Central Oregon Resort Real Estate

Sunriver Real Estate - Q4 2011 Update

2011-12-27T16:35:00.000-08:00

We are a couple of days from the end of the quarter and the end of the year. In my article in for the December issue of the Sunriver Scene I forecast that we would sell 25 homes for a dollar value of $10.9 million in the 4th Quarter. As of today we are at 23 homes and $10.25 million, that compares to 22 homes sold and $8.3 million in the same quarter a year ago. It is possible that we could see a couple of more homes close this week and hit my number, but we will know for sure in couple of days. The total for the quarter was $11.9 million compared to $10 million for the same quarter a year ago.

The other piece of good news is the average price of a home sold in the 4th quarter was $445K this year and $378K last year. The price per sqft was down to $183 from $190 last year. The good new is we are seeing buyers spend more money on average as the deals got better this year.

I will have a complete update with all the final numbers for the quarter in a couple of weeks.

Hope you all had a great Christmas and have a happy new year. I really do think we are going to see the real estate market in Sunriver improve this year.

Thanks, John.

Sunriver Real Estate - Q3 2011 final numbers

2011-10-09T12:02:00.000-07:00

The Summer season has ended in Sunriver. We had a very good 3^rd quarter inreal estate. Q2 2011 produced $11.4million in transactions, Q3 2011 produced $13.8 million in transactions. That represents a 21% increase in dollarvolume from Q2 to Q3. The other reallygood piece of news is that we have 20 transactions on the books for Q4 totalingan estimated $8.4 million of carry over from Q3 2011.

Of the 49transactions in Q3 2011 25 of them were homes. The average price per sqft was down from the $193 last quarter to $187,but the average percentage of sales price remained the same at 93%. We did have one home that sold for very closeto $1 million this quarter and we have several pending sales for Q4 that are inthe high 6 figures. This return of thehigh-end buyer should start to improve our average home values if the trendcontinues.

It was very clearthat the continuing improvements in the Village, the now completed 4 lanefreeway from Bend to Sunriver and the buzz surrounding the SHARC have helpedsell real estate this year. With theSHARC opening next year I am confident we are going to see this trendcontinue. The Sunriver owners havecontinued to invest in the community during some of the most difficult times wehave seen in this country in recent years. When we do see a turn in this economy as a community we are going tohave one of the fastest recoveries.

Thanks, John

Sunriver Real Estate - Q3 update

2011-09-03T12:01:00.000-07:00

We are 2 months into the 3rd quarter of 2011. August turned out to be busy and very productive. We doubled the number of deals on the books for this quarter from 26 a month ago to 52 today. The majority of the increase was also in home sales as we increased from 13 homes on the books to 34 homes. Assuming we closed all 52 deals before the end of the quarter we would have a volume of a little over $15 million for the quarter for all product (homes, condos, shared ownership, land). If we close all the homes on the books by the end of the quarter we would have a volume of approximately $12.5 million. This would be over a 25% increase over Q2 2011 and an equally significant 25% increase over Q3 2010. This would also make the 3rd consecutive increase in quarterly sales for Sunriver.
It does seem clear that the combination of record low prices, record low interest rates, the soon to be completed new SHARC center, continuing improvements in the Village and the 4 lane freeway from Bend have got the attention of the buyers. Sunriver is making significant improvements to the quality of the "Sunriver Experience" and people have taken notice.
The other thing to take note of is the amount of construction that is going on in Caldera Springs. We also have 2 home sales and 4 lots sales on the books for this quarter.
Rumors are flying that the SHARC center may have some facilities open as early as the first of the year. We are all getting very excited.

Thanks, John

Sunriver Q3 2011 Real Estate Update

2011-07-31T14:56:00.000-07:00

We are 1 month in the 3rd quarter of 2011. It has felt very busy so far this quarter and the weather has finally turned to perfection. We have 26 deals on the books for the quarter so far, for a total of approximately $7 million of transaction value. There are 13 homes and 12 condo’s & timeshares and 1 lot.

The stats on the 13 homes are as follows, days on the market are down to around 130 from 193 last quarter and 242 last year. If that holds up that is big. Price per sqft is right at $192, exactly what it was last quarter, another indication that we may be at the bottom of this cycle. Average sales price is up around $400k, last quarter was $373K. We are still very early in the quarter, but I do believe we will show an improvement over last quarter and hopefully an improvement over the 3rd quarter which is going to take selling 28-30 homes this quarter.

If you have been in Sunriver recently you have seen how fast the new aquatic center is going up. It is really creating a buzz and I feel strongly that it is helping us sell property. They are giving tours on the weekends, you can sign up on the SROA website. The place is going to be amazing.

Questions, comments, send me an email

Thanks, John

Sunriver Real Estate - Q2 2011 final numbers

2011-07-10T12:34:00.000-07:00

   One month ago we had 35 transactions on the books ( sold and Pending) for the quarter. We ended up closing 35 transaction in Q2 2011 for a total $ volume of $11,435, 710. This was a nice up-tick from Q1 numbers, which was an up-tick from Q4 2010 numbers. Maybe we have something going here. We sold 26 homes in Q2 2011 at an average of $373K. The good news was a significant drop in the days on the market to 192. This is reflected by both the increased sales and a smaller inventory.
   The high end of the market continues to be very slow as the most expensive home sold in Sunriver in Q2 2011 was $641K. We have some fantastic homes on the market in the $800K to $1 million range. I will be very surprised if we don't see some action there this year.
   Sunriver is very busy right now and Bennington Properties rentals are having the best year they have had since 2008. There does seem to be a lot of buyers in the market for Sunriver homes and I am assuming that Q3 2011 is going to be yet another improving quarter for sales volume. We have 19 deals on the books, (sold or pending) as of July 10, 2011 for a total of over $5 million in volume. Thats only 10 days into the quarter!!
   The new aquatic center (S.H.A.R.K.) is going up at light speed and is really creating a buzz. It looks like it really will be on time for a Memorial Day 2012 opening. I wrote the real estate article for the Sunriver Scene for August, watch for it, it has complete charts and data for the last 3 years by quarter.

