Becky Breeze Calls The Plaza "UNFORTUNATE"

Welp, it's been another week where it has been proved that the real value of this blog is primarily in user comments. And I woke up to find that The Bulletin has just printed a fairly informative piece, on what at some point, will be acknowledged as The Biggest News Story in Bend History, The Collapse of The Local Real Estate Market. It WILL NOT, in all likelihood be The Biggest in the US -- that'll be saved for some sort of terrorist nightmare -- but nothing will be as big & far reaching as the local collapse in Bend RE. Not even close.

Let's start out with Becky, shall we?

I received an email from one Jakey-O, one proprietor of BendBlogs last Sunday, Nov 4. He said that "Becky Breeze" had been advised by her helper monkey to read the derisive horrors that Jake -- yes Jake -- had been writing about her on BendBlogs. It can be assumed that she clicked on a link, say... I don't know... "RIP Breeze & Wurzels' The Plaza, We hardly knew ye.", and became inflamed.

Becky did what any techno-tard would do, and I include my wife in that group, she sent Jake a bit of rebuttal mail via his blog submission form. Now folks, faking THAT sort of technological retardation is truly reserved for those who have absolutely NO IDEA how email & other rock-bottom internet technologies really work. Again, it's something my own lovely wife would do. Which is actually why my initial reaction was it was "How very sweet"! Really! It's like watching a young infant try to figure out a remote or something. Whenever my wife tries to surf the net, I end up giving her a hug & chuckling -- it's just so damn cute what she thinks is the right way to do things!

So upon receiving Jake's email, I KNEW this email from Becky Breeze was authentic. I knew it. I knew it was authentic for other reasons as well, but the manner in which he received it instantly validated it's authenticity, in my mind. You will also see that this is DIFFERENT from the comments left over on BendBB by "Becky". Without further ado, here it is (some formatting is mine, as her message was in plain text):

city: Bend blogname:

becky breeze

blogurl: becky breeze

comments: Hello I am the person you mentioned in a recent blog. I am 58 and really do not even know what a blog is but here I am. My 12 year assistant told me there was a blog I should read and address it.

So here I am. Hi

First of all I have been selling to the most poor and the most rich and mostly to everyone in between in Salem and Bend for 28 years. I have sold real estate with pride and with integrity and no one that can say anything different. My client base is loyal and appreciative of my experience and my loyalty to them.

Unfortunately for me and my wonderful husband in our ever changing market, we followed the request from a wide base of clients that said they needed one level condominiums that was not a retirement center. A place to enjoy and be secure but not be restricted to age in case their children or grandchildren want to stay. They did not want to rent a room from the retirement centers Bend developers were building and have to pay the $3000 to 5000 a month fee for a rental.

I kept thinking that would be a good idea but did not have the time. My husband retired from his real job and asked me what I wanted to do with the almost acre lot we owned. Of course I told him what my client base had been saying. This was 04. I had so many requests for one easy living one level condos from clients I told him that seemed what we needed to do.

We are environmentalists so we made sure we had the largest green roof this side of the cascades, all the clean water from the building goes through underground pipes to the river, all outside surfaces are no up-keep (cement,brick)so there will not be off gasses and maintenance. 33,000 sq ft of undergound parking so we do not impact the Old Mill as every else has.

I can go on but I will not. But call and I will fill you in. It is better for 42 families to be able to walk and bike to their businesses and recreation then it is for them to drive from the out lining neighborhoods. I do not know why you are picking on me and our project. I will be happy to walk you through personally or my crew is on duty daily from 12 to 5. Come by and have coffee. I am a nice person and I am sure you are too.

Becky

As I have said 100X, Becky really is a nice gal. And I'll say it again, Becky Breeze is a sweet, well-meaning gal. OK?

But there are a few bothersome little details here that throw a chink in that sweet little armor. First, the idea that Becky asked OR received client recommendations about a "one level condominiums that was not a retirement center", is patently absurd. Those words have never been uttered before in World history.

Becky: "So, now that I've pocketed 6%, I'd like to ask you What Sort Of Building You Would Like To Live Out The Rest Of Your Short Life In?"

