Arizona Real Estate Notebook

I’ve been showing homes for 6 days straight with 4 different clients. The results were one contract, one likely contract, and two will wait until next fall before pulling the trigger. It feels like 2005. I’m starting to see some homes that really surprise me with how inexpensive they are. I haven’t seen […]

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I’ve had this graph for a while and was planning to do something fancy with it with video but I’ve been too busy with clients. My schedule is super charged the next week so I’m just going to do it the old fashioned way. Price (green line) The median home price fell to $210,000 in March […]

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I have a theory that areas that are the most over-priced will “correct” more quickly than other areas. Below is a post I had published about 3 weeks ago in an U.S. housing stocks blog called “Seeking Alpha.” ______________________________ The Reverse Ripple Theory of Metropolitan Home Price Corrections You drop a rock in water. The ripple is largest at […]

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While running an MLS listings report for Anthem last weekend, I was stunned by the high number of homes under contract in Anthem. ARIZONA 85086 - INCLUDES ANTHEM MLS Resale, Single Family Homes Under Contract to Buyers on April 26, 2008: 165 Not all of those homes under contract are going to close and not all of the […]

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In this article about jingle mail, one quote really got the commenters agitated. “We paid $585,000. It was the peak of the market, but no one told us,” said Shaffer, a real-estate agent from Colorado. Yeah, it’s hard for a real estate agent to play dumb about real estate transactions without being called on it.

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The conversion has been rocky for some, but once you get the hang of the new neighborhood-based, map-based Phoenix MLS system, you’ll like it, maybe love it. A huge number of people have signed up to use the new system for free. Got this great email this evening about the new Phoenix MLS system. Hi John, It works great […]

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I recently added a super cool tool to this website that I’ve been using in-house for a few months, “Compare two zip codes.” You can find the link to the new tool in the right-hand column. This unique tool, found nowhere else, is invaluable for learning the current differences between the real estate sub-markets of […]

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I love this negotiating tip for home sellers from Bernice Ross in Inman News (subscription required). 2. Put pressure on buyers who are negotiating by doing a simultaneous price reduction. Whenever you issue a counteroffer with a lower price, ask the seller to reduce the list price. When the buyers realize that the seller is lowering […]

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March is typically an indicator for the coming resale home season, and with 4,335 recorded sales it’s showing signs of a continuing weak market. Even though it is an improvement over the 3,750 sales of February, it is significantly below last year’s 5,385 sales and is the lowest March since 1996, with 3,270 sales. Hmmm. […]

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How’d that Phoenix real estate auction last month do?

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Good! The Arizona Department of Real Estate has ordered the founder of property-management company Gorenter.com to stop doing real-estate business in the state. The cease-and-desist order released Thursday alleges Mark Bosworth engaged in a real-estate business without being licensed to do so. The state agency cites a January $17.4 million civil judgment against Bosworth and his wife, […]

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This is a cool new neighborhood based, map based Phoenix MLS system that I just added. It’s a great system for serious home buyers who have settled in on a specific area of town to buy an Arizona home. It’s also excellent for home sellers who want to monitor the local competition. In addition, […]

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The Orange County (California) Register has an excellent real estate blog called Lansner on Real Estate. Stephen Scarborough, abruptly “retired” as Standard Pacific’s CEO last week, received a severance deal of $1.25 million in cash, plus 42,000 shares of restricted stock and accelerated options on 280,000 shares. The deal with the Irvine-based home builder also included a […]

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When you need more room, should you add an addition or just sell the home and buy a larger home. (Based on a question I received today.) Here’s my take on the question. There is no right answer. It depends on your goals, your home, your finances, you occupation and even the strength […]

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My brokerage, HomeSmart Real Estate, with 1,700 agents acquired Dan Schwartz Realty with 1,600 agents last week giving HomeSmart Real Estate 3,300 agents and making it by far the largest real estate brokerage in Arizona, the largest in the Southwest, and one of the largest in the United States. HomeSmart Real Estate was created by Matt […]

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Wandering through the Zip Code Real Estate Notebooks in the right-hand margin, I came to this conclusion;

The worst zip codes have seen a $50 per square foot fall in median home price from the peak. The typical zip codes have seen a $40 per square foot fall in median home price from the peak. The best zip […]

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When I browse the (newly updated) Zip Code Real Estate Notebooks in the right-hand margin, I keep an eye on El Mirage (85335). During the upswing, El Mirage had a huge increase in prices. What was once a very affordable area for recently built homes got caught up in the mania and it […]

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You gotta check out these spectacular Arizona wildflower photos from Tucson Realtor Dave Smith. They are stunning!

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North Scottsdale and P.V. median home sale prices are still hanging tough even though sales are still quite low. Sun City 85351 had a nice increase in the number of homes sold.

Most zip codes that I checked didn’t see any significant changes. By the way, I haven’t looked at all the zip codes. […]

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The weekly home sales tables in the Zip Code Real Estate Notebooks (see side-bar) were just updated. I have data through all of February so I’ll start updating the other charts, not something I look forward to. I hope ya’ll find the charts valuable and that you tell your friends and family about Arizona […]

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Check out the comment from Tory Anderson of the Arizona Department of Real Estate in this post about Randall Martin Homes if you are having problems with them. I don’t know how much authority the Arizona Department of Real Estate has in the matter but they do seem to want to help.

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McCormick Ranch Landscape and Garden Fair TODAY Saturday, March 15, 10:00 to 2:00 at Mountain View Park in Scottsdale, Arizona Want to know how to take care of your citrus trees properly? Want to know how to make that rose in your yard happy and beautiful? Now you can. I’ve gathered landscaping and gardening experts together so you […]

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Liz hiked Pinnacle Peak this morning and said the poppies still looked great and there were more purple flowers this week mixed in among the poppies. The brittle bush was budding out but no flowers yet. If you’ve seen some wild flowers, please tell us where in a comment. Thanks!

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This article on new adobe brick plant follows this article on the closing of an adobe brick plant. To see the beauty of one of these rare authentic adobe homes, see my listing of an adobe home in Scottsdale. It’s a work of art.

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“The reasons that make people buy a house are marriage or divorce, promotion or transfer, or families getting larger or smaller. Out of these things, there’s not a single one that’s stopped happening.” Some views from investors in Tucson Arizona.

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