The Grants Pass, Oregon Caveman - A Bit of History.  Yes it's true, the City of Grants Pass, Oregon has a giant Caveman guarding the Chamber of Commerce building at the north end of town.   There's no missing the 17-ft tall Caveman (almost 20-ft with pedestal) clutching a club and dressed only in animal skins. The statue was erected in 1971 by the Grants Pass Caveman Club.  The group was formed by local business owners in 1922 to boost awareness about the town of Grants Pass and the nearby Oregon Caves.  It is said that the locals wore shaggy animal skins to welcome visiting dignitaries, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.  Sadly, on July 4, 2004, two vandals lit the caveman on fire, severely damaging his fiberglass body.  After much debate over repairing the Neanderthal, a local busines... 11/13/2009

NAME TAGS:  WHERE, WHEN & HOW Do you wear a name tag?  If you don't, I highly recommend that you start. Unless you are ashamed of what you do, why would you not want to make it easy for people to identify who you are and what you do? When people meet, normally each is concentrating on what they are going to say to make their introduction professionally, and a very high probability exists that neither heard what the other person said! Not wanting to ask someone to repeat what they said, we now continue the conversation without the key element of the dialog; addressing the other party by name. A high percentage of people today have hearing difficulty, due to age and life experience,  and a high percentage of people don't annunciate clearly, and maybe we come from different parts of the c... 11/13/2009

Late For Work Again! For all of you employers and employees out there who have an absenteeism problem, I offer a simple solution. You already know how agonizing it is, whichever side you are on - as an employee, you hate to go through the grilling procedure just because you've messed up again. As an employer, you don't want to come down too hard and possibly lose a good employee, so what can you do? Put the following list out to all of your personnel.  Then, all the employee needs to do is call in and give the number of the excuse that fits the occasion and both parties will understand without the normal punching-and-ducking that goes with it.  No more searching for plausible excuses, or stumbling over obvious lies, and getting tongue-tied because of trying to make the reason sound bett... 11/13/2009

Jaywalking Teachers I don't know how many people watch Jay Leno's new show, but since the great Johnny Carson left us, I find myself oftentimes lazily watching and I keep seeing the Jaywalking segment where he interviews people on the street. Has anyone else noticed how many young teachers that seem so ignorant of the history and current events of the United States? Jay Leno shows a photo of a United States President and they can't identify them!  A recent segment was the famous print of Washington crossing the Delaware and the teacher hadn't a clue who it was or what the occasion was. I realize that the last six teachers I saw were all teaching the lower grades, but I hate to think how they received a teaching certificate without any basic knowledge of the country they're teaching in. ... 11/13/2009

Ladies Night Out at Shop River Rock in Grants Pass, Oregon! It was a fabulous evening of music, wine, and tasty hor'dourves at Shop River Rock in Grants Pass, Oregon this evening.  The 8th Annual event, sponsored and hosted by Hellgate Excursions owner Robert Hamlin, was an opportunity for "Ladies Only" to enjoy a night out on the town.  Staff was dressed in tuxedo style vests, serving champagne, wine, and yummy hor'dourves throughout the evening.  25% of all tickets purchased for the event were donated to the Oregon Army National Guard Food Bank.  The Grants Pass event is by invitation only and sold out again this year!  Thanks Robert, for a fabulous evening!     11/12/2009

Best Seafood - Grants Pass, Oregon  When it comes to the Best Seafood, The Laughing Clam on "G" Street in old-town Grants Pass is a nice surprise! This old building has been here since the 1800's.  It was originally a cigar factory.    You can see the cigar molds hanging on the wall. Then, in the early 1900's it became a saloon. The custom back bar is still here, being brought around Cape Horn all the way to its' new home.  What an undertaking that must have been. At one point the building was made into an ice cream parlor and then it became a bar again. In 1996, it became The Laughing Clam. The lady who named it, took the name from her favorite restaurant from her childhood on the Oregon coast.  When it closed, she took the name so the fortune of good memories would transport to its' n... 11/12/2009

