There is Absolutely NOTHING Like Portland Oregon on a Sunny Day!

Cherry blossoms in bloom along the westbank of the Willamette River!

It definitely doesn’t rain ALL the time in Portland Oregon.  As a matter of fact, we often enjoy these unexpected explosions of early Springtime.  If we weren’t true Oregonians, we’d be packing away our sweater and galoshes and pulling out the flip-flops and shorts.  But, we know this is just a welcome “tease”.  As I was “tooling along on my townie”, I noted that I am constantly amazed at the beauty, the cleanliness and the diversity of Portland!  I enjoy seeing that “Spring had Sprung”, then bike over one of the ten outstanding bridges in downtown to the eastbank of the Willamette River and check out rowing lessons.  

Rowing lessons offered on the eastbank of the river!

A little further down the eastbank is the OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) with the ever-changing array of exhibits and the IMAX theatre. 

Oregon Museum of Science and Industry

 Then back across the Hawthorne Bridge to head down to the South Waterfront and check out the new construction there.  Despite a challenged real estate market, they continue with the development.  The park is almost finished and will add an inviting element for the enclave.  The tram to OHSU still a relative new addition to the Portland skyline.  

The tram on it's way up "Pill Hill" to OHSU

 Biking back to downtown with what seemed like the entire population of the Portland metro area all enjoying the sunshine and warmth, you would occasionally see what “keeps Portland weird”.  

Bagpiper on unicycleStolling musician!

 And, finally a bite to eat at the Saturday Market.  Today market the “Grand Opening” of the 37th annual Portland Saturday Market!  

Tie-dye and flambuoyance at the Portland Saturday Market!

And, a possible Jimi Hendrix sighting???   

Jimi, is that you???

One of my favorite Jimi Hendrix tunes:  “All Along the Watchtower” 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14qTXRkAKr8

Death and Taxes!

With tax season upon us, we need to think “tax incentives”, “tax credits” and legal “tax write-offs”!!!  These tips are relevent whether you live in Portland, Oregon or elsewhere in the US!  Of course, first and foremost in my mind is the $8,000 First-Time Home Buyer Tax credit (not deduction)!  It was originally set to expire on November 30th, 2009 but this credit of up to 10% of the purchase price or up to $8,000 was extended into 2010 (purchase agreements must be signed by April 30, 2010 and closings must be final by June 30th, 2010)!  The new program was also expanded to include a tax credit of up to $6,500 (or up to 10% of the purchase price…not to exceed $800,000) for qualified buyer of a ”repeat” or “replacement” home under the same deadlines.  To qualify, home purchasers must have owned and occupied a primary residence for five consecutive years during the last eight years.  Most importantly, the new program significantly increased previous income requirements. 

There is also a property-tax deduction for non-itemizers.  You don’t have to be a new homeowner in 2009 to deduct qualifying property taxes, but prior to 2008, you did have to itemize your taxes in order to receive the benefit–not anymore.  Under the new rule, homeowners who don’t itemize can boost their standard-deduction amount by up to $500 if they’re single and up to $1,000 if they’re married and file a joint return to account for property taxes paid during 2009.  You’ll need to include a Schedule L with your 2009 tax return, but it’s definitely worth it if your qualify.

If you paid refinancing points, you get to deduct the points over the life of the loan.  That means you can deduct 1/30th of the points per year if it’s a 30-year mortgage.  It’s not a lot of savings, but everything helps when you’re legally trying to lower your tax bill.

There are multiple energy and home improvement credits.  Homeowners can make energy-conscious purchases that will provide tax benefits when filling out their tax returns for 2009.  The new law provides tax credit for making your principal residence more energy efficient and for buying certain energy efficient items.  There is the Residential Energy Property Credit and this new law increases the energy tax credit to 30% of the cost of all qualifying energy-efficient improvements to existing homes.  This includes windows, doors, insulation, water heaters, energy-efficient heating and air conditioning systems, roofs, biomass stoves.  And, there are no income limits and no AMT (Alternate Minimum Tax) ramifications. It also raises the maximum credit limit to $1,500 for improvements placed in service in 2009 and 2010.  Go to http://www.energystar.gov for loads more information!

