Real Estate by Sarah Lynch

Real Estate by Sarah Lynch Sarah Lynch Willis is a REALTOR® licensed in OR, helping clients buy and sell real estate.

Sarah really listens, is knowledgeable, experienced, and according to her client’s, "excellent in every way." Acquainted with hard work, follow-through, and bringing big dreams to life, Sarah is easy to get a hold of, thorough and responsive. Her background as a farm owner honed her skills in business development, customer service, sales, and marketing. She carries her core-values, skills and experiences from her farm career over to helping people achieve their lifestyle goals through buying and selling Real Estate. 

Passionate about helping clients achieve their highest standard of living, personal, and financial goals, Sarah shows her clients how investing in Real Estate can support all of the above in addition to gaining invaluable access to the uniquely active and healthy lifestyle the Central Oregon area provides. 
Outgoing and active, Sarah is a people person who values quality over quantity, quick, kind, direct communication, and performance through goal setting and problem-solving. A wide range of life experiences makes her multifaceted and relatable, easy to talk to, with an instinctive ability to make her clients feel comfortable sharing personal information, having hard conversations, laughing and having fun in the process! In addition to her passion for people and real estate, Sarah still enjoys growing and preparing food, spending as much time as possible doing all things outdoors, adventuring and memory making with her husband and two young kids.

09/23/2026

August market snapshot.

180 homes sold. $721K median. 34 days on market. 3.5 months of inventory.

Translation: buyers have options, and they're not settling.

For sellers, the game changed. Realistic pricing, strong presentation, and something extra (credits, financing, buydowns) are what move homes now.

For buyers, this is your window. You have leverage. You have choices. You just need someone who knows how to use them.

If you're thinking about buying or selling in Bend as we head into fall, let's talk about what actually works in this market.

- Sarah 🌄

Bend still issues short-term rental permits. But a new one has to sit at least 500 feet from any other permitted STR, an...
09/18/2026

Bend still issues short-term rental permits. But a new one has to sit at least 500 feet from any other permitted STR, and unlike this one, a new permit can't be transferred. In this part of town, that spacing rule means there's basically nowhere left to permit. The only way in is finding one of the rare existing licenses that already transfers, like this one.

This westside Bend home has one, and it transfers with the sale.

It's also sitting in the part of town most people are trying to get into. Two blocks from Columbia Park and the Deschutes River, walkable to Galveston Ave. Three bedrooms, two and a half baths, built in 2013, fully furnished, currently running as an active Airbnb.

If you're working toward real estate professional status this year, or you already have it and need a property in service before year end, this is exactly the kind of asset that counts, and STRs are the standard move for investors in that position.

Don't wait until the last few weeks of the year to go looking.

Whether you live in it full time, use it as a part-time Bend residence, or run it as an investment, you're getting the location and the license, and the license is the part that's genuinely hard to find right now.

Want the details? Send us a message.

Listed by Nick Wilhite & J.P. Faherty, The Agency Bend.

- Sarah 🌄 + Suzanne ☀️

A seller wrote a check just to sell their condo this year. Five figures, at closing, to walk away.Here's the math. Bough...
09/09/2026

A seller wrote a check just to sell their condo this year. Five figures, at closing, to walk away.

Here's the math. Bought in 2023 for just under $200,000, with HOA dues under $1,000/month. Sold this August for around $155,000, with dues on that same unit now over $1,500/month. Between what they owed and what it sold for, they closed with a check instead of a payout.

It wasn't a bad investment. It was a nightly rental grossing around $36,000/year. But the owners lived out of state, self-managed the whole thing, and eventually wanted it off their plate.

Condos can be an easy way into Central Oregon real estate. Lower price point, less maintenance on you. But HOA dues are one of the least predictable numbers in the deal, and insurance costs here have put real upward pressure on them the last couple years. Older buildings with deferred maintenance can see dues spike fast when that catches up.

If a condo's on your radar, especially as a rental, ask for two things before you fall in love with the numbers: the last 3-5 years of HOA dues history, and the most recent reserve study.

What's the biggest HOA surprise you've seen or heard about?

- Sarah 🌄 + Suzanne ☀️

08/18/2026

A lot of the people we work with moving here have one thing in common. They're not chasing a job, they're trying to spend less time behind a screen and more time outside.

That's not an accident. Bend's culture is built around it. Self-employed, remote, business owners, people who've structured their income so their location and their schedule aren't dictated by someone else.

If that's the life you're trying to build, and you've been wondering whether a place like this actually supports it, I guarantee you you're not the only one asking.

One caveat: if "outdoorsy" isn't really your thing, you might feel like you live in the middle of a desert. Plot twist, you do. We're a high desert.

What's stopping you from making a move like this?

