Columbia Gorge Real Estate Blog

Yesterday the Hood River City Manager declared a snow emergency in Hood River. We do have a lot of snow and more expected during the week. I've never seen so much snow here in the 15+ years I've lived here. My husband has been shoveling and shoveling to try to keep up. We have at least 2 feet in our driveway and yard and they say another 4-7" tonight. I84 closed yesterday afternoon due to blizzard conditions and remains closed between Troutdale and Hood River.

Did you know Oregon harvests more Christmas trees than any other state in the U.S.? Mt. Hood Territory in Clackamas County produces the largest supply of Christmas trees in the state of Oregon. 

• More than 1,000,000 acres of land have been planted with Christmas trees
• It takes about 6-8 years for a Christmas tree to mature
• 98% of Christmas trees are grown on farms
• Christmas Trees began to be sold commercially in the U.S. in 1851

Winter arrived on Saturday Dec 13, 2008 in the gorge. We currently have 4-5" of snow in Hood River and 22 degree daytime temps. Here are some of the views we are enjoying now. This is looking North at homes on the White Salmon Bluff. Most roads in Hood River are snow packed. More snow is predicted for Wednesday and Sunday.

Below is the Columbia River looking east.

Looking Northeast towards Burdoin Mtn and Snowden, WA.

Below is the Bridge South out Tucker Rd. over the Hood River

The Hood River on a wintery day.

We have plenty of snow now

Surprisingly we haven't had any snow in Hood River yet this season. Here are some gorge snow photos to remind you of what we could be enjoying or not. Personally  I don't miss having snow but I know there are plenty of others who want to go skiing and snowboarding and are dreaming of a white Christmas.

Here's the combined sales total of single family homes for the entire Columbia Gorge Region: Hood River & Wasco Counties in Oregon Klickitat & Skamania Counties in Washington.  These are the cities and towns reporting sales.  These sales are only LISTED sales not FSBO's or unlisted sales. There were 27 homes total sold gorge wide in the month of Nov 2008.

• Skamania-1
• Carson-2 
• Cougar-1
• White Salmon-2 
• Snowden-1
• Husum-1   
• Goldendale-2  
• Hood River/city-11 
• Odell-1
• The Dalles-5

Year to date residential sales for each County: Hood River County-186   Wasco County-175  Klickitat County-139  Skamania County-44

Here's a further month by month comparison of each counties residential sales for Jan-Oct 2008 

 Gorge County                            Monthly sales totals

Skamania    Jan-6    Feb-7    March-3    April-4    May-4    June-0   July-3  

                       Aug-2  Sept-2  Oct-4  Nov-4

Klickitat     Jan-10   Feb-5   March-16  April-12  May-10  June-9  July-14  

                    Aug-15  Sept-21 Oct-8  Nov-6                 

Hood River  Jan-10   Feb-12  March-12   April-15   May-27   June-13  July-19 

                      Aug-17  Sept-18  Oct-22 Nov-12

Wasco         Jan-10   Feb-14  March-14   April-16    May-23   June-18   July-17 

                 Aug-14  Sept-10  Oct-18  Nov-5

Now is a great time to buy your piece of The Gorge.  I hope you find this information helpful.  

Here's how 2008 sales are looking compared to 2007 sales:

 2008 Gorge total sales    Jan-36    Feb-38    March-43     April-47     May-64    June-40   July-53   Aug-48 Sept-51  Oct-52  Nov-27

 2007 Gorge total sales    Jan-40    Feb-48    March-82     April-72     May-73    June-85   July-95   Aug-72 Sept-65  Oct-82  Nov-49

Disclaimer: I assume no responsibilty for accuracy of information provided within this post and blog. Many entries on this blog are based on the opinions and  ideas of the author and are provided without warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied.  

Looking West from The Delta

 Beautiful Mt. Hood

The Hood River meets the Columbia

The Hood River Bridge crosses into Klickitat County, Washington

The view from Ruthton Park

The latest sales data for Nov 2008 in Wasco County is in from the RMLS. Included are only sales of homes that are listed on the RMLS.  Unlisted properties and fsbo homes are not included.  There were 5  total homes sold in Wasco County in Nov 2008. Here's the breakdown.

The Dalles- 5 homes sold-$158,000, $164,000, $170,000, $273,008, & $425,000

There are currently 24 Sale Pendings in Wasco County. 18 single family homes in The Dalles  and 6 Unimproved properties in Mosier.

Disclaimer: I assume no responsibilty for accuracy of information provided within this post and blog. Many entries on this blog are based on the opinions and  ideas of the author and are provided without warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied.  

Here are the sales in Skamania County for November 2008. These sales comps reflect only properties that are listed on the RMLS. Unlisted and FSBO properties are not included. According to the RMLS data there were 4 residential sales and 0 unimproved property sales in Skamania County in November 2008.

 These are the sales for Skamania County for Nov 2008 -a total of 4:

• Skamania- 1 home sold for $110,000     
• Carson- 2 homes sold-$219,000 & $225,000 
• Cougar- 1 cabins on leased land-$90,000  

There are currently 5 Sale Pendings in Skamania County: 2 Residential and 3 Unimproved properties.

Disclaimer: I assume no responsibilty for accuracy of information provided within this post and blog. Many entries on this blog are based on the opinions and  ideas of the author and are provided without warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied.  

The latest sales data from the RMLS for Klickitat County is in. These sales comps reflect only properties listed on the RMLS.  Unlisted or fsbo properties are not included. There were 6 total residential sales and  2  total unimproved sales for Klickitat County for Nov 2008.  Here's the break down.

White Salmon- 2 homes sold $400,000 & $475,000

Snowden- 1 home sold - $203,500

Husum- 1 home sale- $925,000 

Goldendale- 2 homes sold - $130,500 & $276,500

Unimproved Lots and Land Sold- 2 total sales- Goldendale-$65,000 & $92,000

There are currently 10 homes and 9 unimproved lots/land sale pending in Klickitat County.

Disclaimer: I assume no responsibilty for accuracy of information provided within this post and blog. Many entries on this blog are based on the opinions and  ideas of the author and are provided without warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied.  

Sales activity in Hood River County for November 2008 is about half what it was last month.  There were 12 total residential home sales for the month of November 2008 in Hood River County. This information is from the RMLS and includes listed property sales only-no FSBO's. The good news is there are still 27 sale pendings in escrow.

Hood River/City- 2 condos sold- 1 at $140,000 and 1 at $615,000    9 single family homes sold- priced at $215,000, $293,000, $295,000, $305,000, $335,000,$335,000, $370,000, $412,000, $481,000

Odell- 1 single family home sold $187,500

Currently there are 27 sale pendings in Hood River County-Cascade Locks- 1 single family home Hood River/City- 11 single family homes & 4 condos  Hood River/Westside-2 single family homes  Hood River/Eastside-2 single family homes Odell-3 single family homes  Parkdale-1 single family home   

3 unimproved land/lots in Hood River

Disclaimer: I assume no responsibilty for accuracy of information provided within this post and blog. The entries on this blog are based on the opinions and  ideas of the author and are provided without warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied.