Patty Carroll, ASP®, SRES® & Scott Carroll - RE/MAX, Vancouver WA

Rose Village is getting a facelift one home at a time thanks to the 4^th Plain Corridor Revitalization Task Force Housing Coalition 'Paint-a-Thon', generous donations by Fred Meyer and other area businesses, and the efforts of some dedicated volunteers.

In just over 2 months, the Coalition has been responsible for painting some 17 homes in Rose Village. Here are before & after pictures of one of the most recent makeovers. This home was built in 1920 and had recently started to look a bit tired. The 'Paint-a-Thon' team consulted with the owners to choose a color combination they would like and that would fit well with other homes in the neighborhood.

The Rose Village area is conveniently located near downtown Vancouver, with easy access to I-5, Highway 14 and SR500. Much of the area was previously referred to as 'Vancouver Heights'. Most homes in the area were built between 1900 and 1950. Homes range in size from 500 to upward of 4,000 square feet. In its heyday, the area was home to many prominent people and their families. Names associated with the area include L.M. Hidden, S.W. Brown, C.H. Whitney, C.W. Slocum and L.R. Sohns. Projects like the Rose Village 'Paint-a-Thon' are helping revitalize the Rose Village area, both directly and indirectly, and helping it live up to its historic past.

The following Columbian link provides more detail about this effort to revitalize the Rose Village area: Revitalizing Rose Village

If you or someone you know would like to learn more about area revitalization plans and/or get involved in future volunteer efforts, please contact Mark & Patti Maggiora at (360) 992-9969 or email mark@groupnw.net or patti@groupnw.net.

Patty & Scott Carroll - RE/MAX Equity Group, Vancouver WA

Old homes are great. They have character and charm that you just can't find in new homes. Patty and I have spent the last 2 years renovating an old church into our home. Recently, we started researching the property to learn more about its history. We are finding that it can be a real challenge to research a home in our area ... especially if it was built in the early 1900s or before. We've found a few great resources, though, and thought that we'd pass them along to others who may be researching an old home.

One of the first steps we recommend is contact your title company. For a fee (I think we paid $25), our title company wa able to provide us with a sales history of our property. The sales history is a collection of deeds, maps, and other relevant documents that indicate the various owners of a property, transfer dates, etc. The information can be quite fun and interesting to read and will often give you some insight into the history of your home.

The next stop should be your local library. In our case, we went to the Fort Vancouver Regional Library (http://www.fvrl.org/aboutus/branch_list.cfm). We went to the main Vancouver branch and found years of old news articles on microfiche, old city directories (many with reverse address look up), Sanborn Maps, marriage records, burials records, and all sorts of other tools to help us learn more about our town, our neighborhood, our home, and the people who lived in our home before us. Other local resources that we found helpful were the Clark County Genealogical Society (http://www.ccgs-wa.org/) at 717 Grand Blvd in Vancouver and the Clark County Historical Museum (http://www.cchmuseum.org/) at 1511 Main St in Vancouver.

There are also a lot of online tools that we have found helpful. We often started our name, company and/or address searches at www.google.com. From there, we were led to all sorts of tools and resources. For properties in Clark County and/or other areas of Washington State, you may want to check out Clark County Geographic Information System (GIS) at http://gis.clark.wa.gov/gishome/, the Digital Archives at http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov, Washington History at http://secstate.wa.gov/history, and/or the Washington State Digital Collections at http://digitalwa.statelib.wa.gov/wscollections.htm.

In our case, we knew that our home had previously been a church. The sales history that we got from our title company gave us additional detail, though. We learned that our area was platted by Edson M Rowley in 1909. He first sold our property to the Seventh Day Adventist Church in 1911. The first pastor was a man by the name of Rev. Clarence A Purdum. From 1923 - 1970, our property was owned by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints under the leadership of Rev. Marcus H Cook and, later, Rev. Paul E Fishel.

We have also learned that the name of our street was originally New York Avenue, that our area was once referred to as 'Vancouver Heights', that there was a railroad just blocks from our property that ran between Vancouver and the Battle Ground area, that there was a street car line just blocks from our home that ran between downtown Vancouver and Sifton (past a race track at Bagley Downs). and that our area was once owned and/or inhabited by some of early Vancouver's most prominent people/familes like Arthur W. Hidden, George T. McConnell, Louis Sohns (Sohus), Samuel W. Brown, Hon. C. H. Whitney and others.

