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Hi everybody. I can't believe it but the gas prices here in Florence, Oregon have dropped substantially. I think that the last time I passed Fred Meyer regular was down to $3.88/gal. Wow! So, what is the catch and how long will this last? It has been beautiful here this week. Temps around 55-63 degrees and sunny with a slight breeze mostly. Yesterday I went to the North Jetty beach and took a bunch of pictures of the US Army Ship, Yaquina, while they were dredging at the mouth of the Siuslaw River. It was amazing to watch when that giant ship started turning around in the middle of the Jetty. Pictures attached. HAVE A GREAT WEEK-END AND STAY SAFE.

WELL, IT IS A BEAUTIFUL SUNNY 65 DEGREES ON THE OREGON COAST THIS SATURDAY JULY 26th OF 2008. I HOPE THAT LIFE IS GOOD FOR ALL OF YOU WHO READ THIS BLOG.

I HAVE TO TELL YOU WITH ALL OF THE TURMOIL OVER OIL PRICES AND FLUCTUATING GAS PRICES THE FLORENCE, OREGON AREA HAS SOME OF THE BEST PRICES FOR GAS! YESTERDAY AT THE FRED MEYER IT WAS $4.05 A GALLON FOR REGULAR AND THAT IS BEFORE A DISCOUNT THAT IS GIVEN TO MEMBERS. THE REASON FOR THIS, I BELIEVE, IS BECAUSE WE HAVE BOTH SAFEWAY AND FRED MEYER SELLING GAS AT FRANCHISE PRICES AND THEN THE OTHER GAS STATIONS HAVE TO TRY TO COMPETE WITH THEM BY REDUCING THEIR PRICES SO MUCH THAT THEY CAN'T EVEN BREAK EVEN. SO, IF YOU HEAR SOMEONE TALKING ABOUT THE CHEAPEST PLACE TO BUY GAS IN OREGON YOU JUST TELL THEM THEY SHOULD CHECK OUT THE PRICES IN FLORENCE.

FLORENCE, OREGON ALSO OFFERS A WIDE ASSORTMENT OF THINGS TO DO AND ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS FOR LOWER INCOME PEOPLE. YES WE LOST OUR SECURE RURAL SCHOOL FUNDING BUT WE STILL GO ON, RIGHT? LOCALS ARE SAYING THAT LANE COUNTY IS LAYING OFF TOO MANY POLICE AND CANCELLING REHABILITATION TYPE PROGRAMS FOR OUR COMMUNITY TO FEEL SAFE IN THEIR HOMES. LAW BREAKERS ARE GENERALLY TICKETED OR WARNED AND THEN RELEASED BECAUSE THERE IS NO WHERE TO PUT THEM, NO FUNDS TO BUY THEIR FOOD OR PAY FOR A WARDEN TO KEEP AN EYE ON THEM.

IT IS STILL BEAUTIFUL HERE AND IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME JUST CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.FLORENCEORREALESTATE.COM AND THE PICTURES ON THAT WEB SITE SHOULD CONVINCE YOU TO AT LEAST DRIVE THROUGH HERE NEXT TIME YOU ARE DRIVING UP I-5. JUST TAKE HWY 126 WEST AND DON'T STOP UNTIL YOU REACH THE COAST. WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO MEETING YOU. IF YOU NEED A REAL ESTATE BROKER PLEASE COME AND SEE ME AT UNITED COUNTRY WEST COAST REALTY, 2775 HWY 101, SUITE C, JUST A FEW MILES NORTH ON HWY 101, ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE HWY.HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND. TILL NEXT TIME.....

Hi everyone, the weather and the real estate mood in Florence are both improving as the summer rolls in. There are lots of lookers, some serious and some not, checking out the least expensive listings on the market. They call you hot and excited about a listing and then you talk to them 6 times in one day and send them a dozen emails with everything in their price range in the whole state of Oregon. and then you might even hear from them the next day but after that they dissapear.