Mental Patient: "I WOULD LIKE A ONE LEVEL CONDOMINIUM SO THAT I MIGHT BE ABLE TO QUICKLY GO TO VICTORIAS SECRET, THE RIVER, OR WALK TO MY JOB AS A CRAZY PERSON AT THE LOCAL ASYLUM. THANK YOU FOR ASKING."

OK, did not happen. Condo's are built for ONE REASON, and one reason only: So OLD PEOPLE can be entombed and get used to CASKET LIVING as soon as possible. What Becky REALLY should have spent money on is some sort of rocket-propelled modular stacked dumpster that shot condo-dumpster units directly into the Deschutes River when geezers die, ala Spock in "Start Trek: The Motion Picture". I'm sorry Becky, but self-serving tripe Bullshit like that will get you mowed down here. Cut the bullshit.

Becky is also invoking The Whole "I'm Green, Lookie At Me!" Enviro-Nazi, Cloaked Corporate Greed bullshit marketing angle, which will actually be revealed for what it is: Plain old cost cutting.

Q: "Was cement used because it's cheap, abundant, and has been used for 50,000 years as a building material?"

A: "No! We're GREEN! So we used cement, and other GREEN building material such as METAL REBAR, BRICKS, AND ROOFING SHINGLES so that Grampa wouldn't SUFFOCATE to death if we used NON-GREEN building materials like Anthrax, Agent Orange, or the stacked up corpses of baby deer and Vietnamese child slave labor, like so much of our EVIL COMPETITION uses. We're GOOD PEOPLE!"

Mark my words: We'll all look back on this GREEN thing as some demented period where Corporate Overlords bent Enviro-Nazi's over a barrel & let 'em have it right up their bran-laden corn chutes. It's already so OVERUSED that it's meaning has been diluted to nil. All I know, is when someone tells me they're GREEN, they are REALLY charging me 50-100% more than the market will bear for the same old shit.

Green Marketer: "Did you know these coffee beans were picked by SUSTAINABLE MEXICANS in the Guatemalan Rain Forests of China?"

Paul-doh!: "Bitch, you been pitching that Juan Valdez bullshit for 20 years! I know damn well they mount about 6 Cubans on the front hood of a motherfucking 1952 Chevy, and drive that motherfucker at about 90mph through they next door neighbors coffee field, pickin beans like a motherfucker! Don't give me that GREEN BULLSHIT! Fuckin Chinese are gonna take 'er to the next level, and tie 50 Chinamen by they feet to a 1948 C-121 Constellation, and fly that bitch at low altitude over the vast Mongolian coffee fields, and get that crop dusting & coffee pickin done at the same time. GREEN? My cottage cheese ass, GREEN!"

Sorry, but when I hear someones GREEN, I about drop a load in my pants. You ain't GREEN Becky, you're like the rest: you're cheap as shit, and have found the Holy Grail of actually CHARGING MORE for BUTT BANGING your customers for cheap crap.

Now, long about last Monday, Becky figured out BLOGGING, to the extent that is possible, and dropped a note on BendBB's door. I never saw the original, as it was deleted. Duncan asked:

"Did you guys remove that last message or did the writer? Just curious."

Then a "Guest":

"Thats interesting, I read the entire letter. is this more censorship? or just that Becky decided to remove it? "

Then rdc chimed in:

"It was a long message with writer being a guest with name Becky Breeze "

Finally, at 8:03PM the Unwaveringly Correct Voice of Reason, BendBB, imparted from High On Mount Sinai, a message he brought down burned into 2 rock tablets:

" I removed it. It's okay to post anonymously under a handle or a nickname, but it's not okay to post under someone else's name."

The imputence! That "Becky Breeze" character was soon going to be shown what it's like to tangle with The Unshakable Resolution Of BendBB, a man who has NEVER in history been proven even REMOTELY INCORRECT. EVER. But still, the UNBELIEVERS CONTINUED. Another CONTEMPTUOUS "Guest":

"That was a very legitimate letter, It was written by Becky I assure you."

It is at this point that BendBB, standing in tattered rags, having spent 40 days on Mount Sinai picking berries and gnawing his own toes (no relation Tim...) to stay alive, whipped a 3rd TABLET out of his back pocket, and proclaimed THE TRUTH:

Nope, it was clearly written by a troll. If you're that easily fooled, I've got a bridge in Portland to sell you.

