Property Blotter

Homes priced from the low $300s to $1.7M are open for your viewing this weekend, including our Linda Trotta’s remodeled listing on Greentree. Drop in and say Hi.

Here’s the list of Lake Oswego opens for Saturday and Sunday:

Please note, dates and times are subject to change without notice. This list may not contain ALL open houses in the city, but represent those that agents have publicized in the multiple listing service as of Friday afternoon. If links to ACTIVE properties do not bring up property information, the listing may no longer be active, but rather expired, cancelled, pending, or sold.

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This week, we’re pleased to highlight a new listing in Lake Oswego’s Southshore/Hallinan neighborhood.

This three bedroom, three bath home features a fenced, low-maintenance yard, air conditioning, and a spacious, full-length deck in the back for entertaining.

At $425,000, it might just be the best value in the south end of town.

16081 SW Pearcy St., Lake Oswego, OR 97034
ML# 8049937 | Map
3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 1,919 sq. ft.
Listed at $425,000

For more information or to schedule a showing, please contact us with an email.

Listing courtesy of Robbyn Foggia at Advanced Real Estate Services.

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Mountain Park is a 700 acre planned community on the East side of Lake Oswego. It was the vision of Carl Halvorson (the man who Halvorson Island, the only private island in Oswego Lake, is named after). Developed in 1968, it is built on a dormant volcano, Mt. Sylvania. The population of Mt. Park fluctuates between 8,000 and 8.500 people meaning that just about 1 in 5 people who live in Lake Oswego live in Mt. Park. It also means that the Mountain Park Home Owner’s Association is one of the largest HOAs in the United States.

Households in Mt. Park include single family residences, townhouses, condominiums, and apartments. Every residence pays a semiannual fee. The fee averages about $400 per year and is used to maintain Mt. Parks extensive common areas. These include 185 acres of trails (15 miles worth!), parks, pathways, 3 tennis courts, and the recreation center.

The recreation center is a gorgeous facility with 2 weight rooms, a basketball court, steam and sauna, a massage therapy center, and community rooms that are available for hosting banquets and receptions. The recreation center offers a variety of classes that are free to members of the Home Owner’s Association: mind/body and traditional fitness classes, and water exercise classes (which are taught at the pool at Lake Oswego High School). There are also youth and adult activities such as game night, Kids Nite Out, Mah Jongg, and seasonal events.

The HOA publishes a neighborhood newsletter called “Parkways and Medley” where you can find out about classes and the current neighborhood events.

Because the community was planned, and pretty much all built at once, there is a uniformity to the neighborhood with well-cared for lawns and the stately sweep of hillside streets. Pricing goes from a low of $139,900 for a condominium to a high of $699,950 for a 4 bedroom house. Being on a hill, many of the homes and condos have views of Mt. Hood and Portland. Be aware that not all homes in Mt. Park are in the Lake Oswego school district. About 25% of Mt. Park along the North side has Lake Oswego addresses but is in the attendance area for Portland Public Schools. Property values are higher for homes in the Lake Oswego school district.

The whole idea of a planned community was pretty new back in 1968. Today this sort of community is being built and duplicated all over the country. But Mt. Park was a pioneer of the genre. And it has aged well. The neighborhood is clean and well cared for, and the recreational lifestyle is great.

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Nearly 40 homes became available or were re-listed last week in the Lake Oswego real estate market. Nearly half as many listings went sale pending or actually closed escrow.

Here is the latest Lake Oswego real estate market activity report (look to the bottom for definitions and research criteria):

NEWLY LISTED (May 19 – 25, 2008)

PENDING SALES (May 19 – 25, 2008)

SOLD (MAY 12 – May 18, 2008)

Criteria: Homes in the 97034 and 97035 zip code, listed, pending or sold between the dates listed above as reported by the Regional Multiple Listing Service (RMLS). DETACHD refers to Single Family Detached Residence, MFG refers to manufactured housing, and ATTACHD refers to single-family residences with some portion of the structure attached to another property, but not constituting CONDO ownership. DOM stands for days on market, or the number of days from when the listing became active and when it received an acceptable offer.

If links to ACTIVE properties do not bring up property information, the listing may no longer be active, but rather expired, cancelled, pending, or sold.

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A holiday weekend means fewer Open Houses on tour.

