Patty recently earned her ASP® (Accredited Staging Professional) Real Estate Agent designation.  ASP is the only nationally recognized designation for Home Staging.  She received her designation and training from the professionals at Stagedhomes.com. Home Staging started in Bellevue, WA in 1972.  Barb Schwarz was a Realtor who had challenges getting her clients to make necessary changes to sell their homes.  One day, a light bulb went on in her head and she uttered the words "Stage your house" with one of her clients ... and an entire industry was born.  As a Realtor, Barb understood that Staging is part of the Real Estate industry ... not the decorating industry!  This is a key distinction that sets ASPs apart from design facets that state they also Stage. Accredited ASP Stagers and AS... 10/24/2008

Get into the Halloween spirit (pun intended!) with a visit to the Bi-Zi Farms Harvest Festival & Pumpkin Patch.  Our granddaughter went there and had a blast! Some of the activities include farm animals, hay rides, antique farm equipment, a pumpkin launch, bale maze, corn maze (with 6 acres of trails!) and, of course, the pumpkin patch.  Bi-Zi Farms is a great place to get all your festive decorations including pumpkins, gourds, winter squash, corn stalks, straw bales, apples and decorative Indian corn.  Food concessions are available including a free hot coffee, cocoa or spiced apple cider. The Pumpkin Patch is open to the public each Friday (2-6p), Saturday & Sunday (10a-6p) through the end of October.  Admission is $8.00 and includes all activities and one pumpkin.  Children age 2 an... 10/24/2008

Most of us know that we can recycle cans, bottles, paper and cardboard.  But did you know that you can also recycle rock, branches and old lumber? H&H Wood Recyclers in Vancouver WA offers an alternative to dumping organic waste into landfills and at a fraction of the price!  H&H Wood Recyclers accepts a wide range of items such as yard debris, rock, and wood debris.  The materials they take (that would otherwise be land fill material), are then converted into landscaping and gardening products such as barkdust and compost Here are some of the materials H&H accepts and the corresponding disposal fee: Yard Debris $7.00/yd * Prunings, grass & leaves, etc. Sod $7.00/yd * Dirt, old bark dust Wood Waste $7.00/yd * Clean Pallets $3.50/yd Land Clearing $8.00/yd * Clean Stumps $8.00/yd * Clean ... 10/24/2008

You can help put the finishing touches on the last of 15 homes that have been painted this fall as a result of the Rose Village Paint-a-Thon.  There are just 2 more homes awaiting a full paint job and several waiting for finishing touches. You'll get the opportunity to see how a simple project like this is creating a new view for people's lives -- not just what they see on the outside of their homes, but more importantly what they see from within themselves and in the hearts of their neighbors and new made friends.  We are truly creating a new community in Rose Village - what one of our recipients refers to as a "psychological bomb" targeted on people's hearts from the many hands who choose to care. Please join us for 2-3 hours ... or plan to stay all day (9a-3p).  Either way, you are s... 10/24/2008

With Halloween just a week away, people are on the hunt for the perfect pumpkin to carve into a Jack-O-Lantern.  What type of Jack-O-Lanterns do you like?  Do you like the friendly, happy ones ... or do you like the mean, evil ones?  Or are you one of those artist types that spends hours carving a black cat silhouette or an even more elaborate scene or design? Still undecided?  Try out this great Pumpkin Simulator.  The simulator lets you try out all sorts of faces and designs without touching a knife, a pumpkin or any of the nasty, slimey seeds and stuff inside them. Kind of cool, huh?  Let us know what type of pumpkin you draw and feel free to pass this along to others that may enjoy it.   Have a safe and happy Halloween!   Patty & Scott - RE/MAX Equity Group, Vancouver WA 10/24/2008

There are all sorts of window coverings.  There are vinyl blinds, metal blinds, wood blinds, and vertical blinds.  There are paper shades, roller shades, honeycomb shades, bamboo shades and Roman shades.  There are interior shutters, exterior shutters and plantation shutters.  There are cafe curtains, sheers, standard length panels, full length panels, extra long panels.  There are valances and swags.  There are standard pocket, wide pocket and tab top options.  There are lace curtains, velvet curtains and insulated curtains.  And the list keeps going! This can make choosing the right window covering difficult for people.  Then there's cleaning.  It seems like any choice you make is going to collect dust.  How and how often will you need to clean them?  How difficult are they to clean? ... 10/24/2008

What What is polybutlene     Polybutylene is a form of plastic resin that was used extensively in the manufacture of water supply piping from 1978 until 1995. Due to the low cost of the material and ease of installation, polybutylene piping systems were viewed as "the pipe of the future" and were used as a substitute for traditional copper piping. It is most commonly found in the "Sun Belt" where residential construction was heavy through the 1980's and early-to-mid 90's, but it is also very common in the Mid Atlantic and Northwest Pacific states.   The piping systems were used for underground water mains and as interior water distribution piping. Industry experts believe it was installed in at least 6 million homes, and some experts indicate it may have been used in as many as 10 mill... 10/23/2008

