Prices dropping in Bend yet? (Portland: for sale, rent, house)

[wannabeinbend]

What about this?

[url]Mod cut

Is it a clever effort of locals to save the community for themselves or truth?

[jojonow]

Interestingly, I've been tracking the house RENTAL/lease market all over Oregon, and Bend is definitely "the" place to rent a quality home for cheap. New and almost new 3 and 4br homes for rent around $1500?? Amazing. Which tells me that these are developers or owners that can't sell their homes and want to wait out the market. And there are MORE homes like this for rent in Bend than anywhere I've seen. But the low rent price isn't appropriately comensurate with the sales prices, which are still lower than before but not "crashed"... yet. Believe me, it is getting SO bad down here in Cali, and will be getting worse this next year (don't listen to the hype about recovery--it ain't happening in Cal anytime soon), and the segment of the market that's getting creamed here, the mid to upper ($600K+ homes), is the same group that drove up the prices in Bend. I know because I'm in the lower end of that group and am losing everything. Unless lenders wake up and start doing principal reductions in their loan workouts, this group of people will not continue to pay for their losing proposition homes. It's happening a lot here.
The next few months will be very interesting with all the financial news. So even though you may be "itching" to own, patience will be rewarded.

[wannabeinbend]

I think that blog did the trick for me. I am concerned about drugs in schools, crime, homeless etc. It is a big disappointment together with the strange market in bend which seems to be speculative and some nice homes built in 2004 are on the market now with the annual appreciation of 9%/year. Where is the crises? Not it Bend. The homes are not discounted as the local agent tried to sell me. I am not going to buy some $350k home now and loose $50k down the road if needed to be sold for whatever reason.

Don't quote me as I did not spend much time researching.

I fell in love with Bend but now looking at other places.

[ConeyIsBabe]

I visited Bend for the first time last week and was VERY, very impressed with it. However, this is summer and I'm curious about what the winters are like regarding the cold, icy conditions and snow.

If anyone can describe Bend winters - I'd be appreciative. Thank you.

[Nina-in-Ashland]

Originally Posted by ConeyIsBabe

I visited Bend for the first time last week and was VERY, very impressed with it. However, this is summer and I'm curious about what the winters are like regarding the cold, icy conditions and snow.

If anyone can describe Bend winters - I'd be appreciative. Thank you.

I'd love to hear, too. We are making another trip out in Feb. to see how it is (we visited for the first time in july and loved it, but as you mentioned, that is summer).

Where in Southern OR are you? My husband and I lived in Medford (3 mos.) and then Ashland (15 mos.) until we moved back east to NC in Feb. 2007. I thought Ashland's winters were fine, esp. for a mountain town. But DH and I are from Maryland so we are used to cold winters - I don't remember ice being much of an issue in Ashland. We're hoping that Bend's winter isn't too different from Ashland's!

We plan on renting indefinitely when we get out there. I've been keeping a look out at the real estate, but it doesn't seem to be dropping to levels that are getting homes moved.

[Smiled]

Bend now #1 overpriced place in the nation per National City Bank study for Q208. Portland is #7. Prices in Portland will fall 10% this year and another 10-15% next year; Bend will fall accordingly (not enough jobs). Try renting and keep your powder dry.

[delta07]

We are definately taking our time with purchasing a home. We are fortunate (even though the place is a hole) to have a month-to-month rental, which will give us the opportunity to buy when we find what we are looking for. It seems as though some people have taken their homes off the market for the winter, hoping they will get what they want next spring. I'm doubting that will be the case.

As far as winters go here in Bend, I don't know. I'm new here and haven't lived here in the winter. I have friends who have lived here though, and they say the winters can be cold and snowy. I don't know much about s. Oregon either, but I'm guessing that the winters are much different in Bend due to the fact we are on the eastern side of the Cascades. West of the mtns. you tend to get more rain and less snow in the winter. East tends to bring snow. If you don't like cold winters and snow, Bend is probably not the place for you. Right now the nights are getting pretty crisp and I imagine snow begins to fall in Nov. and will continue on and off through about April/May. This is just my guess after talking with locals.

[ConeyIsBabe]

I live about 8 miles from Grants Pass; and I was just curious about Bend - I'm not thinking of moving there. When I was visiting Bend last week, I asked the Holiday Inn Express Mgr. about the winters.... he said last winter he had to shovel 12" of snow from his driveway to get to work. That's 12" too much for me!

Last winter in Grants Pass & Medford & Ashland they say it had the most snow in 30 years!! Normally, it will snow and be gone when the sun comes out to melt if off. The Rogue Valley snow does not linger longer than a day or two!

[Nina-in-Ashland]

Originally Posted by ConeyIsBabe

Normally, it will snow and be gone when the sun comes out to melt if off. The Rogue Valley snow does not linger longer than a day or two![/i]

yes, that was a really nice feature of the snowfalls in Ashland that I remember from living out there!

[Nina-in-Ashland]

Ok, it already seems that my wish for Bend's winter to be similar to Ashland's is not likely ... it was 25 degrees at 6 a.m. PT in Bend while it was 41 degrees in Ashland. Our visit to Bend in Feb. should be interesting!