There was an interesting article in The Wall Street Journal recently about the lopsided recovery of our national housing market—which is true for Bend as well. The statistics show that the housing market has rebounded substantially from the recent recession in terms of price appreciation, but that the middle class is very much struggling to […]
Bend Housing News
Posted inNews
Why Isn’t Inventory Increasing?
The housing market in Bend and nationwide is showing increased home sale volume, but low inventory levels. A recent article on national existing home sales and housing inventory showed that sales nationally have increased by about 600,000 between 2012 and 2015 while housing inventory has been flat or has decreased. Nationally, existing home sales are […]
Posted inNews
Don’t Have the Cash for a Traditional Loan?
You could consider seller financing options
The housing crisis provided many opportunities for investors to purchase distressed properties at bargain prices and hold them as rentals or flip them at a higher price to a buyer unable to qualify for a loan at the time. This was evident with the increase in rent-to-buy homes and other seller financing options. In a […]
Posted inNews
Investing IRA Funds in Real Estate: Better for Stock Market Newbies?
Most people who have IRA accounts have the type which is administered by a custodian—which is typically a bank or investment brokerage. Recently though, there’s been more talk of self-directed IRAs that allow you to use the funds on other investment opportunities, including real estate. A self-directed plan is controlled by the client rather than […]
Posted inNews
More Than It’s Worth
The perils of overpricing your home
Pretty much everyone in Bend is aware that we have a seller’s real estate market. This often makes sellers price their homes for more than they are worth. While it is natural to want to get the maximum return on your home investment, it is very important to price it correctly. In our current market, […]
Posted inNews
How Important are Bike-able Neighborhoods for Homebuyers?
Since this week’s theme for the Source Weekly is bikes, I was asked how important bike-able neighborhoods are to buyers. The only time bike-ability was important was for buyers who were mountain bikers and they liked having nearby access to trails. Bike-ability for commuting has never come up as being important, probably because most people […]
Posted inNews
Will Brexit Benefit Our Local Housing Market?
Last week’s British vote to exit the European Union may have beneficial effects on our real estate market because of the effect on mortgage interest rates. Various blogs from the National Association of Realtors, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, to name just a few, are reporting some optimistic news. The Wall Street Journal on June […]
Posted inNews
Three Ways to Get Help With a Down Payment
The main challenge for most first-time homebuyers is coming up with the down payment. This is difficult when rising rents eat away at potential down payment savings. Here are some options that are often overlooked: Ask the seller to pay closing costs. It is not uncommon to ask and receive up to 6 percent of […]
Posted inNews
Damaged Sidewalk Nearly Sidelines Home Sale
This week’s article is about an actual real estate experience recently encountered with a sidewalk in need of repair. Both buyers and sellers should take note. As most Bendites know, there are a lot of sidewalks uprooted by tree roots in Bend. Replacing the damaged section with a new sidewalk is only a temporary fix, […]
Posted inNews
Senate Bill 1533 and Inclusionary Zoning
A reader named Krista recently wrote to the Source Weekly about Senate Bill 1533. She wondered whether the bill really accomplishes anything in terms of helping create affordable housing, and expressed concerns about the bill’s definition of affordable housing: “Affordable housing” means housing that is affordable to households with incomes equal to or higher than […]