Tetherow . . . A Dream Comes True

The following is an excerpt from the Bend Bulletin; it was written by Carrie Ramoz.

Tetherow . . . A Dream Comes True

2017 seemed like the distant future to Bend’s Tim Williams and his family. When they planned out their future, it looked like 2017 was the year they could fulfill their desire of living in Tetherow, a growing community on Bend’s Westside. Patiently waiting, they spent three seasons as guests of the Tetherow Golf Club, enjoying the Scottish links style golf,

outstanding dining and a variety of social and family events. As the young family grew, so did their eagerness to live in such a convenient, growing area.
In 2011, the Williams family learned about Tetherow’s Jr. Executive Membership, which is available to those under 46 and includes a family membership to the Athletic Club of Bend for just $390 a month. It was the ideal opportunity to join Tetherow. When they saw an opportunity to purchase a beautiful homesite at a great price in late 2011, they realized they could build a home

and actually make their dream come true within the next year instead of having to wait!

The Club at Tetherow

“The entire staff is so cohesive and you can tell they really enjoy their jobs. It makes such a difference when the staff is happy at a Club. We also love the other families living there, and the views and prime location to everything Bend has to offer just can’t be beat,” said Williams.

New Construction at Tetherow

This budding community has experienced impressive growth the past 12 months. Tetherow welcomed 30 new families into the membership last year alone! With its ideal location – nestled between the Southwest edge of Bend and the Deschutes National Forest – the full Cascade Mountain views and award-winning golf, this renaissance is hardly a surprise.
Since January of 2011, 12 real estate contracts have been written, eight of which have closed with a property sale while the remaining four are pending. Construction begins on three custom homes between now and May. Additionally, local builders Greg Welch

and Ryan Duble are both designing showcase homes that will begin construction this spring. They will boast mountain and fairway views, and range from $599,000 to $775,000. With a blend of primary residences and second homes, Tetherow is growing in leaps and bounds.

Tripleknot Townhomes at Tetherow

Tetherow’s Tripleknot Townhomes, which are in the first stage of construction, have already sold the model and construction should be complete by April, when the golf course opens for play.

A variety of membership options are available at Tetherow, with or without real estate purchase. The David McLay Kidd course is open April through October, while the Tetherow Grill is open year round, seven days a week.

Contact us to arrange a tour of Tetherow.

Check out our Facebook business page.

You may also like -

• Work Begins on Tetherow Townhomes . . . Tripleknot
• Tetherow Golf Club . . . Pay the Temperature
• Tetherow Townhomes

Bend Oregon Real Estate Recovering

Bend real estate recovering

And interesting article by Elon Glucklich in The Bulletin states that a long-awaited real estate recovery in Bend may already be under way. The gist of the article appears below.

But don’t expect boom to return

On Friday, at The Riverhouse Convention Center, there was hope that tepid market conditions would gradually improve this year — but caution that homeowners, brokers and investors would have to brace for a “new normal” in the market.

“We’re on the verge of recovery”

“We’re on the verge of a recovery,” Ron Ross, principal broker at Compass Commercial Real Estate Services, told a crowd of about 200 business, real estate and financial officials. But “we can’t wait for the economy to get back to where it was in 2005. That’s not going to happen any time soon.

Homes in Bend . . . 1986 to 2004

Between 1986 and 2004, median home prices in Bend increased at an average yearly rate of 6.1 percent, Ross said, a healthy rate of growth that slightly outpaced national growth. But as the economy sped up in the years that followed, growth took off. Six percent increases soon blossomed into 16 percent value gains on average, between 2004 and 2007.

Spurred by population growth and a rise in demand, home prices rocketed upward. In 2006, median home prices in Bend crept toward $400,000, according to Central Oregon Association of Realtors data, up about 30 percent from 2005. “Then,” said Ross, “came 2008.”

By the end of 2009, Bend prices had dropped 68 percent from their 2007 value (I don’t think that’s right!)

By the fall of 2011, median home prices in Bend were at $212,000 (last month they were $186,000)

John Mitchell of M & H Economic Consultants

Mitchell shared several data points showing just how far the Bend real estate market has fallen from its highs.