Fluorescent lights have small amounts of mercury in them.  Because of this, they should be recycled rather than thrown in the garbage.  In Clark County, people can recycle their fluorescent lamps at any of the Clark PUD offices.  As an incentive, customers of Clark Public Utilities can recycle old compact fluorescents and receive a new CFL for every burned-out one that's brought in! Compact fluorescent lamps and fluorescent tubes can also be recycled, at no charge, at these sites:Central Transfer and Recovery Center11034 NE 117th Avenue8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and SundayWest Van Materials Recovery Center6601 N. W. Old Lower River Road8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and SaturdayPhilip Services Corporation in Washougal625 South 32nd Street10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. First Tuesday of the month For mo... 10/21/2008

Fall & Winter Season Maintenance  for Homeowners It's not to early to be thinking about winterizing your home Here's what Martin Home Inspection services  recommends: Attic/crawlspace -- As a general rule, if a home has less than 11 to 12 inches of insulation in the attic or crawlspace, it could probably use more. Use batt or blown insulation for best results. Check with a expert to determine the proper R-value of insulation for your home.Water heater and hot water pipes -- Conserve heat and energy by swaddling your water heater with an insulation blanket kit or faced fiberglass insulation. Insulate hot water pipes with preformed foam pipe insulation sleeves if they pass through an unheated area or run under your home.Seal leaks, cracks, openings in the homeWindows -- Remove screens and... 10/21/2008

We have heard and read about the benefits of changing to fluorescent lighting, but just never really bought into it.  We thought that fluorescent lights were expensive to buy, put out an ugly white light, and probably wouldn't make a big enough differ in the monthly electric bill to warrant the cost.  What DID catch our interest, though was that they last longer.  With 14 foot ceilings in the living/dining area of our recently renovated "church home", the idea of going 5-7 years without changing bulbs was attractive! With that in mind, we chose to change the lights in our living/dining area to compact fluorescents (a total of 26 bulbs).  It was right about the same time that we had electric central air conditioning added to our home.  As we got into summer and temperatures climbed, we e... 10/21/2008

Lately, I have found myself in a bit of a moral dilemma of which I would like to hear the opinions of my fellow "Rainers."  My phone has been ringing off the hook with short sale sellers wanting me to list their properties. I say "properties" instead of "homes" because a large majority of these calls are from investors who are looking to get out of their underperforming investments. We can do it and we have shorted many investment properties in the past but I have to wonder what the effect is on our Vancouver WA estate market.  Should I be saving my powers for Goodness? When you choose us to handle your Vancouver Washington real estate needs, you choose a team of realtors® who care about you and your family. Buying or selling a home is always more enjoyable when you work with profession... 10/20/2008

Monday Market Musings This Monday there is a slight increase in number of homes on the market. There're 544 homes in pending status today and 298 of those are at or under the $250,000 price mark. Of the 3873 that are available for sale, 1783 are in the price under $250,000. Recent statistics from a local title company indicated new homes sales are moving best in the $225,000 - 250,000 range. Average price per square foot of these new homes is $129, roughly. I estimate the homes for sale that are identified as 'short sale' are about 600, and bank owned are about 66. This is actually a tough number to track precisely, so I'm stressing this is an estimate. Consider then that about 15% are short sale, 1.5% are bank owned. I think these percentages are particularly interesting because I see ... 10/13/2008

Under blue and sunny skies a group of Felida neighbors met for the dedication of the new Sgt. Brad Crawford Neighborhood Park. At 12:00 on Saturday, October 11, 2008, the crowd of approximately 200 consisted of the Crawford family, the Clark County Sheriff's Department complete with Color Guard, the Vancouver Police Department, the Pastor at New Heights Church, members from the Board of Clark Commissioners, the Commissioner from the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission, members of the Felida Neighborhood Association and a large crowd of neighbors from the Felida neighborhood. The festivities were as follows: Clark County Sheriff's Office Color GuardPledge of Allegiance  "The Star-Spangled Banner" sung by Officer Rey ReynoldsVancouver Police Department  WelcomeChief Erin NolanClark C... 10/12/2008

