Waterfront homes are one of the most sought after properties in Central Oregon.  Central Oregon offers many choices of riverfront property.  Pricing, style, age and type of home varies as much as the bends of the rivers.

The Big Deschutes River is navigational by motor boat, it is the widest and deepest of all 4 rivers in most places.  The Big Deschutes River has private and public land along it’s banks.  Many of the homes located on The Big Deschutes River are located on what is often called the high side of the river.  When purchasing a property on The Big Deschutes River there are several things to keep in mind.  The water quality, the type of sewer, river setbacks and if there is a dock is it an approved dock?

The Little Deschutes River joins The Big Deschutes River at Crosswater Golf Course.  Several beautiful homes are located on The Little Deschutes River, such as Vandevert Ranch, Crosswater on the upper end and for more affordable homes Lazy River South is one of the most well known.  The Little Deschutes River is not generally navigated with a power boat or even a drift boat for any distance.  The Little Deschutes River does tend to have trees down and areas that are unexpectedly shallow.  Most of the recreational activities you will find on The Little Deschutes River is tubing, rafting, fishing and swimming.

Fall River is a shallow river that is extremely beautiful.  The Fall River Fish Hatchery is located on this river along with the subdivision Fall River Estates.

Spring River runs into The Big Deschutes River at Sunriver.  Homes on Cooper Drive are located on Spring River.  There are several homes currently for sale on this road, prices are varied from the high $400,000 to over a million.

When purchasing property on any of these rivers there are things you need to know, there are issues that an experienced Realtor® should know and also will need to disclose to you.  I am available to answer questions and show you the beauty that Central Oregon has to offer.

Click below to obtain your personalized list of Central Oregon Riverfront Properties or any other list YOU would like.

River Front Homes

Many times throughout the last couple years I receive requests to provide listings or show bank owned homes.  We have a lot of them in Central Oregon and in the past most of the Bank Owned Homes were priced well below a traditional sale.  Today we are seeing some changes in that pricing.

Every area of Central Oregon, offers a few awesome bank owned homes but they also offer some great buys in a traditional sale.  So, what is the difference you might ask, below is a list of things you can expect with a purchase of a bank owned home and a traditional sale.

Bank Owned Home

• No guarantee how long a home has set vacant – in our extreme temperatures this can be an issue.
• No repairs – other than major safety or code violations
• No  history of the home to know how something may work
• Occasional delays because the asset manager (person over seeing the transaction) has multiple files.
• Title and escrow is generally handled with an out of area company
• Often times past due water and sewer accounts are not checked.

The Traditional Sale

• Home has been typically lived in or at least taken care of
• Sellers are more inclined to do repairs to sell the home than a bank will
• Sellers are generally willing to share how the systems of the home work, like winterizing the sprinkler systems and such.
• Sellers are more motivated to get documents signed and keep the contract moving forward
• Title and Escrow is handled in the area of the home, where the title company is familiar with the local associations, districts and so on giving you better protection.
• Water, sewer and other expenses are generally current, or are brought current at time of closing.

Great prices are available in both the bank owned listings and the re-sale listings – if you would like to be notified of listings that fit your price, or other needs I would be happy to set you up with an automatic email for listings that fit your specific needs.

La Pine Bank Owned Homes

Three Rivers South Bank Owned Homes

Sunriver Bank Owned Homes

Looking at the bank owned homes in La Pine, Sunriver and Three Rivers South it seems that the numbers may be growing a little.  Many of the homes that are priced well are still available this week.  Although winter generally brings slower sales, recent bank owned sales have continued no matter what the weather.

Many of the HUD homes seem to be now listed with agents that are not aware of the area in which the homes are located.  I seem to be finding a lot of errors on schools, counties and so on.  The bank owned home often times takes a little more research, so using an agent that knows the area is very important to the buyer.

Buyers unless your loan requires a bank owned purchase, don’t limit yourself, there are several great properties out there that are doing their best to compete with the bank owned home.

Your Weekly Lists of Bank Owned Homes

La Pine Oregon Bank Owned Homes

Three Rivers South (Between Sunriver and La Pine) Bank Owned Homes

Sunriver Oregon Bank Owned Homes

I am always available to be YOUR BANK OWNED BUYERS AGENT!

Now that we have all been and seen this market for a little while (ok it feels like forever for some) the questions are coming from buyers and sellers alike about short sales and foreclosures.  There have been guidelines written, changed and re-written, we have seen modification promises and a confusing statements that make us think the banks HAVE to work with us only to find that is not the case.