About 22 percent of the nation’s homeowners are underwater,

owing more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, he said. Since the market tanked in 2008, $7 trillion in home equity has vanished.

“The American dream, for most people meant having their kids be better off than them,” he said. “Now, that’s not so sure. Kids are still living it home.”

But there are signs of recovery. Nationwide employment picked up in the second half of 2011 — Oregon added 20,000 jobs last year, after losing more than 100,000 in 2009. In December, the statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 8.9 percent, the first time it had fallen below 9 percent in three years, according to the Oregon Employment Department.

Homes in Bend are cheaper than they’ve been in 9 years!

Interest rates near 4 percent are enticing first-time buyers to make offers on homes that are cheaper than they’ve been in nine years.

“Housing affordability is at record levels,” Mitchell said. At the start of 2012, “Median families have almost twice as much income to buy the median house.

“There may not be a better time to buy a home in Bend in my lifetime.”

“I’m going to say that winter of 2011 and 2012 marked the beginning of the housing recovery in Bend,” Ross said.

Search anonymously for one of those homes in Bend.

Check out Bend Oregon Real Estate on Facebook

You may also like -

• Bend Oregon . . . a Retirement Property Steal?
• CNN.Money . . . Bend Oregon Appreciation Forecast For 2010
• Bend Oregon Among Best Housing Markets

Homes for Sale in Bend . . . under $200,000

I was thinking a bit about the Bend real estate market (something I do quite frequently), and specifically about homes for sale in Bend. My interest was further piqued when I read an article in the Bend Bulletin (Median Price in Bend Drops for 4th Year in a Row). The article, while certainly based on fact, failed to convey recent trends and the palpable uptick in the market . . . especially with homes under $200,000.

2008 . . . Homes in Bend under $200,000

I took a step back, and arbitrarily picked a date . . . February of 2008 . . . just four years ago. My how the Bend real estate landscape has changed! In that month, just one home in Bend sold for less than $200,000.

And that home, a 651 square footer built in 1928, went for $199,500.

2011 . . . Homes in Bend under $200,000

The drop in median price in 2011 can be directly attributed to the huge number of homes which sold for under $200,000. Of the 1684 homes sold in Bend, fully 903, or 54%, were under the “Mendoza Line“. As of December, there was less than two months of for sale inventory at this price point!

Homes in Bend under $200,000 Today

Here is a sophisticated showcase of homes in Bend presently listed at under $200,000; just click on a thumbnail to see details for that home.

$199,900 Bend, OR 97701 Listing #: 201102067	$199,900 61409 Blakely Road Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201200823	$199,900 434 NE Norton Ave Bend, OR 97701 Listing #: 201109094
$199,900 Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201105539	$199,900 Bend, OR 97701 Listing #: 201108695	$199,900 Bend, OR 97707 Listing #: 201105042
$199,900 Bend, OR 97701 Listing #: 201200217	$199,900 17136 Wood Duck Ct Bend, OR 97707 Listing #: 201105553	$199,500 20945 Marsh Orchid Ct Bend, OR 97701 Listing #: 201201347
$199,000 4335 S Hwy 97 Bend, OR 97756 Listing #: 201109738	$198,000 Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201200153	$196,000 21049 Don St Bend, OR 97701 Listing #: 201105197
$195,000 Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201108099	$195,000 55595 Wagon Master Way Bend, OR 97707 Listing #: 201104367	$195,000 Bend, OR 97701 Listing #: 201103832
$195,000 65050 W Highway 20 Bend, OR 97701 Listing #: 201108307	$194,990 19705 Aspen Meadows Dr Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201109543	$194,900 Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201105270
$194,900 60844 Windsor Dr Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201201273	$194,500 Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201109514	$193,900 63268 Chaparrel Dr Bend, OR 97701 Listing #: 201108399
$191,500 63431 Hughes Bend, OR 97701 Listing #: 201108353	$191,100 Bend, OR 97701 Listing #: 201106772	$190,900 Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201109615
$189,900 Bend, OR 97707 Listing #: 201108047	$189,900 63105 Douglas Lane Bend, OR 97701 Listing #: 201108954	$189,900 Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201108874
$189,900 Bend, OR 97701 Listing #: 201201271	$189,900 20886 King David Ave Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201200646	$189,900 65286 73rd St Bend, OR 97701 Listing #: 201109432

Click here to see all the homes in Bend listed for less than $200,000.What a great time to be a buyer!

