What Does $250,000 Buy you in the Arizona Real Estate Market?

The Phoenix real estate market has been leveling out the last 4-5 months and we haven't seen much shift in pricing in a while which made me wonder, what does $250,000 buy in Maricopa and Pinal county now.  Much to my surprise there is quite a wide range of properties for this price point in the Arizona Multiple Listing Service, 81 properties to be exact.  These properties range from 2 bedroom/2 bath, 954 square foot condo in Scottsdale's Gainey Ranch to a 5 bedroom/4 bath, 4,071 square foot single family home in Buckeye's Tortesso.  You can find a home for this price point in Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Tempe, Awhatukee, Glendale, Phoenix, Queen Creek, San Tan Valley and Scottsdale.  The further from the city center you go the more home you are able to buy for your $250,000.  In Gilbert and Chandler you would get between 1809 sq ft to 2536 sq ft, in Tempe it would buy you 1209 sq ft to 1609 sq ft and in San Tan Valley you would get 2638 sq ft to 3146 sq ft.  So when you are ready to buy your next home whether you are spending $100,000 or $1,000,000 keep in mind the further you are willing to drive to get into downtown Phoenix the more home and land you will be able to afford with your money!

Help U Sell Central Phoenix can assist you with your buying and selling needs in all areas of the valley and can save you money when listing your property with us!  Our real estate listing fees start at just $2950.

Home Value Increases

At Help U Sell Central Properties we often get phone calls from homeowners looking to save money on the sale of their home because they want to put more money in their pocket.  In the past couple of months we have noticed an increase in these types of calls from sellers that had purchased their homes in 2009 and 2010 as short sales and foreclosures.  As we have worked on these listing presentations we realized that the market has increased quite a bit over the past 3 - 4 years and many of these sellers have quite a bit of equity.  Well as is typical I decided to start running the numbers to see what the increases have been around the valley from 2010 to 2013 and was surprised to find the following increases.

Chandler, Arizona - Up 26%
Gilbert, Arizona - Up 30%
Fountain Hills, Arizona - Up 4.5%
Ahwatukee, Arizona - Up 16%

This is great news for many homeowner's that chose to get into the real estate market during the time of distressed properties but are now ready to move up to a new home, larger home or some just are ready to downsize.  If you or someone you know are in this position and would like to find out how we can save you on your closing costs.  Call us at 480-812-1112 and we would be happy to send you a free market analysis of your home!

Legal Update: Property Tax Appeal

County assessors in Arizona recently mailed notices of property valuations for Year 2014. Commonly, these notices are ignored and discarded. Real property taxes can be confusing, yet the taxes can be one of the highest costs of property ownership. With the passage of Prop. 117 in November of 2012, every property owner should review this notice and strongly consider the property valuation and an appeal to the county, state and/or Tax Court. Property valuations are currently based on Full Cash Value and Limited Property Value.

Prop 117 - beginning in Year 2015, taxes will be based only on Limited Property Value - increases in the valuations can only be increased each year by a max of  5%.  You should ensure that the 2014 "baseline" value of your real property is as low as possible before the annual 5% increases are effective.  Time is of the essence. Appeals to the County Assessor are due within sixty (60) days after the notice was mailed. After appealing to the County Assessor, a taxpayer may also appeal to the State Board of Equalization. Finally, if the appeals to the County and the State have not been acceptable, a final appeal to Arizona Tax Court is permitted. Or, a taxpayer may appeal the valuation of its real property directly to the Arizona Tax Court by December 15^th.

If you would like legal assistance with the appeal process, or would like an initial review of the valuation to consider an appeal, please contact our office for referrals to our legal network.

What Do Buyer's Want in a Home??

What do buyer's look for when buying a home?  This is always a question real estate agents get when we are talking to potential sellers.  The National Association of Realtors (NAR) recently published an article regarding this age old question and it appears that buyers are become more practical regarding their requests.