-Sarah 🌅

Four flips, four years, here's what changed.2023: Hamilton Ln. Bought at $375K, ARV of $750K. The margin was big enough ...
08/14/2026

Four flips, four years, here's what changed.

2023: Hamilton Ln. Bought at $375K, ARV of $750K. The margin was big enough that we turned it into a hold.

2024: River Bend Drive. Bought at $925K, sold at $1.6M. Flips like this were still relatively straightforward.

2025: NW Hastings. Bought at $475K, sold at $900K. Still worked, but the deals that penciled were getting harder to find.

2026: Boyd Acres. Bought at $550K, sale still in progress. This one only works because it's genuinely distressed and the buyer is doing most of the renovation themselves.

That's the shift. What worked in 2023 or 2024 doesn't automatically work now. We still have buyers actively flipping in Bend, it's just a much narrower lane: the property has to be a real problem, not just a project, and you need to be doing a lot of the labor yourself to keep the margin.

The dirtier and more distressed it is, the better the numbers tend to work right now.

Thinking about a flip in Bend? Send me the address and I'll give you an honest read.
-Sarah 🌅

08/13/2026

Our buyers were the backup offer on this house. 🏡

2634 SW Umatilla Court in Redmond, a single-family home and the lot next door, sold together.

It had sat on the market a while, then went into a multiple-offer situation. Our buyers came in as the backup.

When the first buyer terminated, our buyers moved into first position, but their offer was still contingent. They hadn't sold their apartment yet that they wanted to 1031.

Right at our contingency deadline, the seller got another offer.

Our buyers had a decision to make: release the contingency and move forward without their own sale locked in, or risk losing the house.

They released it. And closed.

This is the second investment property they've bought with us since moving to Central Oregon less than two years ago. This house is now their second rental in Redmond. The lot next door, they haven't decided yet. Maybe they develop it. Maybe they sell it off.

If you're buying a house contingent on selling another one, this is the real lesson: be ready to let that contingency go if it comes down to it.

DM us CONTINGENT if you want to talk through your real options on a contingent purchase.

-Sarah 🌅 + Suzanne ☀️

The questions I get asked most once a transaction is actually underway. Swipe through, and if I didn't cover yours, send...
08/07/2026

The questions I get asked most once a transaction is actually underway.

Swipe through, and if I didn't cover yours, send it my way.

- Sarah 🌅

08/05/2026

A few things happening around Central Oregon worth knowing about right now.

👉🏽 is closing August 31 after 17 years in Bend. If you've never grabbed dumplings from them, this is your last month.

👉🏽 Redmond High's main building is closed for the whole school year. Asbestos turned up during summer renovations, so classes move to modular units on campus, rough timing right before the first day back.

👉🏽 just opened in one of the commercial spaces below . It's a collab between and . Already a hit and a must visit for meat lovers, it has a bar, restaurant, and a counter-service meat market for easy, quality grab and go.

What noteworthy news have you seen lately that you would add to this?

- Sarah 🌅

08/03/2026

This was our first episode hosting American Dream TV, back in 2024. We wanted to highlight one of Bend's most iconic spots, one of the reasons people fall for this town in the first place, so we rented tubes from and floated the Deschutes.

If you're looking to recreate the day: start at Riverbend Park and float down through Bend Whitewater Park, passing Old Mill District on the way. Time it right and you can end at . For a longer float, keep going to Drake Park instead. If you rent tubes with Tumalo Creek, there's a shuttle waiting on the other end either way. It's easy to access, always a party in the summer, and the same route Bendites have been floating for years. Touristy, maybe. Fun, always. But if you don't like people, this might not be the route for you.

We also used the episode to break down something real estate related: how ADUs and house hacking actually work in Bend, STR permits included. Full episode is on our YouTube channel, linked in my bio if you want both halves: the float and the real estate breakdown.

- Sarah 🌅

We're more than halfway through the year.If you haven't already, take this as your sign to stop and sort for H2: what's ...
07/31/2026

We're more than halfway through the year.

If you haven't already, take this as your sign to stop and sort for H2: what's actually building your life, and what's draining it.

Sure, it's easier to stay busy with admin tasks than to sit down and do the real audit. The deep work is time and energy-consuming and can be a little uncomfortable. That's why most people skip it.

Suzanne and I do this together to keep our business sharp. It only works because we pay attention when something doesn't feel right, and stay curious enough to hold up a mirror and actually look at what isn't working, even when it's surprising to hear. We're far from perfect. But that's the point of having a partner: when one of us has a blind spot, the other fills it. You ebb and flow with each other instead of trying to see (and do) everything alone.

This is the checkpoint. Run the audit now, or watch the second half happen to you instead of because of you.

Find a team who'll do this with you, and don't be afraid to ask them to poke holes in your plan.

- Sarah 🌅

Address

Bend, OR

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5:30pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm
Sunday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+15037395006

Website

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