Our year here in Bend started in a rather sluggish manner. However from May 1st onward, our Market has picked up some much needed steam. In that time we saw 859 residential properties go Pending or Sold in the Bend area alone. 579 of that number were completed sales.
Surprisingly, the entry level market began to see multiple offers on some of its best priced homes. As an example, one of my clients, a couple who were first time home buyers, wrote an offer on a cute little 3 bedroom 2 bath home with approx 1150 square feet. It was priced just under 100k and before everything was said and done, the listing agent had received a total of 15 offers on it and it sold for more than it was listed for.
It appears we may finally have hit the proverbial bottom of the real estate market when it comes to the 'Entry Level' home market. Entry level homes that are priced between 100k and 130k are seeing shorter turnaround times for days on market and in some cases multiple offers if the property is exceptionally priced.
I believe we still have some more settling to do in the upper tiers of our marketplace, however it is nice to see an uptick in both showings and sales.
The quality of life that people move here to Bend for has not changed. So many housing markets across the nation exploded simply for the purpose of buying and selling new real estate and in the end that was all they had going for them. Bend is different in that there are a lot of reasons to want to live and invest here. Many buyers that I have worked with express their desire to live in a safer community with better schools for their children. They want a place that has considerable outdoor recreation possibilities, has an assortment of fine dining and shopping options, has a healthy music and art scene and has quick transportation access to the larger West coast cities. Bend meets all of that criteria plus protects its environment so as to keep it that charming outdoor mecca that it is.
For that reason, I believe both investors and buyers from outside the area will continue to find Bend a desireable option for real estate investment. Yes we still have more economically slow times to wade through but in the end I believe we will have weathered the storm better than most.
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