Bend Real Estate . . . September 2022

It’s tough, month after month, to try to come up with some sort of witty or clever title for ones email newsletter. After a while, every post begins to sound the same; only the numbers are different.

Here we go again . . . we saw the purchase of 181 homes (single family residential on less than an acre)–not a bad number for a month that offers so many other distractions (the start of school, high school football, wonderful Central Oregon fall weather).

• Median price dropped to $724,900.
• 25% of purchases were cash transactions
• Just two months of available inventory
• Days on market increased to 20

Luxury Bend . . . $4,300,000

MLS doesn’t tell us much about this magnificent home on the 12th. fairway of Broken Top’s Weiskopf/Morrish track. Seller didn’t cooperate much either, refusing to authorize photos. I suppose it really doesn’t matter . . . suffice to say, it closed at $4,300,000! We don’t see too many sales in the 4’s in this part of the country. In fact, this is the second most expensive home to sell in Bend for 2022, trailing only another Broken Top home which sold in June for $6.5 million!

Designed by Neil Huston and built by Steve Madsen (certainly hall of fame names in Bend building history), the 5875 square foot home, offering 4 bedrooms and 5 baths, closed at $732 per square foot.

Rather interesting to point out that the seller for “Casa Montana” at $6.5M in June, and the buyer for this home, were one and the same person. Must be nice!

I apologize that the photos that are used above are those from when the home previously sold in September of 2020 at $1,925,000. Not sure what upgrades have been made since that time.

Atlanta, Idaho . . . A Visit

For those tired of reading the same old drivel each month (ie, median price, months of inventory, seller’s market, blah, blah, blah), this next section is for you.

Early in September, we took a trip to the end of the world, Atlanta, Idaho–a place no one else has ever been, “the remotest town in the west.”

Perched in the middle of Idaho and reached by 40 miles of rather perilous, single lane, unpaved forest service road, the town is the gateway to the Sawtooth Wilderness. The road is not for the faint of heart, featuring outstanding vistas and some frickin’ steep drops.

Gold was discovered in Atlanta in 1863, and the town’s population swelled to over 500 (today it’s 21).

Atlanta now features one restaurant/bar, The Beaver Lodge, and a few cabins for rent. It also boasts a historic district of 12 buildings (5 houses, a log cabin, an assay office, a jail, and several outbuildings), listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Set at an elevation of 5384 feet, the road in, and much of town, are inaccessible in the winter . . . just the way the inhabitants (click on the link, and listen to the end) like it!

A quick aside–only one home presently for sale in Atlanta.

Bend’s Median . . . $724,900

After topping out at around $770,000 in March and April, Bend’s median settled at $724,900. Probably a result of a bit more inventory, buyers becoming more picky, and their quest to somewhat mitigate rising interest rates by searching for homes in the $500,000 to $700,000 range. In fact, in September, 79 purchases (44% of sales) fell into this category.

The median priced home in Bend would have looked like this 2226 square foot, 3 bed, 3 bath, former model home in Westly, ironically on Bend’s west side.

The house featured an open plan, extensive hardwood flooring, a kitchen with stainless appliances, and a large pantry.

The backyard was a highlight with pretty professional landscaping and hefty shade trees.

The home went pending in just 5 days, and closed at full list price (at $326 per foot).

As each month, the median prices on the two sides of town:

East side     $625,000

West side    $943,000

Slumming It . . . $450,000

Hardly slumming it, but the least expensive home sold in Bend was this 3, 3, 1532 square foot house in Sunpointe on Bend’s east side. It was one of seven homes to sell for less than $500,000 in September.

To be rather blunt, it needed a bit of TLC, but did feature a kitchen, a funky lawn and covered porch in front, and a Trex deck in back.

The garage had been converted into a bedroom.

The home languished a bit on the market (no small wonder) . . . it went pending in 48 days, and sold for $35,000 below list (at $294 per foot).

Looking Ahead

The crystal ball is still a bit foggy, but let’s give it a try.

I think we’ll see more available inventory in the months ahead, but we’ll also see a drop in demand as rising interest rates and looming global and national issues are played out. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a potential market adjustment ahead.