The prices keep coming down and some of them reached their bottom price a month ago so now they have to try to make a "Short Sale" where the lender agrees to accept a lessor amount than what is owed. Now if you are there I feel for you. I am pretty close myself. I have talked to people who are in that position and it is horrible and scary. Some of the lenders will work with you and some of them just don't care. I have seen some public records that show the lender turning the deed over to a trustee and then at the actual sale the lender buys the home back at a lower price. What is up with that? I just don't think that the lender should be allowed to do that. That is a situation where the lender gets a better deal if you loose your home. They are not going to help you keep it or get out from under it if they get more money if you loose it. As much as we are trying to keep banks out of real estate they are still finding ways to make money off of others misfortunes and off of real estate itself. 

Florence is still the best place to buy in my opinion. The weather is moderate and everything you could want is waiting for you here. The ocean is on one side and the mountains are on the other with lakes and the Siuslaw River all around you. If you like to fish, boat, camp, swim, ride horseback on the beach, or ride four wheelers over the dunes, Florence, Oregon has it all!!

Well, it is another beautiful, sunny day (about 65 degrees) and the wind is gusting at 15-20 MPH. At least that is what the news said. I think that the wind is blowing about 20 MPH but with gusts up to 40 MPH, it is crazy. I still can not believe the strange weather that we have had here on the coast this year. We actually had snow the first of May. I know that most people will say it is because of global warming but I think that it is a sign of the end. There are too many things happening in the world that were prophecied in the bible. The horrible storms, tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes and mud slides, fires burning out of control and father turning against their sons, mothers against daughters, and siblings against siblings.

I have a birds-eye view of that since my mom told me I was dead to her about 2yrs,3 months ago. It has been very hard to deal with. I don't see how a mother can treat her own flesh and blood like a dog or worse. I still love her and I forgive her, for everything. I forgave her a long time ago for the way that I was raised and the horrible things that she let happen to me because she was too busy partying to notice that her "guests" were "making themselves at home" with her daughter. When she found out what was happening she blamed me. I was 9 when she and my father divorced. She never paid attention to me or my sister when she was drinking and flirting with every guy in the room. It was horrible but I am not going to dwell on it. I am looking forward to my future. At least I have some control over that. The past is done and I can't change any of it. I've been going to councelling most of my life off and on. She just started or so I hear from friends and relatives. So she has some catching up to do.  I wish her the best in her life. I feel like God has been watching over me because I have been having other personal problems that would have been harder to handle with her around. Life has always been extremely exaggerated for her. Anyway, next subject please?

If I could I'd go and sit at the beach and watch the waves roll in and then back out again. I enjoy the quiet, just the waves roaring, large piles of driftwood and little homemade huts made out of the driftwood, and the sand blowing here and there looking like a giant sifter is sifting the sand from the heavens. The ocean is one of my most favorite things in this world. Down to earth nature. Not man made. The ocean was here before we were. It will be here long after we are gone.

I also love to go to the mountains and drive around on the back gravel roads. We don't need a destination as long as we have enough gas to get out of the mountains. I have been stuck before. Many years ago I was out driving on Five-Mile, just North of Gardiner, Oregon and we pulled down into a camping spot and when we tried to leave the car would not go backwards. We were on a slight slope so we could not push the car back onto the road. We were stuck there for about 5 days. We ate Ramien Noodles (just happen to have bought them that day) and some fish, duck, and a bear that he killed on the day before we were rescued by a Forestry Department Employee.

EVERYONE HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND.

Hey you people! It is still a Buyer's Market! You need to take advantage of this before it changes again. It is like the weather in Florence, Oregon. Just wait 5 minutes and it will change.  

There are many properties on the market that are being offered by banks and mortgage lenders who gave high risk loans to people with little or no credit, stated docs, and interest only loans. We have seen an influx of these type of Sellers. It is crazy that the government keeps reducing the interest rate that the banks pay the feds for loans. They can't reduce ours or make the banks help us out of this mess by reducing the monthly payments and the growing interest rates that they are allowed to stick us with. 

