Salem World Beat Festival and Racing Dragons

Dragon Boats that is... This weekend is the World Beat Festival in Salem at Riverfront Park. The festival is put on by the Salem Multicultural Institute and is a 2 day, non-stop program of international music, dance, food, folklore and more.

This will be the first year that I have attended the festival! We are looking forward to checking it out. We always go to The Bite the last weekend in July, but just have never made it to the World Beat Festival. June tends to be a very busy month for Salem Oregon Real Estate.

This year my husband is participating in the Dragon Boat Races. The first two races start at 9:30 and 11:30, so come on down and help me cheer my husband's team on! If you plan on being there for the races let me know.

A portion of the proceeds for the festival go to benefit the cultural programs for children at A.C. Gilbert's Discovery Village. So, let's have some fun and benefit the community at the same time.

Downpayment Assistance for First Time Homebuyers available July 1st.

Great news for the Salem/Keizer Oregon real estate market. The City of Salem will once again re-open their program for downpayment assistance for first time homebuyers that are buying in the Salem/Keizer area. New funds will become available the first of July. This is a great program for buyers who can afford to make a monthly mortgage payment, but do not have the available funds for the 3.5% downpayment that FHA now requires. There are certain requirements that buyers must meet to obtain the downpayment assistance.

The first step to starting this process is to find a mortgage broker/lender that has your best interests at heart. You will need a trusted advisor skilled in working with the City of Salem program. I work with several trusted professionals that would be happy to assist you in your quest to buy a home using this downpayment assistance. I would be happy to refer you to my trusted partners. You can call me direct at 503-931-1846, or email me at MelWagnerBroker@msn.com for the names and numbers of these professionals.

First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit may be extended and made available to all home purchasers.

There are several proposals in the works to extend or build on the current $8000 tax credit for buyers that are first time homebuyers. The current credit ends in November, but the new proposals would extend the credit and possibly allow for all buyers to take advantage of the credit through 2010. First time homebuyers currently make up to 40% of the buyers that are buying. Certainly extending the credit and allowing all buyers to participate in the program would have a positive effect on the current housing market difficulties. We have seen many Salem Oregon buyers that are first time home buyers decide to purchase a home to take advantage of the credit and also the historically low interest rates that we have seen the past few months. This has helped to boost sales activity in the local Salem Oregon Real Estate Market.

I will be updating this blog as more information comes available.

Wine, Chocolate and More Festival-what "more" could you ask for??

A sign caught my eye today while I was out showing property, so I decided I need to investigate this intriguing sign just a little "more". First of all, I had not heard of this festival before, and secondly, it contained two of my favorite words “chocolate” and “wine”. The “more” I definitely wanted to know "more" about.

The Wine, Chocolate and More Festival is a benefit festival put on by Altrusa of Salem. The great thing about this festival is that it is a chance to give back to the community. The festival benefits local programs. All profits from the festival stay in our community and are used to help women and children in crisis situations, and literacy projects.

You can spend time talking with the local wineries and learning about the intricacies of wine and wine making. Purchases can be made by the taste, glass, bottle or case. There are competitions that you can vote on. To sum it up, who doesn’t love wine,chocolate and giving back to the community??

For more information on this yummy festival visit their website!

It's that time again-HBA 2009 Tour of Homes

Hard to believe that it is already time for the Tour of Homes again. This year has really flown by! I'm always excited for the Tour of Homes to roll around. You don't have to be looking to buy a home to benefit from visiting the tour homes. The homes are great resources if you are considering some remodel work to your home, or even just repainting the interior or exterior. Visiting the tour homes is a great way to see which new popular colors are being used for interior and exterior painting.

Be sure to visit the New Product House to see all of the newest products available for homeowners. This years New Product House is located at 4942 Periwinkle Dr. SE in Salem.

You can access all of the tour information online including a map of the tour homes. Hours of the tour are 12 pm to 6 pm on the weekends, and 6 pm to 9 pm on weeknights.

and I thought I had some real estate moments to talk about

Well, here is an interesting news article that I stumbled upon while enjoying my coffe this morning....Realtors all have some good stories to tell about things that they have seen, or experiences in the line of duty....but let me just say that I am glad that I was not this seller's Realtor holding their home open.... this is a story I haven't heard before

Open house to open for Winchester homeowners' comfort.

The good news is there is a follow up article the next day explaining things

Some people clearly have way too much time on their hands ;-) Well, so much for my mornings amusement...