Bend

Known for its elaborate homes and stunning views of the Cascades Mountains, Century West is a southwest Bend community with a mixture of residents and tons of outdoor activities to explore. “I think a lot of us are somewhat tree huggers,” says Sharon Abrams, principal broker at John L. Scott Real Estate who’s lived near the area for over 30 years. “We love our environment, and it’s great for people who have a young family and want to be close to nature.” Main thoroughfares like Southwest Century Drive are surrounded by groves of pine and fir trees, and the area is filled with athletic parks for youth sports leagues and golf courses for retirees. Folks here also enjoy heading a few miles north for well-known city shops and eateries. Abrams says the most popular home to sell in the Century West is a one-level home with less acreage to manage and a three-car garage to put a golf cart in the third bay. A quarter of the area is taken up by the high-end Broken Top golf community in the north and Tetherow golf resort in the south, which was voted the best resort in the Pacific Northwest by Conde Nast Traveler in 2023. Contemporary 2020s homes with slanted rooflines and a mix of natural wood and stucco can be found along Southwest Century Drive on the eastern border averaging around $1.1 million. Late 20th-century ranch-style and Craftsman homes with vinyl exteriors range between $700,000 and $900,000; these properties feature concrete front porches and wooden decks leading out to open, forested backyards. Homes in these areas sit close together along sidewalk-lined cul-de-sacs, and residents in certain subdivisions like Sunrise Village have access to community pools and Ponderosa pine tree-covered walking trails. “It feels like the neighborhood was built around nature versus bulldozed in,” says Janine Ward, Realtor for Keller Williams Realty and Bend resident of eight years. Built between the mid-2000s and 2010s, two-story New Traditional and Contemporary Craftsman homes with arched, brick entryways and wooden details are priced from $1 to $2.8 million. These homes include lush, well-manicured lawns filled with juniper trees and stone back patios facing neighborhood golf courses. Properties here sit on up to half-acre lots in gated, hilly subdivisions with asphalt-paved cul-de-sacs. Homeowners can expect to pay around $180 in monthly HOA fees. The area is served by Bend-La Pine School District—the fifth largest in the state—which scores an overall B-minus from Niche. Kids can start at William E. Miller Elementary which earns an A-minus and continue to Cascade Middle, scoring a B-plus. The B-minus-rated Summit High offers a long list of student organizations, including Girls That Code and Spikeball Club. Oregon State University Cascades campus is also a mile north offering almost 30 different undergraduate and graduate programs. Boating on the Deschutes River at Farewell Bend Park A mile north, the 22-acre Farewell Bend Park offers a playground with a “lumber mill” theme, a boat launch into the Deschutes River at the southern end, and the paved 3-mile-long Deschutes River Trail runs through the park and connects to the Old Mill District northeast. Folks can also head to the neighborhood center for local youth soccer, baseball and disc golf games on 24 acres of grassy terrain in Skyline Sports Complex. Nature walks and bird watching are popular at the half-acre River Canyon Park a few miles south. For a day trip adventure, locals can trek to Shevlin Park, 4 miles northwest of the community, for mountain biking and hiking in its hundreds of acres of high desert sage-covered landscape. Locals can drive a mile north to Century Park Shopping Center to pick up groceries at Safeway. Two miles west of the center, Northwest Crossing Saturday Farmers Market offers organic honey, vegetables and fruit grown by local vendors. The family owned Lifty’s Bar and Grill, located a mile north of Century West, serves happy hour wings and burgers; diners can sip specialty cocktails while relaxing on the rooftop deck. Another popular shopping area for residents is the historic Old Mill District, 2 miles northeast; locals can check out over 40 different boutiques and businesses like Vanilla Urban Threads selling men’s and women’s fashion and Saxon’s Fine Jewelers offering elegant diamond pieces. Evoke Winery features red and white selections along with walking tours, and people can catch showings at Regals Cinemas nearby. Downtown Bend is roughly 3 miles northeast