1) Freddie Mac reported losses of $1.9B and Fannie Mae lost $2.4B. Fed Chairman, Paulson, says they will not be injecting public funds into either enterprise.

2) 2356 NW Hoyt is one of about 39 surviving homes in Northwest that was designed by Joseph Jacobberger. The Abstract of Title shows that the property was sold by E. & G.C. Sweet to Robert Hall. I now have a copy of the front elevation that Jacobberger drew of the house for Robert Hall. The entire nine page set of plans is part of a University of Oregon collection we found out this weekend. I’m going to work on acquiring a complete set. There have been some definite modifications over the last 100 years but not as much as we previously thought.

3) Open houses seemed to be well attended this weekend; there were a lot of them!

4) We’ve said before that everyone expects landscaping to look rough in the winter. Now that we’ve dried out from a we spring lawns can’t go unmaintained without browning out. Buyers notice (though not as critically as an overgrown yard in May). It’s especially a challenge for vacant, non-irrigated homes.

5) Buyers seem less into fixers and sweat equity. Move-in ready homes are scoring higher with our buyers. Tightening credit on seconds may be driving that: if you are doing the work yourself, you’ve got to come up with the cash or financing. If you buy it done, you wrap those repairs into the loan.