjacent to 10 food carts.

Set to open at the corner of North Mississippi and Skidmore Street in early August, Mississippi Marketplace will be Portland’s first curated food cart and market pod in a newly paved 10,000-square-foot lot. The project has been designed with an anchor tenant, a spiffy brewpub called Prost! set in a building transformed from a seedy board-up to a handcrafted Greek Revival beauty.

Ten food carts will be selected by developer Roger Goldingay, along with a cluster of booths devoted to crafts or a farmers market, depending on interest. Each cart will have amenities rarely available to food-cart owners: six to 12 seats per cart; access to a portable toilet; full-service electrical; a recycling plan; and someone to keep the grounds clean and tidy.

Until now, Portland’s exploding food-cart scene has taken a more duct-tape approach. Many carts subsist on bare bones, with limited electrical power, seating and bathroom access. Then again, they are free to create their own moods, like the late-night party scene created by the cart pod at Southeast 12th Avenueand Hawthorne Boulevard.

Multnomah County has more than 375 food carts, with action blossoming in the suburbs—and the applications keep coming.

Goldingay is a newcomer to the scene—not a foodie or a food-cart hopper. The upbeat, former professional soccer player has lived in the neighborhood for eight years and, until recently, owned the John Palmer House across the street.

Two years ago, Goldingay paid more than $900,000 for the two lots, to be developed into commercial real estate. Then came the crashing realities of the recent economic downturn. Nine months ago, Goldingay found no financing for larger projects. So he decided to tune in to the creative young energy transforming the neighborhood with restaurants, shops and food carts.

Nine months ago, in less an act of vision and more what he calls an act of desperation, he came up with a plan for the property: open a restaurant-brewpub in the building with an outside patio and launch an outdoor food court and marketplace to make use of the vacant land.

He circulated an application flier to food carts around the city explaining the concept for Mississippi Market. To his surprise, he has been flooded with applicants and plans to decide in the next two weeks who makes the cut.

Mississippi Avenue was a natural choice. The avenue has several noteworthy carts, such as the retro Moxie RX trailer, where cheddar biscuits and peanut butter-date shakes are inhaled at picnic tables in a weedy lot, and Junior Ambassador’s, where ice cream flavors such as “corn on the cob” and “tomato-mozzarella” are sold from what looks like a demented children’s playhouse.

“Food carts are the entrepreneurial adventure of the 21st century,” says Howard Shapiro, a board member of the nonprofit Albina Opportunities Corp., one of the lenders that helped Goldingay with financing. “These are more than little things on wheels. They’re serving darn good food and prices at a time when people just love food.”

Mississippi Marketplace will ultimately be influenced by Goldingay’s taste, an unknown at this time. The look also will be shaped by demands imposed by the city, including a directive to pave the lot, Goldingay says.

But Goldingay is offering amenities coveted by some cart owners who find cart life to be a tough business. And lenders such as AOC and Mercy Corps Northwest are willing to help owners finance food carts. Four have applied for assistance, says Terry Brandt, AOC’s executive director.

“Having these kind of services in place would make it easier to go down the food-cart path,” says Moxie’s Nancye Benson, who opened her cart four years ago and made her reputation with no luxuries. “But it’s sad that the new carts have to be on pavement. It would have been nice to be a green space; that’s nice in the urban environment.”

“I’m ecstatic with this idea,” says Andrea Spella, owner of the acclaimed Spella Caffe coffee cart in downtown Portland. Spella says he has seen a surge of interest in people looking to open a cart, especially out-of-towners exploring Portland’s celebrated food scene for new avenues of creative work.

“They realize that Portland really supports independent restaurants and business. They can make income immediately with very little overhead. And if there ends up being a different pod in each neighborhood, that would be awesome.”

The project has not been without costs. Goldingay looks stressed when discussing the costs and hoop-jumping to get this project off the ground, including his estimate of $100,000 in permits and improvements to the lot.

But he says it will all pay off in the long run—in more than just finances.

“This was an ugly lot just a few days ago,” he says, looking at the handsome new building for the brewpub renovated by Eterne Architectural Restoration. “We’re changing a neighborhood corner.”

—Karen Brooks; kbrooks@news.oregonian.com
—Image: Flavour Spot: North Portland Waffle Cart

Rates provided by Bankrate.com.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com)—Sales of existing homes rose in July for the fourth consecutive month, lending support to economists who argue a recovery is near.