via Southwest Century Drive. Cascades East Transit buses make a few stops along Century Drive, but many people drive or bike to get around. Traffic is moderate and only really picks up when there’s a busy skiing weekend at Mt. Bachelor 18 miles west. In the spring of 2024, the city of Bend adopted a Transportation Fee to be added to residents’ utility bills. This will go towards street preservation, concrete work and eventually more bike lanes, according to Abrams. The area is known for its few stoplights and numerous roundabouts, and there’s very few streetlights. Ward says lighting on individuals’ homes is required to have a certain amount of lumens due to a city light ordinance, but neighbors want to preserve star-gazing ability in the community as much as possible. St. Charles Hospital is a 7-mile drive northeast, and Redmond Municipal Airport is about 20 miles south. In May, residents venture off to Mt. Bachelor for the annual Pole Pedal Paddle race fundraiser, put on by School Employees of Lane County Oregon (SELCO.) Adult and child participants begin the race skiing down the snowy peak, then transitioning into a 22-mile bike ride along Century Drive cutting through the neighborhood, and eventually finishing with a combined half mile of kayaking and a quarter mile of sprinting to the finish line in Riverbend Park. For a more laid-back gathering, residents can head a mile northeast to Hayden Homes Amphitheater in the Old Mill District for monthly musical concerts with well-known national bands and singers.

Scenes of the snowcapped Cascade Mountains surround the eastern Bend community of Mountain View, where 3 miles east of the city's downtown, residents enjoy a simple, peaceful way of life. “It’s not centered around activities here as much as the west side of town,” says Paul Frazier, Realtor for eXp Realty who used to live in Mountain View. He says people move to this suburb for two main reasons: lower prices for single-family homes than in communities further west, and to be close to the neighborhood's St. Charles Bend Hospital, the city’s largest employer. “There’s a lot of working families here. Kids are playing ball in the streets. You can’t necessarily do that in other areas,” Frazier says. Locals enjoy visiting nearby parks and traveling west to downtown Bend for annual events. Frazier says Mountain View was developed with “affordability in mind,” and single-family homes here cost less than in neighboring communities like Awbrey Butte and Orchard District. Throughout the neighborhood, homes are generally set on small, grassy lots along smoothly paved and sidewalk-lined streets and cul-de-sacs; views of the Cascades can be seen from most angles. Modern Craftsman and ranch-style homes built between the late 1980s and early 2000s are scattered across the neighborhood's north and east; these three-bedroom homes feature vinyl façades and small cement front porches, and range between $450,000 and $600,000. One to two-story new traditional homes, mostly built in the 2010s, are found throughout the neighborhood and feature hipped roofs, gabled windows and neatly landscaped lawns with backyard fire pits; prices range from $650,000 to $820,000. Some of these new traditional homes sit close together in HOA-governed subdivisions like Mirada, walkable to community pools and playgrounds; monthly fees in these subdivisions are about $90 a month. New traditional homes built in the 2020s, some with asymmetrical roofs, are found in the Westhaven and Petrosa subdivisions, near the neighborhood's center; these properties tend to range within the $800,000s. Mountain View is served by the large Bend-La Pine School District, which scores an overall B-minus from Niche. Local kids can begin at Buckingham Elementary, which is rated an A-minus, and continue to Pilot Butte Middle, which scores a B-minus. The C-plus-rated Mountain View Senior High offers tons of student-led organizations, including a Dungeons and Dragons group and the Conservation Club. U.S. Route 20 forms Mountain View's southern border, and U.S. Route 97 is roughly 2 miles west. Downtown Bend is about 3 miles west via major east-west throughfare Northeast Neff Road. Cascades East Transit buses make regular stops in and around the area, and there are bike lanes along Neff Road and Northeast 27th Street, the community's main central throughfare. St. Charles Bend Hospital is near the neighborhood center, and Redmond Municipal Airport is a 15-mile drive north. At the 16-acre Al Moody