This is where it should have ended. "So let it be written, so let it be done", and all that. But no. At this point, your humble author, took time from busily constructing Golden Idols and performing ghastly acts of bestiality, to mumble:

"It WAS real. Don't worry, you'll see it again."

And BendBB did what he should have done all along, he gave me the Proverbial God-like Smackdown!

BendBB: Here's a picture of the bridge for sale:

Fuck-N A right ya Bitch! Even then, I tempted fate, WRONGLY:

Paul-doh!: "Say what you want, I know the source... it's legit"

Then came the filth of unbelievers, first Timmy: "Is it posted on your blog, Paul? I didn't get to read it." Then another loathsome "Guest": "My mother works for Becky, it was indeed written by her." The TRUTH? YOU MOTHERFUCKERS CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH:

BendBB when hearing suggestions he is "wrong".

Finally the onslaught was TOO MUCH, and our UNWAVERINGLY CORRECT LEADER, one who KNOWS ALL & SEES ALL, actually did the UNTHINKABLE, he acknowledged that he COULD HAVE BEEN ... Oh God, it's TOO AWFUL FOR WORDS... WRONG! NEVER! NEVER, I say!

Here we see Timmy asking a judge to pull his finger, or telling BendBB he's wrong. He was promptly executed for both.

But still the onslaught from the Contemptuous Maggots CONTINUED:

frazzled: "Why don't you just put the post back, so we can all judge for ourselves? We don't need BB being our censor. Instead of deleting a post remove the username or any signature."

Finally, after shaking off a momentary spell, possibly cast by SATAN, BendBB returned to True Form:

"If you don't like how this bulletin board works, nobody is forcing you to read it and you're free to leave.

For those who have trouble remembering the concept of not posting under someone else's name, I've added a reminder in the Welcome topic under the General category."

yes. Yes! YES!! He's BACK! Take THAT you contemptuous BITCHES!

" Your opinion that you don't like censorship is fine, but you also need to recognize that there's no absolute right to post anything anyone wants anywhere on the Internet. If someone wants to participate on a bulletin board or blog where there are no rules there are plenty of them out there. That's not how this bulletin board works though, so if you're going to post here you need to follow the rules."

Finally, someone who UNDERSTANDS that the TRUE VALUE of blogs & BB's is in THE CENSORSHIP. We should have learned this from The Three Holy Sisters Of Censorship: KTVZ, The Bulletin, and Cascade Business Buttfuckers. But no. We whored about, fucking golden sheep in the ass, while someone was high on Mount Sinai trying to figure out Universal Truths FOR US, such as The Merits Of Green Marketing & Why Identity Verification On The Internet Is Absolutely Foolproof, and other Golden Nuggs. Here is a recent pic of BendBB pleading his case at the DMV:



Now, I'm going to continue the Becky Breeze thread for the sake of completeness, and some things might be copy/pasted that make it APPEAR that BendBB is wrong (perish the thought), and I was DEAD MOTHERFUCKING RIGHT THE WHOLE FUCKING TIME AGAIN, but rest assured this is not the case. These statements will be taken out of context by some, but again, BendBB has NEVER BEEN WRONG, and I HAVE NEVER BEEN RIGHT, and for that I, as usual, must apologize PROFUSELY to BendBB for the err of my heathen-istic ways. Here is a recent pic of Paul-doh! as proof of his horribleness:



Now after Jakey-O's BendBlogs receives a blog submission, he has an auto-repsonder send a confirmation "Thank You". Becky felt compelled to respond to this RUDE auto-bot Transformer:

"Hi I do not know what a blog is but my 38 old assitant that has been with me for 12 years told me I should address this. I am dealing with ovarian cancer and do not think it is important and will not check it again probably but I gave my response to the issue. Thank you Becky"

"I am dealing with ovarian cancer and do not think it is important"? What? Becky, of course your ovarian cancer is important.

Seriously, I again wish her well. Now this is when we get back to Bend "Always MOTHERFUCKIN Right" BB, and the rest of us loathsome idiots. BendBB posted this with respect to how he rolls:

"I've sent an email message to Becky Breeze asking her to confirm that she's the one who registered for the bulletin board today. When she responds I'll let you know what I find out."