Four of the top item are all about energy efficiency and saving energy, 94% of buyers want energy rated appliances, 91% want energy-star rated home, 89% want energy-star rated windows and 88% want ceiling fans.  In addition to all these energy efficient items desired the buyers are also looking for better storage space such as a linen closet in the bathroom, storage space in the garage for sports equipment & gardening supplies and a walk-in pantry in the kitchen.

Call us today if you are looking to buy or sell your home!

New Short Sale Guidelines

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have issued new guidelines to the loan services which require that these servicers response to a short sale offer no longer than 60 days after receipt.  This new guideline will help all markets tremendously!  The guideline states that they must respond within 30 days with a decision unless they are negotiating with another party and then they can take up to a maximum of 30 additional days to respond.  By decreasing the time frame for a response hopefully this will help buyer's stay engaged with their offer and not continue to look for other properties while they wait but will also help seller's who are already behind on their mortgage keep the days late down on their credit report and if they are not currently late hopefully keep their credit score intact.  Homeowners that are currently considering short selling their home should contact an experienced agent for more information.  The agents at Help U Sell Central Properties have years of experience in short sales and always keep up on the latest incentives offered by loan servicers as well as guidelines that effect the buyers and sellers in a short sale transaction.  Call us today for more information.

Phoenix Market Update

It has become hard these days to buy a home in the greater Phoenix real estate market.  We have officially entered into a “seller’s market” and some say that it's been a seller’s market for the last 12 months.  The average days on the market according to MLS statistics in February was 3.27 months and over the last 12 months it was 3.35 months.  Anything below 4 months is officially considered a sellers' market.
So what does that mean to our buyers and sellers?

To buyers, it means a hard time finding a home and getting an offer accepted.

The lower the price range, the less inventory and the more competition.

The better the area (i.e. high demand areas), the stronger the competition.

The nicer the house, the strong the competition.

All in all, it is very competitive in our market today.  On many properties we are seeing multiple offers within the first couple of days on the market with the cash buyer often winning.  To buy a home, it's important to work with a realtor and lender that understand what is happening in the market, to look at houses quickly (possibly even same day) as they come on the market, to be prepared to offer over list price, and to be prepared to be competing with many other offers.

From a selling perspective, we are seeing prices gradually move up.   And while all homeowner’s are excited about this frenzy, it's important to remember that houses should still be listed at a price that is within the range of what other comparable properties are selling for, for a couple of reasons:

If the buyer is obtaining financing the home must still appraise. We have seen homes not appraising quite often lately!

If you overprice your home it's going to get “stale” and once it has many days on the market buyers aren’t even going to want to look because they think there is something wrong with it.

Cash buyers are looking for a “good deal” and won’t be willing to pay over market value in most cases for a home

The market is ever changing, however it has changed so much over the past 12 months that many people truly don’t understand what is going on out there and why.  It's simple laws of economics, too little supply with high demand = price increases and in our case, our market has really turned into a crazy frenzy.
FEBRUARY SALES STATISTICS

Sales in February increased 12.3% over the previous month to land at 7,249.  February’s sales figure of 7,249 is up 1.3% over the same figure in 2011.

Sales above 7,000 units are seen as robust for the Valley’s market.

New listings added to the market fell in February by 9.7% to 8,884. This figure is 15.8% below the new inventory figure for February 2011.

Total inventory for February was 23,736, down 5.2% from January and 41.6% from February 2011.

Total inventory has been on a steady downward path since February of 2011.

MONTHS SUPPLY OF INVENTORY (MSI)

Valley wide month’s supply of inventory declined in February to 3.27 from 3.88 in January.

The Valley’s MSI dropped below 4 months for the first time in March 2011 and has remained a Seller’s market since.

The twelve month MSI aver-age is 3.35 months.

NEW LIST PRICES

Trend lines for new list prices continued on an upward tilt for both average and median list prices. February’s average list price of $229,700 represents a gain of $41,000 over July 2011, when average list prices started to rise.

Median list price, which began to rise in August 2011, gained $20,000 over the August to February period, to land at $144,900.