Walking Vancouver, Washington Last month I was a volunteer 'trail counter' for Vancouver Parks and Recreation. It was a great experience, especially since the weather was great and my fellow volunteer is one of my personal local heroes. I spent a couple of hours learning more of her interesting life and talked to happy people doing healthy things - how great is that?   So, here's what the trail count reavealed (this was from multiple time periods, multiple locations): Total Counted: 1003 Weekday Counted: 412 Weekend Counted: 591 Total Bikes: 439 Weekday Bikes: 132 Weekend Bikes: 307 Total Peds: 530 Weekday Peds: 264 Weekend Peds: 266 Total Others: 34 Weekday Others: 16 Weekend Others: 18 % Trail Usage By Time Weekday             Weekend 4-4:15 5%           12-12:15 11% 4:15-4:30 5%     ... 10/10/2008

Six more homes in the Rose Village Neighborhood will get fresh paint on Saturday, October 11, as part of the 4th Plain Corridor Revitalization Task Force Housing Coalition Paint-a-Thon. The Rose Village Paint-a-Thon is the brainchild of Mark & Patti Maggiora.  Inspired by a southeast Portland Paint-athon that gets hundreds of volunteers each year to help improve the homes of area senior citizens, the Rose Village Paint-a-Thon is expected to yield some 20+ freshly painted homes in just 4 weeks. "In addition to the obvious benefit of making the area look nicer," says Patty Carroll, "The Paint-a-Thon is getting neighbors to interact with each other and unite in achieving a common goal that will benefit us all." Once a popular neighborhood where many of the city's long-term residents were r... 10/10/2008

Green at what price? How much more are you willing to pay to have a green certification for your home? Or to have a walkable location? Green and walkable? Certainly if you're not green leaning the answer is nothing. But if you are concerned about having a less detrimental impact on the environment, or lower fuel and heating, or healthier indoor air quality, then what are you willing to pay if you have to pay more? Is it a percentage or a flat dollar fee?   I can take a stab at numbers - how much more are people actually paying for green certified homes, if they are paying more - but what I can't see is the buyer's actual motivation. Questions like 'did the buyers buy because they liked the floor plan and workmanship or did they buy because of the EA or Energy Star certification? Maybe t... 10/09/2008

Home Inspectors are not supposed to be deal breakers.  A home inspection provider should be a  asset to the real estate transaction process.  Home inspectors are required to represent a client during a transaction, but it is a rare thing for them to cause a deal to fall apart because they over emotionalized an issue related to a repair or problem.    Have you ever wanted to Kill a Home Inspector for Killing your deal?   If you have,  It is a worthy thing to share your wisdom with a home inspector that is determined to better this industry by sharing the information with inspector associations and local inspector groups.  I know WE can do a better job!!!  So... Tell me your story.... Go ahead and we can commiserate together to find solutions and prevent you from actually killing a home i... 10/07/2008

Vancouver Wa Bank Owned and Foreclosure Properties List         Search thru Homes for sale in any US city incuding property For Sale in Gresham OR, Troutdale, Sandy, Damascus OR, Hillsboro ORE, Beaverton, Clackamas, Oregon City Oregon, Gladstone, Mollola & Sandy Oregon areas. All Washington City search. Make Remax your top real estate resource, Remax specializes in Oregon Real Estate, Idaho RealEstate and Washington Real Estate. Please use our map search and MLS listings to search thru real estate for sale in the Pacific Northwest including Clark County Pierce County Klickitat County Snohomish County King County Pacific County, Mason County,Whatcom County, Adams County,Kitsap County,Okanogan County,Jefferson County, Franklin County,Island County,Cowlitz County,Skamania County,Wahkiakum ... 10/06/2008

Monday Market Musing Checking the general market numbers, looks like sales are slowing a bit since June. Homes for sale number about 7 active to every 1 pending. This is a change from a 5 to 1 ratio in June. It's a pretty steady decline, week by week. Interestingly enough, the under $200,000 range of home sales seems to be slowing (from 5 active to 1 pending to current 6 to 1 ratio) more. Does this suggest that sales stalled there or did enough homes just above $200,000 take price reductions to that price under $200K price point? Mostly it won't matter - a greater supply will cause downward pressure on the prices. If you're looking for green-certified homes in Vancouver area, we've got about 140 of them currently. Prices range from $169,900 to $879,900. The bulk of these are under const... 10/06/2008

This home will not disappoint! Top of the Line Kitchen Cabinets All New Oak Floors Throughout Brand new energy A/C unit Clawfoot Shower! Fenced Yard! Wired for High speed in Every room, Granite Counters, Wine cooler, Pot filler, Kitchen is Amazing! Media Room/Family room with surround Sound and Built-ins Master Suite with Double Jet Tub, Double Shower and HUGE Walk-in Closets Great Landscaping, New High Quality Decks, there is just too much to list on this house you got to see inside! Exquisitely detailed time period restoration with high end finishes and the most intricate detail throughout! This restoration was completed by a builder with a passion for perfection! All new plumb/wire/heat/AC/modern luxury that you would expect from a new home with all of the character of a historic on... 10/06/2008