Absolutely. The dead on right thing to do, because as any MORON knows, once you've registered on an anonymous bulletin board, that's really the only 100% dead sure way of confirming who anyone really is. So here is The Real And Absolutely Unfakeable BeckyBreeze, the Only Possible Becky Breeze In The Known Universe":

"Know how to do this blog stuff. ADMINISTRATOR Please re post my response that I provided under guest before. My smart systems guy Tarris is standing over me and showed me how register and respond properly. The administer will know @ not worry it was me. Dealing with a possible 'real demise' of Ovarian cancer starting 2 years ago this coming Jan, this all seems weird. Just remember when you are all being tough on each other most people are just like you in a lot of ways. No one in this life gets by on a free pass. Stay healthy and get as much happiness out of each day as you can. Come by and see me anytime you want and I will talk face to face with anyone that wants to. It is always good to meet a new friend. It kind of makes me sad that the guy that posted the blog said 'I told her not to do it' There was only one person that said that to me and he knows who he is. That person was told a million times not to do almost everything in his life and has gotten some success from just trying everyday and has avoided financial demise many times by just persevering. Some people want to get theirs and not want anyone else to get anything. Thanks again for all the nice responses you posted that Tarris showed me. One last thing, if people really want the small developers to fail only the big rich good old boys get the products in the sales. If you dislike a few people running your city now and setting their rules then it will be even worse when only a few big guys own everything. It is bad enough now in this small city. I do not understand why anyone would want failure of all the projects mentioned or anyone. We all reflect on each other financially city wide. If a lot of people loose their homes in an area then everyone is affected. I started real estate when % rates were in the high teens and low 20's. For all of you under 50 you may not remember those dark days of empty store fronts and people loosing everything. Tough times and no one except a few people again with the big pockets get richer during those times. Today rates are low, there is tons of loan products and prices are low. These are the best of times for buyers with decent credit. Do something good for yourself and the economy. Buy a home. You do not even have to buy from me. Just buy a home. In a couple of years you will be glad you did. Thanks for reading Becky"

So Becky starts doing The Right Thing here, and is posting some Good Stuff. Minimally self-serving, authentic, heartfelt and genuine, errors and all. If she started a blog (please do), I would add it to my regular agenda. Go the Duncan route Becky... it'll work for you.

Now, after this started another onslaught of questioning of our Unerring Ruler, said "Guest":

"bendbb what in her first post and now second post makes you think it's not Mrs. Breeze?"

This sort of second-guessing is unconscionable. And BendBB shot back with Impenetrable Logic, as always:

"Primarily the history of people posting under other people's names. I think it's prudent to verify that Becky Breeze is actually the person posting these messages, rather than taking it on faith. Becky, if you're the person who posted the messages in question please respond to the email message I sent this afternoon asking for confirmation."

See, folks, BendBB KNOWS your REAL NAMES. Now your REAL NAMES are NOT the names of KNOWN CELEBRITIES. Even "local" celebrities, like "Becky Breeze". See, BendBB wants to PROTECT THE INNOCENT CELEBRITIES OF THE WORLD from the murderous blood-thristy BLOGGING paparazzi of The World, such as those that KILLED PRINCESS DIE. Or Di. See, he can SMELL A FAKE a million miles away. That's why "Becky Breeze The Unregistered Whore" was quickly outfitted with BendBB fake boobs, and gussied up like Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady", while BendBB played Professor Higgins and laboriously gave her "The Rain in Spain Stays Mainly In The Plain" voice lessons on what would and WOULD NOT fly on the inscrutable BendBB board. When she was a proper lady, and not a Saturday night crack whore, BendBB let her post with impunity:

"Tarris said some of you asked for stats on the MLS sales in affordable housing in Bend. Here it is and I will be happy to talk face to face with anyone that has questions. All of these stats are from our local Multiple Listing Bureau as of about 3 minutes ago. Today in BEND residential only(no condos, townhomes, businesses, land,lots,or even residential w/acreage is not included. So remember that for the next numbers provided THESE ARE ALL HOMES STATS ONLY FROM 100K TO 300K

Today 366 homes are for sale in Bend priced from $154,250 to $300,000 Since Jan 1 O7 to today (same price as above only 1K to 3K) 440 homes closed sale and 48 are pending for a total of 488 sold and pending 07 YTD 2006 605 homes closed and 46 went pending 1K to 3K 2005 THE YEAR EVERYONE WAS BUYING HIGH 1675 HOMES SOLD AND 48 PENDING 1k to 3k only 2004 1710 sold and 48 went pending (same 48? no) 1k to 3k only 2003 1471 sold and 48 went pending 1K to 3K only 2002 1266 sold and 44 went pending 1K to 3K only total dollar volume of each year SOLD 2007 $113,900,514 million CLOSED VOLUME 2006 $161,337,700 million CLOSED VOLUME 2005 $390,093,667 million !!!!!!!!!

