Save the Pets Does Well in Eugene

ABOUT SAVE THE PETS

Save the Pets is a non-profit 501(c) (3). Their goal is to help eliminate the pet overpopulation problem by increasing adoption rates in our community and educating people on the importance of spaying and neutering their pets. They help local shelters and rescue groups by creating a venue to showcase their animals that are available for adoption.  They have proven that off-site adoption events are successful which inspires them to move forward with their goal of opening an animal adoption center. Save the Pets is run solely by volunteers who advocate for the rights of animals to be treated with the respect and kindness they deserve.  To date Save the Pets has helped to place over 300 animals into loving home since thier conception in April 2007.

FUTURE PLANS

Eventually Save the Pets plans on launching a capital campaign to open a conveniently located animal adoption center for animals to be viewed 7 days a week by potential adopters.

Save the Pets believes that a center would improve adoption rates because of the convenience and friendly environment they envision.  It would also serve as a rehabilitation center for animals who have never been inside a home or for some that are terrified from past experiences or their time confined in a cage.

Save the Pets feels that creating a safe environment for the animals would allow them to thrive and, in some cases, regain their loss of trust. The center would constitute a home-like atmosphere where cats are free to roam, perch or enjoy sunning themselves in a cozy bed, and where dogs can lounge on a comfy couch, take a walk around the community or go home in the evening with a volunteer or staff member for a “doggy sleepover”.

There are thousands of homeless animals in Lane County alone and many end up in shelters or have a worse fate on the streets fending for themselves.  Some are euthanized simply due to lack of space.  This is no fault of the shelters or rescue groups who dedicate their lives to saving animals.  Save the Pets wants to alleviate some of the burden placed on these groups and unite for the greater good of the animals.

Referenced from Save the Pets

To learn more, click here: http://www.savethepets.net

Autzen Stadium History: Home of the Ducks

History

Prior to 1967, the Ducks played on Hayward Field. Recognizing that the football team had outgrown that facility, Oregon athletic director Leo Harriss led a campaign to build a new stadium on 90 acres (360,000 m²) that he had acquired for the purpose in the 1950s.

The stadium, designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill was built within an artificial crater to eliminate the need for multilevel ramps. As a result, construction took just nine months and cost approximately $2.5 million. $250,000 was contributed by the Autzen Foundation, headed by Portland lumberman Thomas Autzen, for whom the stadium was named. Thomas J. Autzen is actually an alumnus of Oregon State University. His donation to the University of Oregon is linked to his son’s attendance at the school during the late 1930s and early 1940s.

The first game played at Autzen Stadium was on September 23, 1967 in which Colorado defeated Oregon, 17–13. Oregon’s first win in the stadium occurred on October 21, when Idaho was defeated 31–6. That was the only victory for Oregon at Autzen Stadium that year.

The stadium alternates with Reser Stadium atOregon State University in hosting the Civil War Game between Oregon and Oregon State.

Renovations

The old press box on the northern side of Autzen Stadium was converted to luxury suites as part of a 1988 renovation

In 1988, a $2.3 million renovation built a new press box on the south side of the stadium and converted the original north side press box to luxury suites. The renovation was designed by architecture firm Ellber Becket.

In 1995, the field was named Rich Brooks Field. Brooks, currently the head coach at Kentucky, coached the Ducks from 1977-94, and led the Ducks to their first outright Pac-10 title in school history in 1994.

In 2002, a $90 million facelift and expansion added seating and luxury boxes to the south sideline, bringing capacity up to its current size.

In 2007, the large yellow “O” was added onto the South end of the stadium exterior when ESPN’s College Gameday was on location. That season, The Gameday crew held 2 Saturday shows from Eugene, the first time the show has ever broadcast from the same school twice in one season.

In 2008, a new, 33-by-85-foot high-definition LED scoreboard and replay screen — known as DuckVision– was installed; it replaced the original video screen installed prior to the 1998-1999 football season. It is the largest video screen in the Pac-10.

Reference from wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autzen_Stadium

What Are the Advantages of Using a Buyer’s Agent?

