Bend Premier Real Estate Blog

In light of the collapse of the Highland school gym roof last night, the concerns regarding snow load have really hit home. So what is snow load and what can a Bend homeowner do about it? According to AccuWeather, a cubic foot of dry snow weights about 6 to 8 pounds, while one cubic foot of packed snow could weigh up to 20 pounds. The same volume of ice can weigh three times this amount.  Roofs are engineered to handle a certain amount of weight based on their pitch (inches the roof rises vertically for every 12 inches it extends horizontally). The steeper the pitch, the less likely snow will accumulate on the roof. Homes with low pitch or flat roofs are at increased risk to accumulate snow and collapse under the snow's weight. The average Bend residential roof is engineered to handle 25 pounds per square foot - which is typically about 20 inches of snow. Older homes, built before building codes were incorporated in Bend in the late 1960's may not meet this minimum standard. When w...

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Bend Oregon Homes -

This winter has seen more snow fall in Central Oregon than we have had for several years. Although beautiful, it can also be hazardous for driving and can create problems for Bend real estate. Among the most noticeable issue we have observed is a great number of icicles hanging from roofs. These are indicators of problems with your Bend home. Icicles form when snow accumulates on your roof and then melts. If your attic has insufficient insulation or improper ventilation so that your attic becomes warm, this will heat the roof and cause the snow to melt.  As it melts, the water flows towards gutters or the edge of the roof where it freezes again, forming icicles. Experts advise against knocking these icicles off, as this may break the gutter and can cause injury to the homeowner as chunks of ice can be very heavy and dangerous.

Icicles can also be an indic...

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Bend Oregon real estate continues to be sold even during winter. Some sellers do take their property off the market during the winter months, but for those who don't, there are buyers interested in purchasing Bend homes. For those sellers who are willing to keep their listings going in the winter, there are several items which need to be addressed to optimize the opportunities for buyers to see and fall in love with the property.

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There are many ways to look at real estate trends in Bend, Oregon. Among the most in interesting is to compare sales over the last twelve months with those of the previous year. While the actual numbers of properties sold are up just slightly at 3%, the value of the property is up significantly at 11% on average, with the biggest increase found in the sale of multi-family properties at over 30% followed by commercial buildings at 22%.*

There has been a significant lack of affordable housing in Bend over the last few years with the rental vacancy rate less than 1%. This helps to explain the reason that multi-family properties have increased so much in value. Anyone driving around Bend's eastside will see many new apartment complexes under construction. Hopefully once completed, these new apartments will help ease some of the burden the lack of affordable homes has had for many Bend residents.

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Bend real estate sales traditionally change as we move into fall. Typically, Bend families with children do not actively search for a home while school is in session. Sales slow as we move into the holidays and the demographics of active home buyers who remain in the hunt for the perfect home during this time of year are different than those searching during our peak season. 

On Bend Premier Real Estate's home search, we are seeing Bend homes from $500,000 to $1,000,000 top the most searched properties over the past two weeks; during the busy summer season, homes $300,000 and under were the most popular listings. During October, a huge increase of 96.7% in pended sales* in this price range occurred over the year before.

What does this mean for Bend home sales? Based on our experience over decades of work in Bend real estate, we are seeing our trend of strong fall sales continue with the typi...

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