EVERYONE BUYS WHEN EVERYONE IS BUYING IT IS NOT THE RIGHT TIME. BUY NOW LOOK AT THE STATS
2004 $355,335,929 million CLOSED VOLUME
2003 $283,074,314 million CLOSED VOLUME
2002 $230,599,099 million CLOSED
For the person hoping for 2002 2003 and 2004 prices. DON'T Look at these stats hard. This is sad stuff for people who want to sell their homes. Forget the developers and builders. Think about yourself owning a home and just being transferred or having to go into an assisted living place. Think about all the guys who want to work in the trades. It is gruesome out the upside is it IS the best BUYERS market I have seen in 28 years. It all has a ripple effect and it can effect you no matter who you are. I got an email from someone from this site and I told them it was me and to re post that first response. So here we go. Thanks Becky"

Now Becky continued posting some rather interesting observations, and I hope more is forthcoming. She, like Duncan, has EXTREMELY VALUABLE (if sometimes cryptic) insights (use your RETURN key) into the workings of Bend RE, as well as probably a rich historical viewpoint.

And I must again apologize for this in advance, but you will see on Page 6 of the "11M Condo Project?", a BLASPHEMOUS reproduction of POSTS BY myself & BendBB, which taken in isolation, seems to indicate he was POSSIBLY in error. Let me assure you, gentle reader, nothing could be further from the TRUTH:

"BendBB: Nope, it was clearly written by a troll. If you're that easily fooled, I've got a bridge in Portland to sell you.

Paul-doh!: It WAS real. Don't worry, you'll see it again.

BendBB: Here's a picture of the bridge for sale:

Paul-doh!: Say what you want, I know the source... it's legit



BendBB: I'm pleased to report that Becky Breeze replied to my email message and confirmed that she registered on the bulletin board earlier today. She requested that I repost the message I deleted earlier in this topic, so here it is."

BendBB quickly, and RIGHTLY SO, removed that last line when reposting the post by BeckyBreeze, Unregistered Saturday Night Crack Whore -- not Becky Hepburn, Proper Registered Lady. Such an admission MIGHT possibly be construed as an ADMISSION OF ERROR, which we all know is in the same league of human abominations such as "Jews should not be thrown in EZ Bake Ovens", and "Rwanadan Genocide Isn't Good For The Victims".

"John Thomas"? That there is legit, cuz BendBB hasn't heard of him. "Bruce Abernathy"? Well, that is the mayors name, but also probably the name of other dudes, so we will have to wait until BendBB comes down with more engraved rock tablets to figure out how REAL that name is. People, you need to realize that when you type keys on a keyboard that you are commiting your very soul to a mySQL database, and there is no turning back at that point. Once you type "Becky Breeze", YOU ARE BECKY BREEZE. Why? Because as BendBB has pointed out, THE PROCESS OF SOMEONE TYPING A NAME ON A KEYBOARD IS UNFAKEABLE. And never you mind that someone soon after had their post removed for posting as my name, and I posted as "free fall", and then I posted as me, asking the Other Me to remove all my posts, but I posted from an anonymous proxy so there was no possible way to confirm who was who or what was what. Again, I am just glad that I did NOT type "BECKY BREEZE" on the username field, and receive some sort of Auto-Boob job. Folks, realize that ONLY BendBB truly understands the LIMITLESS & UNFAKEABLE nature of anonymous bulletin boards. We are but humble mental maggots standing in his shadow.

Think about it.

OK, now on to Juniper Ridge, the fuckin story of monumental Bend City Councilor INCOMPETENCE that just won't DIE! "bruce", a former Unitarian Polygamist from Sandy, UT apparently poked his arm up the public records rectum of this one-horse shithole, and pulled out the Purchase Agreement for Les Schwabs "Gone In 60 Seconds" negotiation of buying a little hunk of JR back when we were all suckling at Mommies teet. He said:

"Some Shwab purchase info, at last: 12 acres for $3,000,000, or a price of $250,000 and acre. We have a comparable!"