Here’s the list of Lake Oswego opens for this weekend:

Please note, dates and times are subject to change without notice. This list may not contain ALL open houses in the city, but represent those that agents have publicized in the multiple listing service as of Friday afternoon. If links to properties do not bring up property information, the listing may no longer be active (i.e. expired, cancelled, pending, or sold).

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Most of us are aware that being “Green” is becoming more and more of a focus in nearly all areas of our life including: organic foods, local products (to avoid fuel for transportation), eco-conscious goods of all kinds, earth-friendly energy solutions, bio fuels, energy-efficiency, recycling, the paperless movement and on & on. The world of real estate is not exempt from this burgeoning awareness of all things green, and the demand for green buildings is creating a new language as well.

From “Carbon Footprint” to “Green-Washing”, you’d better come up to speed or you may be left wondering what in the world people are talking about around the water cooler, or at your next cocktail party. (Smile… pretend… maybe it will come to you!) Fortunately the city of Portland’s Office of Sustainable Development http://www.portlandonline.com/osd/ has come to the rescue with a glossary of terms to help even the most confused among us. Here are a few terms from this glossary that you may find useful to know:

Adaptive Reuse- Rehabilitation of a building or site for new uses.

Biodegradable- Capable of decomposing under natural conditions.

Brownfield- Abandoned, idled, or under-used industrial and commercial facility/site where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by environmental contamination.

Carbon Footprint- A measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide.

Daylighting- The use of controlled natural lighting methods indoors through skylights, windows, and reflected light.

E-Waste- Waste materials generated from using or discarding electronic devices, such as computers, televisions, and mobile phones. E-waste tends to be highly toxic to humans, plants and animals, and has been known to contaminate water, air and dirt.

Graywater- Water that has been used for showering, clothes-washing, and faucet uses. Kitchen sink and toilet water is excluded. This water can be reused in subsurface irrigation for yards.

Green Building- An integrated framework of design, construction, and operational practices that encompasses the environmental, economic, and social impacts of the buildings.

Green Design- A design, usually architectural, conforming to environmentally sound principles of building, material and energy use. A green building might make use of solar panels, skylights and recycled building materials.

Green Development- A development approach that goes beyond conventional development practices by integrating environmental responsiveness, resource efficiency and efficient building operations.

Green Wash- To falsely claim a product is environmentally sound. Also known as “faux green”. Disinformation disseminated by an organization so as to present an environmentally responsible public image.

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)- Certification program created by the U.S. Green Building Council that sets standards for efficient and sustainable design.

Mixed-Use Development- A development in one or several buildings that combines several revenue-producing uses that are integrated into a comprehensive plan such as a project with elements of housing, retail and office space.

Negawatt- The saving of a megawatt of power by reducing consumption or increasing efficiency.

Pervious Paving- Paving material that allows water to penetrate to the soil below thus reducing the amount of water that needs to be treated by the water system, and increases the water in the aquifer.

Solar Access- Access to the sun’s rays by, for instance, restricting the location of shade trees or laying out of the building so as to maximize the usefulness of solar energy.

Triple Bottom Line- A business and development philosophy incorporating the three E’s: equity, environment, economics. Also referred to as the three P’s: people, planet, profit.

Waste Heat Recovery- The reclaiming of waste heat in a building to preheat cold water or air before it is fed into a water heater or heating system.

Xeriscape (registered)- Creative landscaping design for conserving water that uses drought-resistant or drought-tolerant plants. A registered trademark of Denver Water.

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A quick recap for Lake Oswego’s April real estate results…

The sales volume in Lake Oswego during April (41 sold) was about 1/2 of April 2007’s pace (85 sold) for all condo, attached, and single-family homes. On the upside, heading into May, approximately 85 homes are sale pending.

The light statistical sample is heavily affected by Lake Oswego’s single-family home price range, so average pricing for all homes was still north of $623,000.

Buyers are looking for values, and as of early May, have access to nearly 680 active listings. That may have a lot to do with April’s final sale prices coming in at 90% average of sellers’ original listing price.

Following is a breakdown of property types by average sale prices, market time, and size:

LAKE OSWEGO MARKET ACTIVITY – APRIL, 2008

* Market time or Days on Market (DOM) refers to the number of days between the time the listing becomes active in the multiple listing service and the date of when an offer has been accepted by the seller.

