Sisters stays out of foreclosure

The housing market remains in a dramatic slowdown, the subprime mortgage mess is still festering, and foreclosure rates are soaring across the nation and in Deschutes County. But not in Sisters.

A "foreclosure notice" is the document which initiates foreclosure proceedings, the process by which the lender "takes back" the property due to non-payment on a loan.

The historical foreclosure numbers paint a grim trend for Deschutes County. For the entire year, 2006, Deschutes County received 221 foreclosure notices. At the end of 2007 there were 590 notices received, a 267 percent increase. A review of the county's Web site as of July 15 shows year-to-date foreclosures at 852, a 144 percent increase over the full year numbers for 2007.

Local studies have shown that of those notices of default filed in 2008 in Deschutes County, more than 75 percent are for mortgages originated in 2006 and 2007, coinciding with the peak of the local real estate boom.

Yet the county's data shows only about seven Sisters-area foreclosures. Four of those are on South Timber Creek Drive in the Timber Creek subdivision near Sisters Elementary School. The other three are scattered around Sisters.

Marcea DeGregorio, Branch Manager, South Valley Bank & Trust in Sisters thinks Sisters is somewhat immune to the skyrocketing foreclosure rate seen in Deschutes County.

"We just don't have the market for subprime loans (loans given to people with poor credit ratings) like our neighboring communities; our demographic is very different," said DeGregorio.

Perhaps the low foreclosure rate is also a result of limiting total growth in Sisters Country.

"I think we've had fewer defaults because we didn't become over-built like Bend and Redmond, winding up with tremendous inventories. Our values have held up better, allowing people to get more value out of their homes if they needed or wanted to sell," said Gary Oldham, Branch Manager and Home Loan Consultant with GMAC Mortgage in Sisters.

There might even be a glimmer of hope for a turnaround in the housing market.

"I've had five people in the last few weeks come into my office with purchase agreements on properties valued at $1 million or more. It would be nice if this is more than a short-term blip in sales," Oldham said.