I saw in a recent Bulletin piece that a "Worst Case Scenario" was that the initial build out to make LS feel comfy cozy in JR was $12,600,000. Garzini added as an aside that this figure included a $2.5MM payout directly to Kmart for Holz-tek's light blue polyester leisure suit account.

So, doing a quick calculation yields a KICK ASS -76% return on our first Juniper Ridge deal! YEAH! We're on our way! At this rate, we should be bankrupt by Christmas. Good job Bend City Councilors! They clearly perceived that when LES SCHWAB Legal ROBOBOTS walked in and DEMANDED that they be sold Juniper Ridge land, the property of the City, that they as City representatives HAD NO CHOICE but to sell for 1/4th the cost of simply providing infrastructure (like a fuckin driveway), and that essentially counts the land as free.

But even better, is that "bruce" found this little nugg:

'LS is also protected against "...any additional restrictive covenents or master plan requirements other than those...approved by the Buyer...The master planning...for the balance of Juniper Ridge shall include provisions to protect the investment being made by Buyer and the value of the Property from being diminished by incompatible uses on other parts of Juniper Ridge."'

Nice! Luckily the City has wrested away control of Juniper Ridge from that horrible Holzman/Kuratek gangbang squad, and put it where it properly belonged, with Les Schwab. I'm sure City Council quickly found a $500/hr consultant who could use a slide rule & protractor to make the following calculations:

“Protect the view from the Property of the Cascade Mountains by limiting the height of buildings abutting Cooley Road west of 18 th Street to a maximum of 45 feet.” “Allow Buyer the right to approve any use or alteration of the land located south of the Property between Cooley Road and the south property line of Juniper Ridge, such approval not to be unreasonably withheld.”

Right. Good. Les Schwab, who lives on in Dick Borgman who swallowed his ashes, has decided that the coming Wal-Mart International Space Station at Cooley & 97 cannot be over 45ft tall. I can only agree with BendBuster that Wal-Mart might be slightly pissed that They Didn't Think Of Strongarming Bend City Council first. Look what Les Schwab got out of it. 100% control of Juniper Ridge in perpetuity.

This just goes to show that if you want to Get 'Er Done in Bend Oregon that you need to understand what Holzman, Kuratek, and Dick Borgman knew long ago: If you walk in a City Council meeting with a Take No Prisoners attitude, you can pretty much steal any fucking thing you want from this town. "Proper Channels"? "Paperwork"? That shit is for LOSERS! In Bend, we don't roll like that. The trusty graft-ridden Old Boy Network. That GUARANTEES the job will get done right on time & ON BUDGET the first time. Like them fuckin CRIPPLE RAMPS that came in at a mere 2,000% over budget, and were STILL BUILT WRONG.

My God. The INANE incompetence and graft that IMBUE every motherfuckin cubic centimeter of this town is truly mind boggling. As I said a long time ago, BendBuster is one crazy fuckin raving lunatic. But in this place, that's exactly what MAKES SENSE. The fuckin craziest shit ever conceived doesn't quite characterize Bend, because we do shit WEIRDER THAN THAT.

I get a little chuckle that my own overwhelming pessimism about Bend was actually understated because it was built on the faulty assumptions that we have "nominal" leadership at the top. So DEAD WRONG. Now that resources are drying up, the Old Boy Network backbone is starting to cannibalize itself. Graft, the fundamental method of Bend power structures, is falling apart because MONEY is going bye-bye.

So Fair Warning: If you want an accurate picture of the future, read BendBusters crazy-ass clapboard. The bastard is getting it right... and he's WAY more pessimistic than anyone.

Now I want to finish up with todays Bulletin piece, on what I humbly call The Most Important News Story In Bend History, The COLLAPSE Of The LOCAL Real Estate Market. In "How builders plan to face housing slide", inscrutable super-reporter David Fisher described Brooks Resources recent "auction" of 3 RiverWild condos thusly:

"It was a bit of a bust. Only one of the three sold, and at the minimum bid — more than $200,000 below list price.

The other two attracted not a single offer."

