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Arizona Real Estate Market at a Glance

 No video analysis this month. I didn’t expect the inventory to increase in February. Oh, well. The “frustrated sellers” won this round after losing a few to the “waiting buyers.” I expect inventory to decline next month… but then again… that’s what I said last month. Forewarned is forearmed. Metro Phoenix homes sales (closings) were weak in January as expected. They reflect the weak sales (contracts) in December. The median home price stayed amazingly flat at $250,000.

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Average days on market up sharply

 Average days on market of sold homes in the Phoenix area MLS increased by 11 days to 111 days in January 2007. I expect the increases to increase at a slower rate starting in February. I’m not as concerned about the increase as I might be but in the last two days of searching for a home with a client, I found inventory falling and pending (under contract) homes up sharply. In one Scottsdale golf subdivision, I found zero (0) closings of SFR in September through November 2006… zero. However, so far this February there have been 3 closings. That’s a change! I should add that nothing is pending in…

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ArizonaRealEstateNotebook.com – NEW LOOK

 I just switched to a WordPress blog. I like it a lot better than Moveable Type. I made my first blog in 2002 out of Moveable Type. WordPress was brand new at the time, if memory serves, so I went with the Cadillac, Moveable Type. That blog was a hobby site so after a few months of fun I just had to kill it and get some work done. When I came back to blogging last summer, I set up this blog with Moveable Type because I was familiar with it. The truth turns out to be that WordPress was easier for me to use despite knowing something about Moveable…

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Great minds think alike

 I got this great email today from a gentleman who was unsubscribing from Home Sale News. First, I would like to thank you; I found the information very helpful. Unbeknown to me my wife has been using your service as well and why have 2 services? So again I thank you. Bob That makes my day!

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Arizona termites

 Chris Combs has a question on termites in a post below. Actually, the expression I’ve heard about Arizona termites is, “If you don’t have ’em now, you will.” I recently had a client from Florida who was very worried about termites. Fortunately, in Arizona we don’t have the hyper-aggressive Florida termite species. After a home inspection, the home inspector has never told me that termites had caused structural problems.

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Freddie Mac Housing Outlook

 Economic & Housing Outlook from Freddie Mac. While 2004 and 2005 were the years of the housing boom and 2006 the housing bust, early signs indicate that 2007 will be the year of recovery… … any risks the housing contraction could spark an economy-wide recession are fading fast. After subtracting 1.2 percentage points from GDP growth in the third and fourth quarters of 2006, the drag from further declines in construction spending should peter out towards mid-year…

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Will Termite Infestation Reduce Value of Property?

 by Phoenix attorney Christopher A. Combs, partner with Combs Law Group, P.C. Question: Last year I purchased a townhouse in Scottsdale. The seller had only owned the townhouse for three months and had never even lived in the townhouse. The termite inspection report that I had done showed that there was no evidence of current or past termite infestation. After closing, I had the walls in my townhouse re-painted, and last week I saw evidence of new termites coming through one of the freshly painted walls. I contacted the termite company that did the termite inspection report to treat this new termite condition. When they treated the wall, they also…

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Zillow piece in Marketwatch

 My friend Neal Haddad, PR/Marketing guru, sent me an email about this article on Zillow.com. It’s interesting to see all the excitement about Zillow. Zillow has some very nice maps where you can find comps. Unfortunately, their comps are a bit old, I’m seeing 3 to 4 months after closing. My main internet venture Home Sale News publishes data that is only about 3 weeks after closing. Be careful: Zillow’s value estimates (“Zestimates”) are dangerous is you don’t understand their accuracy. For Phoenix Arizona, 28% of their “Zestimates” are off by 10% or MORE. Zillow’s esimates are only ballpark estimates. If your home is worth $400,000, there’s a 28% chance…

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Downsizing your home

 Arizona Republic writer Sonja Haller did a nice piece on downsizing your home. Boy, there sure is a lot of that going on! Moving from the big house you raised the kids in to a condo, patio home or just a smaller home in Arizona, is very common. Divorce is another common reason to downsize. – Tips on downsizing. “You will go through a grieving process – even if downsizing was your idea. It’s a transition, and people should expect to grieve for what was lost.” – Downsizing in 6 months. – Helping your parents downsize.

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Movers and fraud

 I know a lot of the readers of this blog are out-of-state folks planning on moving to Arizona. Every now and then the Arizona Republic will have an article on someone being ripped off by a moving company that holds their possessions hostage unless they pay the moving company thousands of dollars more than originally agreed upon. Tips; • Do not search for a moving company on the Internet. Start with phone directories and local real estate agents. • Do not hire a moving broker. • Do not rely on a quote over the phone. The moving company should come to your place of residence to give you a free…

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