This blog gets a lot of searches for "rural land in Eugene." Do a search in any search engine for "rural land Eugene" - then try to find a place where you can consistently find an aggregate of listings across multiple brokers, and with a link to whatever’s available in MLS. It’s not easy. Here’s a little help. Below are some quick links to sites that can deliver the goods:

• Lands of Oregon
• Land Watch
• Loopnet offers a two week trial of their $34.95/month unlimited search feature. You need to create an account in order to view all properties. Unfortunately for home home buyers, many of the listings on Loopnet are zoned for commercial or industrial use. Here’s an example of one of the residential listings.
• Windermere - Since Windermere listings don’t show up on NWMLS, visiting Windermere to search for land is a must.
• For NWMLS regional listings, OIP.net is probably the best source.

Popularity: 11% [?]

This document provides a description of KWG’s vision for the West Broadway project that City Counselors narrowed to two developers on Monday.

According to the Eugene Weekly “News” (or is it an editorial..I can’t tell), city staff had recommended one developer, KWG. Counselors decided on two. This was so that another developer (Beam) could renovate two buildings, and create a single-story building for commercial use. This development would obviously cost the City less, but would it be the best thing for the community? Maybe..or maybe not.

One thing I would like to hear is a common sense debate about what defines a historic building. The rumor going around, fair or not, is that Whole Foods pulled out of the IHOP purchase because many of the decision makers believed that the IHOP on Franklin was worthy of historic status, ergo, protection. The other part of that rumor is that Whole Foods found the pre-development process to be onerous, costly, and in the end, not worth their time or money.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Back in December 2006 the results from a community survey came out. You can read it here.

First, this was a very methodical survey. I remember very little from my statistics class in college, however, I recognize the variance elements, beta, etc. It’s solid information.

Secondly, the results of this survey paint a far different picture of Eugene than what you see via some of the elected officials. Cats, sustainability, and downtown are not the public’s #1 priority. Important, but not #1. Security (fighting crime), jobs, and education are.

To put it succinctly, here are the concerns showing the largest growth in interest, consistently, every year, since 1998 (or 2001).

• Is Eugene’s population growing too fast?

  56% said yes in 1998, 31% in 2006. Either this means people think Eugene is slowing down, or they’re more accepting of the pop. growth needed to maintain a vibrant community. Probably the latter. Eugene doesn’t seem to be slowing down.

• In 1998, 45% of people surveyed believed their economic opportunities were getting better.

  That % fell by nearly 40% to only 25% who believed the same in 2006. This is significant. Obviously people feel that the city gov’t is not doing enough to encourage job growth, especially in the form of “living wages.”

  And yet..about 45% of Eugenians for almost eight years have believed that the City shouldn’t provide businesses with tax incentives. I feel for the Mayor here. But then that’s what leadership is about - telling people what they sometimes don’t want to hear.

  Springfield is dominant in the area of job and economic growth. As Springfield house prices catch up with Eugene’s, providing a larger taxable base for the City of Springfield, Eugene city leaders will discover that you can’t just opt-out of competition for resources. Eugene doesn’t “deserve” economic benefits any more than Springfield, right? That’s got to be earned.

• Safety - Business areas vs. neighborhoods.

  60-65% of people on average, over the last five years have felt very safe in their neighborhoods. Only about 27% on average say the same about business areas - hitting a five year low of 18% in 2006.

  Safety is a real issue for many, and especially women (it says so in the report). I would not feel comfortable having my wife walk alone at night to meet me downtown. I would rather walk to her. Suburbia, with all its bourgeois hubris and “Desperate Housewives” mythology, is safe. Suburbia is also an enormous asset to the city.

Everyone is aware of the successes of Eugene city government - good parks, decent schools, a great library system. What we don’t have very often in this town however is an open debate where people refuse to offend easily. Where conflict leads to resolution and a better city.

Ironically, most Eugenians with a thick skin simply hope the pollsters call them once a year. They’re too busy for the other nonsense.

Popularity: 16% [?]

My buddy Christian, owner of Pacific Home Funding, filled me in on a little commercial development news.

Pottery Barn is coming to Oakway Mall. Here’s a link to the various permits that were filed.

First PF Changs, now Pottery Barn. Oakway Mall management has made some big moves to help the city of Eugene move past 1965 and into the modern world. There’s nothing wrong with a little self-interest along the way.

Giant sinkholes in Downtown Eugene are evidence of what can happen when investors’ self-interest is perceived as bad for all. Oakway appears to be a dogma free zone, and I think (most) everyone is impressed by what they have been able to do for that mall in 10 years.

Popularity: 18% [?]

The Sellsius real estate blog talks about how an agent or seller can help a buyer experience what it would feel like to own the home. So why not allow them to spend the night in the home? Naturally, this only makes sense for vacation homes and rental properties for sale.

Or does it?

..Within the comments thread an agent named John Harper spoils the surprise about a new HGTV show called Sleep On It, where buyers are given a chance to sleep in a home. I sure hope they throw more into the process than “Big Brother” night vision filming of John and Suzie Q public. Yikes!

It will be interesting to see just how much buyers learn about a house after staying in it overnight. If it’s a house they think is worth the overnight stay, I’m guessing the buyer will be too far into the honeymoon phase to see the faux popcorn ceiling or the dog scratches on the back door. Those “features” will sink in later. Or..maybe the buyers will go into the deal with more accurate expectations, leading to a smoother deal?

When I find out more on this show, I’ll post it here.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Mapwing is a no-frills, easy-to-use virtual tour host. You can create a basic floor plan, leave notes, and allow people to tour inside and outside of the property using the “flashlight” compass on the floorplan.

This is a very clean site with an excellent product. I look forward to the day (if it comes), when they provide an API so others can mash their tours with MLS, Google maps, and other resources to build a better real estate mousetrap. Pardon the phrase.

Mapwing should be especially appealing to builders, who can create tours for popular home designs and embed them directly into their websites.

Popularity: 10% [?]

This PDF document, available on the State of Oregon’s Real Estate Agency Division website, provides some useful tips for the first time home buyer.

There are many people who buy a home without having basic knowledge of the offer, inspection, and closing processes. If you don’t have your own buyer’s agent when you find a home that you like, pay attention to the details in that PDF.

You might also consider finding a buyer’s agent and setting up a special contract with them. These contracts can be setup so that your agent earns a bonus for negotiating a price below your ceiling. If you don’t have a buyer’s agent to represent you, and you’re buying your first home, make sure you read all that you can about the negotiations process. A good resource for information about how to make an offer is available from Nolo.com

Nolo offers a lot of condensed, accurate legal knowledge. If you consider that the cost of your first house may surpass $200k, a well researched book is worth the investment.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Trulia is a great resource, however, somebody at Trulia needs to figure out how to prevent brokers from posting information like this.

It’s not for sale, it’s for lease - why bother? Businesses aren’t searching residential home listings, they’re searching Eugene commercial real estate sites like CityFeetLocal or LoopNet. Or spending time with their agent.

Online software can be very challenging to police so It’s up to the agents and brokers to avoid adding clutter to residential listings.

Kudos to Trulia for thinking ahead and providing a response tool for visitors however. Their little feedback box for each listing is a great way to encourage self-policing.

Popularity: 3% [?]