Redmond Oregon Homes for Sale Archives

COBA Tour of Homes 2013: One More Weekend

New homes for sale Bend OR — House listed for sale by Kelly Johnson, Bend Premier Real Estate

The Central Oregon Builders Association 2013 tour of homes is under way and there is just one more weekend to view the homes on tour. Homes will be open for viewing this Friday through Sunday, July 26 – 28. On Friday the hours are noon to 6 pm, Saturday 10 am to 6 pm and Sunday 10 am – 6 pm.

There are 45 homes on the tour this year spread as far south as Sunriver and as far north as Terrebonne. If you aren’t up for putting that many miles on your car in one weekend you can preview each of the 45 homes first and decide which homes look most interesting. COBA Tour of Homes for Sale.

Another thing that might help you choose which homes to look at is the list of this year’s award winners. There are at least 7 categories for each price range including Best of Show, Best Features, Best Value, Best Landscaping,and my favorite, Best Kitchen.

If you can’t find anything on the tour of homes that interests you take a look at some of the other new homes for sale in Central Oregon. The homes you will see on this list are from all of Central Oregon and I have not put any limits on price. You can narrow the search results by clicking the “Modify Search” button to set parameters for price, city, county, bedrooms, bathrooms, and a whole lot more. Be sure to scroll below the blue “Search” button for more search parameters such as view, addition, high school and exterior features.

Home Buying: Existing Home in an Unfinished Development

You finally found it! Your dream home. There are three bedrooms with the master on the main floor. A huge bonus room and a fenced yard for the kids to play in. The kitchen is bigger than you hoped for and it doesn’t need to be updated. The house is in the perfect part of town for both school and work. Best of all, it’s in a quiet neighborhood….because there are more empty lots than houses. That is not necessarily a good thing.

Take the neighborhood below for example. This subdivision was started during the boom in 2005 and 2006. The original developer completed 12 homes before the bottom fell out of the market and they had to stop building. Ultimately they lost the development to the bank.

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If your dream home is one of the 12 houses in this development there are some things that your Bend, Oregon Realtor® should help you discover before you make an offer to buy.

Who owns the remaining lots now? If the bank still owns the land you could be setting yourself up for a fall if you buy this house. Sure the neighborhood is quiet and there is lots of room for the kids to play and ride their bikes but you don’t know who may end up buying the remaining lots and how they might develop them.

Not all developers are created equal. If the lots are now owned by a developer, who is it? Do they have a good reputation? Do they build good, quality homes or do they just slap them together as fast as they can and move on to the next development?

Will the new homes in this neighborhood help or hurt the value of the home you want to buy? The home I described above is at least 2000 square feet and has a yard bigger than a postage stamp. If the new developer is going to come in and build a bunch of single level homes that are 1400 square feet with zero lot lines the house in question could lose tens of thousands of dollars in value.

There are numerous neighborhoods just like this one throughout Bend and Redmond where the developer only managed to complete a few houses before going under. Before you make an offer in a situation like this, make sure you have a Bend real estate agent who can answer these important questions.

House Flipping: Get an Inspection

When house prices are rising flipping houses becomes more popular to investors. Lately at Preferred Residential we are seeing more real estate investors coming into the real estate market with the intent of flipping. House flipping is defined as buying and selling a property within a six month period.

There are some inherent dangers in flipping houses and one of those is not being exactly sure about what surprises might be lurking in the house you buy. Houses requiring unexpected repairs can throw a wrench in the timeline and the pocketbook leading to reduced profits or even losses.

A good way to avoid losing money is to have the home you are thinking about buying professionally inspected. Pay for a professional inspection? That is heresy to many investors who flip houses. Why pay $500 when “I know houses and if I waive the inspection contingency it will make my offer look much more attractive to the seller?”

The answer is: Because you don’t know everything about houses and even something as readily visible as stucco siding can ruin a flip. We just had buyers in a multiple offer situation NOT waive an inspection and boy are they thankful now. The inspection found some issues in the stucco siding which made the buyers ask more questions. After some research we found that the siding process used was extremely rare and three different siding contractors told the buyers they didn’t even know how to get it off the house.

Think of it from a return on investment perspective. A thorough inspection can save a person flipping houses thousands of dollars. It can mean the difference between a profitable flip and one that puts you out of the house flipping business.

Time to Sell Your House? More Are Saying Yes!

Now is a good time to sell your house according to a new survey by Redfin, a Seattle based online brokerage. Of the nearly 2,000 home owners surveyed this month, 45 percent said that now is a good time to sell a home. That is double the number of home owners who said it was a good time to sell in January 2013.

Fear of missing future price gains seems to be one factor in holding back more people from feeling like now is a good time to sell. Just over 32 percent of those surveyed told Redfin the thought of missing additional appreciation was holding them back.

On the other side of the coin, home buyers’ enthusiasm is sagging just a bit. Steadily rising home prices reduced the percentage of respondents who feel now is a good time to buy from 54 percent in January to 44 percent in April.

“More folks who bought before the bubble burst are now above water and listing their homes,” says Chad Dierickx, a real estate practitioner with Redfin. “When sellers see their neighbors’ homes selling quickly and for prices they never would have imagined a couple of years ago, they can’t help but be optimistic about the market.”