Sales of previously owned single-family homes were up 7.2% compared with June and 5% from July 2008, The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Friday. The monthly gain was the largest on record for existing-home sales, which NAR has tracked since 1999.

“The housing market has decisively turned for the better,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “A combination of first-time buyers taking advantage of the housing stimulus tax credit and greatly improved affordability conditions are contributing to higher sales.”

July home sales hit an annualized rate of 5.24 million proprieties, marking the first breach of the 5 million annualized rate mark since last September, when they hit 5.1 million. Since then, they have stayed in a very narrow range, bouncing between between January’s low of 4.49 million and October’s high of 4.94 million.

The July performance far exceeded expectations: A consensus of real estate experts had forecast sales of 5 million.

Low prices
Of course, homes should be selling. Prices have fallen more than 32% from their peaks, set in the summer of 2006. Plus, mortgage rates near historic lows makes the cost of purchasing a home lower than they’ve been in nearly 20 years.

“In some recovering markets like San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Orlando, the demand for foreclosed and lower priced homes has spiked, and a lack of inventory is becoming a common complaint,” Yun said.

Overall though, the national inventory rose by more than 7% to 4.09 million units. That will continue to keep prices low, according to Mike Larson, a housing analyst with Weiss Research.

“There’s a bifurcation of the market,” he said. “There’s excess supply putting downward pressure on prices and people respond to the lower prices by buying homes.”

Housing is its most affordable in many years, he pointed out. “Falling prices is not part of the problem, they’re part of the solution,” he said.

Hurting home sales have been stubborn increases in job losses. More than 6.7 million jobs have been lost since the beginning of 2008.

That’s one reason why Robert Dye, a senior economist for PNC Financial Services (PNC, Fortune 500), is keeping his optimism in check.

“I wouldn’t go overboard on this number,” he said. “The economy is still healing and will continue to run into some bumps. But it does bode very well for the future and shows buyer confidence is increasing.”

There is one potential bump, however: The looming end of the first-time homebuyers credit. The credit gave first-time homebuyers an up to $8,000 refund on their taxes if they close on a deal before Dec. 1. That credit has been motivating buyers, and when it expires, demand could dry up.

“Just like with the cash-for-clunkers program, we run the risk of a letdown as the program runs its course,” Dye said.

Where homes are selling
Regionally, the strongest market was the Northeast, where sales soared by 13.4% to an annualized rate of 930,000. That was 3.3% higher than last July. The median price of homes sold during the month was $236,700, off 15% from last year.

Midwest sales rose 10.9% to a 1.22 million rate, 8% higher year-over-year. Prices there have sunk 5.9% over the past 12 months to a median of $157,200.

In the South, sales were up 7.1% from June and 5.4% from last July to a rate of 1.95 million. Price have dropped 7.1% to $164,500 over the past 12 months.

The only region reporting a slip in sales was the West, where they fell 1.7% to a rate of 1.13 million. That was ahead of last July, however, by 1.8%. The median price there was $202,300, a whopping 28% below what is was a year ago.

First Published: August 21, 2009: 10:19 AM ET

Image:Row of miniature houses © SuperStock RF

Many local utilities provide financial incentives for purchasing ENERGY STAR qualified windows, doors, and skylights. To find out if rebates or other incentives are available in your area, visit the ENERGY STAR Rebate Finder.
Federal Tax Credits

On February 17, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009. This bill extends and modifies the tax credits for windows, doors, and skylights established in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The following guidance is not intended as legal advice, and you should consult a tax professional with specific questions.

Qualifying products purchased between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010 are eligible for a tax credit equal to 30 percent of the product cost. Installation is not included; be sure to obtain an itemized invoice from your retailer or installer. The maximum amount of homeowner credit for all improvements combined (including roofing, insulation, HVAC, and water heaters) is $1,500 during 2009 and 2010.
Products Purchased before June 1, 2009

Criteria: Windows, doors, and skylights purchased before June 1, 2009 must meet or exceed the prescriptive criteria established by the 2001 Supplement of the 2000 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) or the 2004 Supplement of the 2003 IECC for the climate zone in which the product is installed.

Documentation: For windows and skylights, homeowners may use either ENERGY STAR labels or manufacturer certification statements to document eligibility for the tax credit. Doors are required to have a manufacturer certification statement.
Products Purchased on or after June 1, 2009

Criteria: Windows, doors, and skylights purchased on or after June 1, 2009 must have U-factor and Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) ratings of 0.30 or less. These ratings must be certified by the National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC). Look for the NFRC label. NFRC is the only federally recognized organization for determining the energy performance of windows, doors and skylights. Please see the NFRC website Exit ENERGY STAR for information concerning product performance.

