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Bend, OR Real Estate News

By Dave Woodland, Your Bend, OR Friendly, Knowledgable Mortgage Professional
(Signet Mortgage)
BELOW IS THE DATA SHEET RIGHT FROM THE WHITE HOUSE: KEY POINT: APPLIES TO REFINANCES OF LOANS ORIGINATED BEFORE 6/1/2009. KEY FHA NUMBERS TO REMEMBER: (assuming 96.5% loan) Upfront MI:  Was: 1.0%    Will be 1.75%, but STREAMLINED ONLY 0.1% !!!Annual MI:   Was: 1.15%  Will be 1.25%, but STEAMLINED ONLY 0.55% !!! Now from the White House: Reducing Fees for FHA Borrowers Seeking to Refinance – Saving Homeowners Hundreds of Dollars A Year The FHA offers a streamlined refinancing program to allow borrowers with FHA-backed mortgages to refinance their loans at lower cost and with fewer burdens. This program has helped hundreds of thousands of families refinance, but lender reticence and fees have kept many families from participating. Today, the President is announcing new steps to increase t...
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By Sandy and John Kohlmoos
(Cascade Sotheby's International Realty)
Tetherow . . . A Dream Comes True The following is an excerpt from the Bend Bulletin; it was written by Carrie Ramoz. Tetherow . . . A Dream Comes True 2017 seemed like the distant future to Bend’s Tim Williams and his family. When they planned out their future, it looked like 2017 was the year they could fulfill their desire of living in Tetherow, a growing community on Bend’s Westside. Patiently waiting, they spent three seasons as guests of the Tetherow Golf Club, enjoying the Scottish links style golf, outstanding dining and a variety of social and family events. As the young family grew, so did their eagerness to live in such a convenient, growing area. In 2011, the Williams family learned about Tetherow’s Jr. Executive Membership, which is available to those under 46 and includes...
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By Sandy and John Kohlmoos
(Cascade Sotheby's International Realty)
Bend Oregon Real Estate Recovering Bend real estate recovering And interesting article by Elon Glucklich in The Bulletin states that a long-awaited real estate recovery in Bend may already be under way. The gist of the article appears below. But don’t expect boom to return On Friday, at The Riverhouse Convention Center, there was  hope that tepid market conditions would gradually improve this year — but caution that homeowners, brokers and investors would have to brace for a “new normal” in the market. “We’re on the verge of recovery” “We’re on the verge of a recovery,” Ron Ross, principal broker at Compass Commercial Real Estate Services, told a crowd of about 200 business, real estate and financial officials. But “we can’t wait for the economy to get back to where it was in 2005. Tha...
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By Sandy and John Kohlmoos
(Cascade Sotheby's International Realty)
  Homes for Sale in Bend . . . under $200,000 I was thinking a bit about the Bend real estate market (something I do quite frequently), and specifically about homes for sale in Bend.  My interest was further piqued when I read an article in the Bend Bulletin (Median Price in Bend Drops for 4th Year in a Row). The article, while certainly based on fact, failed to convey recent trends and the palpable uptick in the market . . . especially with homes under $200,000. 2008 . . . Homes in Bend under $200,000 I took a step back, and arbitrarily picked a date . . . February of 2008 . . . just four years ago. My how the Bend real estate landscape has changed! In that month, just one home in Bend sold for less than $200,000. And that home, a 651 square footer built in 1928, went for $199,500. 201...
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By Dave Woodland, Your Bend, OR Friendly, Knowledgable Mortgage Professional
(Signet Mortgage)
Happy Presidents’ Day! We have a rich history of great Presidents to be honored and it feels good to live in this great land. University of Oregon On The Rocks free ticket offer below (just above the banner.) It has been 5 years already from the 2007 height of the real estate market bubble. Five years. In some ways it is hard to believe that it has already been half a decade, but in other ways it is hard to remember the pre-crash exuberance. How do you come out on that – “doesn’t seem like 5” or “I can really only remember things the way they are now”? Five years is a magical number in real estate for two different reasons. First let’s explore the impact on Commercial Real Estate (CRE). The most common term of lease in the commercial office space is 5 years. The impact of those 5 years ...