SALES PRICES

Average sales price began to rise incrementally in August 2011, from a low of $151,400 to February’s $166,600, a gain of $15,258.

Likewise, median sales price climbed from a low of $108,300 in May 2011 to $122,000 in February, a gain of $13,700.

While the pricing movement is slow, it is definitely upward.

FORECLOSURES

Phoenix foreclosures pending, which fuel foreclosure sales, continued on the downward trajectory begun from a high of 50,568 in November of 2009 to February’s figure of 17,833.

The decline in foreclosures pending represents a 64.73% decline from its 2009 high.

DISTRESSED SALES

February’s distressed sales (3,723) as a percentage of total sales continued downward for the fourth month in a row to 51.4%, well below the 60% barrier crossed in November 2011.

At their highest level, in September 2010, distressed sales, composed of foreclosures and short sales, represented 74.1% of total sales.

In February, there were 1,687 lender owned sales and 2,036 short sales.

In November 2011, short sales displaced foreclosures as the dominant component of the distressed property mix. The rise in short sales over lender owned sales, indicates a lender preference for work out over foreclosure.

This trend is good news for Sellers whose must sell under distressed conditions.

Data gathered by the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service (ARMLS)

* DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO  IS CONFUSED ABOUT FORECLOSURES VS. SHORT SALES?*

NOW IS THE TIME TO BEAT THE DEADLINE FOR THE TAX FORGIVENESS ACT WHICH EXPIRES IN 2012

 We have successfully negotiated multiple Short Sale transactions and understand the requirements for HAFA and work with lenders that can assist with HAMP 2.0!  

Up to $3,000 cash credit at closing & automatic release of any deficiency judgment

Contact us today for more info!

Choosing the right lender

Choosing the right lender before purchasing a home is as important and choosing the right home.  The lender you pick can make or break your your deal on any home.  Some items to take into consideration when picking your lender is:

*Referrals (ask around and get referrals from others that have purchased or refinanced a home recently)

*Interview a couple of lenders to find out what type of loan programs they offer (there are lots of loan programs out there that can save you lots of money at time of close and in interest rates for the entire loan period)

*Ask your real estate agent if they have heard of the lender - your agent has closed many deals, they know good lenders and bad lenders.  They know who can get the deal done and who hasn't.  If you agent hasn't heard of the company you are looking at that might be a sign that they are not well established or don't close a lot of deals which might be a sign you don't want to put your loan in their hands.

*Make sure your loan officer has experience in closing transactions and in closing the loan program you have chosen is best for you

*Lender fees also vary from lender to lender make sure you find out what their fees are, while the cheapest may not be the best the most expense might not be the best either

*Follow up is also an important criteria in your lender, you want to make sure they call you back in a timely manner if you have a question or you are able to get a hold of them quickly.  If you find a home you love and need a new loan status report you want to make sure they can get that to you within a couple of hours!

Some things we have started seeing in the lending industry that are causing issues with deals are:

*Low appraisals not being disputed by the lender, if you know the home is worth more than the appraisal came in at you can dispute this but it has to come through the lender. We recently had an appraisal come in $17,000 below offer and rather than the loan officer disputing the appraisal as he was asked to do it put it on the bottom of his pile and ignores which almost cost the buyer the deal until they changed lenders

*Lenders are not doing their due diligence prior to giving out a loan status report.  You want to make sure you lender has reviewed your credit report, tax records and pay stubs prior to telling you how much you qualify for.  We recently had a buyer with a per-qualification come to us to put an offer on a home for below their qualification amount and then find out that they didn't qualify at all because of an items on their credit report.  Had the lender reviewed the entire credit report rather than just look at the number they would have know that before even looking for a home and placing an offer.  Think how disappointing it would be to find the home of your dreams and then be told you can't have it because your lender didn't do their due diligence.

There are just a couple of things we have seen happen in the last month.   As you can see the lender is a very important part of your real estate transaction and you want to make sure you are an important part of their day as well while you are working with them.