Thanks, John.

Sunriver Real Estate Late Quarter update - Q2 2011

2011-05-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

   We are 2 months into the second quarter of 2011. We have 35 transactions on the books for this quarter so far ( 23 closed sales and 12 pending sales). 26 of these are homes and 9 are Condo’s, timeshares and one hangar space. We are tracking toward closing 35-40 transactions this quarter and close to $10 million in home volume, with another $2-2.5 million in condo’s and other product for a total of around $12 million in total transaction volume for the quarter. We are going to come in a little behind last years numbers, primarily because the average price of a home sold this year is down substantially from last year. This is because last year the lowest priced home sold in the quarter was $300K, this year we have 7 homes sold or pending under $300k. Also last year we had 5 homes sold over $640K, this quarter we have none.
   On the good news side we are seeing marketing times moving down (Q4 10 was 333 DOM, Q1 11 was 309 DOM, Q2 11 is currently 221 DOM). The other interesting factor is we have 157 homes on the market as of today, at the middle of July last year we had 240 homes on the market. I do believe we are not going to get that high this summer which should help the market. If you have a Condo listed, we are also seeing much more interest in that product this year than we did last year. This is really the season when Condo’s start to see some activity.
   May has been a weather challenged month in Central Oregon with more wet cold weather than we normally see, this may have contributed to sales not picking up more. School is getting out earlier this year than last and that should give us a faster start to the Summer season. Bennington Properties had 80% of there homes booked for Memorial Day weekend and we did have lots of buyer traffic this weekend. I do believe that the new aquatic center is creating a big buzz and it will really help Sunriver.

Questions, comments please contact me.

Looking forward to a great Summer.

Thanks, John.

Sunriver Real Estate mid Quarter update - Q2 2011

2011-05-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

In the second quarter of 2010 Sunriver closed 36 transactions (homes, condos, land) for a total dollar value of $13.3 million. Of those transactions 20 of them were homes, 14 were condos and the were 2 lot sales. At this mid point of the second quarter of 2011 we have 30 transactions on the books (sold or pending) 22 homes and 8 condos. If we close 100% of these transactions before the end of the quarter the dollar value of these transactions will be approximately $10 million. The average price of a home sold this quarter is running about $375K compared to $535K last year in the second quarter. Average days on the market is almost the same around 230 and average price per square foot is $195 vs $211 last year. We are selling more smaller homes this year compared to last year.

I do think we have a good chance to match last years numbers for the second quarter, but we are going to have to sell about 20% more homes to do it. The buyer traffic is picking up, but they are very careful and most know exactly what they want and they are unwilling to compromise as they clearly feel they have time. One very interesting factor is that we only have 150 homes on the market currently. Last year by mid summer we had 240, I think there is a good possibility that we have seen most the panic sellers and we may not get up anywhere close to that number of homes on the market this year.

If you have any question or comments please contact me.

John.

Sunriver Real Estate Q2 2011 update

2011-04-29T11:07:00.001-07:00

We have come to the end of the first month of the second quarter of 2011. The second half of April has not brought much activity to the Sunriver market. With tax time and the Easter weekend behind us we are finally looking forward to some good weather and the return of the buyers to this market. It is clear that interest rates are not going to be going up in any significant way anytime soon. The combination of a large inventory, low Interest rates, and prices that are down 38% from the top of the market in 2007 should help bring in the buyers.

We currently have 21 transactions on the books for this quarter (15 homes, 6 condos). Q2 last year we sold 20 homes, we have 15 on the books 1 month into this quarter so we have an excellent change of selling more homes this quarter. We are seeing the average price of a home sold this year is down about $80k from the same period last year. Smaller homes in good locations are the hottest sellers in the market currently. We do have a number of larger beautiful properties on the market at prices that should start to attract the high end buyers.

If you have not been to Sunriver recently the new aquatic center is really taking shape. I will have some pictures up on the blog in a few days ( need some sunshine).

Questions, comments, give me a call

John

Sunriver Real Estate Early Q2 2011 Update

2011-04-16T14:44:00.001-07:00

We currently have 19 homes and condos either sold or pending so far this quarter. 15 of them are homes, we sold 21 homes last quarter so it looks like we have a good chance to see an up tick in volume this quarter. The current average sales price is $348k compared to last quarters $400k. It is still early in the quarter and we have time to see that number improve. The buyer traffic has picked up some, but we usually don't see a big jump until after tax season is over.

Sunriver Real Estate 1st Quarter 2011 Final numbers

2011-04-05T14:15:00.000-07:00

   Well ladies and gentlemen we did it, we broke the downward slide, after 5 straight down quarters, Q1 2011 was just slightly better than Q4 2010 in home sales and the average price was up from $375K to $400K. We closed 21 home transactions for a total of $8.4 million in volume. If you read my latest article in the Sunriver Scene at the middle of March I forecasted a volume of $7.5 Million and 19 homes for Q1. I am glad to say I was low. The total for the quarter was $9.233 million if you include land, condo and shared owner sales.