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By Sandy and John Kohlmoos
(Cascade Sotheby's International Realty)
  Homes in Bend . . . December 2011 The photo above was taken from Sandy’s office at Cascade Sotheby’s International Realty . . . not a bad view! Bend Oregon Real Estate Aside from the spring-like weather and absolute lack of precipitation, December was pretty nice. The Bend Oregon real estate market was  active . . . with 140 sales. That’s up about 10% from last month’s (Bend Home Sales–November) total of 125, but down about 10% from a year ago. Median Price in Bend . . . $185,000 I never attach much significance to the median price; nevertheless, we saw a bump (I guess better than a dip) of $20,000 for the month . . . to $185,000.  In part due to the high end contributions of agents from Cascade Sotheby’s International Realty. The typical median priced home in Bend would look like thi...
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By Dave Woodland, Your Bend, OR Friendly, Knowledgable Mortgage Professional
(Signet Mortgage)
The single-largest drag on our economy is housing. The biggest kitchen-table concern is underemployment and unemployment. The two are connected as homeowners’ ability to buy homes is out of reach with the worst-in-our-lifetime employment picture. So the news from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday was more than welcome. A quarter million net private sector jobs created in the month was fantastic. Improvement of unemployment to 8.3% is also good. Or is it? The out-of-work number is 12.7 million people. That is as large as the population of Pennsylvania, every man, woman and child in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and everywhere in between. There was much celebrating going on Friday as the unemployment figure was announced. I saw claims of a 40-48 state sweep by President Obama ...
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By Melinda (Mel) Peterson, The Savvy Broker - ABR, CRS
(Grants Pass, OR)
Jazzing up the World of Biscotti.  It's no secret, my friends know that I'm a chocolate lover.  And when one of my friends recently surprised me with a basket full of coffee and chocolate treats, I discovered a new love for biscotti.  Can you say Yummy?! In my basket full of treats was a package of german chocolate biscotti made in Oregon by a company called Be-Bop Biscotti.  The company is located in Bend Oregon and they have an eye-catching website with a cool marketing message...  'We're jazzing up the world of biscotti, infusing fresh life into an old standard.'  It doesn't take much to engage my taste buds when chocolate is involved.  Did I say Yummy?! Be-Bop Biscotti certainly jazzed up my life today!  Have you had your biscotti?     
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By Sandy and John Kohlmoos
(Cascade Sotheby's International Realty)
  Broken Top Homes For Sale Broken Top Broken Top, on Bend’s favored westside, has for almost two decades been considered one of Oregon’s premier golf communities. Custom homes  at Broken Top line the fairways of the championship 18 hole track that meanders through the community.  The course, designed by Tom Weiskopf, is a classic resort course with no adjoining fairways. Broken Top Club Centerpiece of the community is the stunning 24,000 square foot clubhouse, solemnly standing as a sentinel over a tule bordered lake. Broken Top is conveniently located just minutes from schools (Summit HS, Cascade, High Lakes) and downtown; it’s also on the road to Mt. Bachelor. Homes in Broken Top There are  a full range of homes in Broken Top . . . large custom estate homes, casual (maintenance free)...
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By Dave Woodland, Your Bend, OR Friendly, Knowledgable Mortgage Professional
(Signet Mortgage)
The FOMC released its announcement this morning at 9:30 eastern. Two very important indications of what the FOMC will do are found in the statement released to the press.   1. They anticipate keeping the “exceptionally low fed funds rate at least through late 2014″. (Had previously been “into late 2013″, so this is favorable to interest rates.) 2. They have announced extending their program to bolster long-term security holdings.   The impact to the rates was precipitous. Check out this chart to see how the bellwether 10-yr Treasury dropped 14 bps immediately after the announcement.    Mortgage rates continue to improve. 