Park, locals can shoot hoops on the half court, run around the train-themed playground or break a sweat on the soft surface fitness trail; also here, a butterfly garden planted by the Roots and Shoots organization (a youth initiative of the Jane Goodall Institute) blooms with yellow coneflowers in summer and early fall. The neighborhood's paved, 4-mile Larkspur Trail travels under a rock-carved tunnel to Pilot Butte Neighborhood Park in the neighborhood's southwestern corner. Within this park, hikers have a choice of three trails up the cone-shaped Pilot Butte, plus a spiraling road to its summit; all these routes offer stunning views of the Cascade Mountains. Locals head south to Forum Shopping Center for groceries at Costco Wholesale, Whole Foods and Safeway, and shopping at retail chains like Old Navy and Barnes & Noble. Family-owned Baldy’s Barbeque is known for its slow-smoked meats and salads, and On Tap is a beloved beer garden serving ciders, wines and kombucha on its outdoor patio, which offers views of Pilot Butte. Residents can also head 3 miles west to Downtown Bend for locally owned shops like Lone Crow Bungalow and Clementine Urban Mercantile. Along with occasional block parties and Christmas light décor competitions between subdivisions, neighbors in Mountain View enjoy gathering at the base of Pilot Butte to watch the sky fill with bright colors during the July 4th Pilot Butte Fireworks Show. Downtown Bend hosts the First Friday Art Walk every month, where area businesses offer complimentary wine and snacks, and works by local artists are displayed in storefront windows.

Located 5 miles south of downtown Bend with distant views of pine tree-covered Bessie Butte, Southeast Bend is a quiet suburb with friendly neighbors. “The community vibe is strong,” says Josh Coccagna, general manager at the Bend Golf Club and neighborhood resident. “You’re more than likely friends with your neighbor, and you probably have neighborhood BBQs pretty frequently.” Since the early 2000s, the area has expanded from empty forestland to several subdivisions with community pools and playgrounds. In 2021, Bend City Council approved the Southeast Area Plan with the hopes that property owners annex their land to make room for more schools, shops and businesses in the years to come. Families with young children are drawn here for the proximity to city schools and wide street space to ride bikes. Retirees here enjoy spending afternoons practicing their swing at the member-only Bend Golf Club and grabbing dinner at its Ponderosa Grill. Single-family homes in Southeast Bend sit in asphalt-paved cul-de-sacs shaded by ponderosa pine and maple trees and lined with sidewalks. Located on the western border and neighborhood center, late 20th-century ranch-style and two-story modern Craftsman homes feature vinyl siding and small front porches. These properties range between $250,000 and $550,000 and offer wooden fenced-in backyards with veranda-covered stone patios. Early 21st-century new traditional houses are scattered throughout the neighborhood and priced from $700,000 to $1 million. These homes feature spacious back decks that lead out to well-manicured lawns surrounded by groves of pine trees. Several are situated in gated communities like Mountain High and Stonegate close to community pools, pickleball courts and nearby golf courses like Bend Golf Club and Old Back Nine. Homeowners here can expect to pay up to $200 in monthly HOA fees. New subdivisions like Hidden Hills and Stone Creek house contemporary homes from the early 2020s, with slanted roofs and wooden front entryways. These houses typically range between $650,000 and $930,000, and residents are within walking distance of community playgrounds and trails. The area is served by Bend-La Pine School District, rated an overall B-minus from Niche. Kids here start at R.E. Jewell Elementary and continue to High Desert Middle, which both score an overall B-minus. Opened in 2021 near the eastern border, the unrated Caldera High gives students opportunities to learn entrepreneurship and engineering skills through its Career Technical Education program. There’s also a long list of student organizations to join like Pride and Mountain Biking Club. U.S. Route 97 on the neighborhood's western border connects residents to the rest of the city. By the mid-2020s, the city plans to build the state and federal-funded Hawthorne Overcrossing, a bicycle and pedestrian bridge crossing over U.S. 97, giving cyclists