So bottom line is you are trying to save yourself a foreclosure on your record.  We all fear that word and fear the process, but for some it may be the best solution unfortunately.  First of all I am not an attorney or a tax professional and before making any financial decision like this the advice of at least one is advised.

Short Sales can be complicated, long and have some hidden consequences.  First of all let’s talk about what happens to the difference of the sales price and the amount you owe.  You will most likely be issued a 1099 for the difference.  Now, wait – don’t panic.  If this is your primary residence or if you have been renting it to a family member there are currently guidelines that will help you not have to actually call this income.  HOWEVER, if the property is an investment property you can have a pretty stiff number added to your yearly income.  This is why talking to an attorney and / or a tax professional is vitally important.

Do not let an agent tell you, “you will not have to pay taxes on the difference.” This is different under different circumstances.  YOU ultimately are responsible to know what will be the final outcome.  I am not trying to scare you out of selling as a short sale, but you really need to understand the outcome.

This is a true story;  Seller finds an agent that says – oh you can short sale your property– the property is listed.  The seller said he wanted to short sale – and so the agent did what he/she was told.  The property gets an offer for $125,000 less than is owed.  The seller will be issued a 1099 for $132,000 the difference of what the bank received and the amount owed.  This happens in 4 different cities that the seller owned property – all exceeding $50,000 loss to the bank so now the seller will receive at least $200,000 in 1099s.  When he called me to list one of his local properties and I did the math for that property – and explained that before he listed the property he really needed to talk to an attorney and or a tax expert he did so but felt it was un-necessary.  Then he called back in tears.  He would have lost the properties, his credit would have been ruined for a period of time but everyone of these properties would have gone to a foreclosure sale not a judicial foreclosure.  We will talk about the difference of judicial and non-judicial next week.  There are ways to avoid this from happening through the short sale negotiations you can be saved a lot of these worries and issues.

In Oregon most foreclosures are done through a sale.  A Notice of Default and Intent to Sell is served.  When the lender / bank takes the property they have cleared the debt.  So, if the seller above had allowed all of these properties to be foreclosed on he would owe nothing on them and not had a tax issue he is not capable of resolving easily… this is why talking to a real estate professional, an attorney and a tax professional is so important.

I know the photos do not go with this post…. but we get our wildflowers in Central Oregon so late in the spring I had to share what I found last week.

From looking at some of the search strings (what you type into Google and other search engines) to find my blog I have come up with a list of great questions by you the buyer in Central Oregon.

1. I found a short sale but discovered there are past due bills – who is responsible? Several homes that are bank owned or short sale have past due Home Owner Association dues, water and /or sewer bills and so on.  The answer is not as simple as you would think.  It depends on how you write your offer and how much research you and or your agent do.
2. How long does it take to close a short sale? Many times a short sale is a long process and other times it can move along more quickly.  A couple things to keep in mind is that the lender of the property make the decisions, and if there are multiple lenders this can be a little trickier.  A buyer of a short sale should expect it to take anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months.  Do not give notice where you are living until you have the keys as everything is subject to the bank’s approval and things can change quickly.  Give yourself lots of time and be patient.
3. What is the average response time from a bank for a short sale? This depends on more than just you the buyer – it depends on the bank, the amount of files they are processing, the property and the status of the seller’s loan.  There are a lot of factors that will increase or decrease the response time from the bank.
4. Can we occupy the home before closing? Most likely NO and why would you want to?  If the bank makes changes to the contract that are not acceptable to you and you have moved in you may be moving again.  The seller is in possession of the home for a short sale.  Remember that if a lender tries to give the seller a 1099 or asks for them to pay the difference the seller can cancel the contract.  These are items you may not know until the end of all your waiting.
5. Which is better a short sale or a bank owned property – a short sale may be a great option but there is a lot of waiting.  A bank owned property is just that already owned by the bank and can be purchased just like any other listing on the market without the wait.  Closing on a bank owned home is generally the amount of time your lender will take to close the loan.
6. Can I ask for repairs? Most short sales you will not receive any repairs although they can always be asked for the worse that can happen is the seller and or the bank say no.  On a bank owned home many times repairs can be and are approved by the asset manager or the bank.  It never hurts to ask.

Please ask more questions below by leaving a comment – I will do my best to answer you through email and on this post (if you provide your email).