Bend Premier Real Estate Blog

A Tantalizing Wine Experience in Downtown Bend

We were very excited to be able to try out this new little wine shop, tucked away in downtown Bend. It has only been open for about 6 weeks (what a time to open!), and Dave has done an incredible job of putting together a diverse portfolio of varietals at reasonable prices.

We made a reservation for one of two outdoor dining tables to do the weekly signature flight. The seating was appropriately distanced, and each table came with its own heater; we hardly used our blankets we brought. This week’s selection was Gamay- a varietal we are personally not very familiar with, so this was an extra treat!

Our tasting experience had us traveling from France to the Willamette...

Click Here to Read More...

Beyond Painted Hills is Blue Basin

Most tourists to Central Oregon will travel to see the Painted Hills, one of the 7 Wonders of Oregon.  But the Painted Hills is just one of three locations of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. Located past Mitchell, closer to Dayville, the Blue Basin Overlook Trail is worth the hike and the panoramic views of colorful Blue Canyon worth seeing.  The loop around the canyon is only 3.25 miles, but climbs 900 feet in elevation.  The second hike in the area is an in and back 1.3 miles up the canyon itself with several stops along the Island in Time Trail with descriptions of fossils and wildlife that used to inhabit the area millions of years ago. The Thomas Condon Paleontology and Visitor Center is located just a few miles from Blue Basin and is another must for tourists.

If you plan on traveling to Blue Basin from Bend, be sure to have a full tank of gas before you leave town as there are limited services in this part of Central Oregon. The drive is roughly 40 miles from the Painted Hills and about 120 miles from Bend. In summer the hike will be hot with very little shade.  We did this hike in November and it was cool with few people. 

Inventory Levels Less than a Month for Bend Real Estate

The October 2020 figures have been published for Bend single family home sales on less than an acre. The results continue the trends we have been experiencing this year - recording breaking low inventory, record breaking demand and record breaking home prices. The inventory of available Bend single family homes for sale has now reached a desperate level of less than half a month of supply.  This has created a situation where multiple offers are the norm, days on market historically low and prices escalating at a rate that we believe is unsustainable.

When October 2019 sales figures for Bend single family homes on less than an acre are compared with those from October 2020, the following changes can be noted:

• Average sales price up 21.5% to $669,699*
• Median sales price up 19.1% to $560,000
• Average listing price up 11.4% to $638,699
• Median listing price up 19.6% to...

Click Here to Read More...

There are so many reasons to love Central Oregon and it would take multiple lifetimes to experience them all. From the beautiful mountains to explore, the winding rivers to traverse, the desert flats to experience, and the beer to taste, there is a little something for everyone.

This year, we have been taking on as many mountain biking trails as we can. With the mild fall season, we have even been able to push our biking into November! One of our favorite "go to" trails to bike is Ben's, part of the Phil's Trail Mountain Biking system. With roughly 12 miles of trail and a tad over 800 feet of elevation gain, this trail has a little bit of everything. 

We love that this trail has a nice winding area to warm up before hitting the uphill. Upon completing the...

Click Here to Read More...

Today in our never ending quest to find Bend's Best Bites, we came across an absolute gem of a lunch stop. Located in an Old Bend Neighborhood off the beaten path, we found a wonderful small batch vegan restaurant called Root Down Kitchen. This entirely plant based restaurant really packed in the flavors we love and made us forget there was no meat. Root Down Kitchen calls themselves "Vegan comfort food" and we absolutely agree.

We began our flavor journey with the Red Lentil Fritters. This dish offered two large fritters topped with pickled onions, cilantro, pesto, spicy aioli, and avocado crema over a bed of spicy slaw. Not only was this dish packed with such a myriad of flavors, it was also so gorgeous to look at that we hardly wanted to dig in... but we are so glad we did.

After leaving no trace behind of the fritters, we started in on our mouth watering sandwi...

Click Here to Read More...