Homing In On Portland

Helping you home in on your best life in Portland

My latest video takes you inside the historic Cobbs mansion, one of Portland’s many old homes enhancing the city’s charm and sense of place

At $5.9 million and over 14,000 square feet, Cobbs mansion is the priciest and largest Metro area home I’ve ever toured as a realtor. But the architectural pedigree and details of the 1918 Jacobethan gem designed by noted Portland architect, A.E. Doyle, were the real draw for me. Episode 7 of Homing in on Portland takes you inside this historic home in the Southwest Hills. Click the play button below to watch.

Fortunately, you don’t have to be a realtor to tour our historic and vintage homes. Below is a hyperlinked timeline of the four best annual tours on offer in Portland, pandemic permitting.

April

Old House Revival Tour sponsored by Architectural Heritage Center

May

Mid-Century Modern Home Tour sponsored by Restore Oregon   

Irvington Home Tour sponsored by neighborhood community association

December

Duniway Home Tour sponsored by Duniway Elementary School PTA in Eastmoreland

Mission critical – finding your happy place. My Facebook page can help you get more joy out of your home, neighborhood and city

The places where we live, work and play have a deep impact on our mood, behavior and health. So it’s important to choose them with care. Thoughtfully designed environments can bring out the best in us.

Running just over 2 minutes, Episode 3 of my vlog sketches a few thoughts on how to find your happy place. A key takeaway? You’ll find help and support in that quest on my Facebook page. Click the play button below to watch. (BTW, you can cherry pick its contents using the timed outline just below the embedded video.) Then click here to visit and like my Facebook page.

To cherry pick video content, use this timed outline:
Intro 0 – 0:15
Finding your happy place at home 0:15 – 0:42
Finding your happy place in Portland 0:42-1:23
How my FB page can help 1:23-1:54
Your next step – visit & like my page! 1:54-2:03

Are you a fan of Portland walks and walkability? Here – in 6 buckets – are tips and resources to learn and enjoy more

Episode 2 of my vlog counts the many ways Metro area walks and walkability enhance our lives. In case you didn’t catch it on Youtube or Instagram, you’ll find the video at the bottom of this blog post. The written tips and resources below are a companion piece. I hope they deepen your understanding and appreciation of where you live.

Bucket 1: Get walk scores

Find the walk score of your home or a listed property if you’re looking to buy. Just enter the address in the search window on this home page

Bucket 2: Learn how walkability affects home values

You’ll find Portland-specific data in the graphics of this Redfin article

Bucket 3: Join a Meetup walking or hiking group and let someone else plan your next outing (outdoor groups remain active in the pandemic)

Bucket 4: Buy or borrow guidebooks to memorable walks in Portland and Oregon, some tailored to active seniors and kids

The links below the images will take you to amazon.com, but you may be able to find the e’books on the virtual shelves of your neighborhood public library.

Click hereClick hereClick hereClick here

Bucket 5: Brush up on walkability, the 15-minute city, and Portland’s complete neighborhoods

Bucket 6: Last but not least and because a picture’s worth 1,000 words, here’s a slide show of the nature walk just steps from my door – meant to inspire you to get more joy out of your neighborhood or to visit mine

  • Have seen a Snowy Egret & a Great Blue Heron in this spot!
Homing in on Portland, Episode 2

Homing in on Beaverton now – 5 ways you may still be underestimating this west side ‘burb

 

Classic lines in Hyland Hills (97008)

Suburbs often get a bum rap. Especially in the Portland Metro area, the usual stereotypes – sleepy, homogeneous, isolating, and stodgy – may not hold up. Take Beaverton, for example. Granted, it’s an incorporated city and has been since 1893. But in the Metro context, it’s a de facto suburb of Portland. Here are 5 ways this west side community defies stereotypes.

Want to see Beaverton homes for sale? Click here for 3BR+/2BA+ priced $500K and up

1. It’s not a “bedroom” community

With a population of about 97,000, Beaverton is home to one of 3 Fortune 500 companies based in Oregon. An engine of growth and creativity, Nike draws people to its corporate campus from around the Metro area, the country, and the world. Just a stone’s throw away, Tektronix is also a top local employer. So Beaverton is a place where Metro residents sleep and work. There’s plenty of life in the city throughout the day.

