Among the many treasures to be discovered in McMinnville is our Gallery Theater.  Saturday evening was the last performance of the current production,  A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum  and I was fortunate to be among a nearly sold-out house that enjoyed every minute of it.  

Where do these talented performers come from?

By day they are shop clerks, business owners, high school or college students, or maybe your next-door neighbors whom you greet daily without ever knowing they possess acting talent, trained voices, a knack for comedy timing or once considered a professional dance career.  It's even possible that the polite person who carried your groceries to your car today has appeared in over 50 plays.  

The theater is a labor of love for the community volunteers who, for the love of theater, devote countless hours and rely on ticket sales, advertising, private donations and Gallery memberships to entertain and enlighten the lucky citizens of Yamhill County and beyond.  

Visit the website, pick your favorite shows or order season tickets and get ready for an affordable evening of excellent theater amid the enticing aroma of fresh-baked warm chocolate chip cookies that are ready for you at intermission.

We've done it again!!  Last year the Yamhill Valley was listed among theNew York Times list of  28 havens for a relaxing escape.  While thumbing through the March issue of Sunset magazine yesterday  I was delighted to see (drum roll please) McMinnville listed second in the Food and Wine Haven  category of the article  20  Best Small Towns in the West.  

The selection criteria included "... possesses  a sense of connectedness you find only in places so small you  can't get lost in the crowd" and dubbed the towns "we-topias" for their blend of self-reinvention and community.

The rest of the intro mentioned that "These towns inspire dreams (and maybe moving plans)" which gives me a natural  opening to mention  my website, JeanElmore.com  for more information about McMinnville and a searchable data base of all property listings in our area.  

Thank you, Sunset!

           Did you miss it?  Your Sweetheart would have remembered  getting that new home for Valentine's Day forever.  There is still time to create that memory at interest rates, prices and incentives that may not be seen again for years.  

           The Yamhill Valley is holding its own as the market picks up in light of passage of the Stimulus Bill by Congress.  Once the final bill lands on President Obama's desk for signature the race will be on.  More and more buyers will  be out to take advantage of the tax credits for first-time home buyers, loan supports and many other incentives that will be available.  

            Buyers who have been unable to qualify for loans recently will soon be able to go forward with the help of the government.  Philosophy aside, if you have a home to sell or are looking to buy your opportunity to do either or both is upcoming.  The latest word on the  tax credit is $8,000 to be applied at closing for homes purchased by first-time homebuyers until November, 2009

            Now is the time to start shopping.  Your first stop should be a mortgage company to obtain a prequalification letter to have in hand.  Most  sellers are requiring prequalification before tying up their properties in  negotiations.  Offers on foreclosure properties are automatically rejected without them.  

            Your second stop should be with a Realtor® in the area of interest to you.  Local Realtors® know their market and can be your best source of information, particularly if they are members of the area Multiple Listing Service and can represent you on listings by any affiliated company.  Your agent can also recommend a reliable lender if you happen to miss that first step!

            Sellers, put your homes on the market now and help make someone's belated Valentine, St. Patrick's Day, or Just Because Day a special one!

This is the last you will hear from me on this topic, I promise.  The irony of the following two articles appearing in the same issue of  The Oregonian this morning was just too good to pass up.

The headline of the first article appears in large bold print on the front page of the Metro Section E:  UO raises bar for applicants.  Citing an increased enrollment of incoming students that is overwhelming existing classroom space and necessitating the placement of 400 incoming freshman in off-campus housing due to a lack of dormitory space, the University of Oregon has received approval from the Oregon State Board of Higher Education to raise admission requirements.  New applicants will now be required to have a 3.4 high school grade point average to qualify for automatic admission rather than the previous requirement of 3.25.  This is an effort to reduce the number of new students in future years.

Well-qualified academic students with hopes of attending UO are facing disappointment.

Now move on to the headline in even larger bold print on the front page of the Sports Section C:  Knight Arena put on fast track.   Today was the ground-breaking ceremony for the $200 million state-of-the-art basketball arena at the University of Oregon and a timetable for completion that shows a sense of urgency that somehow makes no sense in light of the academic program situation.  

$100 million for the arena was donated by Phil Knight and it will bear the name Matthew Knight Arena in honor of his late son.  As a parent whose worst fear is to be predeceased by one of my children I can undertand his motivation.  But that still leaves another $100 million to be accounted for and concessions and alumni donations are the goal of making up the shortfall.  In this economic climate financial goals are merely goals as opposed to realities.  

My point is that the timing is terrible.  Soliciting donations for construction of a sports arena when those monies could be better spent on the mission that the University is trusted by the public to do - educate their children in an environment conducive to learning - is completely irresponsible at this time.

Will those players sporting Phil Knight's Nike logo all have a minimum 3.4 GPA before they are allowed on the court?  We can only hope.

This may come under the topic heading of Flights of Fancy but I think I've come up with a fix that could turn the economy around immediately!  It's so simple it's almost scary.

Unemployment is rising at an alarming rate and reached nearly 10% in Oregon as of yesterday.  Economists are concerned about a worsening the recession as more and more Americans curtail spending after one or more household paychecks are lost, and displaced workers are looking for retraining at local universities and community colleges just as schools are cutting academic programs and putting proposed vocational/technical programs on hold.

Here's the idea:  (Warning to college sports fans - you may want to stop reading now.)