Documentation: Homeowners must obtain a manufacturer certification statement to document window, door, or skylight eligibility for the tax credit. If the retailer or installer cannot provide this document, it may be available on the manufacturer’s Web site.

From website: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=windows_doors.pr_taxcredits

Each fall, check and remove any debris from gutters and downspouts and consider installing a leaf catch in each of your downspout openings to help prevent future obstructions: these typically cost around $4.00 and can be found at your local hardware store. A more permanent measure, gutter screens can also be attached along the tops of your gutters to help prevent leaves from getting into them in the first place. Installing these is a larger project and requires that you be somewhat handy. Gutter or roofing companies can usually perform the work: for labor and materials, expect to pay between $2.00-$4.00 per linear foot.

2. Ensure that water from your downspouts is routed far enough away from your home to prevent standing water from accumulating along your foundation walls. If you haven’t already, consider connecting a flexible downspout extension to your existing downspouts to rout water well away from your home. An 8’ extension costs around $20. A more aesthetically pleasing solution might be to connect your downspouts to a French drain that will both transport water away from your home’s perimeter and be out of eyesight since they are buried underground. For more information a Google search for French drains will result in numerous articles or you can go to: http://www.askthebuilder.com/517_Installing_Downspout_Drain_Lines.shtml

3. If you notice that water continues to accumulate around your home, you may want to consider contacting a licensed contractor specializing in water related issues who can advise you of specific remedies. In some instances, it may be necessary to correct a negative grade to ensure that the ground slopes away from your basement and exterior walls. In the event that more substantial corrections are required, your contractor will be able to advise you of the most prudent and cost effective course of action.

- Alan Allred

But what does that mean?

“Takeout on every corner. Easy access to a doctor. Timed traffic lights. These conveniences can ease even the most chaotic days.”

They measured things like average commute, physicians per capita, wireless availability, recycling access, farmers markets, and restaurants offering take-out.

Here’s what they said about Portland: “It’s no hassle getting around this town, whether by bike or on the nation’s fourth-largest light-rail system. There are few airport delays, and speedy emergency services translate to one of the highest cardiac-arrest survival rates. And finding lunch is easy, with about 450 gourmet food carts around the city. “I could hit 100 carts in an hour,” says Brett Burmeister, who runs Foodcartsportland.com. “It takes less than five minutes to get a cheap, amazing lunch.”

Agents in our office completely agree. With hundreds of wonderful restaurants, doctors, shops, bike lanes and tons to do in all corners of the metro-area, we’ve found it incredibly easy to live here.

We’re proud to be one of the easy-to-access neighborhood real estate resources for you or your friends. Now if you don’t mind, we’re going to make a massage appointment, pick up some falafel sandwiches and hop the bus down the street to the Lucky Lab.

Today, the inviting terra cotta-colored brewpub that opened at that spot this past weekend is a symbol of a revitalized community – the latest district in Portland to transform from urban blight to urban cool.

We’ve always been fans of Woodlawn, watching hopefully as NE Dekum sprouted multiple business like Firehouse and Good Neighbor Pizzaria. Now with a brewery and coffee shop coming in, it’s a full fledged neighborhood core.

And for those that love Portland’s off-beat artistry, Star Trek in the Park is returning to the Woodlawn Park Amphitheater for a second summer. More details on performance dates are here: http://www.atomic-arts.org/?p=306.

I got Calvin (2½ years old) on board by reading Keeping Chickens together, and thumbing through the beautiful photos. He quickly became obsessed with them too and started picking out which ones he wanted to have and learning their names: Americana, Australorp, Leghorn, Silver Laced Wyandotte. I fell victim to pastoral images of my children running out each morning, to the nest, in search of fresh eggs that we would eat for breakfast. There was no way my husband could talk us out of it now.

So he reluctantly set out to build a “simple” chicken coop. Those of you who know Chad know that “simple” doesn’t quite cut it, so two months later we had a craftsman chicken coop, complete with cedar shingles, insulation, composition roof, marmoleum floors, and paint to match our house.

