Fishhawk Lake Real Estate-People Who Have Been Smart About Their Money Are STILL Smart About Their Money! This has been my mantra for the last year or more. My sellers at Fishhawk Lake ask me about my thoughts on buyers out there and IF they're out there and What are they thinking? This is my simple answer. And I firmly believe it to be true. Fishhawk Lake Recreation Club, my niche is a private lake, and a vacation-oriented community and so for the most part, these are properties that are for PLEASURE, for creating memories with family and friends and are not necessary compared to a primary residence, for example. However, these smart investors in real estate are looking at lower prices, sellers in strife, reasonable interest rates if they are not cash buyers (which they often are) and ... 06/14/2011

Pay It Forward--Reward Great Customer Service When you are in the midst of a serious situation (mine was surgery) and everyone you encounter is wonderful, don't you think they need to hear about it? Well, I decided to talk about my experience with Tuality Hospital by writing a blog about it. (See below) I also sent it to the CEO of Tuality Hospital in an e-mail and it came back undeliverable. So, I called the hospital operator back, she gave me his administrative assistant's e-mail and it went through. Here is her response: Gayle,  Thank you so much for forwarding the link to your blog where you described your experience at Tuality.  Wow!  Thank you so much for your very nice comments.  I love the way you write about the experience ... many people will relate to all the little things th... 06/11/2011

Fishhawk Lake-If You're Going to Have Surgery Enjoy it, I Did! Day Surgery or any surgery for that matter is all new to me. The last time was 1962 (I'm guessing) for a double hernia operation and that involved having ether--a most disgusting form of putting you out.  Thank GOD they don't do that anymore.  From meeting the gal at registration, Lynette, who was all bubbly and cheerful to the last RN that wheeled me back out to the car 6 hours later, the "customer service" at Tuality Hospital was IMMPECCABLE.     Jill was our first volunteer, who took my husband and I up to the 2nd floor to Day Surgery and I found out that she moved to Oregon from New Mexico and rejoices about our months-long wet climate. Their wildfires were really treacherous and they would wake up and say, "oh, no ANOTH... 06/10/2011

Pay it Forward--Another Love Connection For My Clients!  At Fishhawk Lake, many of my clients are vacationers. My neighbor two doors down is one of them, from CA. They came up to find that their pipes downstairs had burst, flooding a good part of the downstairs. This was Friday nite, late. We talked Saturday and I connected the wife with a wonderful Servicemaster franchise owner, Paul Samburg who came out on a Sunday! He and I had met a few years ago, when we'd had our first flood ever here at Fishhawk Lake and he had volunteered to do clean-up for those with no insurance. Paul was timely, thorough and my clients were thrilled not to spend their short trip having to do this on their own.  I have a Resource List on my Fishhawk Lake website and Wordpress blog for my clients just for this ... 06/05/2011

Fishhawk Lake Localism- Birkenfeld Store CD Release Party   Saturated Phats, a local four member band will be having one of their two CD release parties out at the The Birkenfeld Store ("The Birk") on Saturday, June 4th. The other one will be in Gresham, Friday, June 3rd at The M and M Lounge. This is their first self-titled CD.  They are pop/rock with a smattering of country thrown in.  I Three Guitars: (from right to left) Ron Neighhorn (singing), Chris Moss-bass guitar, Brian Baker-lead guitar Drummer, Judas Espinor Part of their press release is included below: "Saturated Phats contains 12 original songs written and arranged by band members Ronnie Neighorn, Brian Baker, Chris Moss and Judas Espinor.  The first part of each show will be open to all ages and include an opening set tha... 06/02/2011

Fishhawk Lake-Down on the Berg Farm Birkenfeld Oregon   Just another day on the farm...hated every minute of it! Close up and personal.                                                                                                               My sweet horse, Summer. I brushed her down got her mane all clean and took her profile.             The afternoon ends by turning them out together. Molly and Summer are re-united once again. Taking these photos and playing with them is SO MUCH FUN!   Fishhawk Lake-Down on the Berg Farm Birkenfeld Oregon Copyright by Gayle Rich-Boxman All Rights Reserved Gayle Rich-BoxmanRealtor® Vernonia Realty Direct: (503)755-2905Specializing in Fishhawk Lake Recreation Club"Your Gateway to the Lake!"http://activerain.com/blogs/gayleatfishhawklake   My websit... 05/29/2011

Fishhawk Lake Real Estate Oregon-Low Interest Rates, Hello, Can We Have Some Buyers Please?? Just got a report that one would hope would spurn folks on to looking more seriously at making the leap to buy NOW.It's dry stuff, number crunching, Excel Spread Sheet, but hey, it's still good news.... One of my business associates wrote this when including the spread sheet below: Regarding Freddie Mac rates:  Interest rates are the lowest they've been this year (see the attachedchart) and according to several studies, home prices are at an all time low.I can't think of better points to tell prospects. Buyer prospects should bein a great mood and ready to make offers! See, there IS gold at the end of the rainbow   Check out my post of properties of interest: http://fishhawklakerealtor.wordpress... 05/18/2011