Before selecting a real estate agent ask all the agents you interview these questions:

• Do you spend 100% of your time assisting Buyers?
• Will you guarantee me that you will not be representing any seller at any time while you are working for me?
• Do you, or the company you are with, ever list properties for sale?
• Will you point out all the negative aspects of each property as well as all the positive aspects so I will be fully informed when making my decision?
• Will you provide information on comparable sales and help me formulate an offering price and negotiating strategy?
• Do you have a list of lenders, home inspectors, insurance agents and other professionals that you recommend?
• Will you tell me everything you can find out about the seller and their reasons for selling?
• Will you show me all the homes on the market that meet my needs, including For Sale By Owner properties, foreclosures, and other properties?
• Will you guarantee that any information I give you will be kept confidential?
• Will you guarantee me your undivided loyalty?
• Will you guarantee me you will not try to change your relationship with me to “dual agency”, “designated agent”, transactional agent”, or any other form of agency that offers reduced levels of service?
• Can you guarantee me 100% loyalty 100% of the time? Only an Exclusive Buyers Agent working in an Exclusive Buyer Agency can answer “Yes!” to ALL of the questions.

In the case of SNIDER v. OKLAHOMA REAL ESTATE COMMISSION, June 1, 1999 the Oklahoma Supreme Court said: “Sellers’ agents and dual agents do not and cannot by law give a buyer the same degree of loyalty as an agent who acts on behalf of a buyer. Sellers’ agents owe their allegiance to the seller. Dual agency invites a conflict of interest. A buyer who relies on the seller’s agent or on dual agency does not receive the same degree of legal protection as that afforded by an agent acting solely on behalf of the buyer”

An Exclusive Buyer’s Agent acts solely on behalf of the Buyer. They work for an office that does not take listings so they never have anything to “sell” you but their specialized knowledge and expertise in assisting home buyers.

Quoting John J. Rygiol

http://www.exclusivebuyersagents.com/snider-oklahoma.htm

Espresso Roma Cafe: Strong Coffee, Delicious Bakery

Caffeine Anyone?

Located right near campus, Cafe Roma is the campus coffee hot spot most frequented by U of O students for studying and all around cajoling. Few of us elders venture there which makes it all the more reason to check out this java find. Cheap, rich coffee that can sometimes double as diesel fuel paired to a fantastic bakery and it’s centralized location to all things U of O and you’ve got yourself a winner. Warning: be wary of the Starbucks next door.

Our pick: A mocha and a blackberry muffin can do no wrong….

Restaurant Cornucopia: A Local Bounty!

Now that's a Reuben!!

Cornucopia Restaurant and Catering

open 7 days a week

Cornucopia has been in business for over 10 years and going strong. Serving lunch and dinner! Indoor and outdoor seating is also available. If you can’t stay and relax in our home like and neighborly atmosphere with a fresh pint of beer or a fine glass of wine… orders to go are always an option. Award Winning Happy Hour over 10 circulating beers on tap Happy Hour Monday – Friday 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Cornucopia Catering Serving Eugene and Springfield Oregon (and surrounding areas) Cornucopia catering provides services for all occasions. Here is a small list of what we have done over the past five years in the catering industry. Weddings Elegant Cocktail Parties Holiday Parties Company Parties Boxed Lunches Business Lunches and Dinners BBQ’s and other Feasts Festival Concessions Anniversaries and Birthday Bashes Baby Showers Quoting this article from http://www.eugenecatering.com/eugene-catering.html

Our Favorite Homespun Book Store: Smith Family

If you can’t find it on one of Smith Family’s overflowing stacks, you don’t need it!

One of the oldest independent bookstores in Eugene, Smith Family Bookstore has been buying and selling books for 30 years. They serve readers of all ages and interests and have thousands of books in every subject. They have very informed employees who help people navigate our big stores. Their success over the years has been connected to this community’s appreciation of local, independent business, and they work hard to earn this support.

Down to Earth Garden Shop is Cool in the Shade

Historic Farmers Union Market

Located in the historic Farmers Union Market Place, and South Town, offering a unique blend of practical garden and household goods, including natural fertilizers, seeds, tools, nursery plants, cookware, Fiestaware®, body care products and much, much more. Locally owned since 1977.

It’s a great place to browse or use their very specialized know-how to discover what, when and where to plant. It’s also situated in the funky Farmers Market Place which shares space with Alann Bros Coffee. Grab some java and puruse away. A wonderful way to waste a Sunday!

