Real Estate Market mixed; Former LC Commissioner testifies in DC; Current LC Commission seeking comments

Mixed news in real estate market…

A recent uptick in real estate sales has brought some optimism to industry watchers, but things still have a long ways to go according to local property appraiser Tawfik Ahdab.
Ahdab – “The current bright spot is that our market activity in the second quarter was relatively decent which really took us out of our funk. But I don’t know how sustained it is, because things remain quite low.”

Ahdab, with Pacific Valuation Group, says one bright spot in an otherwise gloomy picture is the percentage of local sales attributed to foreclosures. In many areas, they account for a large percentage of sales.
Ahdab – “But here in Florence they are not dominant. We have only 19 closed sales in the last, uh, year to date, and only four short sales out of 103 closed sales. So, really, they don’t amount to much of a percentage, maybe 20-percent or so.”

Foreclosures also account for a very small share of homes listed for sale. But, that could also be because of the large number of homes currently on the market in Western Lane County. At the current rate of sale it would take well over two years to exhaust the supply.
Ahdab – “A normal balanced market is six months, an over supplied market is 12-months so when we’re sitting at 26.85 months it means we have a vast inventory compared with what is able to sell.”

With 528 active listings on the market at the end of June, and only 103 sales so far this year, the inventory is at it’s highest level in three years.

Former Lane County Commissioner Anna Morrison, five years out of office, is still stumping in Washington D.C. in an effort to try to stabilize funding for Oregon counties with a high percentage of federal lands. Morrison testified at a congressional subcommittee hearing last week on behalf of the group “Women in Timber” against renewal of the Secure Rural Schools act.
Morrison – “It was always meant to be a six-year funding stopgap until the forests were reopened to harvest levels sustaining rural schools and roads. It was never intended to become the entitlement program it has become.”

The original bill took effect 11-years ago and was extended several times. She told lawmakers last Thursday the original intention was never to permanently replace the jobs and revenue created by logging. Morrison told lawmakers that sustainable timber sales are the key.
Morrison – “These in turn provide jobs and socio-economic benefits, in addition to the timber receipts that are shared with the local communities. In the late 1980s increased timber harvests from the federal lands generated eight times the economic benefit that is currently being provided by Secure Rural Schools.”

Lane County is looking at receiving the last payment in the program later this year.

Along those lines, Current West Lane County Commissioner Jay Bozievich will be in Florence for two “community conversations” tomorrow afternoon. His primary concern is in hearing from residents about how best to handle a $1.2-million shortfall that appeared in the current year’s revenue when the Bureau of Land Management announced two weeks ago they weren’t going to be providing the full amount of funding Lane County expected.
Bozievich – “Looking forward to hearing from the community and their concerns in particularly with us having to do some rearranging of the deck chairs here on the Titanic.”

Bozievich will be at Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue tomorrow afternoon from two to four pm; Then again at 5:30.

Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press

COQUILLE, Ore. (AP) - A Coos County prosecutor has told jurors
in Nicholas McGuffin's murder trial that the defendant is an
arrogant killer whose relationship with 15-year-old Leah Freeman
led him to take her life in the summer of 2000. In its closing
argument yesterday, the defense said the state has no evidence
against McGuffin and pursued him rather than finding the real
killer. Now 29, McGuffin was 18 at the time of Freeman's death.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Court documents in the case of a Portland
man accused of choking and stabbing his pregnant wife, then
stabbing himself allege he attacked when she told him she was
leaving because of his drug use. Both are expected to survive. A
probable cause affidavit filed yesterday says 33-year-old Brian
Shaun Nickel had used the drug Ketamine on Saturday before calling
his wife "the devil" and saying he had to kill her. Ketamine is
an animal tranquilizer known to cause hallucinations.

MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) - Police have identified the man suspected of
killing his wife and four children and setting fire to their home
in Southern Oregon. He is 51-year-old Jordan Adam Criado of
Medford. Police say they believe Criado stabbed his wife,
30-year-old Tabasha Paige-Criado, and their four children, three
boys aged 5-7, and a two-year-old girl. The children have not yet
been identified.

BEAVERTON, Ore. (AP) - An Oregon judge says a 75-year-old
federal magistrate judge died Monday while working in a community
garden in the Portland suburb of Beaverton. The Oregonian says the
cause of death of Magistrate Judge Donald Ashmanskas was not
immediately known. He became a federal judge in 1992 after serving
as a district judge and circuit court judge in Washington County.

MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) - Investigators were trying to determine what
happened in the hours before a Medford mother and her four children
were pulled from a burning home and rescuers discovered they each
had been stabbed. Police believe 51-year-old Jordan Adam Criado
stabbed them and set fire to the house, staying inside as it filled
with smoke. Criado, who has not been charged, was sedated in stable
condition and under police guard after surviving the fire.

SEATTLE (AP) - For weeks, manager Eric Wedge's daily briefing
has turned into a psychological examination of why the Seattle
Mariners offense is so bad. Their start to the second half of the
season didn't dissuade any of the conversation after the Mariners
scored two runs in four games while being swept by Texas. Seattle
has also dropped nine straight and fallen to 11 1/2 games back in the
AL West.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Energy companies see renewed hope for
putting liquefied natural gas terminals on the Oregon coast - this
time to export the new supplies drillers have uncovered by
"fracking" shale formations. That raises fears among some that
exporting domestic natural gas is a step toward making the market
global and raising prices in the United States for a resource
that's abundant.

BEND, Ore. (AP) - An October jury trial has been set for a man
suspected of dumping his wife's body into the North Santiam River.
The Bend Bulletin reports Steven Blaylock will appear on charges of
murder and manslaughter in the presumed death of his wife,
48-year-old Lori Blaylock of Bend.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The family of a 14-year-old Portland girl
missing since March has scheduled a July 30 funeral, confident that
human remains found on a Portland hill are indeed Yashanee Vaughn.
The state medical examiner's office has not yet identified the
remains found last Friday on Rocky Butte. Prosecutors say the
discovery resulted from information provided by the girl's
16-year-old boyfriend Parrish Bennette Jr., who's charged with
murder in the girl's death.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Portland Timbers defender Kevin
Goldthwaite will miss the rest of the season because of ruptured
ligaments in his left knee. Goldthwaite hurt his knee in the
Timbers' 1-0 win over the Chicago Fire on Saturday. The 28-year-old
veteran of six Major League Soccer seasons underwent an MRI
yesterday that revealed ruptured anterior cruciate and medial
collateral ligaments.

BREMERTON, Wash. (AP) - U.S. Open qualifier Beau Hossler and
Will Starke shot 4-under 68s to share a one-stroke lead at the U.S.
Junior Amateur at Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Wash. The
16-year-old Hossler, from Mission Viejo, Calif., is coming off a
win at last week's Callaway World Junior Tournament in San Diego.
Starke is 17 from Chapin, S.C. He had the only bogey-free round on
the 7,133-yard Olympic Course. The field of 156 players will be
trimmed to 64 after today's second round of stroke play.


(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Taking a look at Coast Radio Sports…

The Eugene Emeralds lead in the West Division of the Northwest League has been pared to just two games. The Emeralds fell to the Vancouver Canadians last night, 6-5, in 13-innings. It was only the Canadians second win in six tries this season against Eugene. The Ems held a one run lead heading into the bottom of the ninth, but allowed one run to tie it. Vancouver’s Steven McQuail popped a solo homer in the 13th inning for the walk-off win. The two teams meet again tonight in Vancouver.

Nic Canaday went 2-for-3 with two doubles, Ryan Smith was 2-for-4 with a double and Josh Iabichello (YAH-buh-KELL-uh) was 2-for-2 with two RBI and the Three Rivers Sandblasters picked off the Corvallis Marketmen 5-3 at home yesterday afternoon. Mike Bennett started on the mound and picked up the win; Jake Thompson threw the final four innings to seal the deal, giving up only one run. The ‘Blasters are due on the diamond this afternoon in Springfield for the final two games of the regular season… game one will air on Coast Radio Sports beginning at 1:45… first pitch at two.

For Florence and the Central Oregon Coast:

A 20-percent chance of rain this morning, along with cloudy skies and gradual clearing… with mostly sunny conditions expected by this afternoon. Today’s high near 62 degrees and a north northwest wind six to eight miles an hour.
Tonight the clouds return, along with a 20-percent chance of rain or drizzle and a low around 52.
More rain or drizzle possible in the morning… along with cloudy skies and a high near 63.

Morning showers and cloudy skies Thursday, morning drizzle and sunny skies Friday, then a change… for the weekend…

The marine forecast is showing a northwest marine wind ten to 15 knots gusting to 20 knots… becoming west at five to ten knots overnight. Low tide… 10:25 this morning. High tide at 4:48 this afternoon.