Central Oregon may be a hopping real estate market overall—but it’s Redmond that’s seeing the biggest changes. According to the Beacon Report, based on MLS statistics, the markets for Bend and Redmond can be summarized as follows for Aug. 2016. I have also added Aug. 2015 figures to provide a comparison and calculated the percentage […]
Bend Oregon Real Estate
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Multi-generational Housing Trends
According to a recent report by the Pew Research Center that analyzed census data, in 2014, 60.6 million people, or 19 percent of the U.S. population, lived in multi-generational households. Recent statistics are showing that multi-generational households have been steadily increasing. Multi-generational households are defined as having two or more adult generations or one that […]
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Hope for Credit-Challenged Buyers: FHA Loans
Many people who are renting today are paying more than they would with a mortgage. At the same time, those renters may think they can’t qualify for a loan because of damaged credit and more stringent loan requirements. Conventional loan criteria require higher credit scores than in the past, but the good news is that […]
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Home Ownership is Important, but Still Elusive for Many
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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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, […]
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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 […]
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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 […]