It’s Been A Long Year

At long last, the end of a crazy year! The pandemic, economic turmoil, political unrest . . . so many unforeseen events and happenings. For most of us, the year couldn’t end soon enough. I think we’re all ready for a new chapter.

Despite one of the warmest Decembers on record,

Mt. Bachelor  opened with some workable COVID-19 restrictions; the skiing/snowboarding has been excellent.

Just for the record, we’ll try to stick with reporting simply on real estate in Bend.

Bend’s Inventory Woes Continue

As predicted, things slowed a bit in December . . . though still a pretty robust performance with 214 purchases (single family residential on less than an acre). The median price dropped, for the second time in two months, to $515,000; down from July’s record high of $565,000.

Still the big news was the dismal state of our available inventory–just .3 of a month. Yes, you read that right . . . it’s an all time low and equates to about 10 days of supply. Oh, to be a seller!

A quick story regarding inventory . . . a few days, I ran a search for a friend, looking for suitable homes on our west side. I was horrified to see the results quantified . . . across all price points, just 29 homes available (with 18 of them priced above a million dollars).

Luxury Bend . . . $2,345,000

The luxury market seemed to lose a bit of its luster . . . just 15 sales over one million dollars (after hitting 30 sales in August).

Sometimes, I wonder why I even bother to write this section . . . it seems that it’s always the Tetherow show.

This month was no exception, as the big winner was a NW style home on the 13th. fairway of the David Kidd-designed track. Four bedrooms, four baths, and 4845 square feet, the home sold for $2,345,000 or $464 per square foot.

It featured Cascade mountain views and all the usual great stuff . . . 21 foot ceilings, a huge stone fireplace, hickory floors;

a gourmet kitchen with solid granite countertops, a walk-in pantry, a cool center island with a Decor cook top; even a “dreamy” (not really sure what that means) master bath complete with urinal.

Bend’s Median . . . $515,000

In December, Bend’s median priced home would have looked like this two story beauty on the NE side of town.

The 3/3, 1650 square foot house featured a main floor master with a large walk-in closet and spacious path with radiant heated floors.

An inviting (aren’t they always?) front porch and a large paver patio in back. The home went pending in just four days an closed at $40,000  over list price (at $312 per square foot). Again, the current Bend market in a nutshell.

As always, a comparison of the median prices on each side of town.

West side   $735,000

East side   $458,000

That east side is looking pretty good about now!

Bargain Bend . . . $260,000

Wow! Another home in Bend for less than $300,000! Actually the only one last month, with the next least expensive having been $50,000 more. This one sold “as is” with eviction process already begun. County records showed 4 bedrooms and one bath. Reality, apparently, was 3/2, and 1326 square feet; the garage “supposedly” had a bathroom and a kitchenette too.

Not exactly a gourmet kitchen, but still a couple of cool features . . . the sought after stackable double microwave and a nice mounted buck.

The den/great room offered a peaceful quiet spot to relax complete with bong, beer cans, a comfy couch, and a flat screen TV.

Located in one of Bend’s Opportunity Zones, it sold for $196 per square foot.

Looking Ahead

It appears that demand isn’t going to subside anytime soon; we’ll continue to see heavy in-migration as folks work remotely and make lifestyle decisions. Unfortunately, our inventory situation won’t improve much until  early spring (March or April). Until then, we’ll see a slowing of sales (we saw only 59 “pending” sales in December–not boding well for January) and a continued increase in pricing. In fact, Bend’s median price could bump to well over $600,000.

Hope does spring eternal in the form of low interest rates, optimism in regard to the new administration,  further development, production, and distribution of new vaccines, and the hoped for resultant improvement in the economy.