Check out our Facebook Business page.

Contact me to find out more about the picture at the top of the post.

You may also like -

• Real Estate in Bend . . . Sales Statistics for April 2011
• Bend Real Estate . . . August 2011
• Real Estate in Bend Oregon . . . August 2010 Sales Figures

Broken Top

Broken Top, on Bend’s favored westside, has for almost two decades been considered one of Oregon’s premier golf communities.

Custom homes at Broken Top line the fairways of the championship 18 hole track that meanders through the community. The course, designed by Tom Weiskopf, is a classic resort course with no adjoining fairways.

Broken Top Club

Centerpiece of the community is the stunning 24,000 square foot clubhouse, solemnly standing as a sentinel over a tule bordered lake.

Broken Top is conveniently located just minutes from schools (Summit HS, Cascade, High Lakes) and downtown; it’s also on the road to Mt. Bachelor.

Homes in Broken Top

There are a full range of homes in Broken Top . . . large custom estate homes, casual (maintenance free) patio-style homes in Fall Creek, classic golf course townhomes at Whisper Ridge, Tyrion Sky, Bridge Creek, and Painted Ridge.

Here are just a few of the custom choices in Broken Top . . . just click on the thumbnail to see details–

$5,900,000 61654 Belmore Loop Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 2910315	$2,250,000 61535 Tam McArthur Loop Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201200081	$1,495,000 Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201109001
$1,495,000 18750 MacAlpine Loop Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201010155	$1,400,000 19378 Rim Lake Ct Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201102520	$1,095,000 61874 Bunker Hill Ct Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201106159
$800,000 61858 Bunker Hill Ct Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201106594	$799,900 Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201106665	$799,000 19522 Green Lakes Loop Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201109018
$789,000 Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201107696	$784,900 19502 Green Lakes Loop Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201104488	$669,900 61607 Tam McArthur Loop Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201108402
$650,000 61613 Tam McArthur Loop Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201200556	$650,000 19340 Soda Springs Dr Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201104436	$649,000 Bend, OR 97702 Listing #: 201105994

See all homes presently for sale in Broken Top

Check out our map search of homes in Broken Top

Central Oregon Economy Sputters

Region’s Economy

The economist who has created the Central Oregon Business Index, Tim Duy, says that the local economy has continued its stutter-stepping of the last two years . . . a couple of steps forward, then one back.

The index of Central Oregon’s economy topped out in the second quarter of 2006 and reached its lowest point in more than a decade in the second quarter of 2009.

Growth in Travel and Tourism

Despite the growth in travel (the highest passenger activity at Redmond Airport since the second quarter of 2008) and tourism (lodging tax revenues in Bend came in at more than $1.5 million for the third quarter — the highest amount in almost five years)

other areas of the economy “stagnated” or “worsened.”

“That’s a trend I’ve seen in lots of places, where lodging taxes (have) been popping up a little more strongly,” Duy said.

“The net effect is sort of bouncing sideways, which is probably what’s going on in the economy,” Duy said. “You’re not deteriorating very rapidly. You’re not improving very rapidly, either.”

Building Permits

Building permits in Deschutes County also rose in the third quarter, with about 45 (that’s not very many!) issued during August, September, and October.

Duy characterized the performance of Deschutes County building permitting as “bouncing along the bottom” just like out housing market.

Other Indicators

Job growth is virtually non-existent. Nonfarm payrolls in Deschutes County have been level for about two years.

The median number of days a house has been on the market has been flat for roughly two years; the number of housing units sold

in the region has seesawed in the past two years between 275 and 350 per quarter. Though the number of NOD’s and percentage of distressed properties have fallen.

Looking Down The Road

Ever the optimist, Duy expects a double-dip national recession in the first half of 2012. “We’re going to see . . . maybe a little bit of improvement, but a lot of choppy numbers.” On first glance, I thought he said “crappy” numbers.

Search for homes in Bend.

Like us on Facebook.