MLS Photographs - Grants Pass, Oregon I wrote a criticism on Realtor photos and have had additional thoughts to improve our client representation. When listing homes, I suggest checking for proper grammar and spelling.  We need to show professionalism!  Poorly constructed descriptions and misspelled words reflect poorly on all of us. A listing agreement is a very important contract, and yet I see such disregard to the merchandising obligation that we assume when we contract to sell someones' property. Also, in addition to well done photos, let's make sure of what we are printing.  Stay away from taking your photo in the mirror, toilet seats up, messy houses and the like. If the house isn't properly staged, or if the clients have cleanup to do, then take what photos you can and go back f... 11/12/2009

An Unlikely Hero                                                               EDDIE ALBERT aka EDWARD ALBERT HEIMBERGER 1906 - 2005. As I was doing some homework on the University of Minnesota (my home state), I discovered Eddie Albert had attended there, and I was surprised to find out that he was a war hero!  I don't know why I should be surprised, but I was.  I just didn't ever think of him as the hero type. It turns out, as I started looking into his past, Eddie was an avid sailor and sailing his ketch off Southern California before the outbreak of World War II, he saw some Japanese posing as fishermen surveying the water depths and channels on the coastline near Baja.  Having reported these suspicious activities to the authorities, he was enlisted by our government as a spy.  He w... 11/11/2009

LEST WE FORGET   NAVY JACK 1775 - One of our first colonial flags with 13 stripes.   GRAND UNION FLAG 1775 - The first flag of rebellion, used by John Paul Jones.  BENNINGTON FLAG 1777 - Carried in the battle of Bennington.  FIRST NATIONAL FLAG 1777 - Adopted by Congress as our first official flag.  OUR SECOND FLAG 1795 - Had 15 stars and 15 stripes, one for each state.  50 STAR FLAG July 4, 1960 - Adding Alaska and Hawaii. REMEMBER VETERANS DAY - NOVEMBER 11TH, 2009 LEST WE FORGET 11/10/2009

The Friendliest City - Grants Pass, Oregon  The Friendliest City I know, and the The Friendliest City you'll ever find.  Finally realizing my goal to settle in Grants Pass was the culmination of a forty year journey. Not having any knowledge of the area other than the climate and the scenery that had drawn us here, my wife and I were in for a very pleasant surprise. We received a bonus!  The bonus was people!  The people who live here make it the The Friendliest City I've ever seen. When we first moved to Grants Pass last year, we experienced such friendliness.  Not just the merchants, but the residents.  You can be standing in a store discussing a purchase, then suddenly a total stranger comes over and starts giving you very welcome information based on their experience with the item y... 11/09/2009

History Of Veterans Day - November 11th So have you wondered why Veterans day is always on November 11th with no accounting for what day of the week it falls on?  Why not on Monday like most other holidays? Here is a short History Of Veterans Day.  Go back to 1918 when an armistice or cessation of fighting went into effect during World War I.  The armistice began at 11:00 in the morning on November 11th, and I remember as a kid hearing the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month was "armistice day." For years starting in 1938 Armistice day was the holiday until 1954 when it was changed to Veterans day and became a day to honor American Veterans of all wars.  They also changed the date to Monday to allow for a longer holiday. In 1977 President Jerry Ford signed into law t... 11/08/2009

Craig Schiller offered some excellent staging advice in his post Picture What You Preach.  I thought it was worthy of a re-post Practice What You Preach - With Great Pictures!  I think we Realtors could learn a few things too!  Thanks Craig!  Because the end result of a staged home can be a great visual impression, home staging is seen as an image industry. Image companies in the fields of advertising, interior design, and landscaping have for long known that to sell and grow their own businesses; they must present a good visual image of themselves. As image businesses they know and rely on their logos, business cards and websites to communicating their knowledge and creative skill to apply basic design principals in their respective fields. If home stagers are going to sell to home own... 11/07/2009

Here are the latest Grants Pass, Southern Oregon Real Estate Statistics for October 2009. 1021 - Active Residential Listings 87 - Homes Sold 46 - Listings Pending 116 - Average Days on Market $214,236. - Average Sold Price Statistics provided courtesy of Real Estate Cafe.  Source of information is Southern Oregon MLS - Monthly NAR Statistical Report.  Information herein has not been verified and is not guaranteed. Click Here for more information regarding Grants Pass Southern Oregon Real Estate 11/06/2009

