Real Estate Information

I was pleased to be invited to Golf the Arizona Biltmore's Links course this past Saturday. I have always loved the tranquility the Biltmore serves up. The course was in great shape and as always the staff was warm and friendly. There are homes that start at 700K and many in the area that top out near 25 million dollars or more. I viewed one up close that was 10.8 million and was just amazing, paved stone gated entry that led into a Tuscan style retreat with a four car garage. I imagined that any one, myself included could make home here. It had hand carved wood columns and floors inside and so many features I could not name them all if I tried. The exterior and much of the interior boasted stone and tile treatments and the walls, floors and ceilings. There was a grand ballroom upstairs next to the study. A luxurious hand tiled pool and patio faces the golfcourse and was the crowned jewel of this new home, I love this mediteranian beauty.

As a long time practitioner, I am more and more disappointed by the presence of weak agents in the industry. This past year the landscape of real estate has changed, now not only do you need to identify the home your client wants but now you have to interview the listing agent. Many do not know what they are doing and are operating under completely unethical and often times incompetent behavior. They are the ones who list homes and offer less than a full commission to the buyers agent. First it was the "discount" agents, or the flat fee listings, now it is the bank REO agents, but more and more frequently short sales and even straight re-sales are offering less and less. How can someone who drops their pants before an offer even comes in be considered a "good" agent or for that matter be encouraged to continue? 

We need to set a standard, if they are willing to dump the payable at the time of the listing it shows me they do not know what they are doing and do not deserve the listing. If they give up money so quickly, how the heck are they to be expected to get a higher sales price for the seller? Do they adequetley represent the clients best interest or get it sold at all for that matter? If you are an agent out there and take less than a full commission listing.. YOU should take the hit on your side of the transaction. You have already sold yourself short because your services are less valuable but keep your hands off the other agents commission. I have very little respect for agents who offer less than 3% after they have taken a less than 6% listing in the first place. In short if you are a weak agent please, do not take listings. Go back to the basics and leave the listings to the experienced agents who know what they are doing, we will welcome you back after you have earned your way back in.

Arizona and the national landscape are in constant states of change. We have the sunshine, the pools, 2.5 automobiles and the little red coolers on our Golf carts with the fancy golf bags, but we have a common problem, America is living beyond it's means. 

We are creating astronomical debt and beyond that where are we? We need to get a system in place that levels the playing field. Spending our way into oblivion is not going to cut it, we have trillions of dollars out of the country as countries like China and many others buy our securitized debt but what happens when the world bank decides to go in another direction? 

We need to get lean, our government is bloated, it is way too big and is full of career politicians. The government does not fear us, it bleeds us. If we do not get control of our fair lady the landscape of this country will forever be changed and not for the better. Downsize the government, halt the drunken spending they are doing after all they work for us right!? People are losing jobs and faith in themselves. We are now a nation of watchers instead of do'ers, are we too evolving into the next Roman republic? We have all but stopped building and exporting goods and have reverted to an entertainment based country just like what happened to the Romans, all we need are gladitorial arenas erected so our imprisoned brothers and sisters can fight to the death for our amusement on closed circuit TV. Running man movie reference anyone?

I want to see we the people, get control of this country. It is only through our collective will and determination that we will, challenge yourself to act and live within your means, question authority and do not accept less than what our founding fathers have given us.

I heard that Ben Bernacke was nominated to remain in his position at the FED? Well why not he has done a bang up job so far, he may as well just stick around and see the dollar devalued all the way to it's bitter end. The last thing we need is more government intervention and growth. We need smaller, more efficient government that answers to the American people. My grandfather once told me "Shane, Politicians love unarmed peasants" We are evolving into a society of hand outs, many people think they need to be bailed out by Uncle Sam and are unknowingly handing away their Liberty and their Freedoms for a quart of uncooked rice. Stand on your own two feet and demand more from yourself, not from your country.