   We have a carry over of $4.5 million in pending sales which should close in Q2 2011. Based on the pick up in traffic and the volume of new listing coming on the market I believe that Q2 will be even stronger that Q1 was. The new listings are also coming on the market at very realistic prices, so it would seem that sellers understand that you have to be priced to sell in this market or you are still going to own it next year.

   The new buyers all seem to be very excited about the new aquatic center and I do think it is starting to create some energy in the market place. When you drive by it on Beaver and see how big a project it is, it is exciting. The weather is starting to show some signs of Sun and the golf courses are starting to green up so come to Sunriver and buy something. The home inventory is up to 140 homes, I still expect it to grow to well over 200 by mid summer.

Thanks,

John.

Sunriver Real Estate 1st Quarter 2011 update

2011-02-28T13:06:00.000-08:00

We are now 2 months into the new year. The activity level has picked up significantly in February and we have gone from 13 properties under contract at the end of January to 28 at the end of February. We have gone from 0 closed transactions to 8 closed transactions. Assuming we could close all the the currently pending transaction this quarter we would come in at about $9.7 million in volume for the quarter. That is of course not very likely, we will most likely come in around $6-7 Million. The homes that have sold and closed so far this year are running at 95% of sales price and $170 per sqft. I do not expect these number to hold and I think our market is more in the $180-200 per sqft range once the quarters numbers are all in.

The inventory in Sunriver is at the lowest point ( 116 homes) of the year right now and we will start to see a large number of new listings coming on the market over the next few months. I believe we are going to see a good selling season this year as the economy continues to improve and unemployment inches lower.

If you have any questions about buying, selling, listing, renting or just have a question don't hesitate to call me or send email.

John Watkins
jdw48@mac.com
541-390-3600

Sunriver Q1 2011 update

2011-02-03T09:19:00.000-08:00

Real estate in Sunriver has been slow through most of January 2011. We currently have 13 homes under contract and 2 homes sold so far this year. That gives us approximately $5.5 million in volume with an average sales price of $369,000. We are running at $185 per sqft and about 330 days on the market. The first quarter of 2010 we closed 27 homes at an average sales price of $471,000 for a little over $12 million in volume.

The buyer traffic has picked up dramatically in the last 2 weeks and most of the broker's I talk to have had the same experience. Our inventory of homes is always at its lowest point in January with only 125 homes on the market. I do expect to see a large number of listings come on the market over the next few months.

If you are thinking about listing now is the time to get started and if you are a buyer, keep your eyes open and check the internet often as we should see a lot of new inventory over the next 3 months. I do believe we are at the bottom of this market and this is a great time to buy.

John Watkins
Principal Broker
Bennington Properties
jdw48@me.com
541-390-3600

Sunriver 2010 real estate sales summary data

2011-01-07T11:30:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a lot of numbers data which I really like to look at because it gives me a much clearer picture of what is happening in the marketplace. First here is a summary chart by quarter of the sales data for homes sold in Sunriver for the period from 2008 through 2010. Please remember that the averages are based only on the homes that sold.

	Q1 08	Q2 08	Q3 08	Q4 08
# Homes	11	26	17	18
$ Volume	$6,773,700	$15,519,790	$10,674,470	$12,318,500
Average SP	$615,791	$596,915	$627,910	$684,361
DOM	166	195	195	199
per sqft	$300	$268	$261	$260
% of SP	97%	90%	94%	90%

	Q1 09	Q2 09	Q3 09	Q4 09
# Homes	18	14	16	32
$ Volume	$9,166,752	$5,674,998	$7,401,296	$14,446,112
Average SP	$509,264	$405,357	$462,581	$451,441
DOM	287	317	242	305
per sqft	$226	$229	$220	$222
% of SP	92%	92%	93%	93%

	Q1 10	Q2 10	Q3 10	Q4 10
# Homes	27	20	23	22
$ Volume	$12,714,516	$10,710,100	$10,155,489	$8,330,498
Average SP	$470,908	$535,505	$441,543	$378,659
DOM	387	234	189	333
per sqft	$199	$211	$203	$190
% of SP	92%	94%	95%	93%

The year 2010 ended with a big drop off in sales volume for Q4 compared to early quarters in 2010 and a big drop in volume from the Q4 2009 numbers. The Q4 2010 DOM was way up as we saw a number of homes that had been on the market over a year finally sell ( 8 of 22 had been on the market over 1 year & 4 of them over 2 years), but this moved the DOM of homes sold up significantly from the previous quarter. If you look at he annual data for the last 4 years 2010 feels much better.

Year	2007	2008	2009	2010
# Homes	143	72	80	92
Total $ Volume	$91,195,962	$45,286,460	$36,689,158	$41,910,603
Average SP	$637,734	$628,979	$458,614	$455,550
DOM	158	188.75	287.75	285.75
per sqft	$287	$272	$224	$201
% of SP	96%	93%	93%	94%

When viewed this way 2010 shows a marked improvement over 2009 with more sales transactions, higher $ volume of homes sold. What has continued to decline is the price per sqft. and average Sales Price.

As the economy continues to improve in 2011 I do believe we will continue to see sales activity increase and more people feeling comfortable about buying and owning a second home/vacation rental. Remember 10,000 baby boomers are turning 65 every day and we have one of the best places in the country to retire if you are healthy and active.

Another good indicator for 2011 is that the Case-Shiller Housing index on price to income for housing is down from 1.65 in 2007 to 1.06 in 2010. We have almost returned to 1 which is where it should be, and if we can see some personal income gains in 2011 we just might get there.