Data courtesy of RMLS.

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New listings (39) continue to pour in, but pending (14) and closed sales (16) over the past couple weeks are nearly keeping pace.

Here is the latest Lake Oswego real estate market activity report (look to the bottom for definitions and research criteria):

NEWLY LISTED (May 12 – 18, 2008)

PENDING SALES (May 12 – 18, 2008)

SOLD (MAY 5 – May 11, 2008)

Criteria: Homes in the 97034 and 97035 zip code, listed, pending or sold between the dates listed above as reported by the Regional Multiple Listing Service (RMLS). DETACHD refers to Single Family Detached Residence, MFG refers to manufactured housing, and ATTACHD refers to single-family residences with some portion of the structure attached to another property, but not constituting CONDO ownership. DOM stands for days on market, or the number of days from when the listing became active and when it received an acceptable offer.

If links to ACTIVE properties do not bring up property information, the listing is no longer active (i.e. expired, cancelled, pending, or sold).

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Warm weather means a wealth of open houses in Lake Oswego for the weekend of May 17 and 18. Here’s the list:

Please note, dates and times are subject to change without notice. This list may not contain ALL open houses in the city, but represent those that agents have publicized in the multiple listing service as of Friday afternoon.

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For most of the 20th century, oil heat was the primary method of heating homes. If you own or are considering purchasing a home that was built before 1965, chances are pretty good that the house had oil heat. And chances are also pretty good that the oil tank was buried in the ground.

Should you be afraid to buy a home with an in-ground tank? No.

Should you be afraid of selling your home if it has an in-ground tank? No.

In both instances the necessary steps that you should take are clearly outlined by the Department of Environmental Quality. As a seller, you want to minimize your liability and be certain that once the house is sold, you will never have the old oil tank come back to haunt you. To do this, you must obtain soil samples to prove that the tank has not contaminated the surrounding soil. If the tank is still in use, the soil samples will prove that the tank had not contaminated the surrounding soil at the time that the house was sold. If tank is no longer in use, you are encouraged to have the tank decommissioned.

Decommissioning the tank involves emptying it of oil, cleaning it out, and filling it with concrete slurry that will harden into a big cement rock in the ground. While decommissioning the tank is voluntary, many lenders and most buyers will make this a condition of the sale. If you do not take the necessary steps to prove that the soil was clean at the time the house was sold, and soil samples taken later show that a contamination has occurred, you can be liable for the cost to clean up the soil even after the house has transferred to a new owner. So, take the proper steps now to assure that you will not have a problem in the future.

Whenever work is done on an in-ground tank, it should be performed by a licensed and bonded contractor who is certified with the DEQ. After the work is completed, a certificated of compliance will be issued. This is paperwork that needs to be saved and transfered with the property to every subsequent owner. Cost to do soil testing will run about $200-$400. Cost of decommissioning will run about $800 to $1,200. Can it cost more, yes, but that is a minority of the cases.

If you are wanting to buy a house with an in-ground oil tank, should you be afraid to purchase? No. Simply make the soil testing and the decommissioning of the tank a condition of the purchase. You are strongly advised to get this taken care of before you buy the house. If you buy the house with an in-ground tank, and you discover later that the tank has leaked, you have now taken ownership of the problem.

How bad can it get? There certainly are horror stories of soil clean up costs running into the thousands and thousands of dollars. In my 20 years of selling real estate, the most costly clean-up I have encountered involved bringing in a backhoe to remove a tank and dig a hole about 15 feet in diameter. It cost the seller $8,000.

Information on oil tanks are surprisingly undocumented. There are not good resources for looking up records about in-ground tanks. The DEQ does not regulate in-ground tanks beyond requiring that they be reported if they have leaked. Then, the DEQ does open a file on them and there is a process to clean up the contamination and get the file closed. However, if no leak has been reported to the DEQ, they will not have a record of the tank. And do not rely on city records or fire department knowledge of in-ground tanks. This means that even if a seller has no knowledge of an in-ground tank, you may want to consider having the yard of an older home scanned with a metal detector to confirm that no tank exists in the yard.

In all cases, it is best to take every precaution to be in compliance with soil testing and tank decommissioning when you buy or sell a home. Taking the proper steps now will save both buyers and sellers heartache later.

Links: Oregon DEQ Tank Decommissioning FAQ

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