• CMBA March meeting
• ReStore sets new online curbside pickup hours
• Get your home ready for the spring market
• Protect your finances and identity with these security tips
• Free Home Seller Seminar
• Cedar Mill Farmers’ Market getting ready!
• Bethany Village Easter Egg Hunt
• Business Expo West

CMBA March meeting

Tuesday, March 12, noon-1 pm, The Ackerly.

Our Speaker is Paul Richards-Kuan and Friendly House, presenting and sharing more information about the Opal, a 54 Unit Senior affordable housing complex targeting LGBTQ seniors, with a grand opening this spring in Cedar Mill.

Lunch will be provided, and our Dessert Sponsor is the Sunset Credit Union.

ReStore sets new online curbside pickup hours

Sundays-Fridays from 9 am-4 pm, Beaverton ReStore, 13475 SW Millikan Way, and other ReStore locations

Are you loving shopping online? We’ve got new curbside pickup hours for online purchases! You can now pick up your online purchase. Select your curbside pickup date at checkout at shoppdxrestore.org.

Get your home ready for the spring market

Jan Dempsey, Realtor, Windermere Realty Group

There is a best time of year to buy and sell homes in Portland. It’s Spring, from now until just before Memorial Day— for the fastest sale and for the most money. In our current market, listed houses need to be as close to perfect as they can be, or the buyers won’t pay the asking price. Worse, they may terminate after they have the house under contract if they find repairs that the seller has not/will not take care of. Because of our 6.5-7+% interest rate, buyers expect to walk into their new house and not have to do anything. If you choose to not do updates to your home, know that your sales price may be significantly lower than you think it should be.

As a consequence of our storm, I am strongly urging my sellers to start prepping their homes a month or two prior to coming to market. I have a list of pre-inspections that I have found can ease the transition through the closing process for the buyer: a whole house pre-inspection that includes attic, crawl, roof and gutters, sewer scoped, tank searched, radon test, mold search, furnace & a/c cleaned. If you haven’t looked in your crawl space or attic in the last 10 years, you may be shocked, but better you than the buyer’s inspector. If we feel any updating is needed: carpet replacement, hardwoods refinished, rooms repainted, that will add more time.

Sellers often think they know what a buyer wants and spend hundreds if not thousands more than they should doing upgrades when that may not be the fix the buyer wants. That’s where a realtor comes in. Getting the house photographed, floor plans drawn, staging furniture brought in, windows and house cleaned & buffed, and the yard bark-dusted, mowed, and edged are the finishing touches. Because of our storm, inspectors and contractors are completely swamped and booking months out. The difference between selling ‘as is’ and selling the house ‘market ready’ can be thousands of dollars in profit to you, and you’ll need to decide what investment you will make. It would be my pleasure to talk with you, walk through your home and suggest what would give you the most for your investment. This is a very complicated market; I would love to help you through it. Contact me at jdempsey@windermere.com or 503.706.6358.

Protect your finances and identity with these security tips

Terry Taylor, Sunset Credit Union

With the rise in cybersecurity breaches and identity theft, Sunset Credit Union wants to remind you of some security measures everyone should take to help protect themselves from identity theft.

Closely monitor all credit accounts and loans, to catch and report any suspicious activity on any one of those accounts. Immediately report any suspicious credit or loan account activity to the financial institution and/or lending institution.

Sign up for the fraud alerting services offered by the three credit bureaus to receive notifications about potentially fraudulent activity by visiting these sites: Equifax, Transunion, and/or Experian. You can also place a freeze on all three credit bureau accounts to prevent fraudsters from opening new accounts using your identity. Remember to unfreeze if you need a new creditline.

Join Sunset Credit Union and sign up for their FREE email/text alerts to notify you when your debit or credit card has been used. And be sure to check out our website for additional security benefits we offer.

Sunset Credit Union is open to anyone who lives, works, worships, or attends school in Washington County. To learn more, visit our website, give us a call at 503-643-1335, or stop into their office located at 1100 NW Murray Blvd., #200.

Free Home Seller Seminar

Wednesday, March 13, 6:30-8 pm, John L. Scott Real Estate Sunset-Corridor, 1800 NW 167th Pl, Ste 100, free.

The Real Estate Spring Market is almost upon us! This Home Seller Seminar is designed to present the current market’s trends and buyer’s profile; the steps to prepare to sell; and the home selling process itself from our first meeting to the closing table and everything in between. We will discuss repairs/updates, staging and first impressions, home inspections and all questions you may have.

Please RSVP by calling/texting Marie at 503-459-2726 or emailing marie@marieconser.com, as seating is limited. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Cedar Mill Farmers’ Market getting ready!

From Karen Carroll, Market Manager

Lots of behind-the-scenes things! We are busy planning and preparing for the twenty-five market dates we will be bringing to our community beginning on Saturday, May 4. Currently we are interviewing and accepting our Vendors, Sponsors, and Volunteers for the 2024 season, and scheduling our music line-up. Please contact us at ourcmfm@gmail.com if interested in any of those opportunities.

We are securing a Double Up Food Bucks Match through the Farmers Market Fund so we can continue to match up to $20 for SNAP users. We are so privileged again to be the recipient of funding through Tualatin Soil and Water Conservation District which will enable us to continue to bring the Power of Produce Kids Program to our market. We love to encourage kids to engage in the local food system and learn about fresh fruits and vegetables through activity and play through this program. We also give them market tokens toward their own produce purchase.

Cedar Mill Farmers Market is a non-profit 503(c)(6) business, and like most businesses we have expenses (staff, site fee, utilities, insurance, market programs, advertising, etc.). We rely on vendor booth fees and sponsorships for our income. We want to thank our 2023 sponsors that included the Sunset Athletic Club, Oak Hills Dentistry, Dirk Hmura with Eleete Realty, Miller Paint, and The Olive Branch. We thank them for their support during the 2023 season!

Our community involvement makes it happen! If you are a business in the area, we would love for you to be a part of making this market happen. We have Sponsorship Levels to share with you. We need a team of volunteers to assist in market day things like setting up and tearing down and more. We will be having a volunteer orientation in April. If you are interested in or would like some more information on either Sponsorship or Volunteering, or if you have any other questions/comments, please email us at ourcmfm@gmail.com.

Bethany Village Easter Egg Hunt

Saturday, March 30, 2-4 pm, Bethany Village Centre Plaza 4720 NW Bethany Blvd., free

Round up the kids and visit participating businesses all around the Village to collect fun goodies! There will be lots of candy, photo opportunities with the Easter Bunny, and fun activities at Bethany Athletic Club. Invite your besties and join us for this holiday tradition!  Visit us on the web or on any of our social media accounts linked on the website for more details.

Business Expo West

April 11, 9-3, Tektronix Campus Bldg. 38, 3025 SW Zworykin Ave, Beaverton, $20, register here

This year’s event, sponsored by BESThq, will focus primarily on workforce solutions for the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, math) business community. One principle of BestHQ is the Quadruple Bottom Line (QBL): People, Planet, Profit, Purpose.

Interactive and hands-on STEAM exhibits will enhance the experience while offering direct interaction with STEAM resources and professionals. The goal of Business Expo West will be to ignite and inspire the next generation and current STEAM pros, according to a news release.

Sponsorships are still available. Learn more here.