This year Washington State enacted the Foreclosure Fairness Act which will provide assistance to those families and individuals who are struggling to make their mortgage. If you have fallen behind or are looking at the need to begin falling behind this video will be a huge help to you. It will explain your rights and the services available through the Foreclosure Fairness Act.

If you live in Clark County, WA and would like additional assistance please feel free to reach out. We’re here to help. While you likely feel like you’re the only one struggling to make the mortgage, rest assured, you’re not. Many times every single week we meet with families and individuals who for one reason or another find themselves at that crossroad of what to do regarding their house payment. Let us help you wade through these murky waters and help you get to the other side as smoothly as possible.

Clark County Fair

It’s that time of year again! Time to enjoy some carnival rides, test your luck at shooting an over-sized basketball through an undersized hoop to win a larger than life stuffed animal. Time to eat more calories than any one human should eat in a day. Kettle-corn, Dairy Women’s Milkshakes, amazing sweet grilled onions covering a yummy burger from The Smokehouse. Corn on the cob, funnel cakes, snow cones, deep fried Twinkies and on an on… Time to see all sorts of animals. Animals like horses, cows, llamas, pigs, dogs, cats and even bees. It’s a great time to enjoy our local artists and crafters in the Clark County Event Center with all their fun quilts, cards, sketches, flowers, photos, paintings, jams and baked goods. Also in the big hall are vendors selling all sorts of fun, cool, quirky things. Ya never know what you might walk out the door with?

In addition to all these fun things at the Clark County Fair, don’t forget the great events of each day. The Grandstand Entertainment is FREE with your admission to the fair. The schedule is as follows:

Saturday, August 6th: Medieval Joust at 2pm and 6:30pm
Sunday, August 7th: Medieval Joust at 2pm and 6:30pm
Monday, August 8th: Wild and Wooly Show at 2pm & Northwest Bull Riding Championships at 6:30pm
Tuesday, August 9th: Northwest Pro Rodeo at 2pm and 6:30pm
Wednesday, August 10th: Truck Pull at 2pm and 6:30pm
Thursday, August 11th: Extreme Moto-X at 2pm and 6:30pm (my personal favorite of the fair!)
Friday, August 12th: Demolition Derby & Truck Derby at 2pm and 7:30pm
Saturday, August 13th: Monster Trucks and Tuff Trucks/Pro Arena at 2pm and 7:30pm
Sunday, August 14th: Monster Trucks and Tuff Trucks/Pro Arena at 2pm and 7:30pm (another fave at the fair!)

Make sure you get out to the fair at least once during the next week and a half. It’s always a fun day! How can something that’s celebrating its 143rd year be bad?

Wow! Vancouver, Washington is having their very own marathon THIS Sunday, June 19th, 2011. Yes, that’s on Father’s Day. I can tell you that this father won’t be out on the course because I’ve already ran the race! Check it out…

On Sunday at 7am the first ever Vancouver USA Full Marathon will kick off. In addition to the full marathon Vancouver is also offering a half marathon that kicks off at 8:30am. You can register for either event in person at the Fit Right NW Sports and Fitness Expo taking place all day Saturday, June 18th at the Vancouver Hilton.

This is a great exposure for OUR Vancouver, WA and guess what? The Vancouver USA Marathon IS A QUALIFIER FOR THE BOSTON MARATHON! I love that the start and finish line for the marathon and half marathon is at the beautiful Esther Short Park. You can get all the Vancouver USA Marathon Course Information here.

If you’d like to follow along in a very high tech way you’ll be happy to know that they have created a Vancouver USA Marathon iPhone app. It gives course information as well as bio info and you can track your favorite runner.

Hopefully you head down and sign up to do this great course or go and root on your favorite friend or family member! I know I will.

And I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I won’t forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.
~Lee Greenwood

I love this song and the lyrics that go with it. It makes me choke up every time I hear it. Especially if you really stop and listen to what is being sung. This tribute is one of the best I’ve seen to go along with the song. Please watch it all the way through and remember those who’ve given it all for our freedom. Also, don’t forget those who still live while continuing to die a little each day from their service to our country. Hug a veteran!

As a society we remember all those who’ve passed on on Memorial Day but let’s not forget what it was originally established as…

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service.

Rather than go on with words, I’ll share some photos…

To the men who gave their lives in Vietnam November 8th, 1965…

To my dear friend Robb Needham. Your sacrifice and smile will never be forgotten.

Easter is upon us. I know lots of people are looking to locate an Easter Egg Hunt or two. I’ll highlight a few around town. I know this isn’t all of them but hopefully you’ll find one or two of interest.

