To me, the following is the BIGGEST CENTRAL OREGON STORY OF THE YEAR!; covered by the Oregonian, of course.

This is a size 16 shoe dropping, caked in cement, and dropped from the roof. This is just a killer deal. (I'm starting to sound like Bilbo, but I do believe this is a revolting development for Bend.)

NOTE: After I wrote this, I realized they're not saying everyone has to have 20% down, just that the terms will be more onerous. So....not as bad as I thought, but bad enough.

Just another indication of how terms are tightening up.


Oregonian.

Insurers flag Jackson, Deschutes counties
Friday, March 21, 2008

Raising the bar for obtaining mortgage insurance in central Oregon's Deschutes County likely won't affect many of the buyers at the region's proliferating destination resort developments because those buyers generally can put 20 percent down on their home purchases, said Tom Greene, principal broker at RE/MAX Equity Group in Bend and president of the Central Oregon Association of Realtors.

But, Greene said, the new rules could harm first-time homebuyers with little cash to put into a purchase. "It's going to be tough if that portion of the market goes away," he said.

But things are already tough in Bend's market. From 2006 to 2007, the median home price fell by nearly 2 percent in Bend, from $351,978 to $345,000, according to the Central Oregon Association of Realtors. This after Bend briefly led the country in home price increases.

The number of homes sold is down about a quarter, and time needed to sell houses has gone up more than that. The local real estate industry has responded by launching a "Best Buyers' Market in 20 Years," campaign. But the new restrictions aren't likely to help that effort.

The housing market has also soured in southern Oregon's Jackson County, which includes Medford and Ashland, another area flagged as a risky spot by some mortgage insurers.

The median price of homes in incorporated cities of Jackson County of $247,700 is down 8.2 percent from the same time last year, according to Roy Wright, a Medford appraiser.

Because of the declining market, lenders already don't offer 100 percent financing of homes, said William Gill, branch manager of America First Funding in Medford. One of his clients was approved for a loan of 100 percent of the value of the home, but Gill said he was only permitted to finance 95 percent.

"The same borrower buying a house in Medford versus Grants Pass now has to have $12,000 and change in cash," said Gill. That's had a disproportionate effect on first-time homebuyers."

Gill said he's having trouble keeping up with all the new restrictions the mortgage insurers are introducing. "It seems like they are tightening every day," he said.

-- Matthew Preusch

And the good news just keeps coming.

Bend is different. Bend house buyers can all afford 20% down.

In fact, I'm going to do an informal survey at my store. How many people bought their house with 20% or more down? I'll start with myself. We bought our house with 10% down; and we would never have bought a house at all with a larger downpayment, because by the time we would've saved it, we would have been priced out.