We marched down to Livingscape Nursery (address below) the first day of Spring and picked out our three fuzzy girls. We named them after our three living grandmothers: Mildred, Jackie and Betty, and kept them in a brooder in the basement for the first 3 months of their life under a heat lamp – what a mess! But we spent many happy hours on the floor with them, petting and cooing, while trying to make sure Calvin did not squash them with his eager hands. Chad became the surrogate mother hen and brought them worms from the garden. To this day they still have squawking fits every time he comes into sight.

In June they graduated to their coop. The sun was finally shining and they were so happy to be out there with the worms and bugs. They tripled in size overnight, it seemed, turning from cute little soft balls into awkward teenagers with sparse feathers.

Now we worried about them sharing the yard with our Golden Retriever, Lewis, who is a trained game-bird hunting dog. Small oversight. But by some miracle, Lewis co-exists peacefully with them, and was even caught cuddling with Mildred on one cold morning (Seriously!). The only danger they really had to worry about was the preschooler, chasing them around the yard trying to catch them, screaming: “COME HERE GI-IIIIIRLS!!”
It’s a lot of work. Making sure they have food/water, shutting them up in the coop every night, and letting them out every morning, no matter how cold it is outside. Cleaning up their endless, abundant poop. Getting a “chicken sitter” when we go out of town. Our beautiful lawn and most of our plants have been completely destroyed. We started to wonder what we had gotten ourselves in.

Chad, however, does reap some rewards – most carpenter/contractors have a shop dog. Instead Chad and his coworker Luke, have shop chickens. On nice days when the shop door is open, those chickens are up on the work table, leaping over 2×4s, clucking and pecking away. They have become so tame, in fact, that they will come up to Chad and rub against his leg when they want to be picked up.

I think we became so pleasantly accustomed to having them around, that we forgot about their main purpose, until one fine Summer afternoon, Chad emerged from the coop victorious with one weird-looking, deformed, scrawny little egg in hand! We were so proud! The eggs started to come regularly in lovely shades of blue + speckled brown. I still smile every time I look at the full bowl of colorful fresh eggs in my fridge.

Overall: reward outweighs the effort, and I will happily continue to be a chicken owner for the remainder of these ladies’ lives. If you ask my husband, though, he might grumble a bit, but I know he would secretly agree.

Megan Arambul of one of our favorite local flower operations, Fieldwork, compiled an index of essential botanicals for the quintessential garden-picked bouquet. Plant these now and a great accent is only moments away.

For the example to the right, we used:

Sweet Pea- An annual climber that contributes soft accents and fragrance.

Old Garden Rose- This multipurpose perennial is not to be associated with odorless, mass-produced specimens grown hundreds of miles away.

Scented Geranium- While Geranium flowers are darling, star-shaped blooms of various colors, we actually cultivate the plant for its hairy foliage and fragrance. The greens have a graceful appearance and a sharp, earthy odor that mirrors citrus, mint, fruit and roses very well.

Other great options include:

Iceland Poppy- Resembling an upward umbrella, the poppy’s flirtatious demeanor is presented in perfectly quirky colors and a tissue-like texture.

Lemon Verbena- Wafting sweet zest, this deciduous perennial shrub isn’t only used in works by Fieldwork. It has an important reputation in the culinary industry, flavoring fish, vegetables, jam, beverages, dressings and sorbet. This sweetie is not to be forgotten about. Its appearance is complimentary to showier flowers with its light green lancet-shaped leaves and tiny, modest white blooms.

Peony- An odoriferous show stealer with large spherical heads of multi-petal-magic. We recommend tree peonies, particularly the uncommon butter-yellow variety called, ‘High Noon’.

Hosta- A very fresh looking addition to any bouquet. Lanceolate and ovate shaped leaves range from less than four inches to more than three feet. A shade lover.

For more ideas, or to send someone a fabulous garden bouquet, be sure to visit Megan at her Workshop/Showroom:
2505 SE 11th Ave #106
Portland, OR 97202

Or call her at: 503-719-1950

“But hard-pressed homeowners like Lydia Sweetland are asking why lenders often balk at a less disruptive solution: short sales, which allow owners to sell deeply devalued homes for less than what remains on their mortgage.”

Read the whole story at The New York Times site.

—
Portland’s streetcar system attracts about 12,000 daily riders at an average ticket cost of $1.47. Its creators credit it with $3.5 billion in surrounding development, including shops, restaurants and 10,000 new housing units.
—
Read the whole story here:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/12/17/light.rail.streetcar/index.html?hpt=C2