Another issue that we are facing as Realtors is the underwriters are being extra strict on their criteria such as; items for proof of wages, proof of monies for downpayments, and condition of the homes, etc. There are too many issues to mention. It used to take 30 days minimum to get a loan through now it is taking more like 45-65 days to get it approved, or not.

Be careful that the mortgage company you deal with is not a desperate one because I tried to do some business with a company last year to get out of my situation of high monthly payment and high interest rate on my SWM. We all know how hard it is to get a loan on one of those. Well try a FHA loan. The lender kept telling me that we could work around the things that the underwriters wouldn't approve of. Huh. Well, in the mean time they set about the task of hiring an appraiser and then a foundation inspection. After some time they told us we had to have concrete runners in the front and the back of the home. Okay, why they didn't tell us that int eh beginning I have no idea but we started by getting the forms and digging the 3'x13' ditches under the home. Not an easy dig. This was after we took the skirting off and moved around the various pipes and things around to be able to do what was asked of us. After the appraiser came the mortgage company called me and told me that we had to have a letter from the company we bought the mobile from saying that it had never been on any other homesite, that it was moved directly to our property from the company we bought it from. This of course was not the truth. I had told her from the beginning that it was free because it came from the company that my husband was working for and it was a trade in for a new home. It is a 1982 model, obviously not new from the mfg. This was easily disproved as the county records showed when it changed owners and it was not the mfg. When I told the mtg broker she said that I never told her or she didn't hear me when I told her that it was a trade in. Now I am being sued for the fees they incurred by hiring the appraiser and foundation inspector even though they had no way of getting that loan to go through. I have to come up with almost $1000. I don't know how I am going to do it and I know that The court date is coming up soon.

DON'T LET THE LENDER OR THE MORTGAGE COMPANY TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOU! BE AS SURE AS POSSIBLE THAT THE LOAN WILL GO THROUGH BEFORE HIRING AN APPRAISER OR ANYTHING ELSE. THERE ARE COMPANIES WHO OFFER A FREE APPRAISAL AND OTHER INCENTIVES TO GET YOU TO USE THEIR COMPANY AND THAT IS GREAT, JUST BE SURE THEY ARE NOT ADDING IT INTO THE CLOSING COSTS. GOOD LUCK. BUY NOW! CALL YOUR REALTOR OR CALL ME AND I WILL FIND YOU THE BEST DEAL ON THE MARKET.

It has been a beautiful beginning to spring in Florence, with lots of sun and some scattered showers here and there. Today is supposed to be in the upper 60's (so the meterologists say) but I'm not sure we will see the temperature climb into the 60's today.

Florence is one of the most beautiful cities on the Oregon Coast. There are so many fun and exciting things to do here for the whole family. Kayaking, scuba diving, kite flying (of all kinds), golfing, bowling, walking on the numerous beaches, 4-wheeling, hiking, fishing, boating, swimming, beachcombing, agate hunting, wild mushroom picking, horseback riding on the beach and many more activities for the busy family on vacation or completely relocating to our expanding town. Come and see us and you will have so much fun that you won't want to go home.

Florence's newest attraction is the 3 Rivers Casino and Hotel located at the Eastern edge of town and conveniently just off of Hwy 126 as you are coming into town. 

Everyone have a great weekend!

Hi everyone, this is a link to my newest picture submitted to Picture.com. Please try to take time to go there and vote on my picture. I think you will be surprised when you see what it is. Thank you, Rose L Sutton. http://www.picture.com/voteforme/photovote1.asp?PID=2369722

HI EVERYONE, I HOPE LIFE IS GOOD FOR YOU AND YOURS.I AM AN AVID PICTURE TAKER AND I LOVE ART SO I COMBINE THE TWO AND TAKE PICTURES THAT LOOK LIKE ART. PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINK OR COPY AND PASTE IT INTO YOUR BROWSER AND VOTE ON MY BEAUTIFUL PICTURE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. THANK YOU.

 http://www.picture.com/voteforme/photovote1.asp?PID=1813338