Thinking of moving to Bend? Now is the perfect time! For the fourth consecutive year, the Bend-Redmond metro area has been named the “Best Performing Small City” in the U.S. by the Milken Institute, a Los-Angeles based think tank focusing on health, economics, employment and education. Bend-Redmond surpassed all other small cities for its “well-diversified economy, the best five-year wage growth and second-best five-year job growth”. Read more in the Milken Institute’s press release.
Raise a glass to our friends at the Worthy Garden Club, the philanthropic arm of Worthy Brewing Company in Bend, who just announced an ambitious program to plant 1 million trees across Oregon. Operation Appleseed is designed restore habitat and combat climate change with $1 million in seed money over the next three years from Worthy Garden Club. Cheers!
Lisa Berg is a lifelong Oregonian and has lived in Bend for the past 15 years. The draw to Bend? It’s the mecca of everything fun! It could be drinking at a brewery on a Sunny afternoon or spending the day up on the mountain downhill skiing, Nordic skiing or snowmobiling. The outdoor adventures here never end!
Lisa started Mt. Bachelor Property Management LLC about five years ago and has been managing her own investment properties for nearly 10 years. Lisa and her husband purchase, flip and rent their own real estate investments. As a result, Lisa knows firsthand the importance of having a property manager who looks out for your investment in order to get the best renters and the best return. Mt. Bachelor Property Management currently serves the Bend, Redmond, Sisters and Prineville areas of Central Oregon.
Prior to starting her business she was a school teacher in the Bend La Pine School District for 10 years. It is there she learned patience and the ability to multi task at work, traits that she uses daily as a business owner. She is also very knowledgeable about the fabulous schools in Bend and what different schools can offer to individual students.
Lisa has had the distinct advantage of being both an owner and a tenant. She knows each one is an asset to a property management company and is always striving to keep those positive relationships strong and thriving. She knows the importance of having happy tenants in order to have fewer frequent vacancies. Lisa’s team has a system in place to address tenant concerns and maintenance issues quickly.
When Lisa has a free moment, you will most likely see her mountain biking, camping, boating and, every once in a while, riding the chairlift at Mt Bachelor. She also spends much of her time with her two young kids.
The spring buying season seems to have begun early this year, much different than in the beginning of 2019. Bend and Central Oregon experienced heavy snowfall in the first couple months of 2019, coupled with interest rates about a point higher than today’s rates, which made for a slow start to 2019. Once the snow thawed and interest rates lowered the Bend housing market heat up quickly and continued to be hot throughout the remainder of the year.
Buyer demand remains very strong in 2020, with multiple offers on well-priced homes. Bend ranks in the top 10 fastest growing cities in America and simply put, there are not enough homes to meet demand. Bend remains very affordable compared to many of the areas where our buyers are relocating from. The average residential sales price in Bend in 2019 was approximately $560,000.
The challenge we face in 2020 is inventory. Housing is being developed in Bend but may not be enough to meet demand. Inventory levels continue to be under three months’ supply on average.
An interesting trend we have seen which has certainly affected the local real estate market is the ability to telecommute. Technology changes have allowed many people to live and raise their families in Bend and be employed elsewhere. This has brought higher incomes into the area making Bend much more affluent and, in our opinion, much less resistant to any recession which could influence housing.
So far in 2020 we are experiencing buying activity at springtime levels which can be frustrating for buyers competing for homes. Interest rates are at record low levels and coupled with low inventory means one thing, rising prices!
Bend is a great market whether you are a buyer or seller. The community is growing tremendously offering opportunities for business, education and a lifestyle quality which is hard to match.
Coldwell Banker Bain is the #1 Coldwell Banker affiliate in the world with nearly $6 billion in volume in 2018, and has been helping people buy and sell homes in the Pacific Northwest since 1972. With 1,100+ brokers in 32 offices throughout Washington and Oregon, the company provides the full spectrum of services to buyers and sellers, with special expertise in the luxury realm.
Coldwell Banker Morris Real Estate has been recognized as a Chairman’s Circle Company for the past 22 years, an award given only to the top Coldwell Banker Companies in North America and has been consistently ranked the #1 Coldwell Banker office in Oregon.
We’re Lori and Mike Dixon. Our story is about service. Public Service, community service and now personal service.
Service through real estate.
We spent our careers serving the public as police officers and detectives. From patrol duties to training new recruits, tactical teams and major case investigators – we helped our community. Once we retired, we relocated to Bend to retreat, refresh and recreate. Bend is a haven for outdoor enthusiasts and community-oriented people – that’s why we moved here.
Becoming realtors didn’t happen overnight – we savored being young retirees! Hiking, biking, paddling, eating, drinking and immersing in the music and culture of Central Oregon…well you know or you wouldn’t be considering moving to Bend! Initially, we had very part-time “retiree” jobs – Lori was teaching yoga and Mike was working on bicycles.
Our purpose began taking hold in the process of buying our own home. We traveled with our dogs all over the U.S. (25+ states!) to see if there was another place we might want to live. There wasn’t…Bend won and still wins today.
Our former homeowner experiences of 20+ years buying and selling property in another state had been stressful, disorganized and sometimes dishonest exercises. It always seemed like a lack of communication and accountability was the foundation for the challenges we encountered. Unfortunate, but true for us. When we moved to Bend, our perception of the industry was less than neutral.
We found that in Bend, the folks with whom we crossed paths in the real estate world were not only communicative and reliable, but also willing to serve us in our search and purchase of our home.
During that process, we found the appeal of being able to attend to a need with integrity, attention to detail and open communication – without going back to a law enforcement environment – perfect!
We’ve spent years seeking facts, listening closely, taking notes, researching and attending to every detail to help reach a desired outcome. Those skills are just as important now as they were then.
Our promise as realtors is to be there for you – before, during and after the purchase or sale of your home. Our guarantee as professionals is that you will never have to wonder what’s happening with your transaction. Our assurance is that there will never be pressure from us, only information to make educated decisions.
This is our story. We know what it’s like to relocate, to buy or sell a home, to need information, to want security and to find a reliable professional to help with the decision-making process. All that is to say, “We get it.” We also love Bend. We chose to live here over any other place in the world and we like that we’re a part of what makes Bend such a great place with caring, community-oriented people.
We’re a team, as we’ve been for many decades and we’re beyond happy to have a second chance at service, through real estate, for you.
