First cup of coffee and the morning edition of the Oregonian. Some of the front page section headlines:

Front page of sports: GIANT KILLERS III- Okay, not really real estate related but Oregon State Beating #1 USC 37-21 helps put Oregon on the map. And it’s one of the few bits of cheery news! I’m a Lewis and Clark Pioneer. When it comes to Division 1 teams, I’ll root for the Oregon team that will move up the national rankings. If it came to the Civil War for a trip to the Rose Bowl, I’d be conflicted.

Front page of business: Renaissance Homes Files for Chapter 11, will keep operating- I’ve been amazed how busy our subcontractors have been when it comes to scheduling work. Real estate prices have declined but I haven’t seen a drop in bid for remodeling work. You’d think an increase in the supply of contractors (due to less new construction work) would result in a drop in prices. It’s probably countered by the costs associated with construction; they’ve all gone up.

Front page: JPMorgan acquires bank assets of WaMu- The news that almost isn’t news. It’s been expected that WaMu was in trouble for some time now. An auction of the bank was canceled when interest was too low between other potential buyers. WaMu may be held out as the poster child for what went wrong in the subprime mortgage market.

Also on the front page: Economic rescue hits wall- The stock market is all over the map. Down 34 last week, up 196 yesterday and down 60 as I type. A 30 year fixed mortgage is quoted as 6.09%, up from 7.78% last week. Will there be a debate tonight or a town hall meeting with Obama? Our economy is a little, if not very, scary. At least from where I sit.