I have had several people interested in obtaining a USDA home loan for property in Jefferson County.  I've put together a map of part of the county that should help in identifying areas that qualify for this program.  As you might know - it's one of the last TRUE 100% home loans available - and it doesn't have PMI!  The rates are comparable to FHA, so it's a very affordable payment!  You do not have to have PRESTINE credit, but we generally want to see scores above 580, and 12 months of "clean credit." USDA does require that the property be located in a less populated area.  It does not need to be a farm - but it can't be located downtown either.   The "darker" area does NOT qualify.  However, as you can see - that is basically the Bend urban growth boundary and anywhere else in the cou... 10/14/2008

Most Saturday nights you will find me about 60 miles north of La Pine is the great city of Madras. I love cars, and Madras has a Quarter Mile Dirt Track... known as the Fastest Dirt Track in the West. The key word here is Dirt... you do get a little dust (ok a lot, but who cares). This weekend was a special event for the Chambers' family - our nephew Cliff raced for the very first time. He and his dad have worked hard to put together car #18 and last night was our debut event.Yep he is racing a 70 Mustang. This if you can believe it or not was a yard sale find... $1500 and a lot of hard work and you are on the track.We have a family friend that races in Madras also, he drives the orange car in the back ground... #88.Cliff did great, this first time racer is only 19 years and us up again... 07/22/2007

Madras, Oregon is getting a huge boost to their local economy. The addition of Deer Ridge Correctional Institution is expected to produce between 400-500 new jobs for this Central Oregon area with an estimated annual payroll of $22 million dollars. The new Jefferson County facility is situated on 200 acres three miles east of Madras  and will house both minimum and medium security inmates. The new men's prison will contain 644 minimum security beds and 1240 medium security beds. Construction is almost complete and the new prison will begin taking inmates in September of 2007.        Applications for all positions at DRCI are currently being accepted. Click here for more information on the Deer Ridge Correctional Institution. For more information on what's happening in Central Oregon, pl... 03/27/2007