Once a small mill town...now a booming metropolis!
 

The City of Bend graces the Banks of the Deschutes River, which is draped like a silver ribbon between the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountain Range, and the desert plateaus of Oregon's central interior. Originally a small mill town, Bend has emerged into Oregon's fastest growing full service technology area. 

As the influence of the mills decreased by the early 1980s, the community hit an economic low point with nearly a quarter of the work force unemployed. About this time community leaders pursued tourism development as an additional leg to its economic foundation and as a tool for broader diversification efforts. Success of this strategy has been felt through the 1990s as the community attracted new investment in nearly all sectors, and through a solid 'critical mass' of quality amenities for both residents and visitors has built an industry presence in computer software and hardware, medical equipment, aerospace, and recreational equipment manufacturing. 

For the past five years, Central Oregon and in particular, Bend, Oregon, has been on the top 10 list of places to retire in the United States. The reasons are numerous, but the main motivations for our rapid growth in the past 10 years are abundant business and recreational opportunities, quality of life, low crime rate, quiet neighborhoods, and just plain nice people. The best part is everything in Central Oregon is within 30-45 minutes drive from your neighborhood. Homebuyers can find just about any price range for any budget: small starter homes in the $250,000 range to million dollar plus homes to suit the most discriminating tastes. In fact there is such a wide variety of price and quality homes in the Central Oregon area, it is hard to describe what is specifically available. We have nice homes on golf courses that are modestly priced compared to other golf course communities in the western U.S. A new 1500-plus home community is now planned around two new Jack Nicklaus golf courses, which are under construction between Bend, Redmond and La Pine. 

If you are looking for a small starter home or just starting out in life, or a high end hi-tech beauty with views of the snow capped Cascades to die for, or the quiet gentlemen's ranch on acreage for your horses, we have what you are looking for. The following chart of values provided by Central Oregon Economic Development may be useful. As you can see by the chart, prices are rising, better hurry and get your piece of paradise now while you can still afford it.