According to Becky Breeze, the lack of affordable housing in Bend is a myth, saying that there are lots of homes under $250,000 in Bend. Now, if you do the math and assuming you have good credit and can get a good 30-year rate at 6% (the lowest rates right now are 5.75% and first-time home buyers aren’t likely to get that low), that’s still a nearly $1500 payment per month, not counting taxes and insurance. I’m fortunate enough that I bought my house years ago and have great credit so that my monthly payment is less than $900 (with taxes and insurance), but considering that most folks here are already not making a living wage, I don’t have a clue how anybody could make that kind of payment on a $250,000 home.
So I used her site’s MLS search, and from what I can tell (and I don’t have raw MLS access, nor am I at an office today with anybody who does, so somebody correct me if I’m wrong here), here is what I see:
- 30 Homes less than $250,000, but all higher than $185,000 (most over priced, a few in Deschutes River Woods).
- 35 Manufactured homes between $250,000 and $116,000, many in Deschutes River Woods or in the Sunriver area, so not really in Bend.
- 24 Condos, priced between $235,000 and $125,000, but many of the lower-end ones are up at the Inn of The 7th Mountain, and those things are pieces of junk.
So yeah, I guess there is cheap housing, but not any that I’d want to live in, and not much of anything under $200,000 in the city limits. And yet somehow the area is full of affordable housing.
I’m just thanking God that I bought my house when I did — it was a total struggle to make monthly payments when we bought it, but there is no way I could afford a house now.
BendBubble2, am I missing something?
Comments
Well, it’s not public knowledge yet but we bought a house for under $250K which is brand new (in fact, it’s still listed on the MLS). It was the ONLY house that was brand new under $250K. Our payment is more than I’d like to spend but at least we’re going to own something.
Loan on manufacutured homes are hard to come by and who wants to live in a 700 sq ft condo? NOT I!
Affordable housing in Bend? Who is this realtor kidding? Two-years ago I did a story in Bend about housing costs, and interviewed the director from the employment office. A livable wage in Central Oregon (in 2005) was $50,000 per year for a family of four, considering both Mom and Dad are working (this figure does not include single parents).
Even at $50,000 it’s almost impossible to get a bank to approve you for $250,000. Most of the realtos in Bend have no clue what it’s like, because many of them have made bank on all the wealthy people moving in the area who can afford just about anything.
One of the pros of living in Springfield (not that there are many) is that housing is still relatively cheap here. We bought our house a year ago for $195,000. You can still find homes for around $210,000. If you live in Eugene it’s more expensive.
My mom was a realtor here for several years, and said the market is over-priced everywhere. Bend, she said, is a phenonenon all its own.
We cashed out of Bend and moved to Baker – 2000+ sq. ft., finished basement, two blocks from downtown, and in a great neighborhood. All for only $115K, and that was moderate for this area. There are still nice homes here for $80K, which even with no money down, would only be $479 a month!
I couldn’t believe it when my house in Bend recently sold for $30K over it’s asking price. It had single-pane windows, an old oil furnace, and a carport.
I am so, so curious as to what will happen to the Central Oregon real estate market in the next five years. The working class are being forced out, and without them, who will cater to the wealthy?
You nailed it. There is a HUGE PR machine that keeps the conveyor belt of CA cash coming, because EVERYONE knows that without inbound money, this place’ll fold like Grama on laundry day. The Bulletin and others regularly shade the truth about the unbounded opportunity in Bend. Here are some article headlines from Cascade Business News (all in ONE issue!):
Economic Forecast: Housing Has Weathered The Storm
Influx Of Hi-Tech Companies To Central Oregon
Forecast Calls For “Hot” Summer In Tourism Industry
2006 Was Another Banner Year
Construction Boom Continues In Central Oregon
Forecast For Retail In Central Oregon: Healthy And Thriving
Manufacturing Booms, Many Owners Join Forces
What is this place? Jonestown? I mean, am I going to have to drink much more of this Kool-Aid? According to big media (if there is such a thing in this town), our only REAL problem is figuring out how to spend the flood of money:
Growth Presents Challenges For Local Education
Right. The biggest problem in Bend is adjusting to having to manually balance our checkbooks because they’re all in the 9 figures!