SATURDAY APRIL 23RD, 2011 Easter Egg Hunts

Big Al’s Easter Egg Hunt is on Saturday April 23rd. They have two different times. The 4 and under hunt will begin at 10:30am and the hunt for the 5 to 10 year old kids will take place at 11am. Big Al’s is located at 16615 SE 18th Street, Vancouver, WA 98683.

LifePoint Church Eggstreme Egg Hunt is Saturday, April 23rd at 9:30am and 11:30am. It is for ages 2 through 5th grade. They’ll have over 25,000 eggs with candy and prizes. LifePoint is located at 305 NE 192nd Ave, Vancouver, WA 98684.

Vancouver Farmers Market will be hosting an Easter Egg Hunt at 10am on Saturday the 23rd. It will be held in Esther Short Park. Bring your family down for a great time collecting Easter Eggs and afterward enjoy walking through the market and visiting our vendors. This year we will have two hunts for different age groups. For those 4 and under we have an area for kids and their parents to collect eggs in a more relaxed atmosphere. And for those ages 5 – 10 a larger field will be filled with eggs and a few special surprise treats as well.

SPECIAL NOTICE: The MCCDCT Easter Egg Hunt is the only one of its kind in the Pacific Northwest. The hunt is done at McKenzie Stadium behind Evergreen High School. This hunt is for physically and mentally challenged kids. Wheel chairs and walkers can cross this field easily. This hunt is Saturday, April 23rd at 5:15pm. It will be at McKenzie Stadium (Behind Evergreen High School). If you have any questions please call 360-513-8201.

SUNDAY APRIL 24TH, 2011 Easter Egg Hunts

Camas Parks and Recreation will host their Easter Egg Hunt at Crown Park in Camas. It is on Sunday the 24th at 1:30pm. This hunt is for children between 2 and 9 years of age. You’ll find over 10,000 candy and prize filled eggs at this hunt location. Crown Park is at NE Everett and NE 17th Avenue.

(Please remember, ALL children MUST be accompanied by adults at all these events.)

Thanks to my real estate pal Ines in Miami for the cool photo!

I’m so excited! It’s been way to long since the Liberty Theatre in downtown Camas, WA has been open. Liberty has been a staple of the City of Camas since 1927 and deserves to be the local public movie house.

I’m very happy to share that the Liberty Theatre is open for business. They kicked things off tonight for St. Patrick’s Day with the Grease Sing-A-Long movie and the place was packed. I was having dinner at Twilight Pizza and the line at Liberty wrapped around the corner. I walked in front of the theater as they were getting out and everyone was laughing and talking about how wonderful it was to be back in this 350 seat venue.

The following comes from their website describing what you can expect to see happening at Liberty Theatre…

There are varied of tastes and diversity in this area and we feel an assortment of film genres and categories are the key to our success. The Liberty programming will be more “repertory” style, with different movies and different times and more turn over. On most weeks, you’ll get a choice of at least two movies and sometimes more. The Liberty will be showing films off of the National break, meaning that new films will show up at the Liberty 3 to 7 weeks after they are released nationally. This means we don’t have to run the same film for several weeks on end to satisfy studio requirements and can provide a wider variety of films for you to see. It also means we can keep our prices more economical; you’ll be able to see a first rate presentation at the Liberty for only $3.50.

In addition to reasonable movie prices you’ll also find family affordable prices at the concession stand. With the economy like it is this is a most welcomed addition to have a night out. Make sure you head down to Camas and enjoy a movie or two!

Liberty Theatre is located at 315 NE 4th Avenue, Camas, WA 98607 and can be reached at 360-859-9555. You can also connect with Liberty Theatre on Facebook.

Reflecting on the Liberty Theatre…

This week’s Clark County WA Neighborhood of the Week is Arnada. I thought it would be nice to highlight Arnada Park as a great outdoor place to go.

Arnada Park is located just south of Fourth Plain on the far east side of Arnada. The park is about 3 acres and a great little community park. Today the sun was shining and the park had several groups in it. There were a bunch of guys shooting hoops on the basketball court. The large play-set had a bunch of kids running around playing on it. Everyone was having a great time. There is also a cool gazebo with picnic tables in it. This park has had a ton of work done to it over the last 15 years to really dress it up. There is a nice walking trail through it as well as a large open grassy area to play on.

As I’m building this Clark County, WA Neighborhood of the Week project I’m thinking of the things people might like to know. One thing that means a lot to many is how good the local schools are. People want to know how they rank, basic demographics, etc. So each week I’ll share some of this school information.

Arnada neighborhood is downtown Vancouver, WA and is in the Vancouver School District. The schools are Hough Elementary School, Discovery Middle School and Hudsons Bay High School.

Let’s start with Hough Elementary School:

To view this in a larger format please click here.

Next up is Discovery Middle School:

To view this in a larger format please click here.

Finally, we have Hudsons Bay High School:

To view this in a larger format please click here.