Email me if you have any questions about this data.

Mid 4th Quarter 2010 Sunriver Real Estate Update

2010-11-18T10:06:00.000-08:00

The 4th quarter has turned out to be a bit slower than I expected. I had forecast $11.25 million in sales volume and it does not look like we are going to get there. Sunriver currently has Pending sales of 2 condos, 9 homes and 1 lot, and sold properties 4 condos, 12 homes and 1 lot. Assuming all this business closes before 12/31/10 the total sales volume will be just over $9 million. We could do better than that but I am not counting it.

Buyers are clearly being very careful in this market. The resort real estate market has been very slow now for over 2 years. With the election behind us and hopefully the worst of the economy issues we are looking forward to next year showing some needed improvement in this market.

We are still benefiting from extremely low interest rates and a large inventory of homes to choose from. Caldera Springs has seen several of its more expensive homes sell recently and we continue to see new homes going up as the cost of money and construction are very favorable.

Happy holidays to everyone.

Questions please give me a call or send me and email

John Watkins
jdw48@mac.com
541-390-3600

November Sunriver Scene Article

2010-11-11T10:31:00.000-08:00

I wrote this article for the Sunriver Scene about 3 weeks ago. I have re published it here in case you did not see it.

"I spent most of my career as a CPA and CFO, so I have a great love of financialnumbers and the story they can tell us. Unfortunately it is now quite clear that all the political rhetoric and public funds have not succeeded in giving us a quick recovery from the latest recession. Certainly some segments of the economy are starting to show some upward trends and the government has declared that the recession ended last summer as GDP turned positive. The reality of it for most of us is that real estate and unemployment are the factors that most affect our day to day lives and they have yet to show any serious signs of improvement. If you were smart enough to let you 401K ride out the recession you are most likely about half way back to where you were before the crash. On the other hand if you held on to all your real estate you are pretty much still at the bottom wondering when things start to improve. It is quite clear we are still grinding through the bottoming process in real estate. I do believe we have bottomed out and I am confident that 2011 will bring some stability to our market.

Below is a chart of data from the last 3 years of homes sold in Sunriver. I have estimated Q4 2010 numbers based on the carryover from Q3 2010 and from the current momentum in our market. Three things are worth noting in the numbers: first – the days on market moved down in 2010 to something more reasonable ( 200+ days). Second –Sales price per sqft has been somewhat stable this year in the $200 range. Third – the percentage of sales price has improved in the last 2 quarters (92% to 95%). All of these would tend to indicate that we have reached a somewhat stable bottom and that our homes are closer to being priced correctly. These are clearly signs that we are at thebottom. and our home values should be stabilizing.

Homes Sold	Q1 08	Q2 08	Q3 08	Q4 08
# Homes	11	26	17	18
$ Volume	$6,773,700	$15,519,790	$10,674,470	$12,318,500
Average SP	$615,791	$596,915	$627,910	$684,361
DOM	166	195	195	199
per sqft	$300	$268	$261	$260
% of SP	97%	90%	94%	90%
	Q1 09	Q2 09	Q3 09	Q4 09
# Homes	18	14	16	32
$ Volume	$9,166,752	$5,674,998	$7,401,296	$14,446,112
Average SP	$509,264	$405,357	$462,581	$451,441
DOM	287	317	242	305
per sqft	$226	$229	$220	$222
% of SP	92%	92%	93%	93%
	Q1 10	Q2 10	Q3 10	Q4 10- EST
# Homes	27	20	23	25
$ Volume	$12,714,516	$10,710,100	$10,155,489	$11,250,000
Average SP	$470,908	$535,505	$441,543	$450,000
DOM	387	234	189	225
per sqft	$199	$211	$203	$205
% of SP	92%	94%	95%	95%

We have sold 18 condominiums this year with 4 in the 3rd quarter and we have 5 pending sales that will carry into the 4th quarter. There have been only 2 lots sales this year, both in the 2nd quarter and one is currently pending for the 4th quarter.

Sunriver as a community has made a very strong statement in the last two years by voting to increase the monthly dues to build up a financial reserve and by voting to fund a new pool and community center to keep us competitive in the resort market for years to come. We are and will continue to be the largest and most successful resort community in Central Oregon. Our courage to invest in our community in the middle of this recession will bode well for us and our real estate investment when the economy

returns to more normal levels."

Please contact me if you have any questions about this article or if there is anything I can

help you with.

John Watkins, Broker

Bennington Properties

Sunriver, Oregon.

Jdw48@mac.com

3rd Quarter 2010 Final Sunriver Real Estate Sales numbers

2010-10-06T07:59:00.000-07:00

First lets get the numbers on the table for Sunriver. We closed 31 transactions ( homes, condos, land, shared ownership) in the 3rd quarter 2010 for a total sales volume $10.82 million. The good news is that this was a small improvement over the 3rd quarter last year of last year which came in at $10.3 million. The bad news is that the 3rd quarter 2010 sales total was the 3rd straight quarterly decline in sales volume from the $16.6 million 4th quarter of 2009. Q1 2010 was $13.7 million, Q2 2010 was $12.9 million and then Q3 2010 came in at $10.8 million. A more typical year would have gone the other direction as we usually see most of our business happen in the 3rd quarter. We have 17 transactions totaling $5.3 million currently pending for the 4th quarter which does give us a good start, we also still have close to 200 homes on the market to choose from. I doubt we are going to match the $16.6 million we did in the 4th quarter of last year.

