Metolius Property Sales opens

Longtime Sisters real estate broker Jeff Jones has launched Metolius Property Sales. The office is located at the corner of Cascade Avenue and Spruce Street in a venerable brick building that Jones has long admired.

Jones is currently working with broker Linda Brooksby and office manager Gayle Rodrigues.

"There are eight offices in here, so ultimately we'll get up to six to eight agents," Jones said.

Metolius Property Sales will specialize in residential sales in Sisters, Black Butte Ranch and Camp Sherman. Jones also has a background in commercial real estate.

Jones says that real estate is a pretty straightforward field, and he's not claiming to bring anything radically new to the field in Sisters.

"I'm not sure that you can bring anything different," he said. "I think you just bring your expertise, your knowledge and your fulfillment ability and maybe make it better."

Jones is well aware that he is launching a new venture into the teeth of the worst real estate downturn the region has witnessed since the early 1980s.

"It's hard enough being in an existing business now," he said. "To start a new business is really difficult, and we realize that."

However, he noted, "I've been here 20 years, and I just felt the timing was right for me personally to do something on my own.

"It's going to be hard to make it," he said. "But I think we can. I've got a pretty loyal clientele I've built up over the years, and that'll help."

Jones said the move has given him "a new burst of energy" in his career, and he expressed confidence in the ability of the Sisters area to recover. However, he expects the recovery to be lengthy.

"Buyer confidence is still somewhat iffy," he said, and there is a lot of inventory, including foreclosed properties, still to be absorbed.

"At the earliest it's going to be late 2011 before we're back to anything like a normal real estate market," Jones said.

But he does anticipate a comeback and he plans for Metolius Property Sales to be part of it.

"I think we've got a lot to offer here," he said.

For more information visit http://www.metoliuspropertysales.com or call 541-588-6614.