According to the National Association of Realtors we have a 6.6 month supply of homes priced under 240K. Homes priced at or over a million dollars 20.5 months supply. So the question begs to be asked, are we in or just out of a recession, in a buyers market or both? My favorite market is the buyer's and we are smack dab in the middle of the mother of all buyer's markets. 

The problem is credit has tightened and negative inventory has swollen to epic proportions so like the adage goes, cash is king and in the right hands it does compel people to do many things including accepting your offer to purchase. I think there are many valuable lessons to be learned as we emerge from this recession, don't overbuy. There is nothing worse than being house rich and cash poor. Spend your money wisely. Invest with confidence in our country our indomitable spirit will bring us all back.

It is August 09 and we finally have cooled off a bit...in housing. It is still 105 degrees outside! We have been selling 9000 + homes for more than four months now, negative inventory has been gobbled up by deal hungry investors and buyers alike. This purchasing frenzy sales cycle takes me back to 2004-05 when we were selling the same numbers of homes in record numbers like we are now, this time around however bargain prices and bidding wars on property is the norm.

The tax credit is going to fade away Nov. 30th so get your self in and closed escrow before then. Once this market corrects itself (my opinion AZ will follow the rest of the country 8-12 months behind national recovery) because of the overbuilding we did here. I really hope the fed's continue to pursue the guys who packaged up credit portfolios that they knew were toxic and sold them anyway, put them all in prison, their assets seized and distributed back to the investors and the American taxpayers that they ripped off. The market and our country will recover, just hold on and stay positive.

This month the Governor of Arizona Jan Brewer signed a law changing the anti-deficiency laws in the State of Arizona. In short the banks have thrown a fast ball past the tax payers and in doing so are violating your constitutional rights. The law now reads that after September 30th 2009 any homes that foreclose, the banks can go after the homeowner for the difference. They fail to mention despite it being a contract entered into before the law takes effect in September and is completely unenforceable it is now on the books. I am confident the Governor at the request of taxpayers and all of us REALTORS together will hold a special session to re-examine the merits of such a wide breech in our trust and in our pockets.

The argument can be made, why should I care if an investor looses his shorts to the lenders? Well in my opinion you should, it starts there and slowly erodes to you and I. If the lenders can just go after a homeowner why then would they agree to short sale a home? With our lagging market, bulging inventory and several more years of pain in front of us, why would we allow the lenders who propagated this mess to then also profit from it's decline by throwing us deeper into debt and into total turmoil? We for too long have let our country and our common rights as American's get away from us, we need to get this turned around and quickly. Let your representatives, your neighbors and family know what you think and decide upon some action.

Hopefully you have seen the news and you are good and scared, (if you need some fodder just watch any cable news channel) we are spending billions of dollars bailing out wall street, while main street closes it's doors. Is it better to keep the corporate giants alive and spending our money or should main street catch a break? We need to get middle America out of debt, our quickly eroding middle class needs a bailout AND FAST! Why can't banks just approach all homeowners and give them all a 1% fixed rate on all primary residences and lower all other property to 3%? How about a permanent tax credit or down payment assistance for buying a primary home or an investment property? Want to do something? Start blogging your ideas, tweet them, let your representatives know what you think and tell them your ideas!

Happy Fourth of July to all of us!! Be sure to show this country and it's leaders how much she means to you!!

July is here and with the usual heat and fireworks, the flags on display we will all remember this June as the best on Arizona record! not only did we have astonishing sales volume but the weather was awesome too! I like Elliott Pollack believe AZ is on the mend, we will be back on our feet within a year and wow what a ride it has been. Recored appreciation and record depreciation it is one for the history books for sure. 

Remember you home buyers out there who are waiting for the right time to buy, it's here! The federal tax credit expires in Dec but you have to be closed escrow by Nov 21st 09! Don't worry though our friends at the federal level are working on things daily to help us get back on course. Have a great fourth everyone!