Central Oregon’s craft beer brewers have been getting a lot of attention lately.  From The New York Times, American Craft Beer, USA Today, The Oregonian and The New York Times again.  What better way to celebrate the booming industry of craft brewing than to devote a whole week to it?  That is just what the thirte

Selling your house?  We know you want to be there for any showings so you can tell the potential buyers how awesome your house is and get instant feedback.  The problem is, more often than not, it is better (for you and the buyer) if you aren’t there. Sellers make buyers uncomfortable If the seller is present, t

This well cared for home is move in ready.  There are vaulted ceilings in every room giving it an open, airy feel.  Hardwood floors are the perfect accent to the spacious kitchen.  If you enjoy entertaining you will love the large dining area and big deck out back.  With it’s open floor plan and oversized living roo

Spring is officially here.  The weather is steadily getting warmer, the parks and rec softball season is underway and all of our neighbors have their sprinkler systems turned on.  So it stands to reason that the Spring real estate sales season should be in full swing.  Right?  Well, if we are just going by the date an

The West Side home you have been waiting for!  It has been well cared for by one owner since the day it was built.  There is an attached two car garage with alley entrance and plenty of street parking. The bedrooms are nice and large.  The open floor plan between the kitchen, dining area and spacious [...]

Central Oregon has long been a premier vacation destination and by extension a desirable location to own a vacation home.  The climate and abundant outdoor activities have been drawing vacationers for decades.  In the late 1960′s and ’70s the construction of Sunriver, Seventh Mountain, and Black Butte Res

Once you have made the decision to list your home for sale the next step is to make your home ready to sell.  The two most important pieces of preparing to sell a home are to make it functional and presentable.  These are home improvements that will help your home sell faster and at a better [...]

For the first time since the real estate market came crashing down there were more short sales in a month than deals on foreclosures.  The most recent data available shows that short sales accounted for 23.9 percent of all sales in January while 19.7 percent of sales were foreclosured homes, according to a Bloomberg articl

Bend has long been known as a cycling town because of it’s multitude of roads winding through the foothills of the Cascade Mountains and plethora of trails for mountain bikers to chose from.  Although there are a number of cycling events and races in Bend each year, the showcase for Central Oregon’s love

Traditional Sale!  This is an extremely well cared for one owner home.  If you’re looking for privacy with a park like setting and low maintenance home this one’s for you. This 3 bedroom 2 bath home sits on over an acre giving you plenty of room to roam. Extensive paving recently done with covered parking [...]

Traditional Sale!  This home has both character and privacy.  Nestled on a .75 acre treed lot in Deschutes River Woods it has a lot to offer.  The hardwood flooring and custom pine trim take you back in time while the recently remodeled bathroom and updated appliances offer comforts of today.  Most of the windows have

Bend, Oregon is known as a premier destination for outdoor activities (and beer), consistently making top 10 lists for everything from golf to skiing.  This month Outdoor Life Magazine ranked Bend at #8 on their list of the best hunting and fishing towns in the United States. While there are plenty of hunters in Central O

Becky and I spent a fabulous Saturday at NorthWest Crossing Spring Festival.  This was our first big festival since Winterfest and it didn’t disappoint.  The entertainment was top notch, including:  Chris Barron (lead singer of the Spin Doctors), 2nd Hand Soldiers (a great reggae cover band), Katt and Roots Revolut

….assume that you are in the clear and can do whatever you want with your finances.  Ask any mortgage lender and they can tell you stories about borrowers who have had their loan closings delayed or even terminated because they thought the lender wouldn’t look at what happens to their finances going forward fr

Most people think of spring as a time for cleaning but preparing your home for the summer months is just as important as getting it ready for winter.  Here are some tips for bringing your home out of winter hibernation. Inside Clean or replace the filter on your furnace.  If you are like most people you haven’t [.

The big news regarding home sales in Bend and Deschutes County last month is there were no real surprises.  The numbers of homes sold and homes for sale held true to historical form with both moving slightly higher in March. An increase in inventory is welcome news for the beginning of the Spring sales season [...]

Inside Mortgage Finance recently published the results of their study regarding the role real estate agents play in determining who their clients use to obtain a mortgage.  The survey, Key Factors in the Referral of Homebuyers to Mortgage Originators, found that in approximately one third of all real estate transactions

The National Association of Realtors recently released results of their 2012 Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey.  It was a voluntary survey of more than 2,200 home purchases completed in 2011.  The results show that sales of existing and new homes in 2011 for investment and second home purposes rose to the highest

When a new Federal Housing Administration rule takes effect next Monday, April 1 experts say that FHA backed mortgages will no longer be an option for many potential borrowers.  HousingWire is reporting that the federal agency will no longer issue mortgage insurance for borrowers who have ongoing credit disputes totalling

Bend is well known as being a Mecca for outdoor enthusiasts.  The list of available outdoor activities is wide ranging from white water rafting to mountain biking, snowmobiling to paddle boarding, and fishing to camping.  But Bend is perhaps best known for skiing and golf and Links Magazine recently combined the two and p

Bank of America announced last week that it will begin testing a new mortgage-to-lease program in Nevada, New York and Arizona.  Under this program borrowers will deed back their homes to Bank of America and in exchange will get a multiyear lease with monthly rent payments at or slightly below the going market rate for [..

We have been writing about a strong rental market here in Bend for almost a year now.  Homes are being rented almost as fast as investors can buy them and fix them up.  The property management side of Preferred Residential has had no problem filling homes with qualified tenants either.  In fact, I can’t remember [.

A March 16 article in USA Today about tourists being drawn to distilleries and breweries gives a couple paragraphs to Bend’s Ale Trail and Boneyard Beer.  That is fantastic publicity for the Ale Trail and Bend itself as USA Today has over 3.1 million readers.  The excerpt below mentions that all of the breweries ar

Contractors in Bend received some good news last week about planned construction activity.  Cascade Central Business Consultants reported that the City of Bend has issued 56 building permits in the first two months of 2012.  Last year in January and February the city only issued 26 building permits.  While this is good n

That’s right, to themselves.  At least that is how a new program called Loan Refinance Assistance Pilot Project is being billed.  The program encourages homeowners who owe more on their home than it is worth to move forward with a short sale.  The tricky part is that the homeowner doesn’t sell the home to a [

It seems as if there is never a shortage of publications touting Bend as a great destination to visit or place to live.  About a year ago Sunset Magazine listed Bend as one of the West’s Best Ski Towns.  Bend was chosen as the most food focused ski town.  The brief synopsis only mentions a [...]

The Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffet, sat down for an extensive interview with CNBC last week to share his views on the economy and investing.  It is was a very long interview with the transcript running 73 pages but there were some interesting tidbits that came out of the interview regarding real estate.  Buffet has made

It’s not the NCAA Final Four or the Super Bowl but VisitBend has secured yet another national sporting event for our area.  This time it will be snowshoers invading Central Oregon for their championship event.  The dates will be March 15 – 17, 2013.  One thing I noticed in the press release below is that not

Deschutes County saw sales of existing homes stay flat in February as illustrated in the chart above.  The number of homes sold (269) was only two more than the revised number for January sales.  This is not unusual as sales activity historically doesn’t start to pick up until March. The number of homes for sale c

It’s time for a little light hearted fun at the expense of those of us who live in Bend.  The video below was produced by the folks at 541 Threads.  These people do great work in our community.  For every shirt they sell they donate five meals to a local food bank.  Sadly, I haven’t [...]