How's the housing market over here now? (Bend: 2014, apartments)

[kosmo65]

September Update

I missed a couple months. Our home is still on the market, and I've been trying to play ostrich. Sigh...

I've left the history here since it's been a while.

March 2, 2013:
676 total homes for sale in "Bend" (map shows out almost to Prineville, south past Sunriver, north to Tumalo)
> $1,000,000 - 59
$750,000 - $999,999 - 54
$500,000 - $749,000 - 114
$400,000 - $499,999 - 97
$300,000 - $399,999 - 120
$200,000 - $299,999 - 150
< $199,999 - 92

April 4:
706 total
> $1,000,000 - 65 (+6)
$750,000 - $999,999 - 52 (-2)
$500,000 - $749,000 - 143 (+29)
$400,000 - $499,999 - 89 (-8)
$300,000 - $399,999 - 131 (+11)
$200,000 - $299,999 - 145 (-5)
< $199,999 - 84 (-8)

May 2:
725 total - (+16)
> $1,000,000 - 75 (+10)
$750,000 - $999,999 - 52 (no change)
$500,000 - $749,000 - 147 (+4)
$400,000 - $499,999 - 91 (+2)
$300,000 - $399,999 - 134 (+3)
$200,000 - $299,999 - 149 (+4)
< $199,999 - 74 (-10)

June 2:
813 total (+88)
> $1,000,000 - 82 (+7)
$750,000 - $999,999 - 62 (+10)
$500,000 - $749,000 - 168 (+21)
$400,000 - $499,999 - 99 (+8)
$300,000 - $399,999 - 159 (+25)
$200,000 - $299,999 - 173 (+24)
< $199,999 - 71 (-3)
(For some reason, the numbers don't align when you add up the individual totals, but I'm too lazy to sort out why...)

September:
1105 total (+292)
> $1,000,000 - 99 (+17)
$750,000 - $999,999 - 87 (+15)
$500,000 - $749,000 - 201 (+33)
$400,000 - $499,999 - 141 (+42)
$300,000 - $399,999 - 205 (+46)
$200,000 - $299,999 - 297 (+124) !!!
< $199,999 - 77 (+6)

Isolating the search to NW Bend (97 to the east, NW Albany to the south, Shevlin Park to the west, NW Putnam to the north):

April:
149 total*
> $1,000,000 - 18
$750,000 - $999,999 - 11
$500,000 - $749,000 - 58
$400,000 - $499,999 - 39
$300,000 - $399,999 - 20
$200,000 - $299,999 - 2
< $199,999 - 1

May:
153 total*
> $1,000,000 - 22 (+4)
$750,000 - $999,999 - 12 (+1)
$500,000 - $749,000 - 50 (-8)
$400,000 - $499,999 - 41 (+2)
$300,000 - $399,999 - 25 (+5)
$200,000 - $299,999 - 2 (no change)
< $199,999 - 1 (no change)

June:
174 total (+21)
> $1,000,000 - 25 (+3)
$750,000 - $999,999 - 14 (+2)
$500,000 - $749,000 - 67 (+17)
$400,000 - $499,999 - 33 (-8)
$300,000 - $399,999 - 30 (+5)
$200,000 - $299,999 - 3 (+1)
< $199,999 - 0 (-1)
(Again, the numbers are a little off)

September:
205 total (+30)
> $1,000,000 - 32 (+7)
$750,000 - $999,999 - 20 (+6)
$500,000 - $749,000 - 78 (+11)
$400,000 - $499,999 - 34 (+1)
$300,000 - $399,999 - 27 (-3)
$200,000 - $299,999 - 11 (+8)
< $199,999 - 0 (-1)

Of particular interest to me is the $300,000 to $399,000 range.*

April:*
In the last area defined, of the 20 houses listed in this range, 1 is in Saddleback, and five are off Archie Briggs Road - both areas that I personally like, but that many consider off the beaten path. That brings us down to 14 options for the "typical" buyer.

May:
25 houses. Zero in Saddleback, four off Archie Briggs/OB Riley. So down to 21 for the "typical" folks.