Our market is clearly grinding its way through the bottoming process and most of the data would indicate that we are going to see more of the same through the winter months this year and early next year. Extremely low interest rates and prices have helped convince many buyers over the last year that it is a good time to buy something in Sunriver, but they continue to be very price motivated buyers.

Caldera Springs had a good quarter with one home sale and 8 lots sales in the 3rd quarter and has 3 lot sales pending and 1 home sale pending for the 4th quarter. There are a number of new custom homes under construction and the lot sales are a good indicator for the future of Caldera Springs. Caldera will soon be offering a new cabin product in the $400K range which should bring in some new interest to the cabins.

If you have any questions or specific requests please contact me.

Thank you,

John Watkins

541-390-3600

jdw48@mac.com

Sunriver Real Estate 3rd Quarter progress Report!!!

2010-08-15T09:41:00.000-07:00

First I would like to say thank you to the Sunriver Owners for supporting the new Aquatic Center. I strongly believe that this addition to Sunriver along with the continued updating of the Sunriver Village will add significant value to Sunriver real estate in the years to come. I think the timing is perfect for these key improvements as I also believe we are at the bottom of the real estate problem in our area.

Now here is the data, so far the 3rd Quarter of 2010 is not an improvement over 2009 or the 2nd quarter of 2010. Lets hope that with all this good news that the buyer's return to make this quarter the best of the year. At the mid point of Q3 2009 we had closed 9 homes with and average price of $363k, currently we have closed 8 homes with an average price $352K for the 3rd quarter of 2010. Q3 2009 had a total of 27 closed transaction for a total of $10.3 million in volume. Q3 2010 currently has 8 closed deals and 16 pending deals for a current potential of $9.1 million in Volume. I think we will do better than that and come very close to topping last year.

Caldera has 5 pending lot sales and 2 closed lot sales. The pricing is very disappointing as it ranges between $119k to $199K. Caldera has 2 pending home sales and Crosswater has 1 pending home sale.

We still have a great inventory of product with 226 homes and 56 condos for sales in Sunriver and 15 homes and 33 lots for sale in Caldera. We also have fantastic interest rates still available.

Please call me if you have any questions on this data or you have any real estate needs that I can help you with.

John
541-390-3600
jdw48@mac.com

Sunriver Real Estate 2nd Quarter Final Numbers!!!

2010-07-02T10:13:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a lot of numbers. We closed 35 transactions in the 2nd quarter for a total sales volume of $12,928,086. This number was 700K lower than the 1st quarter of 2010. With prices continuing to decline and the number of homes on the market increasing sharply to a current number of 224 I was surprised we did not see more sales. The good news is Summer has finally arrived and the traffic of buyers is way up. We only have 11 pending deals rolling over into the 3rd quarter, but they do total $5 million in volume and the average price is up over $100k from last quarter. The selling price as a percentage of listing price has held around 93% for about a year.

Q3 2009 had only 27 transactions and a total volume of $10.2 million, so the good new is we have a good start on beating the Q3 numbers for this year. Sunriver is booked up heavy for the next couple of months and with interest rates still holding at record lows we should see an up tick in buyer traffic over the next few months. The high end buyers still seem to be on the sidelines as we have not had a sale over 875K this quarter.

Caldera and Crosswater have not seen much activity this quarter. Caldera sold 3 lots and 1 home and Crosswater had 1 lot sale. Caldera continues to have a steady stream of new construction by existing lot owners and we do think that now with much more aggressive pricing that we will see some of the existing home inventory in Caldera sell this Summer.

For those of you that are already owners in Sunriver I do hope you will support the new pool and rec center vote. I strongly believe that it will have a very positive effect on the future values of Sunriver real estate and help bring people back to Sunriver as they see we are investing in our community. I own 3 homes in Sunriver and I will be voting yes.

Please call me if you have any questions on this data.

John
541-390-3600
jdw48@mac.com

Sunriver Real Estate 2/3 through the Quarter 2010 update.

2010-06-01T12:07:00.000-07:00

The good news is we are way ahead of last year, the bad news is we are not going to match the Q1 2010 numbers. In the last 2 weeks we have only added 2 new deals to this quarter and closed 5 pending deals. The buyer traffic has been very slow over the last 30 days. This is somewhat typical as people are waiting for summer at this point. Our inventory of homes for sale has shot up over the last several weeks to 206 homes and I still expect it to continue on up to around 230. We do have people shopping this market, but as a client of mine told me over the weekend " there is almost too much to see, it is hard to make a decision".

The summer season is coming fast and soon we will be in the busy season. With interest rates continuing to stay below 5% and the economy in slow recovery we are hopeful that this summer will prove to be good for all of us.

Sunriver Real Estate Mid-2nd Quarter 2010 update.

2010-05-16T14:15:00.000-07:00

We have now closed 18 sales this quarter and have a total of $6.6 million of Q2 2010 volume. We have already exceeded last years 2nd quarter numbers. We currently have 13 pending sales for a total of $5.3 million that could close this quarter, which would put us close to $12 million for Q2 2010. What is interesting is that Q1 2010 looks like it is going to have been stronger than Q2 unless thing pick up quickly. Sales have slowed a little in the last 3-4 week as the traffic to Sunriver has been down. Now that the golf courses are open and the sun and good weather will soon be here we expect the buyer traffic to pick up significantly.

Two weeks ago we had 167 homes on the market in Sunriver, we now have 185. I suspect we will be over 200 homes on the market by the first week of June.