Thanks again for stopping by to check this out. Come back each week to learn about another great Clark County, WA neighborhood.

Special thanks to my fellow Realtor friend Kristal Kraft in Denver, CO for the cool schoolhouse photo.

Today is the day. I launch my new little “project” by highlighting a new neighborhood in Clark County, WA each week. As I mentioned last week I’m sure it will morph as time goes on and I get into a normal routine. Let me get right to it. I figured that I might as well start with one of our oldest neighborhoods in Vancouver, WA.

Arnada neighborhood

Arnada is one of our oldest neighborhoods in downtown Vancouver and one of my favorites too. It is bounded on the east side by I-5, on the south by 15th Street, Main Street is the western boundary and Fourth Plain tops it off on the north. Here’s a little video snapshot of Arnada.

Please check back throughout this week as I share about this great neighborhood.

It should be no secret by now that I love my hometown of Vancouver, WA. I love everything about Clark County, WA (yes, I also love Clark Co, NV. Viva Las Vegas!).

As I was nearing the “end” of 365 Things To Do In Vancouver, WA I decided I should figure out how to expand what I spent a year doing. I wanted to do something that would allow me to continue highlighting great things to do all over town and also re-share all the things I wrote about last year. I want to continue promoting our local businesses, events, parks, trails and activities. I also want to share details about the neighborhoods these wonderful places and events “live” in.

So, today I introduce my next “project”. Beginning on Monday, March 7, 2011 I’ll begin spotlighting a Clark County, WA Neighborhood of the Week. Each week I’ll focus on one particular neighborhood. I’ll share general information, demographic data, school data, etc. about that neighborhood. I’ll highlight local parks, restaurants and activities. I’ll likely share a “Home of the Week” as I preview homes for sale in the neighborhood. I’ll also be creating a map of all the homes for sale in each neighborhood. This map will also include the “365 Things To Do In Vancouver, WA” posts I’ve written over the last year. My hope is to create a complete Clark County, WA neighborhood resource guide for those who already live there plus share it with others who might like to make that neighborhood home.

Having listed and sold single family and multi-family real estate in Clark County since 1994, I’ve learned that people buy neighborhoods. This guide will help share the great things about each neighborhood as well as continue to promote supporting our local businesses. We all must work together to help keep our local economy strong and thriving.

This newest “project” will be a constant work in progress. I’m sure as it begins I’ll tweak and modify it as necessary to hopefully make it better each week. Of course, there is also a Clark County WA Neighborhood of the Week Facebook page where each post will be shared with a larger audience. Please feel free to “Like” it.

If you have neighborhood information to share please send me a message through the “Meet Up With Dale” box on the sidebar. I’d love to hear from you. Let’s all work together to make this the best site possible.

See you all 3-7-11!

The Mission: February 17th, 2010 through February 16th, 2011 write one blog post each and every day highlighting something to do in Vancouver, WA (& surrounding cities).

Status: Task completed on schedule. Every single day one blog post was written. Almost every post included a video from on location as well as photos from each location.

All blog posts lived here on the Clark County Real Estate Guide. The permalink to each post was then placed on the 365 Things To Do In Vancouver, WA Facebook Page. Over the course of the year the Facebook page grew at a very steady pace. At the end of the 365th day there were over 14,000 “likes”. I’ve been so thankful for the wonderful reception this page got.

67% of the fans are women. The fan base spans over 19 countries all over the world. Approximately 75% of the fan base is from the Vancouver/Clark County/Portland area. The next largest group represented is in Seattle. 83% of the fans are between the age of 18 and 54.

Over the course of the 365 days 8,281,995 post views occurred on Facebook! A post view is defined by Facebook as “the number of times people (Fans and non-Fans) have viewed a News Feed story posted by your page”. This blows my mind!

Approximately 100,000 visitors stopped here at the Clark County Real Estate Guide throughout the year. The most viewed post of the year was Day 295: Magical Lights On 63rd Street with almost 1,200 visitors!

As I mentioned on Day 365, this “project” is not done! There are still lots of wonderful things to share about Vancouver and Clark County, WA. I will not continue daily but will continue regularly. I’ll also be adding content to the site that I believe will enhance and improve upon what is already here.

I’ll be announcing these changes on 3-1-11. Please stop in then to see what is coming and I hope you’ll either subscribe to get these posts via email or via an RSS feed.

If you have any stories of new places you’ve discovered or enjoyed during the first 365 days I’d love to hear about them. I’d love it if you’d leave a comment below. Please share this site with your friends and family who may not be aware of it. It’s a great resource from a native Vancouver guy whose family has been in Clark County since 1893. Remember, you can type anything into the search box on the top right side of the site and it’ll find all posts with whatever keywords you desire (i.e. pizza, wine, hike, theater, etc.)