Variety Abounds at Jiffy Market Wine and Deli

Vintage store spans three generations of family.Jiffy Market has evolved from convenience store to popular wine shopByline: Anne Williams The Register-Guard

In recent years, trendy, local bottle markets and upscale delicatessens have proliferated and reinvented themselves all over Eugene, but not much has changed at Jiffy Market.

Take the name, for starters. It goes back to the very beginning, 42 years ago, when a pair of local businessmen opened a neighborhood market at Hilyard Street and 34th Avenue in Eugene.

A year later, Bertha “Bert” and Ed Robertson bought the business and kept the name, running it as a mom and pop grocery for the next 20-some years.

Today, Jiffy Market burbles along under the gentle command of brothers Joe and Tom Robertson, who tend to shrug when asked questions about what changes might lie ahead for the neighborhood institution. They hope to build a cover for the deck sometime soon, but other than that, there’s not much on the horizon, they say.

“We’ve thought about changing the name, but it’s just been there so long,” says Joe Robertson, 57, who’s had a hand in the business for 35 years and took over when his parents bowed out in the early 1980s.

Jiffy Market underwent a true metamorphosis in 1985, when the brothers gutted the building, reduced the square footage and reopened with a delicatessen and a new emphasis on wine.

“That seemed to be the direction things were going,” Tom Robertson recalls. “Wine was becoming very popular.”

Today, they stock about 1,300 labels, with an emphasis on good value for the dollar. They also hold regular wine tastings and offer classes for would-be wine connoisseurs. (Of course, you can still find all the convenience-store essentials, such as milk, batteries, laundry detergent, toilet paper and canned soup.)

With 16 employees, the brothers are able to delegate tasks and responsibilities in a way their parents could only have dreamed of when they bought the business.

“When they first started, they probably worked all the shifts themselves,” from early morning to late at night, seven days a week, says Tom Robertson.

For Tom and Joe, 50-hour workweeks are more typical, and they even manage to carve out time for the odd vacation. Most days, Joe works the early shift, starting at 6 a.m. and heading home around 3 p.m.; Tom comes in around 10 a.m. and leaves around 6 p.m.

Tom, who took his first wine class in the mid-1980s, presides over the Friday night wine tastings, which resumed on Oct. 1.

“We don’t do it in the summer – that’s beer drinking weather,” he says.

He also teaches the wine appreciation classes, which began Oct. 11 and cost $80. Both the tastings and the classes are held in a separate room adjoining the 2,500-square-foot store.

“It’s mainly for the beginner,” says Tom Robertson, 53. “You learn how to use your nose, how to use your tongue, how to use a wine glass, how to use a corkscrew, how to differentiate between different components of wine, everything to do with sensory evaluation. It’s a pretty humorous kind of a class. We have a lot of fun.”

Jiffy Market’s clientele is intensely local, and intensely loyal. About 95 percent of customers either work, live or attend school in the area, and visit the store regularly, Tom Robertson says.

“A lot of the people who come in here have been coming in for 20, 30 years,” Tom says.

Both men say it is the customers who have kept them in this family business so long.

“They let us abuse them every day and they keep coming back,” jokes Tom Robertson.

In the past, Jiffy Market has leased space to independent eateries, including Tasty Thai Kitchen. The brothers say they’d consider another such partnership if the right one came along, but that for the time being the delicatessen handles breakfast, lunch and dinner quite nicely.

There’s nothing fancy about Jiffy’s deli. It’s standard American fare – bacon and eggs, sandwiches, cheeseburgers, fish and chips, burritos, soups and salads.

Joe’s 25-year-old daughter, Kelly, has managed the deli for four years. While she’s not planning to make a career of it, she likes working alongside her relatives.

“Of course, there’s more expected of you when it’s a family business, plus you care about it probably more than you would otherwise,” said Kelly, who’s considering colleges and may pursue a teaching career.

Kelly’s brother, 27-year-old Matt, has worked the counter off and on over the years, and cousin Brooks, 14, is a box boy when he’s not in school or traveling around the country. Brooks, Tom’s son, is an acclaimed finger-style guitarist who last spring won a nationwide talent contest on Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion” radio show.

While not all siblings could work closely together in harmony, the brothers say conflicts are rare and generally mild.

“I think the main things is just trying to share the same vision on things, so there’s some compromising,” says Tom Robertson, who went to college and worked as a musician and potter before joining his brother at Jiffy Market in the early 1980s.