Buttoned up facade

2. It’s not WASP-ville

In ranking Beaverton #12 on its 2017 list of the top 100 places to live in America, Money cautioned readers not to think of it “as just another cookie-cutter suburb.”  The magazine cited its lively restaurant scene and one of the most ethnically diverse populations in the Portland area. (The two are probably linked.)

People of color account for 51.3 percent of Beaverton School District’s population and constitute the majority in a Census tract surrounding the Terpenning Recreation Complex on Walker Road.

Want to see Beaverton homes for sale? Click here for 3BR+/2BA+ priced $500K and up

The whole lifestyle in Menlo West (97005)

3. It supports public spaces…and community

Historically, suburbs have been seen as green havens from crowded cities. Big houses on big lots are private parks of a kind. But Beaverton is just as committed to preserving public green spaces as its much bigger neighbor to the east. It has 30 miles of hiking trails, a 25-mile network of bike paths, and 100 parks covering 1000 acres or one within a half mile of every home. The city partners with the Tualatin Hills Parks & Recreation District to offer classes and activities in 8 swim centers, 6 recreation centers and green spaces.

In summertime, for example, families congregate in City Park. Its fountains cool off kids, the adjoining parking lot is home to a farmer’s market, and the gracious City Library is just across the street.

Mugo pines – Rummer admired Japanese landscape design

3. Its real estate market is among the hottest in the Metro area

There’s nothing sleepy about Beaverton’s housing market. It looms large in the “hottest ‘hoods” rankings compiled by Portland Business Journal. Metro area zip codes are tracked against three criteria: 1) volume of home sales, 2) speed of sales and 3) average sale price. The three measures are then weighted equally to determine the hottest overall.

Want to see Beaverton homes for sale? Click here for 3BR+/2BA+ priced $500K and up.

At $436,400 in January of this year, the average Metro sale price is almost 19 percent higher than Beaverton’s, which stood at $367,600. While keeping it out of the top ranks for that measure, the city’s affordability attracts buyers. So it’s well-represented across 3 of 4 categories for 2017.

Volume of salesSpeed of salesAverage sale priceHottest overall
#3 – 97007
#9 – 97006
#1 – 97006
#3 – 97003
#5 – 97005
#25 – 97007
N/A#8 – 97007
#11 – 97006
#21 – 97008
#27 – 97003
#39 – 97005

Beaverton also stands out among the “most in demand” neighborhoods tracked by OregonLive. The number of homes for sale at the end of December are compared to how many sold during the last quarter of the year. Zip codes within or crossing the city’s boundaries claimed 5 of 15 top spots in 2017.

  • #1 – 97008
  • #5 – 97005
  • #7 – 97006
  • #9 – 97007
  • #10 – 97003

Some backyard! Taliesen Park flanks the Rummer enclave in Hyland Hills

5. It has a large share of the Metro area’s edgy Rummer homes

Though some neighborhoods have a uniform look and feel, there’s a lot of variety in Beaverton’s housing stock, especially in the city center (97005). And it’s home to many examples of an experiment with affordable Mid-Century Modern design that has stood the test of time. Named after the local developer whose wife admired California Eichlers and encouraged him to build spin-offs in Portland, Rummers are distinguished by:

  • Exposed vertical posts supporting exposed horizontal beams
  • In turn, sturdy post and beam construction supports an asymmetrical mix of flat and pitched roofs, vaulted ceilings, and floor-to-ceiling windows – with little help from interior walls
  • Open plan layouts oriented to atriums and the backyard
  • “Buttoned-up” facades that have no picture windows or porches
  • Clean lines and minimal orientation

Vista Brook (SW 84th to SW 87th off Garden Home Rd in 97223) is said to have the most Rummers of any neighborhood in the Metro area. But with 4 Rummer enclaves, Beaverton may have more of these homes than Portland.

  1. Oak Hills neighborhood just north of Highway 26 (97006)
  2. Denney-Whitford just east of Highway 217 along SW 105th (97008)
  3. Menlo West along SW Bonnie Brae St and Ct (97005)
  4. Hyland Hills north of Hart Rd along SW 130th Ave (97008)

In doing the research for this posting, I came across an anecdotal report that Nike creatives are overrepresented among Rummer homeowners today. It doesn’t surprise me. I also walked the 4th enclave, which consists of 3 large cul-de-sacs flanked by Taliesen Park. Donated by Rummer when he built the development in 1966, its 1.5 acres are home to towering Doug Firs – quite the backyard.