June:
30 houses. One in Saddleback, four off Archie Briggs/OB Riley. Down to 25 for "typical" buyers.

April:
Of the 14 remaining homes, two only have two bedrooms. Knock those off that typical list, we're down to 12 options now. Of those 12, seven have lots under 5,000 SF. I have kids and dogs and a need for at least some space between my home and the next, so those would be the ones I'd have left to look at in that price range. Want central air conditioning? Tough luck, none of them have it. (I know folks seem to think you don't need A/C in Bend, but I was REALLY glad we had it in our place.)

May:
Only 1 home with 2 BR, so down to 20. 15 have lots over 5,000 SF. *None have central A/C. 12 h<snipped inadvertently, too lazy to look up what it was...>

June:
3 homes with 2 BR, so down to 22. *19 have lots over 5,000 SF. 16 of those have a 2 car garage. It shows only one with central air, but there are at least two (I've just sent our realtor a message asking her to fix that!)

September:
4 off the beaten path., down to 23. Two have fewer than 2 bedrooms, down to 21. *19 have a two (or more) car garage. Realtor.com doesn't report central air correctly, so I've removed that criteria.

Note that all these stats are taken from realtor.com and I may have miscounted something... *

[BendLocal]

Originally Posted by kosmo65

Note that all these stats are taken from realtor.com and I may have miscounted something... *

Did you try the Central Oregon MLS website that the local Realtors use?

Central Oregon Association of REALTORS®- real estate in Redmond, Bend, Sisters

[kosmo65]

Originally Posted by BendLocal

Did you try the Central Oregon MLS website that the local Realtors use?

Central Oregon Association of REALTORS®- real estate in Redmond, Bend, Sisters

Not for this endeavor, although I am quite familiar with the site, the search interface is really clunky there.

[BendLocal]

The COAR MLS is powerful and makes it easy to pinpoint exactly what I'm looking for. I would guess the data is more up to date coming from the source.

[kosmo65]

Originally Posted by BendLocal

The COAR MLS is powerful and makes it easy to pinpoint exactly what I'm looking for. I would guess the data is more up to date coming from the source.

Yes, and when we were looking to buy, COAR was a great tool. For the info I'm pulling, I'm using the map feature on realtor.com.

COAR is great for narrowing down the options, not so great for a visual breakdown.

So I agree that COAR is the most reliable source. I just don't find it useful for quick, broad searches.

Make sense?

[BendLocal]

I gather you are using the map to rule out off the beaten path locations? I don't need that but a map feature showing all listings in an area would be a good upgrade for COAR.

I prefer COAR because the data comes from the local MLS and I can quickly get all listings of any type in any or all of the 4 quadrants or in any neighborhood of Bend faster than I can with any other site I have tried. But I've been using COAR like systems for so long now that I'm very used to them.

[BendLocal]

We're also hearing the siren song that led so many buyers astray during the bubble: that real estate is a great way to build wealth and financial security. And we're seeing home buyers, like retail stock investors rushing after a hot IPO, moving into a housing market that has already been plowed through by institutional and corporate buyers.

With that in mind, here are five of those yellow lights to keep in mind before you decide how much to bid on that house—or whether to bid at all.

read more at What You Need to Know Before Buying a House - from The Wall Street Journal

[Steve Pickering]

The morning news reported that home sales were at the highest since early 2007 nationwide.

[BendLocal]

Expect to see payback in September and October, says Patrick Newport, IHS Global Insight economist. Many buyers responded to rising interest rates by buying in August to get ahead of potentially higher rates later, he says.

Sellers were also motivated to close deals because the peak selling season is ending.

Total existing home sales in August were up 1.7% from July, rising to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.48 million from 5.39 million in July. They were 13.2% higher than a year ago, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. That's the highest level in more than six years.

The market may be seeing a temporary peak, says Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. He too says rising mortgage interest rates pushed more buyers to close deals, but monthly sales "are likely to be uneven in the months ahead," he says.

Home sales up 1.7% in August

[Steve Pickering]

And they reported interest dropped.