Arizona Real Estate Specialists

"And it has a nice ocean view" promised the brochure.

It didn't say that the view was nice if you stood on a barstool and used high powered binoculars.

This is the extreme.

Thankfully, it's not an everyday occurrence, but it happens more than it should.

Every once in a while I'll have a buyer who is pre-sold on the promise of a nice view.

When we arrive, the discovery period begins.

What happens when the listing agent over-promises and under-delivers in the listing verbiage?

If the homeowner is lucky the buyer discovers other things to love.

More often than not the buyer will conclude that there are even more skeletons in this listings closet.

What's your opinion on this and other advertising fibs? I'd love to know.

Statistics. They can be twisted almost any which way- can't they?

That's why due diligence is so important. It's always good to distill the complicated down to the simple.

Which begs the question- is there some simple math that you apply as a starting point to any business venture?

Almost everyone knows the 80-20 rule. That is that 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients. Note: You can switch the parties involved and still call it the 80-20 rule. Isn't that great?

Let's talk about other percentages. Percentage for facets of your business. Here are examples:

• Spend x% on advertising
• Spend x% time on prospecting
• Purchase a home at x% of market value

I'm sure you have a few percentages that work like these... but I want to talk about your "magic percentages".

When working with investors I have this one: Look for properties at 70% of appraised value, or less.

Sometimes your gut tells you to pay more for a property. If you have strong market information- then go for it. However, if you're not comfortable with a potential property... maybe you don't know the history of the area; the comps are too hard to pull, or... whatever the intangibles... the 70% rule is a good baseline.

In the Phoenix metro area homes and land are becoming difficult to appraise. In some cases banks are requiring up to three independent appraisals. If you're considering property in the valley of the sun, think in that 70% of appraised value zone as your starting point. 

What are some of your magic percentages? 

• detailed information on the intersections' developments
• nearby population
• traffic counts
• median incomes
• zoning and land use.

• 44th and Washington streets in Phoenix
• Elliott and Ellsworth roads in Mesa.
  

Any fast-population-growth city needs to provide at least three things:

1. sufficient natural resources
2. a place to live
3. a way to earn a living.

Arizona's most populated metro areas exist within a desert. Yet there is a vast agricultural network of dairy farms, cotton and corn fields and water in sufficient quantities that California and Nevada come calling for extra H2O. In other words- the natural resources appear to be sufficient.

Arizona's year round sunshine makes for an easy place to build homes. The nation's builders are more than happy to build in the area because there are people moving here. Arizona is enjoying a vice-versa play on the phrase "if you build they will come." ... in other words, they (the builders) are building because people are moving here.

Which brings us to earning a living. Arizona's economy of last century (I know... not so long ago... but I still can't resist saying it) was: tourism, mining and agriculture. Now many of the Valley of the Suns dollars are coming through the construction boom. Housing and Business building has supplanted tourism in this new era.

So. Is Arizona's business climate suitable to absorb the population? It appears so, according to an article in the East Valley Tribune titled "Valley Ranks Fourth in Ability to Grow Jobs". The Milken Institute has released a list of the top 200 metro areas. "Overall, Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale ranked fourth behind only Ocala Fla., Wilmington, N.C. and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif."

The full list can be found here: http://bestcities.milkeninstitute.org/ 

It's good to have information ahead of your competition.

However, what do you do with this information?

In the blogging world we tend to dispense of this information as soon as possible. After all, the market is created by many entities declaring their position in a simultaneous manner.

News on the stock market has immediate effect.

News in the real estate market? The reaction is much more slow.

I've noticed that what I read in the paper is not just yesterday's news... often it's last month's news or editorializing on something that may not have been worthy of mentioning.

Here are some of my favorite news sources:

• www.inman.com ... yes, you need to subscribe to go beyond today's headlines- but it's worth it.

• Key Indicator from www.hanleywood.com ... it's data heavy with good, short descriptions of market conditions.

• Google Alerts ... put in your key word and let Google fetch it for you at the interval you select.

Have any others? Let me know!

When it comes to home repair projects that require more that two tools I'm a real "do-it-someone-elser". This is because I've discovered that I often end up with better results- and often at a lower price than my fix-ups.