There is starting to swell a real backlash against the torrent of media lies that bring people to Bend, clean them out of every last nickel before sending them on their way. Here’s probably the first, last and ONLY thing I’ve ever read that actually makes me feel bad for a CA immigrant who has basically been cleaned out by the Bend media BS machine:
http://ikeeneye.wordpress.com/2007/02/25/californian-who-regrets-moving-to-bend/
We came to Bend in Jan of 2003 with $50 grand from a small real estate sale and we were forced to basically spend it ALL to get on our feet and to become stable.
The job market here is horrid.
My husband has an accounting and computer IT background and has been forced to take a job as a Customer Service Representative for $11 an hour at T-Mobile. (And $11 an hour here is GREAT money!)
I apologize for sounding so negative, but honestly our dream has been shattered by moving to this place.
We are in fact looking to move out ASAP! We plan to put our small little home on the market in the spring, I’m sure we’ll take a loss on it…
That’s Bend Kool-Aid for ya!
If you make 120% of the median wage in Bend, you can only afford the LOWEST 8% of all houses for sale. NO ONE is making a LIVING in Bend. Are people coming here with truckloads of money? Yes, but they are coming to DIE here. If you want to live, you should look somewhere else. And have no doubt, the implosion in housing in Bend is going to wipe out wealth, business, and jobs at a rate unprecedented in this towns history… and YES, I do know about the lumber bust.
If you’re coming here after taking a big swig of Bend Kool-Aid, be prepared. You might not die, but you’ll have one hell of a financial hangover.
It is safe to say that in Central Oregon it is very unlikely that a family living on a professional salary will be able to find a reasonable home for purchase. This is even more so if one parent in a family is choosing to stay home full-time and care for the home and children. I am currently in the market, and the remotely reasonable homes we have found would require extensive remodel to really be appropriate for us. An appropriate home for us in Central Oregon would be well over what someone on a teaching salary could realistically afford.
I am 5 months new to Bend and LOVE IT. I am NOT a nature person or a snowboard instructor or Californihater. I AM a single mother of two (one with special needs), a taxpayer & a full-time employee earning the wage I am worth in a 2 “man” company. What I did BEFORE I moved here was VISIT several times, OBSERVE classes at the schools & REQUESTED as much information as I needed to make a public school decision, ATE at several restaurants, READ in the phone book for services offered, STUDIED the real estate market, NEGOTIATED with potential employers, RESEARCHED available activities for the “non-outdoorsy types”, “INTERVIEWED” as many child care providers, doctors & dentists as It took to find a fit and THEN MADE MY DECISION TO MOVE!!!
I am not College educated, nor did I even graduate from High School. I earned my GED at age 17 while working as a F/T courtesy clerk at a local supermarket. That was my first “real” job and it paid $5.10 /h (a hair above minimum wage) and as a union member, raises were not offered based on work performance. I quickly learned that if I wanted anything better I was the one who had to make it happen. At age 18 I applied for a MAll job and negotiated for a WEEK to be paid what I felt I was worth with NO EXPERIENCE OR EDUCATION. (Yes, I was a bit naive, however, my tactics worked!) Within 2 months I was given a substantial RAISE based on the fact that I WORKED MY ASS OFF to prove I was worth every penny I had originally negotiated for. 7 years later I left that company making 50K a year and I’ve never accepted what an employer initially offers and I’ve never been told no to a salary requirement. I apply for jobs I KNOW I am capable of learning and the “MARKET CONDITIONS” do not dictate what I will be paid.
My point is, don’t move here and then go on about how horrible it is and you can’t make a wage and so on…. Most of you didn’t even feel a HUGE move like that was worth spending the extra money and time to make the trips to do the research. The World Wide Web is a great tool but it won’t tell you if the service is good at the local sushi bar or if the only chinese delivery is actually edible or if the staff at the public school of your choice is there for the kids or there for the paycheck. If you want nightlife,how many nights did you try and experience it before you moved here??