and pedestrians a safer route to downtown and other areas. People can board Cascades East Transit buses on Murphy Road in the north and Southeast 15th Street in the east, but it’s mostly a car-dependent community. St. Charles Bend Hospital is 7 miles north, and Redmond Municipal Airport is a 22-mile drive north via U.S. 97. The private Bend Golf Club, opened in 1925, is another major draw for homebuyers in the area. Folks can hit the green on the club’s 18-hole, Ponderosa-pine-covered course or check out the indoor saltwater pool and pickleball courts in the on-site athletic center. The 37-acre Alpenglow Park is located near the northeast corner and features a sprayground area, 2 miles of paved walking paths and a handful of colorful bouldering walls for rock climbing adventurists. On hot Oregon summer days, folks can take a dip or launch their kayaks into the Deschutes River at the 22-acre Farewell Bend Park 5 miles northwest of the community. While the majority of Southeast Bend is made up of residential housing, locals are within a few miles of small businesses and eateries. For groceries, Safeway is near the northwestern corner of the area, and Walmart Supercenter is a block further north. The nearby Taj Palace Indian Cuisine serves a daily lunch and dinner buffet of spicy curries and appetizers, and residents can visit locally owned Pour House Grill for southern comfort food and drink specials. Bend Factory Outlets is a 2-mile drive north of the neighborhood featuring retail clothing chains like Nike and Maurices, and the historic Old Mill District is another popular spot for shopping a few miles further north. Locals can check out dozens of boutiques and businesses like Vanilla Urban Threads, selling men’s and women’s fashion, and Saxon’s Fine Jewelers, offering designer diamond pieces. In June, the annual two-day Big Bend BBQ Festival draws local and regional restaurant vendors to Alpenglow Park; residents set up lawn chairs and blankets on the park’s grassy lawn and snack on smoked meats while local musical artists perform at the outdoor stage. Every October, families can browse rows of art vendor tents along Wall Street and visit face-painting booths at the three-day-long Bend Fall Festival downtown. Southeast Bend is more likely to experience wildfires than other Bend neighborhoods. Deschutes County completes controlled burns in the spring and fall to reduce the threat. Although this process maintains the health of the surrounding forest, folks in Southeast Bend may experience lingering smoke at night and early in the morning during the burns. A Bend Fire Department Station is also located in the neighborhood.

Just south of Old Bend and centered on the Deschutes River, Southern Crossing is home to the city's beloved Old Mill District, a popular destination for local shopping and dining. “This neighborhood's for people who want to be close to the river, and they’ve gotta want to be close to downtown,” says Rocki Beebe, broker for RE/MAX Key Properties. Homes here are modern and well kept, and the local scenery includes distant views of the snowcapped Cascade Mountains, and dozens of bikers and joggers making their daily treks along the waterside Deschutes River Trail. Beebe says residents enjoy the neighborhood's proximity to Hayden Amphitheater, which is popular for its summertime concerts. “A lot of people float the river, which goes right by Hayden. People will tie rafts together here and listen to the music while they float,” she says. Along the neighborhood’s well-paved, sidewalk-lined residential streets, cul-de-sacs are dotted with ponderosa pine trees, and flower-filled roundabouts help ease traffic. Most homes in Southern Crossing are large, two-story single-family residences, and many are used as second homes. To the east, early 21st-century Craftsman-style homes feature front-yard rock gardens and small, fenced-in backyards; prices range from $530,000 to $700,000. To the west, closer to the Deschutes River, larger homes built between the mid-2010s to 2020s have flat roofs, wood-and-brick exteriors, long driveways and wide front porches; second-floor wood balconies overlook the river and distant mountains. Some of these homes set closer to the river are within walking distance of wooded parks like Blakely and Woodriver, and all range from $800,000 to $1.2 million. The popular Old Mill District, set in the northern end of Southern Crossing, is the area's shopping mecca. Locals can browse 40 different locally owned