Unfortunately, too many do-it-yourselfers are trying to save a buck when preparing their homes for sale.... and the results are all-too obvious. 

To clarify: I mostly represent home buyers. I'm not usually in the position to tell people how to sell... this is a job for listing agents. Such agents have a longer list of do's and don'ts. I do take prospective buyer's through homes. And I know what kills potential deals. Here is the sweet and simple list of things to avoid:

• Amateur Paint Job: If your home looks like it was painted by the cub scouts you'll most likely want to bring in a professional. You'll most likely be surprised how much bang-for-the-buck you'll get out of this. Sloppy paint jobs don't bring in offers. Simple and clean paint jobs make homes enter the "consideration zone".
  

• Hodge Podge Lodge: If you've saved every trophy and photo and have made sure that such knick-knacks have squeezed into every square inch of wall space... well... you're going to need to invest in cardboard boxes and storage space. Your goal is to make your home look less like a museum of you-ness and more like a place someone could see themselves in. Clearing out such personal items will make the home feel larger and inviting.

• Weed Fields: Weed infested yards rarely invite offers... and when they do- they tend to be offers for well below asking price. When a buyer sees tall weeds they assume there are other problems lurking within the home. A good landscaping visit should include mowing, trimming and weeding. It's inexpensive and works wonders.

Listen to your listing agent. Such agents know what works. They may also introduce you to a good staging company whose sole purpose it is to make your home stand out in the crowded market. Happy home selling!

Every buyer is different. Each buyer has specific wants and needs but the first time home buyer will tend to have as many questions as requests. Here are the questions I usually seek to answer for the first time buyer:

• Do you want a new or existing home?
• When do you need to move?
  
• What places do you need to be near? (School, Work, Family, etc.)

After these questions are out of the way, the financial questions need to be answered:

• What do you hope to spend per month?
• Do you know your credit score?
  
• Are you pre-approved?
• Do you have a down payment saved up?

Knowing these answers will short cut the search process. Then the fun part begins: searching for the home. As a buyer's representative it's also important to point out that buyer's reps don't charge for their services. Also, it's a good time to explain fiduciary duty... that is, to make the buyer aware that we are looking for a home that best suits the buyer's need... not a house that the agent would most like to sell.

If you're a first time home buyer looking to live in Arizona, go to newhomesaz.com for more information about new and existing homes. 

I'm already aware that a good mortgage lender is often the best source for helping a client repair credit. Still... the busier lenders don't always have the time necessary to fully assist those who have above average credit repair needs.

Knowing that credit repair is a growth industry, I've also seen that there are some less than sterling groups out there. 

So... this is a call to the rainers. Do you have a credit repair group that you can recommend? Especially... do you have a group that assists those who speak Spanish. Please let me know who you use.

Most of my out of state clients ask me about the schools. Typically they'll ask "where are the best schools?" This is one of those "eye of the beholder" questions because 'best' usually requires a follow-up. It depends on what you're looking for. Every school has strengths and weaknesses. I'll send them to my website where clients may run in depth comparison of schools.

Many valley schools are dealing with the issue of student enrollment. Traditionally Tempe, Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa and Scottsdale have been the destination of choice for those who are looking for east valley schools with good student programs. As the valley continues to grow in a southeasterly direction enrollment has begun to decrease in these cities... so sites a report in an East Valley Tribune's article about enrollment drops.

As one school district sees an influx of students and others see a decline the districts are scrambling to meet the needs of the students.

As one of the fastest growing cities in the nation, Queen Creek Arizona is addressing their traffic needs through a series of initiatives. Residents can keep track of these projects through the website: http://www.ellsworthlooproad.com/ 

While the Ellsworth project is ahead of schedule, delays with the railroad underpass could affect traffic for a few months further as explained in this article from the East Valley Tribune which declares "The Ellsworth Loop Road, the largest improvement district in the state, began last October and will route traffic around the heart of downtown Queen Creek on a six-lane road flanked with commercial development."

Traffic will also be on the agenda September 26th, when the Queen Creek General Plan Update Open House which takes place at 6 P.M. at Queen Creek Town Hall, 22350 S. Ellsworth Road. Citizens can also take the general plan survey on the town Web site, www.queencreek.org."