Arizona Real Estate Notebook

July 12, 2016

Arizona economy looking better

Arizona #7 for Job Growth Phoenix #4 for Job Growth Growing up in Phoenix, I thought Phoenix would always be the top 1, 2 or 3 metro area for job growth. It was a point of pride for Phoenix. It was trumpeted in the local newspapers, television stations and chambers of commerce. And I kind…

Down Payment Assistance Programs in Arizona

Impromptu interview (2016) with my dog friend Larry Neaman of Nova Home Loans about down payment assistance programs in metro Phoenix. A bunch of us dog people get together in the neighborhood park most evenings. Larry and I were the first ones there last night so I thought I would take advantage of it and pick his brain another time about down payment assistance programs. The German Shepherd is Larry’s dog, Maiya. My 6-pound pretty papillion, Abby, didn’t make it into the video. She was probably at my feet begging to get picked up. Abby is great at only one thing, being held. It’s her superpower. Larry’s phone is 480-500-3005.…

June 25, 2016

Phoenix Real Estate – End of High Season Update

Now that I’m back mentally from my big bubble project, I wanted to dive into the Phoenix real estate market. Most of the price action that happens with metro Phoenix home prices happens in the first half of the year, the high season. Home sales are a bit slower the second half of the year…

June 23, 2016

Have Phoenix Home Prices Really Recovered?

Tom Ruff’s commentary this month in STAT points out the dramatic impact today’s low interest rates have on mortgage payments. $200,000 Home June 2006 | Interest Rate = 6.68% | Interest Per Month = $1,113 June 2016 | Interest Rate = 3.66% | Interest Per Month = $610 The Recovery He also talks about the peak (2006) and trough (2011) of home prices and which zip codes have “recovered” the most and the least. Most Recovered = Arcadia and North-Central Phoenix Least Recovered = West-Central Phoenix and the far Northwest Valley. See Tom’s piece for more details. Curmudgeon Says A curmudgeon might say 3.66% mortgage rates are responsible for the “recovery” of…

May 6, 2016

Looks like Phoenix prices have a lot of upward momentum

Over on my national website, RealEstateDecoded.com, using Zillow data, I created a new graph which shows you the percentage of homes increasing in value for 20 metro areas. I’m still checking out the “Percent of Homes Increasing in Value” metric but I think I like it. It gives me more information than just how fast…

April 12, 2016

Woohoo! Phoenix Employment Last September Finally Matched 2007

Oh, and by the way, the mortgage finance system is still broken 8 years later. # # #

April 11, 2016

Scottsdale is the #8 top luxury home market in USA

At least according to this article.

March 6, 2016

Scottsdale real estate market changing

I got a call from a reader yesterday about the Scottsdale real estate market. She was worried that home prices might be weakening in her area. Also, she had watched this video of mine where I stumbled onto some erratic graphs for the Scottsdale real estate market. Before I checked out the situation in her community,…

February 29, 2016

If you bought in 2005, you’re still…

Source: ARMLS. Man, that’s gotta hurt. You pay your mortgage reliably for 10 years and the house still sells for less than the purchase price. # # #

February 28, 2016

Diary of The Great Real Estate Bust – September 2006

I’m trying and figure out what the hell happened during The Great Real Estate Bust so I’m going back over my old posts here in this blog to see what I was thinking at the time and to find the clues about the future that I missed. It’s sort of therapy for an economist. September 2006 For the Arizona housing market it’s a race between housing inventory and economic growth. As long as the economy stays strong, the housing market can work it’s way through the huge overhang of unsold homes. If the economy tanks before the inventory gets into line, then we would enter an economic slowdown with an…