What if all college athletic programs required the athletic coaches to be licensed and qualified to teach at the college level in the state of their employment?  They are, after all, instructing athletes in a public or private institution.  Their pay would be on the same scale as professors in academic disciplines and the various auxiliary coaches (special teams, etc.) could be recruited from adjunct instructors.  And what if the players were required to major in a related career field such as sports medicine or physical education?  Millions and millions of dollars would be made available to fund college housing and retraining programs as well as restoring our nation's status in science and engineering and paying enough to attract quality teachers to primary and secondary education.

After the recovery I see farm clubs and minor leagues for football and basketball emerging to feed talent to the professional scouts much as baseball has traditionally grown teams.  Taxpayers would no longer be funding the semi-pros.

So, rabid sports fans and alumni - put on your school colors and break out the pompoms. You can still enjoy the games since the playing field will be leveled when teacher/coaches take to the fields or courts across the country.  I'll bet the ticket prices will be cheaper, too.

It's Groundhog Day, the sun is shining brightly in the Yamhill Valley and. according to folklore, this means we are in for six more weeks of winter.  We've had enough!!  Fortunately, in the world of real estate spring officially begins in February. 

Even in this economic climate the phone calls, emails and website inquiries are beginning again right on schedule.

The timing is perfect for buyers and sellers with children in school.  The buyers will generally begin a home search in February, casually surfing the internet to see what's available in their target neighborhood or city.  By April they have seen or inquired about a number of properties and narrowed choices to a few.  Assuming a choice is made and a contract is negotiated by April 15, the sale could close just after Memorial Day since a typical escrow with a new loan takes about six weeks.

For the best chance of making it onto the buyer's short list, sellers should be cleaning those closets, washing those windows and sweeping the sidewalk.  And be sure the sign in the yard is with a Realtor who can give you maximum internet exposure for the February web surfers. 

And don't forget the primroses on the front porch.

A GOOD TIME TO BUY

Not ready to buy?
Prices could soon start upward.
Equity to build.

BUYER'S LAMENT

Have we hit bottom?
Can't tell 'til prices go up.
Oops missed it again

IT'S TIME TO START LOOKING

Your credit is great
Solid banks are now lending.
Rates are fantastic.

Author's Note:  Now that I have had my fun and no doubt appalled many real haiku writers I can only hope that the message is clear:  There won't be a better time than this to invest in real estate.  In 1941 my father paid $600 for the home I grew up in and I often heard him say, "I wish I had bought every home on the street."

A GOOD TIME TO SELL

A bad time to sell?
I have buyers with money.
No good stuff to show.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION

Prices are holding
is our Valley's big secret.
Print news is all gloom.

MY DILEMMA

Clients are coming
but I can't show your listing.
It's not in the mix.

 I've just returned from a week of enjoying the beaches and relaxed atmosphere of South Padre Island, Texas.  Each year we are able to book the same room with the same view at our favorite hotel and have been watching with interest the progress of a highly-touted luxury resort condominium project in full view of our hotel balcony.  Last year we noted that many of the units had been presold and expected the resort to be up and running this year and were thinking of enduring a sales pitch just to get a tour of the facilities.

We found that construction had been halted last year and is not expected to resume.  The skeletal structure is now known locally as "The Leaning Tower of Padre" because the entire 26-story building has shifted at it's supports and leaning toward the northwest.  Check out the photo.  For reference, there is a construction crane visible to the right of the building that is perpendicular.  Can you see the tilt?  Articles I was able to find in the local media indicated that the structure would stay where it is until a $125 million dollar lawsuit had been settled.  The beautiful landscape of the island will be blighted for some time, it seems.

Unlike Oregon where building codes are in place and subject to inspection at nearly every level of government, Texas, at least in this area, has no building codes that apply outside the city limits of each municipality.  Zoning seems to be nonexistent.

While I still may be among those who occasionally grumble about the paperwork and research needed in Oregon to help clients determine if their building and development plans can be realized, I'll now have a new appreciation for those rules and regulations that prevent eyesores and unsafe building practices from being a part of our own landscape.

When I was a child I always looked forward to Saturdays. The old State Theater in Oregon City ran a Saturday Afternoon Matinee for kids, and we could have our cards punched so we could get in free every twelfth time. The program format was always the same - a full length feature, no less than four cartoons, and a serial to be continued the next week that always ended with a cliffhanger. The motion would stop with the cattle herd about to stampede over the cliff, our hero backing to the edge of a gangplank with pirates in pursuit, or the heroine tied to the railroad track . Anything to make sure we wouldn't stay home the next Saturday.

The anticipation I remember feeling then is not so different from our business clilmate now.

We seem to be waiting in some kind of suspended state for WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. Will the market go up? Down? Will the U.S. auto makers survive? Will housing prices stabilize? Will a band of friendly Indians swoop down from the hills and stop the stampeding herd? Will our hero swing to safety on a halyard or will he meet a watery end? Just like waitiing for Saturday to see the outcome we in real estate and other industries are holding our collectitve breaths in anticipation of future developments that will determine our personal and financial success or failure. The new year will bring a new President, a new congressional makeup and a fresh cabinet of experts. Things will change in one way or another for most of us over the next several months.

I find it comforting to remember those Saturday matinee serials. Of course the hero, heroine, or herd would be rescued and there would be a happy ending. We knew everything would be alright as soon as the action started again.