boutiques and businesses here, including Vanilla Urban Threads, which sells men’s and women’s fashion, and Saxon’s Fine Jeweler’s, which offers elegant diamond pieces. Dining options here include Greg’s Grill, known for its salmon dinners and floor-to-ceiling windows, and Rapa Nui Tiki Lounge, which pairs Korean barbecue plates with tropical drinks. Further north, Box Factory Shopping Mall offers several locally owned shops and pubs; shoppers can shop for bike accessories at The Gear Fix and sip locally made craft beer at Wildwood. For groceries, Market of Choice sits on the northern border, and Bend Farmers Market is found a mile further north. Southern Crossing residents have access to tons of events in the area. For instance, each December, the annual Holiday Lights Paddle Parade features Santa-hat-clad locals in colorfully lit-up kayaks, paddling their merry way along the Deschutes River. In May 2024, the Old Mill District hosted its first Central Oregon Taco Fest, spearheaded by locally owned restaurant Hola! Mexican; hundreds of locals gathered on the grassy lawn near the Old Mill Bridge to enjoy taco trucks, live Latin music and chihuahua races. This event is set to return in May of 2025. The neighborhood is zoned for the Bend-La Pine School District, which includes Pine Ridge Elementary, rated an A-minus by Niche, and the B-plus-rated Cascade Middle. Bend Senior High is rated a C-plus and is known for its many student organizations, like clubs for rock climbing and Nordic skiing. In 2023, the Bend-La Pine School Board announced a five-year plan to renovate the high school's original 1950s classrooms in order to improve their safety and construction. At Bend Whitewater Park near the neighborhood's northern border, locals can boogie board and surf for free through the river's Whitewater Channel rapids. Near the neighborhood's center, the 22-acre, riverside Farewell Bend Park features a lumber mill-themed playground and the paved, 3-mile-long Deschutes River Trail, which travels north to the Old Mill District and south to South Canyon Bridge. Further south, the 3-acre Blakely Park has plenty of tree-shaded lawn to relax on and a large playground with rope obstacle courses. The neighborhood is bordered east by U.S. Route 97—also known as the Bend Parkway—a major thoroughfare that travels much of the city. Downtown Bend is a 2-mile drive north via Southwest Bond Street. Beebe says traffic can get congested here, especially during concerts at Hayden Amphitheater in the Old Mill District. Southern Crossing is a car-dependent community, but Cascades East Transit buses make stops throughout the neighborhood and many residents bike and walk near the Deschutes River. St. Charles Bend Hospital is a 5-mile drive northeast, and Redmond Municipal Airport is 19 miles north via U.S. 97. Southern Crossing has a CAP Index Crime Score of 8 out of 10, mostly due to incidents of burglary and larceny. Residents living near the Deschutes River may experience extreme flooding during heavy rainfall, and Deschutes County offers emergency and evacuation checklists on its city website. To stay informed during neighborhood emergencies, residents can sign up to receive notifications through the Deschutes County Alert System.

At first glance, Southwest Bend seems like just another unassuming community of single-family homes. But Faye Phillips, Realtor at John L. Scott Real Estate and current resident, says there’s more than meets the eye. “If you were at my house and looked around, you wouldn’t think there’s anything to do here,” she says. “But maybe five blocks away, you’re at the river trail.” Towering ponderosa pine and fir trees cover neighborhood streets, hiding paved pathways that turn into dirt and connect to the Deschutes River Trail. Once they reach the trail, folks can view the blue river water and relax on rock formations. It’s this access to nature that draws people to Southwest Bend, Phillips says, along with its proximity to high-rated schools and happenings in the historic Old Mill District. Phillips says compared to surrounding areas like Tetherow, homes in Southwest Bend are more affordable. “Lots here tend to be smaller, which some people may not like, but others would since it’s less land to take care of,” she says. The neighborhood’s well-paved cul-de-sacs here are shaded by groves of ponderosa pines and lined with narrow sidewalks. Toward the area’s eastern border, modern Craftsman homes built in the early 2000s to 2010s with broad front