With a great selection of homes to choose from and interest rates still extremely low we should continue to see a growing number of sales this year.

Sunriver Real Estate 2nd Quarter 2010 update.

2010-05-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

We have 13 closed sales for the month of April for a total of $4.6 million. We have 14 pending sales totaling $6.6 million that should easily close by the end of the quarter. We still have 2 more month to go in this quarter and my expectation is that we will most likely do over $12-14 million in volume for Q2. In 2009 we closed 19 transaction for a $ value of 6.3 Million. We will easily increase volume by 100% this quarter over last year.

Sunriver currently has 167 homes on the market, 38 condo, and 14 lots. I had expected that number to be higher and I do expect it to increase to over 200+ homes by mid summer. The good new for buyers is that most of the sellers are pricing there homes to sell in this market.

Sales have continued to be slow in Caldera. There has been one home sale and one pending cabin sale this quarter and one lot sale and 3 pending. Caldera is however seeing new construction of custom homes. Many people who bought in Caldera are going forward with building. Caldera's experiencing more building than any resort in Central Oregon. There are a number of extremely well priced homes for sale in Caldera, truly something to consider if you are currently looking.

Please give me a call if you have any question about this information.

John Watkins

541-390-3600

jdw48@mac.com

Sunriver Real Estate 1st Quarter Final Numbers!!!

2010-04-03T09:29:00.000-07:00

Three weeks ago when I finished and submitted my Sunriver Scene article for the month of April I forecast that we would have 25 closed deals and $12.25 million in sales for the first quarter. Well I was way short, we closed 32 deals for a total volume of $13.7 million for the quarter which gave us a 100% increase over last years number of $6.7 million.

The good new continues as we have 14 pending deals already for Q2 2010 totaling $6.16 million. This number is already almost equal to the $6.8 million we did in Q2 of 2009, so it looks like we are going to continue to blow away the quarter over quarter numbers for Sunriver.

We have moved up from around 130 homes on the market at the end of the year to about 160 currently. I do expect to see a continued increase in the number of homes listed as we move through the second quarter. With the Fed getting out of the mortgage buying business I do expect to see interest rates rise about 1/2 a point over the next month or so, but homes are still at bargain prices in Sunriver.

Sunriver Real Estate 1st Quarter update

2010-03-02T11:00:00.000-08:00

We are 2 months into the first quarter of 2010 and we are having a great quarter. We have closed 21 transactions in Sunriver for a total of $9.47million. The average price per home was $451K and the % of average sales price was 93%. We have 13 pending transactions on the books that could still close this quarter giving us the potential to do as much as $15.3 million this quarter. Last year we closed 20 transaction for a total of $9.55 million. Buyers are taking advantage of the low interest rates and a good selection of nicely priced homes currently available.

The activity in Caldera and Crosswater has also picked up. Crosswater has one bank owned property pending and Caldera has 2 sold lots and one pending and 1 cabin pending and 1 home sold. The showing volume and interest in both areas has picked up significantly.

We are still expecting to see a large number of new listing come on the market in the coming months and everyone assumes we will see some upward pressure on interest rates by the end of the summer.

Send me your questions and comments.

John

Sunriver Real Estate mid Quarter update - Q1 2010

2010-02-18T09:23:00.000-08:00

Great news, we are halfway through the first quarter of 2010 and we have 28 deals on the books. 14 are closed with $ volume of $5.78 million and 14 pending deals with a $ volume of $6.132 million assuming they close at 93% of list price. If they all close this quarter that will give us $12 million in volume and a 30% increase in volume over 1st quarter of last year.

Interest rates are still low and the number of homes on the market in Sunriver is still around 130. We do expect to see a large number of homes come on the market in the next few months.

My next update will be in two weeks. Please contact me if you have any questions.

Q1 2010 Sunriver Quarterly update

2010-01-30T15:56:00.000-08:00

It clearly feels like prices have bottomed in the Sunriver area and the buyers know it and are starting to look much more seriously. Pricing is still the key as the buyers are clearly focused on value and cost per square foot. The inventory is down to 129 homes from a high last summer of 230. Most brokers in the area feel that we will see a large number of new listing in the next few months and we will most likely return to over 200 homes on the market by early summer. With the large number of homes on the market I do not believe we will see prices begin to move up anytime soon.

In Q4 09 we started to see a return of the buyers to the Sunriver market. As you can see from my previous blog update on the final numbers for Q4, the numbers for Q4 09 showed a significant improvement over Q4 08 both in quantity of transactions and dollar volume of transactions. Q1 10 also benefited from a strong Q4 with a significant carry-over of pending deals.

Q1 10 Sunriver currently has 6 closed deal and 16 pending deals for an estimated $ volume of $9.288 million. Thats a great start to the quarter and we are only 31 days in. Q1 09 had 20 closed transactions for a $ volume of $9.55 million, so it looks like we are on track to beat last years Q1 numbers.

Crosswater and Caldera had some activity in Q4 09 with 1 lot sale in Caldera, 1 cabin and 2 homes. Crosswater had 2 home sales. Currently in Q1 10 there is one pending sale in Caldera so far this quarter compared to 2 cabins and 1 home sale in Q1 09.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about this data.

John.

Sunriver Real Estate Q4 2009 - Final

2010-01-05T09:59:00.000-08:00

We had a great quarter in Sunriver with the best numbers in over 2 years!!! Closed 42 transactions for a total of $16.625 million in volume. This is just homes and does not include condo's, shared ownership or land sales. Last year in Q4 we did just over $14 million with 27 transactions so this quarter was clearly the turning point up from the bottom of this cycle. We still have 160+ homes on the market and with the economy improving we expect to see a lot of new listings coming on in the spring of 2010.

