About Deschutes County, OR

After more than two years' wait, Trader Joe's finally opened in Bend on Friday. Seems like half the county showed up at the store's new Cascade Village Shopping Center location, even though the weather decided not to co-operate -- Mother Nature having scheduled a spring snow to arrive just as Joe's doors were opening for the first time. Gives new meaning to the term "spring break."

As it turned out, that unexpected blast of winter might have actually boosted sales. Stepping foot inside the jolly tropical themed Joe's -- with its tiki-hut décor, festive island background music and Hawaiian-shirt-clad workers -- was a welcome reprieve from the blustery, snowflake-flecked world outside that we all became so well acquainted with this winter.

For the many brave souls who made the trek down Highway 97 (all were advised to approach from the shopping center's Highway 20 entrance to the north rather than from 97 on the east to help avoid a bottleneck -- impossible, since that intersection is one of the most notoriously backed up in the county, even on a slow day), the crowds weren't too unbearable. Although folks were stacked shopping cart to shopping cart, with little room to breath anywhere in the store, everyone was in great spirits. Even the long wait at the checkout stations didn't seem to sour anyone -- plenty of eye-candy in all directions to distract from the lengthy lines (my favorite spots in the store: the organic produce section and fresh flower market).

As I was leaving, I noticed a few other recent additions to Cascade Village. Around the corner, a new locally owned upscale furniture store, Feingold Home, opened a couple of weeks ago. A Binyon's Eyeworld has also just opened not far from Little Ones, a children's shop; and next door to Binyon's a Bungalow Tropical Bar & Grille, is setting up shop.

Alas, all is not good news in the area. Bend Auto Group, located just outside Cascade Village, is closing -- the second car dealership to go belly up in that location in a couple of years.

And the arrival of Trader Joe's can't be good for its next-door neighbor, Food 4 Less, the popular no-frills, bag-it-yourself bargain-hunter's food outpost owned by Kroger. Joe's cut-out-the-middleman-so-we-can-price-things-competitively approach strikes at the heart of the Food 4 Less mission -- but offers more exotic fare in a much more inviting environment.

La Pine has the privilege of being home to a lot of beautiful wildlife. One of my favorite are elk, don't get me wrong I love to watch all critters Central Oregon offers, but elk just captivate me. They are so big, graceful and majestic.

La Pine State Park is a likely place to find these beauties most days in the Spring, Summer and Fall. La Pine State Park features a great camp ground, Big Tree and The Big Deschutes River.

This photo was taken on the road leading to the park. So, locals and visitors alike be careful - Elk do travel both day and night and their eyes do not glow at night to warn you of their presence. They can do a lot of damage to your vehicle should you happen to hit one.

It seems like every couple of days I get a call from a potential seller. With the marketing trends we have seen over the last two years it is more a buyer's or investor's market than we have seen in a while. Seller's that succeed in selling are motivated, they are willing to listen to their agent and price their home correctly, and make their home standout above the competition.

Many of the sellers calling me at this time had their home on the market with other agents last year. They are frustrated that their home did not sell, that the listing agent never showed their home and they tend to blame the other agent.

While researching the past history of the home, the old listings and county records the handwriting is on the wall and very easy to see why their home did not sell. It all comes down to pricing.

Today this was really driven home when a family called me to list their home. They had their home listed last year with a "local agent." Even if we were in seller's market the home had been listed about $75,000 higher than it would have sold for.

Now that another year has gone by we are looking at a price almost $100,000 lower than the price it was listed for. These sellers felt they had lost money since "the other agent" had over priced the home the sellers felt their home was worth the higher amount. This was never the case; the home actually has not lost any value, even with this buyer's market we are currently in.

Will they list the home for the true value of the home and what it stands a chance for selling? I hope so, today after meeting with them I did not take the listing, I gave them the cold hard facts of what a 20 year old frame built home without a master and a small bedroom will truly sell. I explained my marketing plan, told them what buyers are looking for and what their competition has that they do not and what they have that the competition does not. I agreed to list the property for a price that shocked them but nothing more, asked them to take my listing presentation, marketing plan and paperwork home, to think about it and let me know tomorrow.

After I left them, I just wanted to drive to the other agent's office and tell him exactly what I thought of what he had done to these wonderful people. The truly thought they had a chance of selling for a much higher price, they believed him, trusted him and were taken back with the truth.

If you plan to sell this year, please take a good look at your competing properties what more do you have to offer, price your home accordingly. Many agents will price the home where you set the price, knowing full well you do not stand a chance of receiving an offer and even if you did that the home will never appraise which will kill the deal. Competition is steep, but home are selling, allow your agent to give you the cold hard facts and price the home below your closest competitor.

February 2008 is now over and it is time to review the market movement for this past month. We will start at the south end of the county with La Pine. La Pine home sales are coming along we have seen homes sell and receive offers. For February La Pine Frame Built homes saw 17 homes in pending status and 3 sold. Manufactured homes saw 7 homes go pending and 2 close escrow. Land now shows 7 sales, and one sold property.

Three Rivers South has seen some increases with 9 frame built homes in pending status and 3 sold properties. Manufactured homes in Three Rivers South saw 2 go into pending status and none closed escrow. There are now 8 land listings pending.

Caldera Springs had one lot sell and one go pending.

Sunriver saw 9 homes go into pending status 3 close escrow and 2 condos go into pending status.

With numbers like shown above now is the perfect time to buy in Central Oregon. Sellers are more motivated than they have been in a long time. Spring is here no matter what the groundhog said the snow is melting and the skies are blue the sun is warm. Plan your trip to Central Oregon and make your appointment to see the properties that fit your needs.