Sherwood, Oregon has been pegged to be the southern anchor of Washington counity's tourism drive. If approved, the scenic drive will start near Helvetia and travel for approximately 60 miles. It will be near 15 of the 18 wineries in Washington County. It will be marked by signs and have an accompanying map. Even if you don't like wine, the drive is beautiful and the grounds of the wineries are often breath-taking. To read more from an article in the Sherwood Gazette by Anthony Roberts Sherwood will be Southern Anchor on County's Tourism Drive.  Washington County Wineries: ( a partial list compiled from the  Convention and Visitors Bureau of Washington County, Oregon ) Beran Vineyards  Cooper Mountain Vineyards David Hill Winery Freja Cellars Gypsy Dancers Estate Helvetia Vineyards Monti... 04/12/2007

I'm a fairly recent addition to Sherwood and am proud to say that I love living here. I grew up in a small town in Southern Oregon and have spent over 15 years in Seattle and Portland. So I know big cities and little ones. Sherwood has the benefits of a small town with the proximity to Oregon's largest city. After getting married and having a child, my wife and I discovered that our town-home in West Linn was no longer adequate. We had 2 dogs, a cat and a growing little boy. What we needed was a house with a yard. We agreed that we wanted to stay in the South Portland are and really liked the Tualatin. After looking at several houses we made an offer just a little to late to be accepted. My wife got lost one evening and discovered Sherwood. We drove around and explored some. We decided ... 04/09/2007

As a Real Estate agent, I love to hear an owner say, "I'm tired of throwing away money every month on my investment properties." That means one of my investors is about to come in and make BIG money, every month, month after month. I even get more excited for my investors when the owner of the investment property says, "The renters have destroyed the property and it is now a major fixer, just take it, and make me an offer."Here is why my investors and I get so excited!   The problem is most investors buy a rental property that is making money month after month. They have a PITI of $1200 a month (Principle, Interest, Taxes & Insurance) and they own a duplex that is bringing in $1250 a month. So far so good. Then one month, a renter moves out, and they have to clean up the property. Two m... 04/06/2007

Why does the media continue to tell us the lie that flipping is illegal? I honestly don't know.  Here's the deal. What the media is calling flipping is actually just a investor buying a property and then selling at a profit by means of mortgage fraud.There are plenty of times an investor buys a property and flips it for a profit. If I buy a pre-foreclosure property and then sell it two days later for a $50,000 profit this isn't fraud and isn't illegal. OK, if I take that same property and find a buyer and offer to sell it to a buyer for $15,000 more than it is actually worth and give the buyer the $15,000 as a down payment so they can qualify for the loan with a bank, then this would be considered mortgage fraud and is illegal.So continue to buy and flip all the properties that you want... 04/03/2007

Last night I sat down with my 4 year old son and watched the House Finance committee discuss the subprime meltdown. Then I read the headlines. There were complaints of "no one giving a straight answer ' when the questions were leading. Headliners were thrown out by politicians seemingly looking for them.Once again I was amazed at what was considered news and what was lacking. The most profound comments to me came from  US Congressman David Scott. What he had to say was pretty much by-passed by the major media. In fact I searched on his name and the topic he discussed and did not get a single reference to todays hearings.His profound statement did not place blame on the sub prime lenders, although many did and had reason to. It did not place blame on unscrupulous mortgage brokers, althou... 03/27/2007

Now you own a home and all the benefits that come along with it. One of those benefits is the mortgage tax deduction on your state and federal taxes. Every dime you pay in interest on you mortgage is a deduction off your gross income on your taxes and can mean a tax savings of thousands of dollars.Most people don't realize on $200,000 loan at 6% in the first year you pay almost $12,000 in interest on your mortgage. If you took that $12,000 and deducted it from you gross income, would that help you year end tax bill to Uncle Sam? You bet it would and no one wants to pay more taxes than they have to.There are other tax write off that you can get on your home that you couldn't get when renting. Do you want to do some home remodeling to bring up the value of your property? Guess what, Uncle... 03/26/2007

I don't know about you, but most of what I've read on the mortgage crisis is from reporters with limited information and an editor looking for a story. Finally we have scientific data that has revealed some interesting trends. Like all real research this is a dry read, but I'll highlight a few points. First, the credit and link. In a Press Release found on Yahoo;"First American CoreLogic, a member of The First American Corporation (NYSE: FAF - News) family of companies, released a new study today that investigates the impact of mortgage payment reset and provides insight into which loans will be most affected when adjustable-rate mortgages convert from low introductory interest rates to higher prevailing market rates. The study, titled "Mortgage Payment Reset: The Issue and the Impact,"... 03/26/2007

