Where, o where, are the buyers today, oh, where, o where, have they gone? Sometimes I think Florence is in the land that time forgot. Maybe we need to have a 25 billion dollar budget deficit and be talking about oil rigs off the coast of Oregon. Maybe then it would seem like people would take notice.

That's exactly why Florence is the place to be. Our unemployment is low compared to Eugene because we have no industrial base to lay off large chunks of employees. You won't see mass amounts of boarded up houses because most residents are financially retirement stable. We don't have a lot of small businesses so there aren't "Going Out of Business" signs in every other window. Life in general seems to go on regardless of the national naysayers. In fact, I often threaten to turn off my personal flow of news because there is so little uplifting information. Are we frozen from the cold negative winds of the media? Maybe Micheal J. Fox is the only one to understand that hope makes life worth living no matter what your situation is and the more you exercise it the better it will be.

The facts are that the Oregon Coast is a great place to escape the ills of urban survival. There are many great deals to be made in the local real estate market, interest rates are affordable, the price of gas has stabilised, and banks are beginning to lend money. So where, o where, are the buyers??

People come into our real estate office everyday to say how much they want to move to Florence, Oregon, but by the time they get home something happens to them. Maybe when on vacation distant destinations always seem a way out of the reality back home. For some who have really thought out a move but are frozen in time, I have this to offer.

Believe in yourself and understand that life is everchanging. Without change there is no growth. Sometimes, we just gotta do what we gotta do, and being afraid to break the ice may be keeping you from living a better life.

See you on the beach!

It's windy in Florence town today! The kind of day when you take down the open flags before they end up in the river, and the kind of day when you hope you don't find too many roof tiles in your driveway when you get home from work. Every paradise has it's price after all.

Have you noticed how people always think the grass in greener on the other side of the tracks.
People from California move to Oregon, and Oregonians move to Idaho, and people from Idaho want to move to Oregon. There are even those that move back to California...can you believe it? However, I think it is always because the grand kids couldn't convince their parents to move. Something about being upside down with their house and no buyers!

I can say that about California because my wife and I are Native Southern Califorians. In 1976 I decided that all people wanted to do was fill my beloved coast line with empty strip malls. We moved to Spokane, WA. which began a great adventure. During our 41 year marriage, my wife and I have moved 22 times. Each move wasn't always out of the city where we were living but we have lived in Mt. Home, ID, Las Vegas, NV, Bainbridge Is, WA, Cheney, WA, Colorado Springs, CO, Kona, HI, Flagstaff, AZ, and now Florence, Oregon. I've heard the term,"Serial Relocators", and it seems to fit my "Residential Attention Deficit Disorder" that I have self-diagnosed. I take full responsibility for my actions and thank the stars every night that my beautiful wife has kept me all these years.

Anyway, back to the grass-is-greener argument! Moving to a new place always looks good on paper because we tend to focus on the issues that are of interest. I really like Pagosa Springs, CO because the views of the Contenental Divide are breathtaking, and it's a small town with nice people, no crime. But, one must eventually consider the 400 inches of snow per year with temperatures that stay in the minus column to the point where car linkage doesn't want to move in the mornings. Maybe that was just my VW bus issue!! I know one thing and that is pushing snow on a regular basis warrants consideration, I don't care how good the view is.

Wait a minute, yes I do care what the view is!! Getting up each morning and looking at what Mother Nature has created has driven me to choose places to live. There are so many beatiful places on earth that we just don't have enough time to enjoy them all. I always believed that if you live in a beautiful place then everything else is bareable. So, my wife and I have chosen, over the years, to take what we call our "extended vacations". You know, the ones that last 2-5 years. That way you have time to check out all the trails and beaches.

Living on the Oregon coast is one of those places. It is a lifestyle and, of course, isn't for everyone. Yes, it rains and the wind blows, but that keeps the dust and air pollution away! You have to travel to get anywhere out of town, but that keeps development down and crooks are too lazy to drive to far to get into trouble. Small coastal town attitudes can be narrow minded, but they are rooted in a do-it-yourself history filled with hardworking families who make great friends. And, oh yes, it is very beautiful.

Every paradise has its' price you know.

It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood!!

Today is the kind of day that we all moved to Florence, OR for. The sky is a bright blue, the flags are gently blowing, the sand is warm, and walking is mandatory.

In Old Town, where I work, people are wandering the boardwalk taking in the harbor sites and browsing at the merchant booths set up specially for the summer weekends. We are a favorite stop for the summer Tour buses that cruse up and down the Oregon Coast.

The crabbing will be good today. There's nothing quite as satisfying as freshly cooked Dungeness crab that you caught yourself!!