The Oregon Department of Energy has created a web tool showing the phenomenal growth of solar energy in Oregon in the last 20 years. In 1999, 15 tiny solar facilities were all that existed in the state. By 2018 the state...more
With the Governor's signature on Senate Bill 608 on February 28, Oregon became the first state with a statewide rent control law. The new law took effect March 1 and is applicable only to residential tenancies. The new law...more
A team of Portland's heavy hitters has proposed a new five-story structure in Skidmore/Old Town that could be certified as Portland's first living building. The project team for the PAE Living Building includes Gerding Edlen,...more
Daimler Trucks North America, headquartered in Portland, recently added 200 jobs to its Automated Truck Research and Development Center here in Rip City. Daimler announced the job growth while unveiling its new Freightliner...more
The City of Portland has about 10,000 buildings, bridges, cemeteries, landscapes, and other resources that have been designated as historic. Of those, about 5,000 are "documented" on the City's Historic Resource Inventory,...more
Created in 1988, the federal Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, reviews acquisitions of US-based assets by foreigners for potential national security implications. Using CFIUS's findings, the...more
October, rarely friendly to financial markets, has recently come and gone. But Portland keeps rolling along. In the last 12 months, Portland Metro has added 37,100 new jobs, a growth rate of 3.2%, while unemployment remains...more
On August 8, the Oregon Building Codes Division approved a new state building code called a Statewide Alternate Method. The new code authorizes the construction of wood buildings taller than six stories, which was the...more
One of the express promises of ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft was that they would reduce traffic congestion by reducing vehicle ownership. City dwellers would opt not to own their own cars but instead rely on...more
Of the 125 largest cities in the USA, U.S. News and World Report recently ranked Portland as the #6 best place to live. This is a big jump from Portland's #32 ranking in 2017. The evaluators at US News describe Portland as...more
Oregon law requires Metro, the regional government for the Portland area, to maintain an urban growth boundary (UGB) that includes enough land to accommodate 20 years of population and employment growth. Addition of new land...more
In a prior post, I highlighted the effect the December 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has on Section 1031 tax deferred exchanges. While those changes affected investors in everything but real estate, other provisions of the Act...more
3/30/2018
/ Bonus Depreciation ,
C-Corporation ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Farms ,
Home Equity Line of Credit ,
Landlords ,
Mortgage Interest ,
Property Tax ,
Standard Tax Deduction ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Deductions
Currently, the largest operating solar energy facility in Oregon is the 56 megawatt Gala Solar facility near Prineville, which generates electricity for Apple. But homegrown Oregon developer Obsidian Renewables has plans for...more
3/9/2018
/ Batteries ,
Clean Energy ,
Electric Generation Suppliers ,
Electricity ,
Energy Sector ,
Energy Storage ,
Grid Energy Storage ,
Power Grid ,
Renewable Energy ,
Solar Energy ,
Utilities Sector ,
Xcel Energy
Section 1031 of the tax code allows sellers of investment property to defer capital gains if the proceeds are reinvested in "like kind" property within certain timeframes. Prior to 2018, 1031 exchanges could be used for many...more
By now we've all heard about receiving Amazon packages by drone. Drones haven't cornered this market, though – there are also robots. But these are just the tip of the iceberg for cool new ways for stuff to get delivered more...more
By now, we've all used a mapping app -- like Apple Maps, Google Maps and Waze – to find the best way from point A to point B. A primary attraction of the apps is that they can filter traffic conditions in real time and...more
Starting January 1, 2018, single-family home sellers in Portland will be required to report a Home Energy Score (HES) to potential buyers. The HES is a federally-developed measurement of the energy-related use and associated...more
Willamette Falls, between Oregon City and West Linn, is the second-largest waterfall in the U.S. by volume. Home of the nation's first hydroelectric project in 1888, the falls have largely been cut off from public view since...more
For a very limited time, residential landlords can rescind some pending Notices of Termination and Notices of Rent Increases that would otherwise trigger Relocation Assistance under Portland’s new Renter Protection...more
Construction is underway for one of the first of many development projects slated for downtown surface parking lots owned by the Goodman family's Downtown Development Group (www.ddgportland.com). Due to open in fall of 2018,...more