There are a few other tax breaks such as new car purchases.  If you bought a qualifying new car or truck ($49,500 or less) between February 16 and December 31, 2009, you may be able to deduct the sales or excise tax (for state of Washington buyers).  Your income must be less than $125,000 for a single taxpayer or $250,000 for a couple to get the full deduction.  The benefit applies to more than one vehicle, as long as all of them qualify and delivery was taken by December 31st.

Unemployment benefits are usually fully taxable.  If you received any unemployment benefits at any time during 2009, you are eligible to exclude the first $2,400 of these benefits when you file your tax return.  For a married couple, the exclusion applies to each spouse separately.

If you were unemployed in 2009 but you got a new job, moving expenses may be deductible, if you moved more than 50 miles away and you don’t have to itemize to get this deduction.  For 2009, you can deduct the cost of getting yourself and your household goods to the a new area 50+ miles away, this includes 24 cents per mile for driving your own vehicle, plus parking fees and tolls.

Don’t forget the Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) tax deduction!  If you put down less than 20% on a house, you were required to purchase private morgage insurance, which protects the lender in the event you default on the home loan.  Starting with loans issued or refinanced in 2007, and continuing through 2010, you can deduct each year’s premiums paid on PMI for your principal residence and for a non-rental second home.  The tax break was originally good for 2007 only, but the government extended it for three years.  The deduction begins to phase out once your adjusted gross income (AGI) reaches $100,000 ($50,000 for married filing separately) and disappears entirely at an AGI of $109,000 ($54,000 for married filing separately).

There is also a Residential Energy-Efficient Property Credit witch covers very expensive but green products such as solar electric, solar water heaters, geo-thermal heat pump, wind energy and full-cell power plants with a 30% credit for qualifying costs.  With all of these credits, financing is permitted!  Again, go to http://www.energystar.gov for specifics and, of course, always consult with your tax professional!!!

Ted C. Jones Brings Strong Opinions/Humor to Portland Oregon Economic Forecast!

Ted C. Jones, Chief Economist for Stewart Title

•   ”and, I think it’s gonna be alright,
• yes, the worst is over now.
• The morning sun is shining like a red rubber ball”. 

The Cyrkle/1966  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOxLaHPPzzw

  Ted C. Jones, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President-Chief Economist, Stewart Title Guaranty Company
Director of Investor Relations, Stewart Information Services Corporation NYSE-STC  gave a robust presentation today, Thursday February 25th, 2010 at the Columbia Yacht Club to a room full of Real Estate Brokers, Mortgage Brokers and Title reps hungry for information and tidbits of foresight on economic predictions for Portland, Oregon.  There were no “defining moments” or “jarring revelations” at this seminar, but lots of good facts, figures, opinions and observations!  His real estate and economic predictions (which he reminded us were just about “spot on” last year, except concerning interest rates) simply concurred with a lot of other reading and presentations I have attended.  However, he made the material interesting, palatable and interspersed what he called “Ted’s Solutions” to a myriad of problems.  You don’t have to agree with everything but he certainly backed up his opinions and prophecies with a lot of graphs and historical data.   

• Wall Street:  liquidity and Washington realizing that they can’t contol
• Jobs:  he feels the stimulus is not working
• Time-Bomb loans:  now concerned about commercial
• Terrorists attacks
• Pandemic:  like Bird Flu
• Inflation and cap rates going up
• Tax-cuts
• Energy:  US imports 63% of oil
• All the band-aid fixes for real estate, autos, credit cards and banks

Just as a regular citizen trying to reign in a budget and make their finances work, the US must start with decreased spending.  He definitely believes (as do most in the industry) that interest rates are artificially low and will definitely begin to creep up.  He believes we will not see interest rates as low as we are now experiencing in our lifetime again (I guess it matters how old you are).  Those buyers with good credit or cash, a bit of patience and some luck will make some great buys in the existing market.  And, he feels our next crisis will be in the commercial real estate market.  “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it certainly does rhyme!”….Mark Twain.

More on My Continuing Obsession w/Being a “Tourist” in Portland Oregon!

