Central Oregon Real Estate Info

It is not often we have the opportunity to see a comet, over the next couple weeks you will be able to see The Holmes comet. Earlier in the week you would have needed a telescope to see it. Now you can view it without a telescope.

According to Lynn Carroll of the Sunriver Nature Center & Observatory it is not often that a comet will glow 1 million times brighter, but The Holmes Comet has done just that.

The brightness of this comet is about the same as the stars in The Big Dipper. Because of the brightness, it can be seen even with the full moon we are currently experiencing.

The Holmes Comet is orbiting between the path of Mars and Jupiter in the northeastern sky.

Currently the comet looks like a big fuzzball according to Bob Grossfeld who is the director of Sunriver Observatory. This comet does not currently have a tail like the ones you may have seen in the past.

The brightness this comet has shown was recorded 115 years ago, it is not known if it will grow brighter or dimmer over the next couple nights.

The exciting part of this is if the weather holds, you can take a peek at this unusual event at the Sunriver Observatory. Tonight is the last regular night it is open, it will open for a few days around the holidays.

If you are near Sunriver and would like to see The Holmes Comet up close and personal tonight is your night to go. The Sunriver Observatory will be open from 8 to 10 pm tonight you can use the telescopes to view Jupiter before it goes out ofsight for the evening as well as see the different constellations and The Holmes Comet.

Not near Sunriver but want to see what is happening in space? My favorite website is www.spaceweather.com check it out, there is some pretty cool stuff.

One of the biggest topics of discussion in Sunriver is the new plans and development for the old Village Mall. Home owners have worries, business owners are concerned and yet there seems to be an underlying excitement.

Meetings are being scheduled, zoning is changing, retail space is being condensed and condos are slated for the new project. The number of condos although some say will be 500 is always subject to change, and certainly will not be completed in one full swoop.

Change is one of the most difficult things we as humans go through in life. It is what we resist the most, we fear and often times look back and say... change is good.

Today a blog that I often read had a comment which appears to be from one of the developers of the new mall called, Village at Sunriver.

Although this plan is full of things you have never seen in Central Oregon, it is still moving forward.

Some of the concerns, high-rise style building - there are not high-rises in Central Oregon. I am not certain on the tallest building in Central Oregon - my guess is there are not many over 4 stories tall. The new Village at Sunriver admits to at least one 5 story building as part of the plan.

Another unknown - underground parking and parking structure, neither are found in Central Oregon. We know that larger cities have these but not Central Oregon.

I promised my readers to give them some sites to review that showed both sides of the story. So, the links are below - please feel free to leave comments with other links too.

http://www.centraloregonbuzz.com/blog/category/village-at-sunriver

http://www.thesunriverreport.com/category/general

http://www.savesunriver.org

There are still a few lots under $300,000 with great incentives for the buyer. Including a few lots that have an owner carry for 3 years.

Crosswater is located across the street and one of the wonderful incentives is a discounted Crosswater Golf Membership.

One particular lot is currently on resale, (Lot 106 on Dancing Rock Loop) is curently listed lower than the phase I pricing it was purchased for. Currently offered at $365,000 originally purchased for $425,000. This lot has a great Mt. Bachelor and golf course view is close to the Lakehouse and Obsidian Lake.

Click Here For a Detailed Report of the Property 106-dancing-rock-lp-mls-printout.pdf

For a complete list of lots currently for sale please click here caldera-lots.pdf

For a complete list of homes currently for sale please click here homes-caldera-springs.pdf

Please contact me for a complete list of incentives and programs available to buyers in Caldera Springs.

One of the questions on the Seller's Disclosure is - are there any underground tanks on the property. In La Pine and a lot of outlying areas the answer is generally yes, it is a septic tank.

Of course if you do not have sewer available a septic tank is a must. However, in other areas of the state and sometimes in Central Oregon there are other tanks to be aware of.

After completing high school I moved to Portland, Oregon. While I lived there I lived in a home with oil heat, the tank for this source of heat was underground. Now, Portland and areas like it are having problems with these tanks leaking, hence the reason for the question on the Seller's Disclosure.

What does Portland have to do with Central Oregon you might ask? A lot, we should be learning from the issues they are having to deal with. Many people coming to Central Oregon are wanting to put their oil tanks underground, we are seeing them put propane tanks underground. What will happen as these tanks corrode as they have in Portland. The real issue for Central Oregon with this is we all depend on our ground water to survive. When these tanks leak or overflow the fuel goes into the ground. Our ground water in La Pine and Three Rivers South can be pretty high (my well is 34 feet) or low how ever you see it.

To Read the full Story Click Here>>>>>>>

Following suit of the Six Pack encouraged by Chris Griffith I went back and looked at my posts from the begining.

There are some doosies - wow I have learned a lot and still have more to learn... so here is my Six Pack - enjoy.

