Everyone knows the real estate market is down. One of my peeves is the number of people saying it's the media's fault (more on that below), but let's pause and consider the strengths of homes in Orenco Station and Orenco Gardens, in West Union, Bethany, Hillsboro and the Sunset Corridor.

I love it here this time of year. Wow, what a fall.

Market statistics are right enough, but they don't do justice to individual neighborhoods. A market average in a given MLS area would filter data in that area, but it wouldn't tell the whole story.  Portland sales down?  Well, okay, but you know what? Homes close-in are still selling right along. I know, because I have "sold" searches going on for a couple of homeowners, and "solds" keep coming up.  On top of that, I just sold one in Garden Home, and the comps weren't hard to get.  Oh, it's nothing like the frothy days of '05, but it's not bad.  Prices are down from a year ago, but for people who have lived in their homes a few years and haven't leveraged them too much, prices are okay. 

It would be nicer, I suppose, if we we were a little closer to downtown. But we are close to what's happening, not just in Washington County, but in West Side Portland--Intel, Nike, Solar World, Genentech, and I could go on and on. That's good.  The schools are good. The government is pretty good.  The biggest Costco in the chain is right here. So is New Seasons, Whole Foods, Peet's, Tanasbourne, major medical providers (Tuality, St. Vincent's), and so on. You don't have to go far for what you need on a daily basis.

If you live in other suburbs around Portland, you wouldn't be so lucky.

As for blaming the news media--I'm sick of liistening to those complaints.  The news is what's happening. While it's true that spins are often dramatized, the fact is that the same people who blame the news media for the bad times never thought to credit the media when times were good.  It's a variation of some people, who confuse being rich with being smart.  Of course there's good and bad news, but on the whole, news is news, and it's how you conduct and position yourself that makes the difference.

Was it Pliny the Elder who defined luck as preparedness meeting opportunity?