Bend Premier Real Estate Blog

Bend has been seeing great movement in the luxury real estate market over the past year. What was unsellable in early 2013 is now a popular market, with Bend real estate trends continuing to show an uptick. According to Central Oregon MLS, 2016 year to date sales are up 15% over the same period last year in Bend homes valued over $1,000,000. And the demand is really pushing the value of these homes. The average cost per square foot has jumped over 5% for the same time frame and the days on market has gone down 30%. Bend luxury real estate is selling!

As one of the most used real estate websites in Central Oregon, our website can be a good indicator of where the real estate market is headed right now. For example, as home and land prices continue to trend higher, we are starting to see more expensive homes enter into our top 10 most searched properties such as this $479,000 Broken Top condo or this 1657 Nw Mt Washington Drive, Bend priced at $439,750. However, as a general rule, most of the top searched properties are still at the low end with an average price of the other top searched homes just $248,500. All of the top 10 searched homes this week were located in Bend.

When you drive around Bend, have you noticed there are a lot of red front doors? Although for these homeowners the reasons might be aesthetic, around the world red doors actually have a lot of meaning. The Chinese, for example, believe red is a lucky color and would paint their doors red before the Chinese New Year. Red doors can be an important element of Feng Sui by allowing "chi" to be drawn into the home. Catholics often paint their church doors red to remind people of Christ's sacrifice. During slavery, red doors were used to by the Underground Railroad to show this particular home could provide safe haven. There is even rumor that people would paint their doors red as a sort of "no solicitation" sign to that annoying Fuller Brush salesman… but again, that's just rumor. But the story we like most is that homeowners in Scotland paint their doors red to show that they have paid off their mortgage. Will you be painting your door red soon?

We have known for the last several years that the increased demand for Bend housing has pushed prices upward. The cost of a single family home has gone up 11% over the last year to almost $200 per foot while the amount of available inventory has dropped over 20%; the average price of a single family Bend home is now $389,725 (COAR MLS statistics). People continue to move to Bend, loving the Central Oregon lifestyle. However, we are now at a place where the price to live here can exceed the budget of many locals. How did we reach this situation? Bend is not the only American community experiencing a housing crisis. According to Lawrence Yun, the National Association of Realtors® chief economist, 3 million American homes which should have been built over the last 6 years were not. These 3 million homes were the minimum amount needed to keep up with the country's growing population but they were not built, mostly due to banking's hesitation to finance new...

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Ever wonder about where the richest people in the world live? Many would be surprised that billionaire Warren Buffett still lives in the Dundee-Happy Hallow Historic District of Omaha, Nebraska where he grew up in the same home he purchased in 1958 for a mere $31,500. Surprised? I know we were.  Named by Time Magazine as one of the most influential people in the world, this 6000 square foot relatively modest stucco house (recently appraised for under $1 million dollars) is just a tiny fraction of his estimated net worth of $66.2 billion dollars. But to be fair, Warren Buffett also owns a second home in Laguna Beach, California estimated at about $4 million, but still just a small fraction of his net worth. We're guessing one of the secrets to his success is being frugal.