March 19, 2014

My favorite new home floor plan

I saw a ton of new homes in Chandler and Gilbert recently and wanted to show you one of my personal favorites. I love the open floor plan and huge kitchen of the Hillary model by Taylor-Morrison. Check out these photos. It’s being sold at Belmonte, a brand new smallish community in Chandler and also at the Bridges in Gilbert which is a large master planned community. Now, to be fair, I saw a lot of other cool floor plans (as well as a lot of “What were they thinking!” floor plans) but this model is my current favorite.

March 18, 2014

Ancala and Scottsdale Mountain added

Last summer a spent a ton of time developing 2 websites, one for Ancala and the other for Scottsdale Mountain. Until yesterday, I had a few dozen small, community, real estate websites each targeting one community in Scottsdale or nearby. The community websites got a decent number of visitors when I first created them 3 years ago but as time when on and Google made changes their ranking algorithm, the number of visitors to the community websites plunged. A New Design So I figured I might be able to save the community websites by giving them a complete makeover. I hoped a remodel would do the trick and bring the…

March 17, 2014

Concierge-Style Home Search

“Concierge-style” means talking to a local expert who helps you find what you’re looking for. So call or email me and I’ll personally design a custom search for you of homes that have exactly what you want. And you can get updates with the latest sales every day, week or month. You choose. It’s all customized for you. In addition, the information I’ll send you is far more accurate and far more up-to-date than anything available from Zillow, Trulia or Realtor.com. You’ll see the exact same MLS data that real estate agents see! Let me know how I can help you, John Wake Realtor, Associate Broker, M.S. (Economics) HomeSmart (480)…

March 17, 2014

Investing in Phoenix real estate

All the data on this website tends to attract real estate investors researching the Phoenix real estate market. It’s common for me to field a call from a small real estate investor wanting to chat about Phoenix home price trends and I’m happy to do that even though I don’t often work with investors personally. My market is helping primary home and vacation home buyers and sellers. The biggest question I’ve been getting from investors since last summer has been from landlords mulling over whether to sell a property when the lease expires or whether to renew the lease for another year. Best Advice for Investors The best advice I…

March 16, 2014

Secure your drugs during open houses

Prescription Drug Addicts Target Open Houses (Realtor.org) Someone stole painkillers from a client’s master bath medicine cabinet during an open house a few years ago. VERY creepy. Of course, you should also secure small, pocketable valuables as well during an open house. Think jewelry.

March 15, 2014

New clue to why Phoenix home sales are falling

Fletcher Wilcox of Grand Canyon Title came out with his monthly report on the Phoenix real estate market and he found a new clue explaining why Phoenix home sales have fallen so much in metro Phoenix. All cash sales in February 2104 were down 41% compared to February 2013 but sales bought with loans were essentially flat, down only 2%. Fletcher blames the fall in all cash sales on, Real estate investors leaving the Phoenix playing field, and The fall in the exchange rate for the Canadian dollar which makes Phoenix homes about 10% more expensive for Canadians this year on top of a 21% median home price increase in…

March 14, 2014

Why do real estate agents cost so much?

Because the home selling process is inefficient as hell! I’m a numbers guy, a former economist. The inefficiency in the current home selling process drives me absolutely NUTS! But I think we can improve it. Are you an adventurous engineer who likes to try new ideas? Do you have a house to sell? Call me. I’m looking for engineers because they understand all about trying new ideas to improve systems and I bet the current system drives you nuts too. Do you want an easier, cheaper, safer, more efficient way to sell a home without all the drama? Call me and let’s see if we can partner together to try…

March 11, 2014

Single family listings up 40% in metro Phoenix over last 12 months

Via Elliott Pollack. The most interesting piece of data showed the homeownership rate in the Greater Phoenix area was reported as 62.1% for 2013. This is down from 72.4% in the peak year of 2006. While a significant percentage of those who went from owning to renting might not come back to the home buying market at any time soon, the number still suggests a large pent up demand. While Dodd-Frank, the change in the FHA loan limit and the 7 year ineligibility rule after a foreclosure for Freddy and Fanny are certainly real negatives, they eventually will be overcome by many buyers… • Single family listings in Greater Phoenix…

March 10, 2014

Jeremy Roenick lists Scottsdale mansion (with baseball field) for $8.5 million

Via Phoenix Business Journal. CLICK HERE to SEE 50 PHOTOS of the home.

March 6, 2014

ASU: “The Greater Phoenix market is very different today from a year ago”

Phoenix Real Estate – Outlook “The market conditions suggest prices will struggle to make any further upward progress in 2014” Mike Orr, Director, Center for Real Estate Theory and Practice, W P Carey School of Business, Arizona State University I agree with Mike’s assessment and many of the points he brings up in his full report aren’t news to readers of Arizona Real Estate Notebook. I think, however, the median home price in Phoenix will go up a little bit in 2014 – I’ve been saying up 3% to 6% – but the odds that it won’t go up are increasing with each weak month. For me, March sales and…