With interest rate still around 5% if you were thinking about making a move now is the time!!!

Q1 10 is also starting strong and will most likely eclipse Q1 10's numbers of $9.1 million and 18 transactions as we already have 13 pending deals totaling over $6 million.

Sunriver Real Estate Q4 2009 progress report #2

2009-11-30T15:30:00.000-08:00

With the addition of 12 new deals in November 2009 the total potential for Q4 2009 has gone up to 43 transactions. Now I am sure they will not all close before the end of December but we have already done 27 deals this quarter, so we will surely beat last year as we only did 27 all quarter. We have 16 pending deals that could close before 12/31/09. That would give us over $16 million in volume, but as I already pointed out that is unlikely, but getting over last years $14.3 million is not out of the question. These numbers are for homes and lots, and do not include condo's. Condo sales continue to be very slow.

The good news here is that we are getting traffic and they are buying. Q4 will hopefully push a nice carry over of pending deals into Q1 10 and keep the momentum into next year. All the national numbers are showing continued improvement and interest rate are still below 5%.

Lets hope the holiday's and early snow in the mountains bring in the buyers!!!

Happy holidays.

John.

Sunriver Real Estate Q4 2009 progress report

2009-10-30T10:24:00.000-07:00

The $10 million carry over of 23 pending deals and 8 new deals in October has us with a current potential of 31 transactions totaling and estimated $12.4 million in volume for Q4 09. What we would really like to see is the quarter top $14.3 million which would give us our first quarter over quarter gain in over a year.

Sunriver has 191 homes currently on the market. That number will most likely drift down over the winter from the summer high of 232. Most Brokers in Central Oregon believe that the housing market here has bottomed out and that we are bumping along the bottom. If the economy continues to improve, unemployment levels off and starts to improve and the banks start lending again we will start to see housing improve.

I will update these numbers at the end of November, Happy Halloween!!!!

Sunriver Real Estate Q3 2009 final results

2009-10-03T14:03:00.000-07:00

We closed out Q3 09 with a transaction volume of $10.3 million and 27 closed deals. By comparison Q3 08 had 25 closed deals and $12. 5 million in volume. Q3 09 had a carryover of pending deals from Q2 of $3.3 million and 10 transactions. The good new is that the carry over from Q3 09 to Q4 09 is 23 transactions and $10 million in volume. Q4 08 had 27 transactions and 14.3 million in volume, with the big carry over from Q3 09 to Q4 09 we could finally see a quarter over quarter $ volume increase in Q4 numbers.

Sorry for all the numbers, but they do tell the story. We are selling as many or more home than we sold last year in Sunriver, they are just less expensive homes. The market is improving because sellers are pricing there homes to sell and interest rates are now finally back below 5%.

The combination of low prices and low interest rates makes this truly the best of times if you are a buyer.

Sunriver Q3 2009 coming to and end

2009-09-25T15:30:00.000-07:00

The good new is we have gotten to 25 transactions this quarter and there is still time to get a few more closed. We are at about $9,8 million in gross sales. There are currently 19 pending transactions that will role to Q4 for total of $8 million.

We are still not seeing any action at the high end of the market in Sunriver, but assuming the recovery continues we should see that end of the market pick up in 2010.

I will update with final numbers around the 3rd of October for Q3 09.

Sunriver Real Estate - A tale of two Summers

2009-09-09T10:45:00.000-07:00

The Summer real estate season in Sunriver has ended. 2009 saw a 34% decline in the value of homes sold compared to 2008. Interestingly 2009 had 24 transactions ( $8.8 million) and 2008 had 27 ($13.4 million), so the actual number of buyers was not significantly different. Buyers in 2009 were clearly taking advantage of the availability of many more low priced homes on the market than we have seen in a number of years in Sunriver. Much of this activity took place late in the summer selling season as people began to feel that the market in Sunriver had bottomed out.

Another piece of good new is that we closed out the season with 21 pending transaction totaling $9.4 million. These transactions should close in the next few months.

We still have 70 homes for sale in Sunriver under $400K. This will continue to give the bargain hunters lots to choose from as we move into the fall.

High end properties and lot sales continue to be hardest hit part of the market. As the economy continues to improve we do expect this part of the market to start to show some signs of life.

Sunriver Market update for Q3 09

2009-08-04T11:19:00.000-07:00

Early this quarter I was very hopeful that we had a shot at beating last years 3rd quarter numbers and starting to feel the market turning around. Unfortunately I do not think we are going to get the job done this quarter.

Q3 2008 had 25 closed transactions in Sunriver for a total volume of $12.8 million. So far in Q3 2009 we have 7 closed transactions and 17 pending transaction for a total of 25 with an estimated value of $9 million which at this point is likely to be the best we will do this quarter. This assumes that all 17 pending sales close by 9/30/09. The good news is we have the same number of transactions, they just reflect a much lower average sales price.

Q4 2008 had 27 transactions and a total $ volume of $14.4 million, so at this time I would have to estimate that if we do not see a return of the high end buyers before the end of this year we will not start to see year over year increases until Q2 2010.

Central Oregon Million $ market update

2009-08-04T11:10:00.000-07:00

Central Oregon like the rest of the country has seen the high end of the Real Estate market moving very slowly. So far in 2009 Central Oregon has 13 closed sales over $1 million and 7 pending sales for an estimated sales value of $26 million. This represents less than 50% of where we were at this time last year. As of the 1st of August 2008 we had close 37 sales for a total of $52 Million.