columns feature small, rock-landscaped backyards with verandas. These homes sit on 5,000 to 6,000-square-foot lots. Late 20th-century ranch-style houses with vinyl exteriors sit on up to half an acre of land with long, paved driveways. Prices range from $475,000 to $700,000, and early 21st-century four-bedroom Tudor Revival and New Traditional homes sit along the Deschutes River, costing $800,000 to $1.3 million. These newer properties feature fenced-in, grassy yards with pine-tree-shaded stone patios. Some are within walking distance of community pools, playgrounds and the river. Residents in subdivisions like River Rim or River Canyon Estates can expect to pay up to $93 in monthly HOA fees. The area is served by Bend-La Pine School District, which scores a B-minus rating from Niche. Kids can start at Pine Ridge Elementary School, considered the third-best public elementary school in Deschutes County and rated A-minus by Niche. Cascade Middle School scores a B-plus, and the C-plus-rated Bend Senior High School is known for its student organizations, including a rock climbing and Nordic skiing club. In 2023, the Bend-La Pine School Board announced a five-year plan to redesign the architecture of Bend High to improve the safety and construction of its classrooms built in the 1950s. U.S. 97 runs along Southwest Bend’s eastern border and gives locals access to all parts of Bend. In 2023, the city received nearly $25 million in state and federal funding to build the Hawthorne Overcrossing, a bicycle and pedestrian bridge crossing over U.S. 97 set to be completed by 2027. Downtown Bend is a 4-mile drive via Brookswood Boulevard, which travels from the southern to the northern border of Southwest Bend. Traffic gets congested near Brookswood and Powers Road with people coming to and from work, says Phillips. Cascades East Transit buses make regular stops throughout the Southwest Bend area, and people bike on Brookswood to get around. St. Charles Bend Hospital is 7 miles northeast of the area, and Redmond Municipal Airport is another 15 miles north. Residents of Southwest Bend’s subdivisions live within walking distance of all the neighborhood’s parks. Folks can stroll past massive pine trees and bird watch on stone pathways in the half-acre River Canyon Park. The 3-acre Hollygrape Park includes a playground, paved walking paths and plenty of benches along its spacious, grassy lawn. The Deschutes River, which runs down the western edge of Southwest Bend, is surrounded by 11 miles of dirt trails for biking and horseback riding. Hikers can connect to 22-acre Farewell Bend Park for scenic views over the Bill Healy Memorial Bridge or an afternoon of kayaking at the boat launch. Residents grocery shop at the locally owned C.E. Lovejoy’s Brookswood Market for fresh produce and curated cheeses. Walmart Supercenter is a few miles north of the neighborhood, and on its eastern edge, Humane Society Thrift Store sells gently used kitchenware and antique furniture. Bend Factory Outlet Stores features retail clothing chains like Nike and Maurices, and the historic Old Mill District is another popular spot for shopping. Locals can check out over 40 different boutiques and businesses like Vanilla Urban Threads, selling men’s and women’s fashion, and Saxon’s Fine Jewelers, offering elegant diamond pieces. Folks can sit down for a grilled salmon dinner next to floor-to-ceiling windows at Greg’s Grill, and Anthony’s at the Old Mill District faces the Deschutes River and offers buttered crab legs and local wines. In May, residents head to Mt. Bachelor for the annual Pole Pedal Paddle race fundraiser, put on by School Employees of Lane County Oregon. Adult and child participants begin by skiing down Bachelor’s snowy peak, then transitioning into a 22-mile bike ride along Century Drive. They finish with a combined half mile of kayaking and a quarter mile of sprinting to the finish line in Riverbend Park. Hayden Homes Amphitheater in the Old Mill District hosts monthly musical concerts with nationally known bands like Dave Matthews Band for a more laid-back vibe. Oregon has its fair share of wildfires, thanks to warm and dry conditions exacerbated by climate change. Homes in Southwest Bend are at risk, but Deschutes County completes controlled burns in the spring and fall to reduce the threat. Although the process helps maintain the health of the surrounding forest, Southwest Bend neighbors may experience lingering smoke at night and early in the morning during burns.