Rates and Prices
April 17, 2009
I was just looking at the prices of homes in the Bend, Oregon, area, as it’s now been two years since we moved from there back to Utah. I was somewhat surprised at what I found. I performed a series of searches for homes in the 97702 area code, the first of which was the same search I performed when I was selling my house there. In an effort to get my home sold quickly, I always made sure that my home was one of the cheapest listings, if not THE cheapest in Bend with minimums of 2250 square feet, 4 bedrooms and 2 baths. We had our house last listed for $335k and sold it for $330k.
Tonight, I did the same search that I had done so many times before and found that the cheapest home that fit those minimum specifications was quite a bit less. By “quite a bit less” I mean, “Holy crap, that’s a TON less!” The cheapest on the market with those specs is $199,900. It’s in the Desert Skies neighborhood on the east side of Bend. When my house was on the market, homes in that development were selling for somewhere in the mid $300s. Today, there’s one listed for under $200k.
I am so glad we got out when did. Losing my job in Bend was such a huge blessing for us. We had been planning on selling the house, and had even had it on the market in 2006, but losing my job really pushed us to hurry up and get it sold.
I distinctly remember telling a friend of mine who was selling his house in Redmond, Oreogn during December of 2006 or January of 2007 that he should sell the house, then rent for six months to a year because the market would tank but he didn’t listen. He sold his house and made almost $100k off the sale of his Redmond house, but immediately purchased a 1900 square foot home in Bend for $312k. In today’s market, his home would be listed for somewhere between $180k and $190k. I’d feel bad for him if he hadn’t gone and made himself an ex-friend of mine but, well, he did so I don’t.
Anyways, I was looking at the unemployment rates in the City of Bend from the time I moved there in October 2002 and comparing them to what Central Oregon is experiencing now. Let’s just say things are really bad there right now. During the time that I lived in Central Oregon, the highest unemployment rate that the area experienced was 9.4%. The most recent data that I have for the Bend area shows unemployment at 16.1% in February 2009. January shows 14.4% and December shows 11.3%. Those are the three highest rates over the past 20 years.
Man, I sure am glad I moved when I did.
UPDATE: Apparently, February’s numbers were revised and the 16.1% has been adjusted down to 15.8%. March’s numbers are in, too, and it came in at 17%. Whoa.