It also doesn’t surprise me that Rummers – though very affordable for Modernist architecture – command a premium in the marketplace. Back at my desk, I discovered that they have sold for about 30 percent more than other homes in the Taliesen neighborhood over the past 3 years and about 5 times faster, averaging just 6 days on the market (DOM).

All in all, Beaverton is a pretty good place to call home.

Want to see Beaverton homes for sale? Click here for 3BR+/2BA+ priced $500K and up

 

The clincher – hubbub around last blog post shows power of Oak Hills spirit, which spans neighborhood and generational boundaries

 

The Facebook ad

Wow! My last blog post about the new recreation center in Oak Hills broke all records. Here are the numbers:

  • Unique views of the post to date: 1,492
  • Views in a single day: 244
  • Reach of Facebook ad promoting the post: 11,618
  • Engagement with the ad: 57 likes, 9 comments and 11 shares
  • Registrations on my website to view homes for sale in the area: 12

I’d like to think it was the verve of my prose. But I have to credit the vitality of the neighborhood. Current residents probably felt a spark of pride. And past residents voiced nostalgia for their old homes and neighbors.

2nd generation resident weighs in

One member of a select group (fiercely loyal 2nd generation residents) corrected me on the western boundary of the neighborhood. I still haven’t been able to find a definitive answer to the question of whether Oak Hills as a whole – or just its historic district – ends at Bethany Blvd.

It was a kick to see the Facebook ad become a virtual meeting point for relatives and long-lost friends. Even folks with 3rd generation ties to the neighborhood chimed in. Grandchildren of a former resident asked each other about old photos of grandpa’s house on Oakmont Loop in the early 80’s. One has vivid memories of the rocket ship on the community playground and was happy to learn that the Homeowners Association is raising funds to rebuild it.

“The rocket ship found its way into many of my dreams,” she wrote via Facebook Messenger. “It seemed to reach the sky!”

Mining family photo archives
The oldest neighborhood tie

The person with the oldest direct tie to the neighborhood – extending at least as far back as 1967 by my estimate – grew up there and attended Sunset High. His parents bought the 12th house built in Oak Hills.

Want to see 1-level homes for sale on the west side? Click here

The Augustynovich’s

The bravest of those who commented on the Facebook ad agreed to meet me for coffee at Ava’s Roasteria in Timberland Town Center. Ronnie Augustynovich and her husband Ron raised a family in the neighborhood for 10 years before moving to their current home in Cedar Mill in 1992. She remembers eyeing Oak Hills when she and Ron first moved to Portland from Ohio. Though she was sold on the area, most properties went for about $10K over their maximum budget. That may sound like a small hurdle. We both laughed when she explained that the average sale price in Oak Hills was just $50K at the time.

Years on when they no longer needed a bargain, they happened to find one with the right layout – a foreclosure on Perimeter Dr with 5 bedrooms and an office on one level.

“It had purple shag carpeting and was a mess,” she remembers.

Ron promised Ronnie that it could be renovated into their dream home. And that’s what happened. In fact, he now says it was a mistake to leave since their current 2-story has no master on the main.

Want to see 1-level homes for sale on the west side? Click here

The rec center and youth swim team proved to be the family’s best entry point to Oak Hills. Ronnie remembers competitions in Toledo (OR), Junction City and at the Sunset Athletic Club. She cheered tirelessly for her son and daughter and their teammates from the sidelines.

See yourself or someone you know in this photo from the 80’s? If so, comment!

But Ronnie has always been much more than a spectator in life. A crackerjack secretary with a typing speed of 120 words per minute and shorthand of 80 words per minute, she worked for many years in Beaverton School District at Ridgewood Elementary and Meadow Park Middle School. She also found time to coach a girls’ soccer team in Oak Hills. Believe it or not, one of her players – now grown up and with a toddler in tow – visited Ava’s during our interview.

Back then the pool was 40 yds and had 4 lanes

Ronnie also served on the Board of the Homeowners Association. Asked about the issues of her day, she mentions speeding cars. The Board responded with a homespun public safety campaign in the Oracle, the newsletter that still serves the neighborhood.

With so many happy memories of the rec center, Ronnie was concerned about talk of getting rid of the pool toward the end the family’s time in Oak Hills. She and Ron visit the neighborhood now and then to walk their dogs and are impressed by the rebuild.

“It’s still a great place to live and raise kids,” she says.

Want to see 1-level homes for sale on the west side? Click here