Like many small businesses, Jiffy Market felt the recession of several years ago, and is still feeling the aftermath.

“We used to sell a lot more high-end cases” of wine, Tom Robertson says. “People have gotten more conservative.”

But the brothers don’t seem too concerned about competition from other bottle markets or places such as Trader Joe’s, with its popular bargain wines.

Says Joe Robertson: “I think people are trying to support these kinds of neighborhood markets again.”

Quoting this article by Anne Williams at The Register-Guard

http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-1807988/Vintage-store-spans-three-generations.html-page.html

$8,000 Tax Credit for First Time Buyers!

There hasn’t been a better time to buy real estate than now! With sales prices where they were at in 1998, motivated sellers and all kinds of inventory, 2009 is shaping up to be a historically phenomenal time to purchase a home. AND just when we thought things couldn’t get better for buyers, they just did. Now first time home buyers(or buyers who haven’t owned a home in the last 3 yrs), will receive a $8,000 tax credit for the 2009 tax season, if they purchase before December 31st.

Here’s a snippet from the CNN/Money article with a link to the full article below:

Final Score: $8,000 for Homebuyers

First-time purchasers get a tax credit windfall if they buy before December.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — There’s a nice windfall for some homebuyers in the economic stimulus bill awaiting President Obama’s signature on Tuesday. First-time buyers can claim a credit worth $8,000 – or 10% of the home’s value, whichever is less – on their 2008 or 2009 taxes.

A big plus is that the credit is refundable, meaning tax filers see a refund of the full $8,000 even if their total tax bill – the amount of withholding they paid during the year plus anything extra they had to pony up when they filed their returns – was less than that amount. But there has been a lot of confusion over this provision. Adam Billings of Knoxville , Tenn. wrote to CNNMoney.com asking:

“I will qualify as a first-time home buyer, and I am currently set to get a small tax refund for 2008. Does that mean if I purchased now that I would get an extra $8,000 added on top of my current refund?”

The short answer? Yes, Billings would get back the $8,000 plus what he’d overpaid. The long answer? It depends. Here are three scenarios:

Scenario 1: Your final tax liability is normally $6,000. You’ve had taxes withheld from every paycheck and at the end of the year you’ve paid Uncle Sam $6,000. Since you’ve already paid him all you owe, you get the entire $8,000 tax credit as a refund check.

Scenario 2: Your final tax liability is $6,000, but you’ve overpaid by $1,000 through your payroll withholding. Normally you would get a $1,000 refund check. In this scenario, you get $9,000, the $8,000 credit plus the $1,000 you overpaid.

Scenario 3: Your final tax liability is $6,000, but you’ve underpaid through your payroll withholding by $1,000. Normally, you would have to write the IRS a $1,000 check. This time, the first $1,000 of the tax credit pays your bill, and you get the remaining $7,000 as a refund.

To qualify for the credit, the purchase must be made between Jan. 1, 2009 and Nov. 30, 2009. Buyers may not have owned a home for the past three years to qualify as “first time” buyer. They must also live in the house for at least three years, or they will be obligated to pay back the credit.

Additionally, there are income restrictions: To qualify, buyers must make less than $75,000 for singles or $150,000 for couples. (Higher-income buyers may receive a partial credit.)

Applying for the credit will be easy – or at least as easy as doing your income taxes. Just claim it on your return. No other forms or papers have to be filed. Taxpayers who have already completed their returns can file amended returns for 2008 to claim the credit.

This article is quoted from CNN Money

http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/13/real_estate/homebuyer_tax_credit_finalized/index.htm

The Beginning!

Welcome and thank you for visiting us, our first post of our Eugene Real Estate Blog! We are very excited to be joining the blog-o-sphere and add our professional expertise relating to the sights, sounds and happenings of the Eugene community and it’s out lying areas. We ‘re going to be sharing with you, not only our thoughts, tips and predications of the real estate goings on here in Eugene, but also, feature our highlights of what makes Eugene great! We’ll also look at what’s shaping the market and how that affects you. Plus, some of our favorite hot spots, hide outs and hidden gems of the Emerald City! Please be sure to check back often as we will be constantly updating! To see listings, homes, houses for sale, please click on Search All Listings Above.