Huh? "A bit of a bust"? You must be kidding! They actually SOLD one of these dogs to some moron at THE MINIMUM! My God, that's 1,000,000X better than I would have hoped for. Makes me wonder if the single "buyer" was in fact a plant. But Hollern soon proves that his head is planted formly in the clouds:

"Now, with an overhang of unsold inventory glutting the housing market — the aftermath of a three-year boom run amok — Brooks, along with some of the region’s other large builders and developers, is trying to adjust to a slump that Hollern believes may last another two years."

TWO YEARS? As Timmy would suggest, have a look at Case-Shiller futures, Hollern. Two years is a pipedream. If Bend recovers in 20 YEARS, I will be stunned. Then the piece turns to Buena Vista homes, a Lake Oswego builder that is going wholesale:

"Buena Vista Custom Homes, a Lake Oswego-based company that billed itself as one of the nation’s fastest-growing builders when it moved into the Bend market in early 2006, announced Thursday that it will put all 200 of its unsold homes in Oregon up for auction next month, including 29 in Forum Meadows, its brand-new east-Bend subdivision."

I find it interesting that BV is mentioned at all, as the first time I've ever heard of it was in last weeks comments. Do Bulletin reporters read BB2 comments for story leads? Nah, they might scratch the truth and catch the ebola of endemic REALISM. Next we hear Hollern's estimate of speculative activity:

"Many of the speculators and investors who accounted for up to a third of purchases in subdivisions like NorthWest Crossing during the boom years have fled the “buy” side and become sellers, inflating inventory levels and forcing the region’s developers and builders to change course."

1/3rd? Again, Hollern seems to have fallen in the Kool-Aid vat. I would put the estimate closer to 105%, +/- 4%. The next paragraph reveals BUILDERS GONE WILD VIII will soon be out on DVD:

"The two biggest, Brooks and Pahlisch, say they’re still bullish on the region’s future, so they’re not following Buena Vista’s sell-it-fast tactic. Both are moving forward with their newest subdivisions, albeit at a slower pace. But they’re following different paths to weather the downturn."

"On another front, the company laid off its project manager at IronHorse, its Prineville development, because it foresees little need to expand there in the near future, Hollern said. IronHorse and Yarrow both fell about two-thirds short of projections this year. Brooks projected sales of around 35 lots and homes in each; it actually sold around a dozen apiece, Hollern said."

"In late spring, it announced plans to sell out of Miller’s Landing, a riverfront townhome project it had designed in conjunction with the Miller family on land near the Colorado Avenue Bridge. That sale later fell through, Hollern said. Brooks is in no particular hurry to sell it again, he said, but it also has no plans to forge ahead in the near future with a luxury townhome project in a market that seems oversaturated with that type of development."

Ahhhh yes, the aftereffects of Kool-Aid poisoning in high-relief: Gigantic subdiv's all over Central Oregon coming in 67% below projection. Assesment? BULLISH ON REGIONS PROSPECTS. Can't sell a little spit of PRIME LAND, IN TOWN, ON THE RIVER (I did not know this). Market assessment? BULLISH ON REGIONS PROSPECTS. Hollern FINALLY shakes off his Kool-Coma, and gives a rational reason for why this downleg will last damn near FOREVER:

"Right now, buyers and sellers are in a standoff mode, Hollern said. Sellers, who remember the peak prices they could have gotten in 2006, are reluctant to drop their prices far enough to sell in today’s market. And buyers, who sense more price reductions to come, are in no hurry to jump in."

On this, I AGREE. The memory of prices at the absolute motherfuckin top of Bends hyper-bubble will last so long, people will starting putting it in their Will's, and bequeathing it to their grandchildren. That shit will last FOREVER. It will be the reason so many will HOLD OUT for Sept 2006 prices, even if it means going BROKE. You think this won't happen? Hell, this happens with just about EVERY OTHER BUSINESS TRYING TO GET SOLD IN DESCHUTES COUNTY. When people don't get their LUDICRIOUS minimum they've set in their mind, they actually close down the business AND LOSE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS rather than get one fuckin cent below their delusional MINIMUM PRICE. People go broke ALL THE TIME around here because they are INSANE, and unable to accept market prices. Ask ANY business broker; this shit happens constantly, because Gods Chosen Dumbshits (ie the population of Bend) think that their little piece of crap company (or house, or fucking AUCTIONED TOWNHOME) is worth 100X the highest bid they've ever received.