Hoyt Arboretum Visitor Center in Portland Oregon

So, I’m continuing my exploration of Portland and our former five days of “wall-to-wall sunshine” made another hike a requirement!!  You can see more about my park adventures and Forest Park, in particular, in a former post at http://fabulousportland.com/2010/01/23/in-appreciation-of-one-of-the-many-portland-wonders/ .  This time I meandered up the trails to the Hoyt Arboretum Visitor Center and found an absolute wealth of information on the fabulous park trails in Portland!  They offered plenty of trail maps (instead of my usual wandering aimlessly, I can plan for the areas of the park I want to discover), lots of historical data about the park and information on the endless varieties of trees.  We have a world-famous collection of conifers, by the way.  You can choose to hike through the Evergreens or enjoy the Oaks, Elms and Magnolias.  All the trees are labeled and the trail names reflect the interesting variety.  I didn’t realize there was a fire in 1889 that burned almost everything to the ground.  Trees were re-planted by Hoyt Arboretum in 1931.  Some of the native trees were left and, thus, there is a unique mixture of native and exotic species!  There are over 8,000 specimens representing more than 111 plant families.  It’s fun being a tourist in your own backyard!!! 

A nice piece of real estate in Portland Oregon

If you continue up the trails (and you have your choice of varying durations and exertion) you can choose to visit the Pittock Mansion!  This grand old dame is full of Portland history and charm and the spectacular view can include all of downtown Portland plus Mt Hood, Mt St Helens, Mt Adams and even Mt Rainier!!!

“Sunshine on My Shoulder Makes Me Happy!!”**

Though I was never particularly a huge fan of John Denver’s**,every time an unexpected burst of sunshine visits Portland Oregon, I can’t help but start humming “sunshine on my shoulder makes me happy”!!!  This photo was taken yesterday (the first of two days of wall-to-wall sunshine in Pdx) of Tanner Springs Park in the Pearl District of downtown.  The sunny weather brings out a sunny disposition in Portlanders, as even as there is a chill in the air, folks are enjoying the parks, sitting in the sun and jumping on their bikes.  If we weren’t “true Oregonians” (and transplants count), we’d be stowing our down vests and coats and whipping out the shorts and flip-flops.  However, we know better!  We are experiencing a “teaser”.  All the same, this a commonly known secret (amongst Oregonians) regarding Portland and Oregon area weather, it doesn’t really rain ALL the time!!!  But, if the secret got out, we’d look like the endless city-upon-city/freeway-upon-freeway that has been visited on SoCal or even the Bay Area.  The reason that Portland continues to be  a destination for people/families on the move searching for quality of life is: “THE QUALITY OF LIFE”!  We have a void that we have filled in the USA where we embrace “Keep Portland Weird”, see Kink.fm’s take on that ( http://www.kink.fm/Keeping-Portland-Weird-makes-sense/6400344 ), while we entertain arts and culture at every level and have plenty of venues for a very elegant lifestyle ( http://www.pcs.org/) ( http://www.obt.org/) ( http://www.portlandopera.org/ ) and SOOOOOO much more!  We have this undercurrent of fabulous restaurants that “foodies” embrace with a vengeance and that “word” travels see how Portland is nominated for Budget Travel magazine’s “Best Food City in America” ( http://budurl.com/z6×7 )!  We have this superb Tango culture (that I just recently discovered) and our city hosted the equivalent to the “Tango Olympics”, by the way ( http://www.claysdancestudio.com/tangofest/index.shtml) !!  We have this bicycle friendly, ever-developing national presence. Go see the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030 ( http://bit.ly/2030PortlandBikePlan ) . Or, see how Portland ranks #2 in an airport satisfaction survey ( http://bit.ly/dlAQ1t ).  Anyway, we are constantly hitting the national and international scene for our exhuberance (on so many issues, on so many levels). You don’t have to agree or disagree, I just see it as positive for giving Portland the opportunity to be “all that it can be”! It’s NOT the end of the story.  My father, Joe B Jackson, was involved in my hometown city government (including being Mayor) of Murfreesboro, Tennessee for so many years (I can’t actually come up with an accurate number…however, maybe more than 30???) so now I beginning to understand his passion for a place he finally found to call home.  I have that passion for Portland!!!!

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