With spring in full bloom and summer around the corner, curb appeal becomes important in giving good first impressions to potential buyers of homes for sale. With the right plants and maintenance, the outside of a home can be transformed. Many people avoid investing in landscaping because they don’t know what to plant or how […]
Take Me Home
Posted inNews
3-D Printer Homes
A printer home sounds like something crazy, but also impressive. ICON has developed a technology using the Vulcan printer that can print a 650-square-foot house in 12 to 24 hours. Currently it costs about $10,000, and they’re working on bringing the cost down to $4,000. These are nice looking homes made of cement and therefore very […]
Posted inNews
Community Land Trusts to Help Housing Affordability
As a realtor, I regularly come across literature about home unaffordability due to rising prices and inventory shortages. A big component of the problem is the rising price of land and the type of home a builder needs to build in order to make a living off of a project. As is the case with tiny homes, […]
Posted inNews
The Backdoor Revolution: The Book
As last week’s feature story in the Source highlighted, many people in Bend are adding accessory dwelling units to their properties. The process typically involves the addition of a new structure, conversion of a basement to an apartment, converting a garage into living space or adding living space on top of an existing garage. Housing […]
Posted inNews
Housing State of the Union
Strong demand for homes and low inventory levels continue in Central Oregon
Ahead of the presidential State of the Union Address, The National Association of Realtors released its own Housing State of the Union Report. On a national level, housing prices have continued to rise. Central Oregon is experiencing the same issues as most of the country: strong demand for homes—particularly starter-level homes—and low inventory levels and […]
Posted inNews
Could You Downsize to a Tiny Home or Small Cottage?
With the recent proposal for a cottage home community in Bend, I am curious again about tiny homes. Tiny homes have been a hot topic for a few years, offering an affordable home ownership opportunity—but with that come hindrances including building codes and zoning laws, not to mention financing. In regard to the proposed community […]
Posted inNews
Time to Winterize Your Home
Like it or not, winter is coming early as usual, with Mt Bachelor already open and more snow in the forecast. Last winter is a strong memory to many local minds in terms of the damage that occurred to residential and commercial buildings. The extreme weather meant you couldn’t find the things you needed to […]
Posted inNews
Why Aren’t There More Starter Level Homes Built?
While we are feeling the effects of the national entry level housing shortage in Bend, we aren’t seeing builders jumping onboard in big numbers to build starter level homes. The demand is definitely there for smaller, starter-type homes, as evidenced by local sales statistics of homes priced $300,000 and under. Millennials and renters desire to […]
Posted inNews
Tackling a Piece of the Housing Crisis
Oregon House Democrats vote in favor of a bill limiting no-cause evictions and allowing rent control
Central Oregon’s Republican delegation remains opposed Oregon Democrats and Republicans agree on something: there is a housing crisis in the state. They don’t agree, however, on how best to solve it. That isn’t necessarily good news for the more than 500,000 Oregonians who rent their homes. For these individuals, the housing crisis is something all […]
Posted inNews
Real Estate Statistics for April 2017
The Beacon Report, based on real estate statistics from our local MLS, released its report of the April 2017 figures—which allows some interesting comparisons to last year’s Bend single family residence sales of 1 acre or less. According to the report, closed sales in Bend for the month of April 2017 increased by 50 transactions […]