Here you can see Hollern trying to break people of this mindset: HE ACTUALLY SEES THE REASON PRICES SHOULD COME DOWN & WHY THAT WILL BE GOOD FOR HIM:

'“Nobody quite knows where the price is going to settle down,” Hollern said. “I mean, pricing is so tough. But if you bought something in 2002 for $250,000 or $300,000 and you missed selling it for $750,000 two years ago, and now you have to sell it for $400,000, is that a bad deal? There was a peak there that some people missed if they didn’t sell. And if they bought on a peak, that’s kind of tough. So prices have to come back to, I think, to a somewhat more normal level.”'

Way back on BEMs kickass blog, I said over & over that at The End, those who praised their beloved Bubble the Most, would be calling the loudest for it's demise. Look at the hideous HYPOCRISY of Hollern here though: Fucker CANNOT give away those RiverWild condos at minimum, but YOU, you hapless dumbshit, should sell your $750K McMunkee Spanker for $400K. That Losing Money Shit is OK for you... just not for me. Again, DELUSIONAL BEND MEDIA-FUELED KOOL-AID POISONING claims another victim.

Next you see that Pahlisch Homes is trying to do the only thing taught at the Bend Community College of Marketing RE, and that's TALK OUR WAY OUT OF THIS THING:

"Aside from the inventory overhang, the company believes key economic indicators — interest rates, local population growth and local incomes — are ripe for recovery to relatively normal market conditions by late next year, Myhre said. Prices in Bend, meanwhile, have become affordable enough again, ranging from the high-$200,000s in some of its developments to the low-$300,000s in others, to pinch into sales in Prineville, La Pine and Redmond that benefited during the boom that forced people out of the Bend market."

Yeah, yeah. Key indicators, rates, puppies, kitties, and no black guys is the KEY to a Bend RE recovery. OK. Sounds good. Paul-doh, however goes on the occasional bender that INCOME FUCKIN MATTERS and INCOME AIN'T GOING NOWHERE, and is the only thing that will make or break a town of this size. Of course, that sort of shit is crazy cuz it's based on reason & logic, which BendBB, the Bulletin, and others find horrific. Fuckin Pahlisch wants us to live in $200K stacked, rocket propelled garbage dumspters, so that the second the bank forecloses, they can eject our corpses right into the Deschutes river. More goodness:

"Bad news, perhaps, for the outlying towns, but possibly a good sign for the region as a whole. Which is why, Myhre said, Pahlisch continues to prepare new lots in new subdivisions for new homes, when the demand turns around."

This is just hilarious! Basically an admission that prices falling will do a Rumpelstiltskin gangbang on LaPine and other second cousins to Bends all important RE market, and that's just FINE! How great is that? And Hollern finishes up with this:

'“We’ve always done projects that are 20 years or more in length, so the idea of a long-term project doesn’t bother us,” Hollern said. “I mean, we’ve always said this is going to be a great area in which to operate. Most of the time, we’re going to be doing better than the rest of the country. But in any given period there are going to be three years out of 10 that you say — ooh! — boy that wasn’t so fun. And it’s just hard to see ’em coming.”'

"Most of the time, we're going to be doing BETTER THAN THE REST OF THE COUNTRY"? Wow, the motherfucker may need CPR, cuz he done gone into Kool-Aid Coma AGAIN. THIS, this sentence RIGHT HERE embodies this almost PATHOLOGICAL SUPERIORITY COMPLEX that this place has. I've been everywhere, and never have I seen a town who actually segregate themselves from the rest of this country, and hold themselves ABOVE the rest of the US population. Well, Hitler did it, and it seemed to work out just fine.

Well, I'd better stop so BendBB can scold me in his grandfatherly way, the way Stalin scolded Ruskies before throwin' them bastards in the gulag, and BendBuster can call me a smelly cunt. I long for that shit. Speaking of which, can you people not post that fuckin JPEG of the Les Schwab purchase agreement again? I was eating, and I blew cream of mushroom soup all over my screen.

Ms Paul-doh: "What's that creamy shit all over your computer screen"

Paul-doh: "Mushroom soup."

Ms Paul-doh: "Riiiiiiiiight"