Market Buzz
Have you seen my latest listings? I’ve been lucky enough to list several amazing homes recently, including this SE midcentury – a move-in ready, low maintenance home with lots of recent updates, and an upstairs “apartment” (and who doesn’t want extra living space, or investment opportunities in a home these days?). Drop me a line if you’re interested in seeing it in person, but for now, the listing info can be found here.
Summer Scouting & Market Report
While competition for completely dialed houses in the most desirable neighborhoods remains pretty fierce, it is starting to feel like a more welcome market for first-time homebuyers, those willing to leverage sweat equity, or looking to downsize…
See the Full Report
Get Busy in the Garden and Home
There’s a bit less to do in the garden at this time of year – although you might want to start prepping for overwintering your garden beds – and now’s the best time for garden PLANNING, curled up cozy with a hot chocolate in front of the fireplace, poring over a seed catalog and plotting out next year’s produce. If you’re a garden nerd like me, this is your idea of a good time. There’s also plenty to do around the house, and while it can feel overwhelming to do it all at once, this is why it’s so much easier when you break it down into manageable tasks over the year. Here’s what to get done in Fall!
* If you haven’t already, get that fireplace chimney professional cleaned/checked out.* Also, clean your furnace and air filters, and, if you’ve never done it, get your air ducts/vents professionally cleaned, too. Keep your indoor air as fresh as you possibly can!
* Rainy season is nearly upon us, so check your gutters and downspouts for leaks and debris and clear those out if needed. Every year your ultimate goal should be directing water AWAY from the house. Don’t forget those rain barrels overflow and to have any overflow discharge routing far from your home’s foundation.
* In the next few weeks is the ideal time to plant some garlic and some tubers! Growing garlic and flowers from tube is such an exercise in patience, but the reward is worth it. Future you will be happy you did!
* Got fruit trees? Don’t forget to pick up any fallen fruit, as rotting fruit can attract rats and harbor pests.
Oregon Humane Society’s Working Cats
Oregon Humane Society’s “working cats” program just makes me love them even more. Some kitties are just hard to house, but that doesn’t make their lives any less valuable. With OHS’ program, anti-social cats get to live their best lives, from a distance. And you don’t even need to have a farm to accommodate a personal space puss – just somewhere warm and dry where they can live comfortably and safely in peace. Read more about it here, and help spread the word to fellow cat lovers!
Pictured below: my very own “working cat”.
It’s Fall, Y’All!
Get you some friends willing to share their very, very secret mushroom spot, and maybe you’ll be lucky enough to score a basket full of gorgeous, delicious lobster mushrooms and chanterelles! Pacific Northwesterners are generous, friendly folk, but notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to spilling the beans on their wilderness finds…notably hot springs, and wild mushrooms. The latter even moreso, since hot springs tend to stay in the one place, and mushrooms? Well, mushrooms are temperamental, heavily dependent on the weather, at risk of being discovered by other fungi foragers, and generally just not a sure thing. A prime haul like this warrants deep gratitude and a commitment to eternal secrecy. So that’s all you get to know about that. 😉
Now’s the season for foraging, so strap on your hiking boots, grab an experienced guide or mushroom identification book (not all mushrooms are edible, folks), and good luck!
Quarantine Diary
Other than mushroom huntin’, I’m still gardening year ’round, and the star of the season is garlic! Once you figure out how (it’s not that difficult, just timing, really), you can grow enough garlic to keep you going for an entire year – and trust me, I use enough garlic in a year to shut Transylvania down. It’s also time to harvest the squash, for soups and spooky shenanigans, and I’ve been making various vegetable soups from all my late summer spoils.
I’ve also been trying to stay balanced (which benefits me AND my clients) and carve out time for rest and exploration – all done within the strict parameters of covid awareness and precautions. It’s a bit surreal to think that we’re still in the midst of a global pandemic, but we’re all doing our best to regain a sense of normalcy while also being as careful as we can be. It’s harder on some than others. It’s quite funny how real estate has not only survived through these past few years, but thrived. It’s such an unpredictable industry, but I’m grateful to still be here, still be busy helping people that I love, find the homes they adore. Thank you for that.
Important Resources & Links
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