Breaking News: President Signs Tax Credit Extension & Expansion President Obama signed into law legislation that extends and expands the first-time homebuyer tax credit this morning. This enacts the legislation into law making the extension and expansion effective immediately after today. To learn more about the jobless benefit extension and the extension of the homebuyer tax credit visit: Obama signs jobless benefit extension. Who Qualifies for the Extended Credit?   First-time homebuyers who purchase after today and before April 30, 2010, are eligible for the extended tax credit. Current homeowners purchasing a new principal residence after today and before April 30, 2010, who have used the home being sold or vacated as a principal residence for five consecutive years within the last ... 11/06/2009

Equal Pay For Women Real Estate Brokers in Josephine County Oregon CNN has recently been covering the inequality in earnings between men and women in the workforce.  The same studies they do annually. General conclusions show that on average, women only earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by men.  CEO pay is even worse with women earning only 58% as much as men in the chief executive capacity. One major factor they reported is that women are not as forceful as men when asking for higher pay.  The general consensus was that women will basically be more polite, and with comments such as; "Oh, I'm all right where I am," or "Oh that's okay, I'll be fine at this rate, or in this position."  The males just seem to be more dominant when discussing position and pay. I thought it would be inte... 11/06/2009

Thank A Veteran - Veterans Day November 11th Next time you see an older gentleman proudly wearing his cap with military insignia, take a moment to stop and say, "Thank you for what you did for our country." You meet fewer of them all the time now, but on occasion, I still see a Pearl Harbor Vet and I always stop and thank them. When I was young, we still had a few Civil War Veterans.  Now the Vets of my father's era are all going away.  Soon, the Korean Veterans will disappear and we are running out of time to show them we care. Please, take the time to Thank A Veteran. 11/06/2009

Properly Representing Sellers of Real Estate Are our photos doing our clients a disservice? If a client has the confidence to list their home with us, what is our obligation?  Is it not to do our very best in trying to sell their property? I'm certain that we all feel happy to get the listing and I myself do not promise to spend money on media, but I do promise to do my best to list the home properly on the multiple listing media that I pay for by the month anyway. In my area, our MLS allows 15 photographs and I do my best to make them interesting and effective, and I include all 15 to Properly Represent Sellers! I continue to see listings that have only a few poorly done photos and I wonder what those clients feel?  I have not been in this business very long and probably should hold my... 11/06/2009

Some days, I just wanna scream!  Today, I learned another business owner closed their doors in Grants Pass, Oregon.  The River's Edge Restaurant and Miranda Mae Cafe were two of my favorite restaurants in Grants Pass, both of which closed their doors in the last thirty days. It's difficult to sit by and watch how this economy has negatively impacted some of my dearest friends and colleagues.  A bad economy is simply not a respecter of persons, it affects everyone.  Unfortunately, it appears there will be more casualties along the way before we reach the road to recovery.  My heart goes out to those who have lost a business, a home, a job, and perhaps even their dignity and respect.  I hope there is comfort in knowing this too shall pass.  Until then... perhaps we'll find the meaning in ... 11/04/2009

Veterans Day From Grants Pass Oregon Veterans Day gives us a reminder from a grateful nation to not only honor those that have died for our country, but to remember those who are still with us. As I sit here in my comfortable home, I think how fortunate I am to have fallen "between wars."  When I served, I held a very safe position creating "Top Secret" documents but with no risks to myself that were used by so many of our troops in Vietnam. So many I served with had come out of wars before my time and had lasting mental and physical wounds that never healed.  On Veterans Day , and all days, we must honor the ones who silently suffer and those who lost loved ones.  The parents who lost a son or daughter, and the children growing up without a parent, who made the highest sacrifice. For t... 11/04/2009

Homes For Sale in Grants Pass and Rogue River Oregon The following results for the month of October 2009 for Grants Pass and Rogue River were compiled from records of properties listed with the Southern Oregon Multiple Listing Service. This inventory may be misleading when you consider all of those people who have either withdrawn their homes temporarily from the market and/or all those who are waiting until the market gets stronger before they attempt to list their Homes For Sale. October 2009 Grants Pass and Rogue River Real Estate Statistics Number of Homes Sold: 65  Number of Homes Actively on the MLS: 742 79 Are Short Sales 43 Are Foreclosures 113 Are New Listings for October   *The Number of Homes that are Actively on the MLS are Located in the Following Areas: West Hills 53      ... 11/03/2009