For Sale $249,000 – SOLD $249,000
Outstanding opportunity to own 2.06 fenced acres in Bend. Spacious corner lot with circular driveway. This single level home boasts laminate flooring and remodeled kitchen with large island. Home lives very large with open living space, bright windows, 2 full bathrooms and 3 bedrooms. two car garage , corral for horses and RV parking. All appliances are included.
SOLD $410,000
Great opportunity to own 4 bedrooms on a .32 acre lot in the West Hills. Home is situated on a quiet lot with mature pine trees and large outdoor living area and beautiful deck overlooking the property. There is a master and two additional bedrooms on the main floor, large open living area with beautiful new floors, private guest suite on lower level that also includes a large media room. Large shop, garden area and endless possibilities.
$499,900
Custom Estate, boasts great room w/ high ceilings, bonus room, office, 4 bedroom, 2 are master suites, extensive decking to enjoy views of the Ochoco mountain range, evening city lights, swimming pool & hot tub. Includes 30×40 two story shop, w/ kitchenette, bath, 12 ft doors, 16 ft ceiling & additional 12×40 storage area. Beautifully maintained 2.47 acre parcel. Paved circular drive, fenced area for horses, RV parking, pond w/ waterfall, fenced garden area, endless opportunities & only 10 min from Bend.
SOLD $795,000
This custom home located in the celebrated Crosswater Golf Club, is situated on .69 private acre it depicts the lodge atmosphere and decor that is most desired in Crosswater, with its magnificent wood & beamed ceilings, massive rock fireplace, Australian Cypress hardwood floors, slab granite counter-tops through-out. Upstairs family area has a full bath, fireplace and may be used as a 4 bedroom suite. Property boasts extensive landscaping, decking, lovely water feature & covered hot tub. Home sold furnished
SOLD $815,000
First time on the market stunning SINGLE LEVEL custom home located in the celebrated Crosswater Golf Club, situated on .65 private acre w/ unobstructed views of the golf course. Enduring design with extraordinary open floor plan, two separate wings, 3 full suites, 4 bath, large office/den with extensive built-ins, high ceilings, with wall of windows overlooking 14th hole, extensive decking & 3 car garage.
SOLD$625,000
This meticulously maintained & highly efficient home is located only 15 minutes from Sisters in Squaw Creek Canyon Estates. Exquisite attention to detail inside and out of this Northwest style home allows this property to stand above the crowd. The 3 bedroom, 3 bath home in 2440 sq. ft. lives much larger. Open space and views of Mt. Jefferson are a real bonus. The finished RV garage/shop was specifically designed to complement the home. Faswall green construction w/zonal hydronic floor heat system.
SOLD $1,590,000
Rare opportunity to own a uniquely designed Norman built home on private, 1/2 acre lot. Backing signature 12th hole of Crosswater. Only 119 owners will call these amazing 600 acres home. NW lodge style home features open floor plan with stunning waterfront views. Four fireplaces, master on main, 3 en suite guestrooms, gourmet kitchen, formal dining, oversized pub style rec room & finished exercise room. Fish stocked lake from your backyard while watching Osprey & Bald Eagles fly by! Furnished per inventory.
Kôr Community Land Trust wants homes working class can buy
By Stephen Hamway / The Bulletin / @Shamway1
With home prices on the rise in Bend once again, Amy Warren co-founded Kôr Community Land Trust, a nonprofit designed to help working-class residents buy affordable homes.
“If you’re a single parent working full time making minimum wage, the idea of ever getting into a home of your own is just not there,” Warren said.
Warren moved to Bend 19 years ago, and while she saw home prices increase in the early 2000s, she said the recent lack of housing options is a relatively new phenomenon. While Bend’s economy has continued to grow following the recession, construction has not kept pace. For example, 2014 was the first year that building permits issued for new homes approached prerecession levels, with 753 permits issued in 2014, compared to 760 in 2007.
The result has been a jump in housing costs due to a lack of availability as well as a spike in demand. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, the median household income in Deschutes County in 2013 was $50,209.
The median home price in Bend at the end of that year was $269,000, according to Central Oregon Association of Realtors data. Last month, the median reached $325,000, according to the Beacon Appraisal Group.
“Most of our peers, the people we know in town, can’t afford that,” Warren said.
Kôr received its nonprofit status in May. Warren said the plan is for the organization to solicit grants and donations of money or land to acquire several acres by May 2016 that could become a community of small, zero-energy homes that could be purchased for below market rate.
Warren said the organization differs from affordable housing options in Bend through its focus on energy efficiency, which would allow residents to keep their utility bills as low as possible and help minimize the need for future upgrades. In addition, Kôr is structured around the community land trust model.
The land trust movement began in the 1960s, according to Melora Hiller, executive director of the Portland-based National Community Land Trust Network, which supports Kôr and other community land trusts throughout the country. Hiller said the model emphasizes permanent affordable housing, as buyers can purchase houses to live in, but the land trust maintains control of the property itself.
“When they buy the house, they’re only buying the house, not the land it sits on,” she said.
Warren said that allows the trust to sell houses significantly below market rates and to ensure that buyers can’t make changes that would push the homes out of the affordable housing pool, which is tied to median income for the area.
According to the organization’s website, 25 percent of homes built by Kôr would be designated for buyers at or near median income; 40 percent would be for low-income residents; and 35 percent would be for super-low income qualifiers. Super-low income residents are those who make less than 50 percent of median income for the region.