Buyer Broker Agreements

Honesty Hurts

Thank You Little Brother

The Truth About Earnest Money

Thank You Mr. Weese

ActiveRain Color

I must thank Sandra Cummings for assiting me in taking this down to 6 -

Enjoy - it was fun for me going back in the past and checking these and a few others out.

Hope you all have a successful week.

Brokers in Oregon are not allowed to share their commission with an unlicensed person. Often times a seller, buyer or third party will ask for a payment for a referral or as a rebate at closing to give the buyer a bigger incentive to purchase a home.

Some Real Estate offices and franchises across the United States have built their business on helping buyers buy a home by offering a rebate at closing. In Oregon this is not acceptable, if your Real Estate professional offers this, they are breaking the law.

In 2007 this matter was reviewed and sponsored by Senator Winters. Changes were made to Senate Bill 673 which discusses the sharing of commission. To read the changes you can read it online at Senate Bill 673. The items in bold are the new and added verbabe to this bill, the state clearly states that sharing commission is unlawful.

Other states have taken the same stand on sharing commission; they include Montana, North Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, New Jersey and Alaska.

The Department of Justice has a great website that talks about a lot of the questions that Real Estate Professionals and consumers alike have regarding Competition and Real Estate. With the competition of Real Estate Brokers in Oregon getting fierce, sellers getting frustrated and buyers hearing of kickbacks, rebates and discounts it is more important than ever that the consumer be educated about these laws.

Yesterday I wrote about the market for first time home buyers in La Pine and Three Rivers South, Oregon. I was a little surprised to have a few locals chime in and basically disagree with me about the current market.

The numbers do not lie - La Pine and Three Rivers South are showing signs of a down market - which I did not dispute, but what I did find is that neither are in a "declining" market.

A declining market is when the sales prices fall below previous sales. La Pine and Three Rivers South are showing a slow market but not a declining market.

The proof is in the numbers - check out these CMA's and you will see - we are doing a lot better than a lot of markets across the country.

La Pine Homes Under $200,000

La Pine Homes From $200,001 to $250,000

Amerititle Report of Third Quarter of 2007

You can still have your new home before the winter holidays - with the inventory to choose from and the snow starting to fall now is the perfect time to get packing and into your new home.

There is a lot of talk about the Real Estate market, mortgage issues and so on, most of it negative. I wonder, why? Rates are low, the real estate market in La Pine and Three Rivers South has a lot of inventory to choose from and homes are selling. Maybe not in record numbers but they are selling.

Lenders have multiple programs that are very suitable for first time home buyers. Rick Grand a lender in Eugene recently wrote an article about one such program called P.A.L. Rick states that some borrowers can receive up to $10,000 towards the purchase of their new home.

Currently La Pine and Three Rivers South have a lot of different types of properties that qualify for many different lending programs. There are sellers that are motivated and willing to pay for closing costs or really negotiate a lower purchase price.

The market is not nearly as bad as the media makes it out to be here in Central Oregon. According to the Bend Bulletin last week the real estate market has hit a plateau. The good news of this is that Bend is no longer seeing a downward trend.

La Pine and Three Rivers South has not seen a declining market, although the average days on market are longer and there are price reductions, actual sales prices for 2007 are still higher than those of 2006. This means when a property is appraised the appraiser does not have to check the dreaded declining market box. La Pine and Three Rivers South have not seen a declining market. There are a few areas in Bend where appraisers have had to check this box.

Gena Riede a REALTOR® in Sacramento, California recently wrote an article titled "When Should a First Time Home Buyer Buy a House?" In Gena's article she says

"There are some great homes for sale and great buys on the market for sale right now. Don't wait until the homes are picked over and the good ones are gone or until the real estate market heads back up or worse yet, until interest rates go back up with severe tightening on loan restrictions."

I find it encouraging that although she is in Sacramento and I work the Central Oregon market that the same is true for both areas.

A great example for a prefect first time home buyer is the home shown in the visual tour below.

Buyers in a resort area often times are curious about timeshares or shared ownership. Many times they do not understand the difference. Marcus and Connie Schwing of Sunriver Realty recently wrote an article about shared ownership in Sunriver.

Shared ownership is a common sale in Sunriver, but there are timeshare units available too. There are two complexes, Stoneridge and The Ridge that are timeshare style ownership. Both of these offer RCI benefits but not all units participate.

When purchasing a timeshare it is vitally important that you understand the schedule in which you are entitled to stays, if the unit can be rented, what the reserve accounts are and how upgrades and new furnishings are taken care of. Obviously there is a lot more to be informed about but these are the top my clients have asked for.

Timeshares for some people are a great thing, mostly for the person that can use the property within the guidelines set forth. I have found that many people with schoolage children have trouble using their time share. This is why RCI programs and the like are intreging to some buyers, if you can not use your time, you can put it in a bank and estenially trade it for another time and location.

Many people will purchase a timeshare in their own area, and never ever use it, but they will trade it, giving the the ability to vacation all over the world.