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By Dave Woodland, Your Bend, OR Friendly, Knowledgable Mortgage Professional
(Signet Mortgage)
Big news in the Interest Rates market! The mortgage backed securities that enable banks to package loans into the secondary market are at an all-time high which means rates are great and getting better. Only once ever has the 3.50% coupon MBS from Fannie Mae closed this high and it was in the excitement of the “Operation Twist” announcement and introduction about 100 days ago. At that time interest rates plummeted.  Today we are experiencing the same thing with interest rates in a place that allow for cost-free, 30-year fixed loans on purchases and refis with a 3 in front. That’s right APRs sub 4.0%.   See your friendly neighborhood mortgage broker on Monday for the best available rates!
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By Sandy and John Kohlmoos
(Cascade Sotheby's International Realty)
Bend Oregon Among Best Housing Markets by John and Sandy Kohlmoos Bend Oregon Real Estate 'Twas the season to be jolly, and I was getting rather tired of writing about the negatives (Central Oregon Economy Sputters, Notices of Default Skyrocket, Stress) associated with the real estate market in Bend . . . in the nick of time (no pun intended), along comes this hopeful report on housing here in Bend. Fiserv Case Shiller Latest Case Shiller data estimates that home prices will appreciate at an annual rate of 3.2% over the next 5 years. www.businessinsider.com has pored over the Case Shiller statistics, and has  come up with their list of the top 15 housing markets over the next five years. Bend Oregon is #1 The gist of the report on housing in Bend forecasts the annual growth at 11.9%. “...
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By Sandy and John Kohlmoos
(Cascade Sotheby's International Realty)
  Skiers Mob Bachelor . . . Free Skiing, New Chairlift by John and Sandy Kohlmoos Skiers Mob Mt. Bachelor In this season of no snow, the tagline seemed too good to be true. I came across this article in the Bend Bulletin looking back on Bend 25 years ago . . . made me chuckle. A simpler time. I wonder what housing prices in Bend were then? Unheard-of-event Skiers used to shelling out big bucks for lift tickets came in droves to Mount Bachelor Friday for an almost unheard-of-event–a free day of skiing. Eager schussers began arriving at Mount Bachelor’s parking lots at 4:30 AM. And they began lining up at the chairlifts about 30 minutes before they opened, Said Jeff Lokting, marketing and sales manager for Mount Bachelor, Inc. “The Kind of Day We Wanted” “This is exactly the kind of day w...
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By Sandy and John Kohlmoos
(Cascade Sotheby's International Realty)
Pronghorn Sells! www.bestbendhomes.com   Pronghorn Lender Sells Loans   The real estate landscape in Central Oregon continues to evolve as The Bend Bulletin reported  that Societe Generale, the holder of $43 M in loans  at Pronghorn has sold the note to a “master developer.”     Email to Pronghorn Members   An email to members at Pronghorn, sent out by general manager, Spencer Schaub, failed to identify the buyer; but, stated, in part, “We are excited to confirm that a well-established group which has extensive experience with luxury resorts and residential golf communities has been selected . . .”     A spokesperson from Cascade Sotheby’s International Realty in Bend, corroborated the info, and further identified the company as The Resort Group, headed by Jeff Stone, and headquartered...
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By Dave Woodland, Your Bend, OR Friendly, Knowledgable Mortgage Professional
(Signet Mortgage)
...Jobs and it Begins with Housing! But wait... Unemployment dropped sharply last week to 8.6%! Watch this number. The biggest component of the drop is the 100s of thousands who gave up their search, either for the holidays or until the economy makes job search a bit better. I haven't heard any Administration officials touting this number yet and I hope I don't. People have been scared away and discouraged. The jobs created at 120,000 reported last week is still not enough to even break even with the number of workers coming of age outpacing those turning standard retirement age. And that doesn't take into account that so many are now working much later in life than they used to. So Unemployment improved but jobs are still not keeping up. We need 1- More-reasonable credit standards in ...