Have you been told by the banks that you don't have a good enough credit score to get a loan? Don't give up so easily, with the right help, from the right Realtor you can get in to a home with out the use of bank financing. The option that I am offering you is call owner financing and it can save you thousands of dollars in interest over traditional financing and put you in to a new home today.Why would a home owner offer financing to a buyer that wasn't able to get financing through traditional methods? This is a chance for them to make more money. Imagine selling a home for $200,000 with a normal realtor at 6% commission. That home owner would only net $183,000 after paying the Realtor and the closing costs on the property. With 100% owner financing at 7% in 5 years time the home owne... 03/24/2007

If you are a fan of late night TV you can't not see an infomercial showing how you too can make a fortune in real estate. They purport to show you how to do this with little or no money down and that often you can do it without actually taking out a loan or going on title.I'm not going to say that their systems don't work, because they do. Many people have made a fortune through creative real estate transactions. But what they don't tell you is that things have changed. Some of the ways that deals were structured in the last few years are no longer able to be financed today. Following are a few.Earnest Money with buyer "or assignee". This would allow a borrower to purchase a property or assign the right to purchase to someone else. For the last few years many investors used this clause ... 03/23/2007

As a Realtor we have clients come to us usually after ordering a 2am special investment CD collection saying "I want you to find me a home at 50% of the retail value" Do those programs work? In some cases they do, but it takes a lot more work than they make it seem on the CD's and DVD's you get in the mail. If it was truly as easy as they say it is, wouldn't everyone do it?. I usually sit down with my clients and teach them a better way of finding the deals and making extra money by just doing things a little bit different.Did you know that you can find fixer properties on the market every single day and at very discounted sales prices? If you take a property like this and buy it for 70% of ARV and fix it up for 15% you can make a 15% profit by just putting it back on the market the tra... 03/23/2007

Sherwood Real Estate Review Previous Month's Average Sales Price: $385,600Year-to-Date Average Sales Price & Appreciation: $378,600, 8.0%.February 2007 seems to follow the same trend we've seen for the last few months with new listings up and pending and closed sales down. However, pending only dipped slightly when compared to the same time last year. Further inventory is down compared to last month. The 9,901 active residential listings at the end of February would last approximately 5.2 months at the month's rate of sales. When compared with the month of February 2007, the number of new listings increased 22.3%. Closed sales decreased 6.8% and pending sales fell 0.4%. Year to Date When comparing market activity for January-February 2007 to the same time in 2006 we see that the number ... 03/22/2007

Sherwood Old Town StunnerStunning remodeled Sherwood Old Town daylight ranch. This lovely home features a gorgeous new kitchen, designer colors & lighting, huge greatroom wired for surround sound and a spacious new bathroom. The extra large walk-around deck, with hot tub, overlooks a huge private backyard. RV parking, storage shed, A/C are just a few of the featured amenities of the awesome home. Resale Single Family Home $309,500 Address: 22753 SW Norton St. City/ST: Sherwood, OR Zip Code: 97140 Bedrooms: 3 Bathrooms: 2 full, 0 half Square Footage: 2024 MLS# 7020728 For additional photos and details visit http//:www.TonyandLibby.comor call 1-800-395-1151 code 614 for 24 hr recorded information This listing is brought to you courtesy of the Tony and Libby Kelly Group, Keller Williams Re... 03/12/2007

Affordable Sherwood ShowcaseAffordable housing in Sherwood! Newer commonwall home with no HOA's! This home features awesome square footage and yard for the price. 3BR, 2.5 BA. Greatroom floorplan w/ cozy fireplace. Large brightly lit kitchen with Peninsula and eating bar plus dining nook. A/C. Very cute home with designer colors throughout. Small office/loft area at the top of the stairs as well. Great neighborhood, and did we mention affordable?! Resale Multi family Dwelling $279,900 Address: 20698 SW LAVENDER AVE City/ST: Sherwood, OR Zip Code: 97140 Bedrooms: 3 Bathrooms: 2 full, 1 half Square Footage: 1751 MLS# 7018475 For additional photos and details visit http//:www.TonyandLibby.comor call 1-800-395-1151 code 613 for 24 hr recorded information This listing is brought to you court... 03/05/2007