With the stock market continuing to show improvement and new of the housing market continuing to show improvement we are confident that that the high end buyers will begin to return to the market by next year.

Sunriver Market update for Q2 09

2009-07-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

30 days ago I forecasted that we would have 19 closed sales in the 2nd quarter, we had 19 sales. The total value of those sales was $6.3 million. These numbers represent a 66% reduction in volume of business in relation to Q2 08. The average sales price as a % of list price was at 92% which has held steady for the last 2 quarters. We still have not seen any $1 million homes change hands this year in Sunriver.

As for Q3 09 we are starting the quarter with 10 pending deals for a total of $3.3 million. Q3 08 had a volume of $12.5 million and 25 transactions. We have seen an up tick in traffic, so I do think we have a good chance at matching or exceeding that dollar volume this quarter.

Our inventory is up and the prices are the best we have seen in years. Now is the time to buy.

Check out my website at www.benningtonproperties.com/bennington_homes_for_sale.htm

Sunriver Market update for Q2 09

2009-06-10T10:16:00.000-07:00

We have seen some new sales come on since my last update. We now have 14 closed sales at an average of about 93% of list price and we have 8 pending deals. Most of the pendings should close by month end and if they do the Quarterly total would be around $7.7 million. That assumes the 93% of list price holds for the pending listings.

Currently in Sunriver we have 202 homes, 54 condos, and 19 lots on the market.

To shop for Central Oregon real estate try our website

www.benningtonproperties.com/bennington_homes_for_sale.htm

High end real estate in Central Oregon

2009-06-10T10:09:00.001-07:00

Central Oregon resort market is still slow at the high end. There have been 7 sales over $1 million since the 1st of the year. 3 in Bend, 1 Caldera springs, 1 Pronghorn, 1 Redmond, and 1 in Black Butte.

Current summary of $1 million homes on the Resort market:
Pronghorn - 20
Sunriver - 19
Caldera - 8
Brasada - 8
Crosswater - 8
Black Butte - 8
Tetherow - 3

Lots of good buy, contact me if you would like to get more information on any of these properties or locations. All of these resorts have fantastic golf and we are at the top of the season.

Don't miss your best opportunity to buy

2009-06-05T08:12:00.000-07:00

The new unemployment numbers are down and interest rates are heading higher. These are clear signs that the recession may be ending and growth may be returning. There will be a period where home prices are going to remain low and rates very favorable....that time is NOW. The inventory of homes in Sunriver and Caldera Springs are at summer levels. We have lots to choose from and our prices are the best we have had in years.

If you have been waiting now is the time to look seriously for a vacation resort property in Central Oregon.

Pending Home sales show strength

2009-06-02T10:35:00.000-07:00

National Association of Realtors today announced that pending home sales for US markets were up for the 3rd straight month at 6.7%. That number represents the biggest gain in 7.5 years. The low interest rates, new home buyer incentives and lower prices have help see a return of buyers.

The view is that we may be seeing the bottom of the housing market and as the Summer month come we should start to see improvements across the board in the real estate market.

Sunriver Market update for Q2 09

2009-05-31T07:04:00.000-07:00

We are 2 months into the 2nd quarter of 09 and Sunriver is still running significantly behind last years numbers. Currently in Sunriver we have closed 9 sales this quarter and there are 10 pending sales that should close this quarter. That would give us a total of $ 7 million in transaction for Q2 2009. Q2 2008 was an $18.5 million quarter with 38 transactions, we will not get anywhere close to that number this year.

Sunriver has a much better chance of seeing a year over year increase in sales in Q3 as the economy continues to improve. Q3 in 2008 was only $12.8 million in sales with 25 transaction closing. Q3 is typically our biggest period of activity and this year it should be a bell weather indicator to the question of "has the market bottomed"?

In Sunriver the under $500k property is the hot area with the current average running at $376K for properties sold. With the continuing disparity between conforming loans and jumbo's the high end market continues to be virtually non-existent.

High end real estate in Central Oregon

2009-05-16T08:20:00.000-07:00

The high-end real estate market in Central Oregon has been very slow since the 1st of the year. In all of Central Oregon there have been 7 homes sold over $1 million and there are currently 3 more pending. They average $1.5 million and 4,000 sqft.

In the broad market in from Sisters to Prineville and Redmond to Lapine there are 282 homes on the market over $1 millon, 138 of them are on an acre or less. At the current pace we have a very large supply of million $ plus homes.

Of the homes included above here is a summary of the availability of homes in that price range in the major resorts in the area:

Pronghorn - 20 homes

Sunriver - 17 homes

Tetherow - 3 homes

Brasada - 8 homes

Caldera - 8 homes

Crosswater- 7 homes

Black Butte- 4 homes

There are a lot of beautiful homes to choose from and we are ready for the high end buyers to return. Most of these homes are available at bargain prices that will not return once the market and the economy begin to strengthen. Its time to buy!!!

Sunriver Market update for Q2 09

2009-05-15T07:51:00.000-07:00

In 2008 Q2 volume was 38 transaction, 2 land sales and 36 home & condos sales for a total $ volume of 18.5 million. So far in 2009 we have 4 closed sales and 11 pending deals that should close this quarter for a total of $5.4 million. The good new is that we are about 1/2 way through the quarter. It does not look like we are going to match last years volumes as it is clear that people are still not confident that the market is really at the bottom.