More Good News for Bend, Oregon Real Estate

We love reporting good news - and that's just what we got to do in the latest issue of our newsletter, the Central Oregon News Digest. If you don't receive it already, sign up on our website. It is full of great information each month.

We were pleased to see that on the Bend, Oregon housing front, year-to-date margins remain strong when compared to last year. The number of listings is dropping, while sales and prices continue to rise. This all equals absorption rates of 2.5 months of residential inventory, compared to 4.2 months last year at this time. See the chart below for details, and as always, contact our Bend, Oregon real estate office with any questions! 

As we reported in the newsletter, and you can see from the chart above, NorthWest Crossing "continues to exist in a world populated by faeries and unicorns, with an average sale price so far this year that is 53.2% above Bend as a whole. (Don't get us wrong--we like faeries and unicorns.)"

In addition, the Central Oregon MLS shows that figures are up with the ending of the third quarter of 2012. Compared with the first three quarters of 2011, here's how the number stack up:

Number of homes sold, 1,489, up 17.4%.

•  Average sale price, $258,511, up 9.7%.
•  Median sale price, $216,000, up 12.3%.
•  Total sale volume, $384,922,963, up 28.8%.

The number of transactions was the highest for the period in the rolling five-year MLS report. The median sale price was highest since 2008.

All this adds up to a great time to take another look at Bend, Oregon real estate. Whether you are buying or selling, now's a great time to be a home owner! 

Raising Money for American Cancer Society: 2012 Relay for Life

Now that it's been a couple of months since we participated in the amazing Central Oregon Relay for Life, we can take a moment to reflect on the event and what we were able to accomplish. Being involved together in an event like this was special for all of us, and we are glad that the money we raised will be put to good use fighting cancer.

We are pleased to announce that this year's Relay for Life raised a total of $131,777 - the most money EVER RAISED for the Relay for Life (Bend/Redmond/Sisters). Last year, the event brought in about 2/3 of that amount at $88,813. We put in a lot of hard work and we are so delighted that it paid off!

Several people in The Garner Group's Bend, Oregon real estate offices participated in the planning for the event - Sara LaFaver, our principal broker, co-chaired the event along with Phyllis Mageau; Melody Lessar was co-chair for the Luminaria fundraiser, and Colleen Horton was the food chair.

Not only were many of us involved from the beginning in bringing the event to fruition, but Erica Davis and Alison Mata - our team captains - recruited a huge team to walk during the relay. Several people from our office, friends and family, and brokers from other agencies around town all turned out to lend their support.

Want to get involved? Next year's Relay for Life is schedule for August 10, 2013.