I am opinionated, yes, but only because I DID THE RESEARCH and it fit for me AND my family. If it wasn’t financially possible or time was an issue and you couldn’t do the things I did that falls on you, NOT BEND. If your dreams of happiness were so important you would have found a way to see to it that you were CERTAIN Bend would offer everything you needed to live a happy, comfortable life.
For everyone who can’t stop bitching about Bend……I’d be happy to arrange a meeting with the man who is holding the gun to your head keeping you here….I have a few questions for him!
Tell you the truth, I moved here from WA in 2005 because my then-fiance is a local and had no intention of moving. Furthermore, her folks live in the area, so the kids are near the grandparents. You know, the traditional reasons for wanting to live somewhere: live where the roots are.
We’re here because it’s where my wife’s roots are. It sucks that locals who grew up here cannot buy a home in their own hometown because of the influx of high-equity people who actually think that $350K for a 1500 sf home on a .12 acre lot is reasonable…
Dear Bend Noob (Annoyed),
You are the victim of a condition known as Kool-Aid Induced Idiot Disease (KIID). Symptoms include:
1) CAPITALIZING every OTHER word
2) Being somewhere 5 months, and feeling you have the knowledge and authority to preach to those with 19X your education level, and 100X your experience level.
3) Being a renter (yeah, I’ll bet my ass you don’t own anything) in a thread about OWNING a home.
4) Telling idiotic Horatio Alger stories that are almost irrelevant to just about everything.
Go lie down and put your feet up, and call a doctor. It’s obvious you’ve lost function in your brain, but the rest of your body can be saved. Plus, please revisit your own idiotic rant when you’ve lost your 4th minimum wage job in 9 months, so you can remember to leave out stupid stuff like “SINGLE MOTHER”, “RESEARCHED”, “INTERVIEWED”, “WORKED MY ASS OFF”, and other such tripe.
It’s about AFFORDABLE HOUSING, not you. You rent. You make 10 cents over minimum wage, and no amount of capitalization will change that.
Q: You probably did the research that fit for YOU only, and NOT your family, right?
A: I DID THE RESEARCH and it fit for me AND my family.
Whoa. So you did a double pronged attack on the research front, the research that fit for You and your family. Good call.
Are you sure you didn’t graduate Harvard? Cuz when I came here, I did the research that fit only for my wifes unborn fetus that had yet to be conceived, and no one else.
OK, so prices are out of reach for most folks… guess what, they are everywhere… in San Jose the median family income is about $77K, sure that’s better than Bend’s $58K, but in San Jose the average family home is $690,000! I have a 2 br, 2 ba, 1000 square feet that is valued at around $630K… that’s crazy… I know it is… glad we bought when we did and all that… but your situation is not unique to Bend… it is the way it is all over the West.
The median home price in Bend is $352K.
Why does everyone think Bend so different than anywhere else in terms of cost of living, wages and real estate? Folks in San Fran, Boulder heck even in New York get by pretty well with customer service jobs and high rents. I bought 4 yrs ago ($975K) and would buy here even today. A friend in Atlanta rents 2bd/2ba apt for $1100/mo drives 1 hr to work oneway each day pays higher auto insurance pays higher water bills pay sales tax on everything he buys (7%) still has hobbies like climbing, cycling goes on vacations entertains/goes out to concerts and the such and makes only $42k’ish per year. I don’t get how folks in other cities do it and folks here cannot. Concerned you’ll have to work and spend less time in the kayak or on the mtn? Now there is a bus system here and folks are complaining that is doesn’t pick them up at their front door. This is a great place but someone needs to put an end to the complaining. Try paying Arizona’s utilities, California’s auto insurance, Hawaii’s grocery’s, Florida’s home insurance, Deal with Springfield’s crime (sorry Jason Carr!) Or move to Baker and deal with the fact that you may or may not have a Doctor within 150 miles at any given time. Then I’ll understand some complaints. Affordable housing is here. Is it going to be as nice and pretty as you’d like it to be…maybe not. Is that my fault? No, not just because I can afford a million dollar home on the westside!!!! Don’t tax the working (you guys think it’s called rich but its not!) to fund the poor (it ain’t poor, it’s envy, just read The Source and you’d be able to pick up on that fact) If you guys would stop all the public forum complaining and whining…perhaps high tech companies would see Bend and Central Oregon for what it is… a nice place to live with a lot to do outside and perhaps move here. If I were a corp. and did some internet research on Bend with the intent to move there, I might think otherwise!