If you know you want or need to sell your home but aren’t sure if now is the right time, there are a couple steps you can take to help you decide one way or the other. Our previous post about not waiting too long to sell your home should add some clarity to current real estate market conditions. After reading that post, if you are feeling a little more like now could be the right time to sell, email one of our real estate agents for a current market analysis of your home. We can tell you how much your home is worth today. Knowing how much your home is worth will help you figure out how much you can spend on your next home.

Spring 2013: A Good Time to Sell?

For the last few years the Central Oregon real estate market has been a buyer’s market. Buyers have had their pick of homes at prices not seen in these parts for years. The average price per square foot dropped as low as $102 but there were homes that sold as low as $50 per square foot and buyers had their pick of great deals. But those days appear to be over.

Over the last year the tides have turned against buyers and the market has become more favorable to sellers. The average price per square foot rose to $123 in January of this year. The number of bank owned homes for sale has been steadily declining to the point that today they account for less than one percent* of all single family, stick built homes for sale in Bend. Bank owned homes are no longer dragging prices down with them. While they used to sell at a steep discount compared to traditional sales, today any discount is marginal.

One thing that may surprise some is despite the fact that prices are rising and competition amongst buyers for the few houses that are for sale is strong, buyers are staying in the game. The number of buyers from month to month has stayed pretty steady and that tells us that there are even more out there waiting for the right house to hit MLS. If you look at the second graph in this post from last week you can see that there were actually more homes sold in 2012 (4244) than 2011 (3763) even though prices were higher and there were fewer homes to choose from.

Those who should consider selling now are people who are not under water with their mortgage and have been wanting to buy a bigger home or more land or those who bought in the last three years and are looking to lock in profits made through rising prices. We are once again seeing homeowners with equity and if you are unsure of your situation please give us a call at (541) 508-2930 for a FREE market analysis of your home. Find out what your home is worth, today.

*Sales figures courtesy of Central Oregon MLS

What will $100,000 buy? Bend vs. Redmond

A number of my posts lately have focused on how now is a good time to buy a rental home in Central Oregon. Two big reasons to think about owning a rental right now are that prices are low and the demand for rentals is high. But where should you buy? In Bend or Redmond? Is one city better than the other? How much house can you buy? For the sake of comparison I found two houses that just came on the market today and are priced at about $100,000.

The photo above is of the house in Bend on Heavenly Drive. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, is 1108 square feet and sits on .20 acres. This single level home was built in 1994 and is in a pretty good location. It’s very close to the hospital, grocery store, Costco and schools. The list price for this house is $99,900. I don’t know why so many houses in Bend were built without forced air heating but this is one of them. It is heated by cadet heaters in each room. Taxes are $1748. This house is already rented but I’m not sure what the tenants are paying. Becky and I agree that it could easily rent for $925 a month. Someone buying this house as a rental would expect to have to put 20% down ($19,980). Assuming an interest rate of 5.5% on a 30 year loan of $79,920 the principle and interest payment would be $451.70. Adding taxes ($145.67/month) and insurance (approx. $50/month) the total monthly payment would be $647.37. Cash flow of $277.63 a month with little or no work required. That’s pretty good. Update: This house sold in October 2011 for $106,550.

The house above is in Redmond and also has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths but sits on a slightly smaller lot (.15 acres). At 1797 square feet it is almost 700 square feet larger than the house in Bend plus it is six years newer. This bank owned home is listed at $102,900 and property taxes are $2054. Unlike the house in Bend, this one has forced air heating. It sits in a nice residential neighborhood but isn’t quite as close to shopping, schools and the hospital. However, there is a nice little park a couple blocks away. I would expect this house to rent for $950 without a problem after the yard was cleaned up and some of the bolder colors were painted over inside the house. Assuming the same variables as I used for the Bend home, down payment would be $20,580, principle and interest $465.27, taxes $171.17 and insurance $50 a month. The total monthly payment would be $686.44 which would produce a net cash flow of $263.56. Update: This house sold in December 2011 for $97,900.

So which house is the better investment? You can buy more house for your money in Redmond. In our experience it isn’t any more difficult in one city or the other to find a good tenant and get a home rented quickly. Especially if the rent is priced right. When it’s time to sell it might be a little easier to sell in Bend just because there are so many more people who want to live there. Ultimately, the decision is up to you. There are so many variables for each situation that it is important to have a good Realtor® who can present you with all the facts and can answer any questions you may have.

Update: Here we are two years after I wrote this post and home prices aren’t what they used to be. Take a look at the homes for sale in Bend and Redmond for under $150,000 and you will see what I mean. However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t deals to be had in either city. Preferred Residential can help you find them.

COBA Tour of Homes 2013: One More Weekend

Home Buying: Existing Home in an Unfinished Development

House Flipping: Get an Inspection

Time to Sell Your House? More Are Saying Yes!

Spring 2013: A Good Time to Sell?

*Sales figures courtesy of Central Oregon MLS

What will $100,000 buy? Bend vs. Redmond

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