Fishhawk Lake Real Estate-Dog Day Afternoon. May 18, 2011, it  is the day Mt. St. Helens blew, 31 years ago. Today is also my friend, Ralph's birthday.   (Ralph is on the left)  But, even more important, it's a Fishhawk Lake  Dog Day Afternoon.  Takoda can't decide if he should go boating, fishing or just wile away the day. Meanwhile, Jenna is soaking in the sun of the perfect day at Fishhawk Lake. Flowers are being watered,  there's a slight breeze around the flagpole     and it's another terrible day in Paradise at Fishhawk Lake!     Too Bad You're Not Here with Me!     Fishhawk Lake Real Estate-Dog Day Afternoon Copyrighted by Gayle Rich-Boxman All Rights Reserved Gayle Rich-Boxman, Broker Vernonia Realty  Don't worry be happy!   Specializing in Fishhawk Lake Recreation Club"Your Ga... 05/18/2011

ActiveRainPhotoBloggerContest-Localism Gone Wild A Realtor Spreads Her Wings. In "spreading my wings", I've been focusing on the whole localism phenomenon which is new to me. Frankly, I didn't know the difference between colloquialism and localism! Colloquialism being informal conversation, localism, according to wikipedia being more about promotion of local history, local culture and local identity. Okay, so we got that straight. For me, it's been about spotlighting businesses in my Fishhawk Lake community and bringing business to them in some manner through my photos and blog posts. That was part one of spreading my wings. Part two was actually DOING IT. That meant throwing the camera in the truck and "winging my way" into photo opportunities! One of them was going to Cascadian Nurser... 05/12/2011

Fishhawk Lake-Firewise Community-You are NEVER TOO OLD to Make a Difference! Fishhawk Lake is a Firewise Community    thanks to the efforts of our local volunteers of which I am a committee member. As part of keeping our Firewise Community status, we do clean up twice a year of hazardous trees and wood, limbs, plants and other debris that could cause fires located too close to homes in our community at Fishhawk Lake.   The first one was May 7th. We had approximately 20-30 volunteers on a rainy, muddy Saturday morning--not a bad turnout! I ended up working with three dear friends, Genny, Bob and  Father Rock (a retired priest). Their ages?  Genny is 70 this year, Bob is 73 and Father Rock is 80! We cut, yanked, sawed, hacked and pulled our way through all kinds of potentially dangerous w... 05/10/2011

Pay it Forward Locally. Here's what I am doing with my localism articles. I'm trying to "spotlight" businesses giving them links in my articles while also letting Fishhawk Lake members know what businesses are out there to help them. This was a post that I wrote earlier this week. Three that I have included here are: Cascadian Nurseries All Natures Construction Jim Dandy Farm Market Plus, you will get a chance to see some of the fun photos I took on my trip this last Friday! Fishhawk Lake Just Another Day in Nature Today I forced myself to go to a new nursery to pick out plants for our Fishhawk Lake home that's being re-landscaped.  Oh, boohoo, had to go outside and be among gorgeous, newly blooming plants and some creatures whose "screams" are strange and haunting, but endearing at the... 05/08/2011

Fishhawk Lake Just Another Day in Nature Today I forced myself to go to a new nursery to pick out plants for our Fishhawk Lake home that's being re-landscaped.  Oh, boohoo, had to go outside and be among gorgeous, newly blooming plants and some creatures whose "screams" are strange and haunting, but endearing at the same time! This was one of the guys who greeted me.   Cascadian Nurseries is located in Hillsboro area about a 90 minute drive from Fishhawk Lake and I'd never been there before. My landscaper, Elmer Aranda, who owns Natures Construction was the one who turned me onto it. After we did some whirlwind shopping for scads of plants and trees and bushes, I walked the property and got an eyeful.... Peacocks are  everywhere at Cascadian Nursery. They are sort of "uppity" and shy at... 05/06/2011

Fishhawk Lake-Improving SEO-A Realtor's Learning Curve . What a day it's been....I've reached my max in the ole learning curve of how to improve your internet business/Google Ranking. It started out with checking in on my blog site for ActiveRain first thing this morning. Met with my landscaper, All Nature's Construction an hour later and actually did a little SEO tutorial with Elmer, the owner on what his website looked like and how it could rank better,and told him I would write a testimonial (I mentioned niche marketing, he's best at water features like the one he did for us below at our home we sold last year at Fishhawk Lake). It was all stuff I've been thinking/learning about AD NAUSEUM--even dreaming about it--blog site titles, blog post ideas, STOP THE MADNESS!   After my landsc... 05/03/2011