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By Dave Woodland, Your Bend, OR Friendly, Knowledgable Mortgage Professional
(Signet Mortgage)
Today's topic: Exploring some nationwide statistics on Foreclosures and Delinquent Loans. Delinquencies are the "pipeline" to future foreclosures. I read a report this morning that is very informative and I think you will like it too. You can find a PowerPoint graphically presenting all of the data by clicking here. The presentation is provided by LPS Applied Analytics. Foreclosure stats of interest nationwide: * Seriously delinquent loans (>90 days delinquent) are down ~40% from high of ~3.0M in January 2010 now 1.7M loans. This is represented by the first chart on the right, above * 3.9M loans are either seriously delinquent (>90 days delinquent) or in Foreclosure * 2.2M of those are in Foreclosure, the highest number ever and 4.3% of all active loans * Another 7.9% are delinquent by ...
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By Sandy and John Kohlmoos
(Cascade Sotheby's International Realty)
  Bend Home Sales Bend Real Estate I have to admit to being just a little surprised . . . we take off for an exotic vacation to Australia,   and homes in Bend continue to sell. Actually, May offered some pretty healthy sales figures–we saw 171 homes purchased.  That’s up over 22% from April (Bend Homes–April 2011), and almost 12% from a year ago. Homes in Bend . . . Price Ranges We saw the sale of one million dollar plus home in Bend. A “stately lodge style with European flavor,” located at the end of the first fairway of the Weiskopf-designed Broken Top golf course; the home, listed at $1.65M, sold for $1,200,000 or $$157 per square foot. It was awarded the “best in show” for the 2003 Tour of Homes (most folks remember the corvette pictured below). It offered 6 bedrooms, 5.5 baths, and...
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By Sandy and John Kohlmoos
(Cascade Sotheby's International Realty)
Real Estate in Bend Bend Real Estate The Bend Oregon real estate market, especially the low end, stayed active in April. 133 homes sold in Bend. That’s down about 14% from March’s figure of 155 (March . . . Homes In Bend), but still a number indicating fairly robust activity. Price Ranges for Homes in Bend The bargain for April was, euphemistically speaking, “an affordable opportunity that needs some TLC.” I guess that’s one way of putting it. The 1680 square foot home in Bend featured 3 bedrooms and one bath. It was built in 1960; sited on a third of an acre just off Murphy Road on Bend’s east side. The bank-owned property sold for $54,900 or just under $33 per square foot. According to Central Oregon MLS, it sat on the market for 250 days. Sunset View Estates at $625,000 A little sad...
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By Sandy and John Kohlmoos
(Cascade Sotheby's International Realty)
Tripleknot Townhomes at Tetherow Construction continues on the Tripleknot Townhomes at Tetherow. Below is a photo from 11/19/11, a day more suited to being at Mt. Bachelor.  The right hand unit is 2900 square feet and will be used as a model home. It is available on a lease back program . . . call 541-480-8131 or check out www.bestbendhomes.com for detailed information. The left hand unit is a wonderful single level with great golf and mountain views. Call fro pricing and completion dates. Tripleknot Townhomes at Tetherow www.bestbendhomes.com Tripleknot Townhomes’ first phase consists of 22 homes with floor plans ranging from 2,350 to roughly 3,000 square feet.
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By Dave Woodland, Your Bend, OR Friendly, Knowledgable Mortgage Professional
(Signet Mortgage)
The markets for interest rates improved last week and today largely on scares in Europe, but also on the action and inaction of the US Super Committee. There are mixed reactions in the bond watchers to the Super-committee inaction; some attribute today’s drop in rates to a US-budget-caused safety flight from stocks to bonds. Others see this as a weak argument because the impact of a non-decision is distant and indirect. Nonetheless, it is interesting to me that the concession of defeat by the super committee was played out on National TV on Sunday even though the deadline is Monday night (tonight) at midnight. Both parties pointing sharply chiseled fingers at the other side. The troubles in Europe continue to worsen, under the cover of “all-is-well”. The ECB is single-handedly buying up...
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