Warren said the group hopes to acquire a parcel of at least 2 acres and build 20 or more homes, with an average size of 1,000 square feet. She added that the target market would be working-class residents who are willing to embrace the energy-efficient lifestyle.
“We really want to take care of the people who take care of us,” Warren said.
— Reporter: 541-617-7818, shamway@bendbulletin.com
Work on new campus set to begin before July 4th weekend
By Tyler Leeds / The Bulletin
OSU-Cascades intends to begin building its long-delayed, four-year campus in Bend before the July 4 weekend, with eyes set on a fall 2016 opening.
The university’s plans for a 10-acre campus off SW Century Drive have been fiercely contested by a group of residents organized under the name Truth in Site. The opposition, which contends the west side is too crowded for a university, has seen its legal challenges to block the development struck down three times, including a decision last week by a state board. The court saga, which passed through an independent hearings officer and the Bend City Council before reaching the state level, resulted in OSU-Cascades scrapping its original plans for a fall 2015 opening.
Even though the university has decided to begin construction, the lawsuits may not be over, as Truth in Site leaders stated they hope to raise $27,000 to file with the Oregon Court of Appeals, an action they have until June 29 to complete.
Truth in Site’s spokesman, Scott Morgan, did not return calls for comment.
Even if an appeal is filed, OSU-Cascades will still be able to work on construction. The branch campus’ top administrator, Becky Johnson, downplayed the risk of moving ahead now, saying Thursday no decision the state Court of Appeals could make would result in OSU-Cascades “having to rip out our work and move somewhere else.”
Instead, she said, a worst-case scenario would involve tweaks to things such as the school’s parking plan or the placement of a street.
Johnson noted the decision to move ahead once the requisite building permits come through, likely during the week of June 29, was made to ensure the campus could open in fall 2016.
“Our main driver is our desire to provide higher ed as soon as possible, but if we want to be ready by fall 2016, this was our deadline to get moving,” Johnson said. “Every year, 60 percent of our students going to college choose a four-year school, so every year we wait is another year a group of students leave who may never come back. This was our drop-dead moment to get ready for 2016.”
Nonetheless, Johnson noted a harsh winter or tough soil could delay the opening. However, the school isn’t waiting for a campus before hosting underclassmen, as it will enroll its first freshman class this fall in existing facilities, including Cascades Hall, a space it leases on the Central Oregon Community College campus. Currently, OSU-Cascades enrolls only juniors, seniors and graduate students.
Once the new four-year campus is built, it will be sized to support 1,890 students, though OSU-Cascades is considering purchasing an adjacent 46-acre pumice mine, which would give it room for 5,000.
The plans for the 10 acres include a three-story academic building, a dining hall and dormitories able to accommodate more than 300 students. Students and visitors will also have access to a coffee shop, stores and a number of informal gathering areas.
A criticism Truth in Site has leveled is that the campus doesn’t provide enough parking. Johnson acknowledged parking and traffic will be an issue, but added that would be the case anywhere the campus is developed. To help mitigate the problem, the university has committed to giving $300,000 to the region’s bus service, Cascades East Transit, to expand service to the campus.
“Transit is a big part of our plan to make this work, and we’ve all along said we have concerns about traffic,” Johnson said. “We want to work collaboratively with the community to solve these issues, and our financial commitment with CET is an example of our putting our money where our mouth is, saying we want to be part of the solution.”
— Reporter: 541-633-2160, tleeds@bendbulletin.com
Editor’s note: This article has been corrected. An earlier version of the story had the wrong amount of money the university plans to give Cascades East Transit.
The Bulletin regrets the error.
However, 9.25 percent increase is least in eight quarters
Bulletin staff report /
The Bend area recorded the highest yearly home price appreciation of Oregon’s eight metro areas, according to federal data released Tuesday.
Between the first quarters of 2014 and of this year, home prices increased 9.25 percent in the Bend-Redmond Metropolitan Statistical Area, which comprises all of Deschutes County, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s quarterly All-Transactions Home Price Index. Over the last five years, home prices in the Bend-Redmond MSA have appreciated nearly 36 percent.
The index, a gauge of the housing market, tracks home prices and refinancing loans for individual properties sold or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-controlled mortgage-buying agencies.
The Medford MSA, which comprises all of Jackson County, had a 9 percent increase. The state identified Deschutes and Jackson counties as two of the hardest-hit in the state during the Great Recession.
All eight Oregon metropolitan statistical areas recorded increases in home value in the first quarter, with the Grants Pass MSA, which comprises Josephine County, having the smallest increase, at 2.67 percent.
Home prices in the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro MSA, made up of seven counties in Oregon and Washington, increased 8.18 percent, according to the report.
For the Bend MSA, the 9.25 percent increase was the lowest in eight quarters, going back to the first quarter of 2013, when home prices appreciated 7.69 percent, according to the agency. It was also the first time in eight quarters that the Bend area did not rank among the top 20 metro areas in the country for home-price appreciation. It ranked 23rd in the latest report. The Medford MSA ranked 28th.
Nationally, the area around Naples, Florida, came in first, with home prices increasing about 20 percent in 12 months. The Greensboro, North Carolina, area had the lowest increase, at 1.69 percent. It ranked 256th.
In Bend, the median price for a single-family home was $309,000 in April, and in Redmond it was $208,000, according to a monthly report from The Beacon Appraisal Group, of Redmond. In April 2014, the median prices were $281,000 and $196,000, respectively.