A Frog A Dog and One Less Fight Goin' On-Prevention of Cruelty Month Day Twenty Two...it was too good to pass up this title and besides, there's a couple of things I wanted to highlight on this 29th day of April...one more day for my focus on the Prevention of Animal Cruelty. So, to the animals! Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC): A Frog... You don't need to kiss a frog to help save it. Just one click will do it. Today, April 29, is Save the Frogs Day[gosh, is THIS why Kate and William chose this day to get married??], and we're joining with our environmental partners to protect frogs from one of the biggest threats to their survival. Please ask the Environmental Protection Agency to ban a widely-used weed killer called atrazine that is threatening frog populations. Frogs are espe... 04/29/2011

Fishhawk Lake Oregon-A Couple of Gifts happened across my lake views tonight, and I didn't get photos because they were a "moment"...and I decided instead of running upstairs to get my camera and hopefully getting back down before I missed the photo op, I just sat at my window and ENJOYED IT. The first one? Our beloved namesake, a Fishhawk, or osprey as some call it. This one was mostly white, large and soaring up and down the lake, landing briefly in the trees across from my Fishhawk Lake home. Fishhawk-Osprey (from the Peregrine Fund Organization):   HABITAT: The Osprey lives throughout the world near bodies of water, like lakes, rivers, marshes, mangroves, and seashores. DIET: An Osprey's diet is almost exclusively live fish, and includes a wide variety of fish species. The Osprey us... 04/26/2011

Fishhawk Lake Oregon Real Estate Transfer Tax For Oregon Didn't Pass. Oregon realtors guided the legislators:   Once again, a bill to open the door to real estate transfer taxes has failed in the Oregon legislature. House Bill 2518 would have allowed local governments to impose multiple taxes on property transactions. But the House Committee on Business and Labor did not take any action on the bill before a self-imposed April 21st deadline, which means the bill cannot move forward according to rules imposed by the legislature.      Thank you for your help defeating this bill. There was tremendous pressure this year to help local governments generate more revenue for depleted budgets. Oregon REALTORS®, however, helped legislators recognize the value of home ownership and what additional ... 04/26/2011

Fishhawk Lake Birkenfeld Oregon is a magical place. We are a place where you can let go of the angst of daily life, the noise, the busy chaotic traffic both in front of you and in your head. Rainbow Over the Glory Hole on Fishhawk Lake   Spring at Fishhawk Lake Fishhawk Lake in the fall season     Fishhawk Lake can be the avenue for steering your family toward making memories that don't involve anything more technical than a fishing rod, an oar,  a set of binoculars or a camera, a bike, or simply your own two legs and all six of your senses (which includes your sense of wonder). Fishhawk Lake mist in the trees on a spring morning   Fishhawk Lake offers you the chance to be in another world in less than two hours from the "city" or a plane ride if you live in California, Utah, New Jersey... 04/25/2011

Fishhawk Lake Duties Paying It Forward to My Clients...yesterday was "one of those days". I had terrific new buyers that I hit it off with immediately. And soon after meeting, we "hit it off" in a completely different way. I showed a new listing to them, which they were enthralled with (yea)  Fishhawk Lake new listing: 71826 Northshore Drive     and then we got into my big red truck and as I backed up (slowly, thank GOD), I hit a lovely old tree! We all did that immediate reaction of OHHHHHH!!!!! and then we got out to view the damages. NOT GOOD. I had to shake it off as we had many more properties to look at. (I forgot to say I'm sorry to the tree, but I really think my truck was worse off). They were great, saying, "Well, now, we HAVE to buy a house!" They will, because they fit here ... 04/24/2011

Alicia Silverstone Earth Day Revisited--April is Prevention of Cruelty to Animals--Day Eighteen of my Daily Blog for April. I had wanted to write this post on Earth Day, but Active Rain's site was down during my little window of opportunity. Since I wanted to combine BOTH good causes, I am writing my post TODAY! I happened to be reading, of all things,the April issue of Vogue Magazine, and they did a small piece on Alicia Silverstone and what she does every day for animals and for Mother Earth. Alicia, like me is a vegetarian, but that's just the start. She also is a big believer in recycling. Me, too!  We're like sisters!      The way she goes about "recycling" as an example is that the clothing she buys is made from recycled fabrics. Just to name one example, the dress she is wearing ... 04/24/2011

April is Prevention of Cruelty to Animals--Day Sixteen of my Daily Blog for April--A Horsewoman Extraordinaire. Marianne Berg is the kind of woman that every horse ought to have in their corner--their stall--because her sense of what's right for a horse goes above and beyond what many would do. Marianne keeps the cleanest stalls, she gets the best food and supplements, she has a BIG HEART for horses and has rescued numerous horses during the couple of years I've had my girl, Summer boarded at her barn.  Marianne Berg with one of her new foals, 2009; affectionately called "Wheels".      I recall one winter that was the harshest we've seen in years out here, the winter of '08. Marianne had heard about an old barn a few miles from her home that had collapsed suddenly because of the weight ... 04/20/2011