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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.…

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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…

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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,…

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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…

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Another Possible Reason for Low Supply of Homes for Sale?

 Chatting with a real estate agent friend who’s with a large national franchise, I found out that a lot of their “listings” are promoted internally as “Coming Soon” listings and are sold before they ever hit the MLS. The friend said some luxury listings are sometimes in “Coming Soon” status for months. It’s a great way for large brokerages to capture both sides of the sale, they represent (make money from) both the seller and the buyer. I think this is a long term trend. I’m promoting “Coming Soon” more myself but not so I can get both sides of the commission but to improve the odds the seller can cut…

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