With all this negative chatter and whining, how could I assume I’d find good hard working optimistic workers? Would I be stuck with employees that do nothing but complain? Most likely.
Becky Breeze is realistic in her opinion. I honestly feel this Affordable Housing thing was a good read somewhere that some politician or lib. group saw power within. Just like global warming…. two sides to the story and a lot of editing. Well, gotta go take some calls from the east coast for work!! Got a house payment to make in a couple weeks.
Plain and simple, Deschutes county USED to be an affordable place to live. I know this because my wife is a 3rd generation Oregonian and grew up here. I know this because my in-laws can remember when a good house was easily within reach of the average professional.
About 15-20 years ago, this changed…
Then people who were blithely accepting of insane housing prices (such as Kris) started moving here and started driving up the prices. I mean, if you’re moving from a place where a family home costs $690K, then you wouldn’t care if the $350K you spent on that same home elsewhere was actually twice what the home was worth…
After that, free-market economics kicked in, and the bubble is still there. It will pop, mainly because there really are no industries in Bend that can support the glut of people. Right now, the economy is driven by the strip malls, the service industry that caters to the influx of people, and the housing industry. When the bubble pops, as it’s sure to do, people who have speculatively bought acres of property planning on building the same 5 houses on each acre will end up taking it in the shorts.
Here’s an easy little test to see if your local housing prices are just plain stupid: If the person teaching your kids cannot afford to live in the school district on their salary, you’re probably paying way too much for your home.
Mmmmm… Awbrey Butter
I think saying Bend is not overpriced because San Diego is even more overpriced, is akin to saying eBay was not overpriced at the NASDAQ bubble top, cuz AOL was even more overvalued.
For every place that is overvalued, there is almost inevitably SOMEWHERE that is higher. This argument doesn’t hold much water. ALl will bust hard.
Becky Breeze is a Realtor, and hence has about as much credibility as dirt. She’s filthy stinkin’ rich and could care less if Bend homes are beyond the reach of about 95% of the population. She is self-promoting her position shamelessly.
Bend WILL bust, and bust nice and hard. I guarantee you that.
Ok, well there you go again… Bend will bust. And bust hard. I am certain Symantec, B.O.B. Trailers, Yakima, or any company that thought of moving here will listen to your negative thoughts as will any other company.
You still have not explained how the person in Atlanta or Boulder can work for $42k and still live a happy life without all the complaining?
Hate to break it to you, Awbrey, but the cost of living in Atlanta is cheaper than here (using Portland as an example, even though we passed Portland long ago in cost of living, but the same holds true for any other metro area in Oregon).
Awbrey Butter:
I am sure that you are a very rich and creamy individual, and that if you just sat around at room temperature, you would soften up on these issues. I don’t want to get into a smear campaign, because I would probably get toasted and end up with jam on my face. And frankly it’s hard to do so in an anonymous forum, cuz if you ever stop disagreeing with me, I would start to think “I can’t believe it’s not Awbrey Butter!”, when it very well be you.
You still have not explained how the person in Atlanta or Boulder can work for $42k and still live a happy life without all the complaining?
Here’s a thought Mr Butter: How about since YOU said it, YOU explain it? OK, I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about.
I am certain Symantec, B.O.B. Trailers, Yakima, or any company that thought of moving here will listen to your negative thoughts as will any other company.
Woof. Wow. I’m going to go out on a limb here, and say that any company stupid enough to consult my comments on this blog, before relocating here, is in some big trouble.
Yeah. That seems reasonable. Here’s a thought: COCC class on critical thinking skills.