We know that we have just scratched the surface and look forward to learning much more about our home. And we're having a great time and meeting some great people in the process. So if walls could talk, what stories would your home tell?

Patty & Scott Carroll - RE/MAX Equity Group, Vancouver WA

Looking for a quick 'sanity break' or something to share with some kids in your life? Here's another fun Halloween game called Skeleton Park.

You will guide Frank through the park to collect missing bones. You'll need to get all 8 bones to advance to the next level. There are a total of 5 levels. Oh ... and don't forget that there are dogs out there that are going to want those bones just as much as you do. Go ahead ... give it a try!

Skeleton Park

Have a safe & happy Halloween!

Patty & Scott Carroll - RE/MAX Equity Group, Vancouver WA

We learned some valuable lessons today about ActiveRain and Blogging.

1) We learned that you never know what topic is going to grab people's attention. Last Friday, we got an email from a friend of ours with a link to the Pumpkin Simulator. We thought it was cute and Patty suggested that we do a blog about it. I was against the idea, believing that it would be frivolous, off-topic and not add value to the AR community. She said that it would be timely, fun and allow people a welcome distraction. Clearly, we did blog about the Pumpkin Simulator and Patty was right. In the first 4 days (including a weekend), we have had more than 400 views and 20 comments. Granted, it's not a blockbuster, but there are definitely people that found some kind of value in the post.

2) We learned that you never know who is going to read your blog. In our case, the Pumpkin Simulator caught the attention of the Managing Editor of RE/MAX Times for RE/MAX International. He sent us a personal email to tell us how much he enjoyed reading our blog and commented, specifically, on the Pumpkin Simulator blog, the Porch Painting blog and our Fluorescent Light blog.

3) We learned that you never know what path your blog post is going to take. Today, our Fluorescent Light blog has been re-blogged once, our Porch Painting blog has been reblogged 5 times, and our Pumpkin Simulator blog was sent out to all RE/MAX agents as part of today's MainStreet Link email, with select headlines from RE/MAX Times Online. Will this get us more business? Will be put any money in our pockets as a result of this? We have no idea! But we are pretty sure that positive exposure to thousands of our colleagues can't hurt us!

4) Perhaps the most important message we take from all is that blogs come in all shapes, sizes and colors ... and they all have a place at AR. Much like our lives, AR needs to have balance. The community benefits from diversity. Diversity of talents, diversity of viewpoints, diversity of content, diversity of all kinds. If you feel motivated to blog about something, DO IT! Someone will see it. Someone will like it. Someone will know just a little more about you, and you never know where that someone will lead you.

Patty & Scott Carroll - RE/MAX Equity Group, Vancouver WA

Patty recently earned her ASP® (Accredited Staging Professional) Real Estate Agent designation. ASP is the only nationally recognized designation for Home Staging. She received her designation and training from the professionals at Stagedhomes.com.

Home Staging started in Bellevue, WA in 1972. Barb Schwarz was a Realtor who had challenges getting her clients to make necessary changes to sell their homes. One day, a light bulb went on in her head and she uttered the words "Stage your house" with one of her clients ... and an entire industry was born. As a Realtor, Barb understood that Staging is part of the Real Estate industry ... not the decorating industry! This is a key distinction that sets ASPs apart from design facets that state they also Stage.

Accredited ASP Stagers and ASP Real Estate Agents are true Professionals trained under strict guidelines using proven Staging techniques developed for over 30 years. When you bring your home on the market and prepare your house for sale always hire an ASP because they are the true leaders in the Home Staging and Real Estate Industries.

Based on national averages, ASP Staged homes sell for more money than comparable non-Staged homes and/or in less time*. Staging invites multiple buyer interest and generates offers at times even above the asking price. Always insist on an Accredited Staging Professional when Staging your home.

You can see some of Patty's work at StagedHomes.com.

If you or anyone you know is considering selling a home in Vancouver/Clark County WA and could use the services of an Accredited Staging Professional, please call Patty at (360) 258-2459 or email PattyCarroll@SellingClarkCounty.com.

Patty & Scott Carroll - RE/MAX Equity Group, Vancouver WA

*Based on a limited survey of 200 homes prepared for sale by an Accredited Staging Professional (ASP®) in Sacramento, CA from 2004-2005