Slow but Steady Progress for Phoenix Real Estate Market

The real estate market in the East Valley is making slow and steady progress. The number of listings came down from May to June of this year. They decreased in June by 7.4% over June of last year. We still need significant reductions in listing inventory in order for the real estate market to come back into balance; however, the market does seem to be moving in the right direction. Additionally, the number of sales increased from June of 2007 to June of 2008 by 10%.

These statistics are for the homes listed or sold by members of the Southeast Valley Association of REALTORS® (SEVRAR). They will include sales of homes in the greater Phoenix area that were made by SEVRAR members. Even so, these statistics should be fairly representative of what is happening in the East Valley. SFD stands for Single Family Detached Homes.This data is supplied by the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service. ARMLS, West USA, and Pat & Amy Monahan do not guarantee the accuracy of the data.

Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008

President Bush signed into law the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. The link below provides a good summary of the act (provided by the National Association of REALTORS®). You should read this if you are considering purchasing a home, selling a home, or feel that you need to refinance an existing home loan.

Summary of Provisions

The Met!

New condos in Chandler. Right near the Chandler Fashion Center. It's called The Metropolitan and it will be 13 buildings of retail and housing. There's no other place like it in Chandler. Many of the buildings will be 6 stories tall, the largest in the city.

Here's some of the amenities that The Met is including -

Pool/ Hot Tub/ Firepits

24 hour security

The Met Ride - shuttle to / from work within 4 miles.

World Class Fitness Center

200 Channel HD TV service

Fiber Internet

Movie and Billiard lounge

Prices start around $200,000 and go up to $600,000. Square footage is from 1100 up to 1700 and views from the upper floors should be incredible. If this sounds like the home for you, give us a call and we'll get you in "The Met."

New Type of Display for Search Results

Sometimes teenagers can be good sources of information about the Internet. I recently learned about http://www.searchme.com/ from one. I don't think it will replace Google or other search engines for me but I do like it. Instead of displaying short descriptions of the search result matches, it displays an actual image of the web page.

Click here to see the results I got for African Spurred Tortoise. As usual there were some results that were useful for me and some that were not. I saved the pages that are useful into a stack.

Buy a Kiva in Chandler

Every now and then I'll see something unusual when showing homes. Today I saw a Kiva for the first time in a Chandler backyard. Wikipedia does a better job of describing a Kiva than I do.

Now of course, I doubt this is an archaeological ruin. I guess I would call it a faux kiva. I doubt that it was used for religious purposes, but you never know. Might be worth getting the info from the past owner. After all, I'd hate to move into the home and find out I could not take it down.

If you need a home with a faux kiva, let me know. I know of a house that has one.

Cell Phone Lot at the Airport

Planning on picking up relatives at Sky Harbor? Here's a great idea. The airport now has two lots with incoming flight info for you to wait in. No more having to circle the airport clogging up the road. Tell your friends to call you when then leave baggage claim. You pull into the lot up to 30 minutes prior to the planes arrival. Check out the board and wait. They get their bags and call you with what terminal they are at and you drive up to meet them. It's that simple. A great idea. Hey, don't forget to bring a book!

Lots of Lockboxes

Normally, when I show homes, the lockbox is on the front door or nearby. But, when we show homes in a high rise, the lockboxes will be centrally located. This is the lockbox box at a high rise in Scottsdale. I've never seen so many boxes at once. The blue boxes are the new ones. The grey boxes are the old technology. I wonder if those REALTORS know that not all agents can access the old ones?

Personalized Radio

Have you heard of the Internet radio site Pandora? You create your own personal music stations by starting with an artist or song. It then plays music which is similar to that which you selected. You can mark songs while they are playing with a thumbs up or thumbs down. The program uses this information to better tune the station to your tastes. The more songs you mark the more the station will be personalized to your taste. You can save the station for the next time you visit. You can create different stations to suit the different genres of music that you like. While the song is playing you can also display information about the artist and the album the music is from. It is also suggests similar artists that you might like.

There is now information about sharing a station that you have created with a friend. I haven't done that before but it could be fun.

What is really nice about this is that the music comes out of your computer speakers. You could even set up a station for listening at work without the need for a radio on your desk.

Free Rice for UN World Food Program and Fun for You!

I read an article, Word Fun Becomes Feeding Frenzy, in the AZ Republic today about http://www.freerice.com/. I had also heard about this site from our daughter who has played it quite a bit. It is pretty simple and probably easy to get addicted too. It was originally created by a father to help his kids study for the SAT.

It is basically pretty simple, the screen displays a multiple choice vocabulary question, answer right and 20 grains of rice get donated to the UN World Food Program. You can keep playing and answering more questions which get harder as you get questions right. After you have answered a few questions, it assigns a starting vocabulary level for you to work upwards from. Apparently the highest level is 60 and not too many people make that. Will you be one of them? In the Options section you can select to save your total and vocabulary level from one session to the next.

The rice gets distributed in countries like Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Uganda. The site's sponsors pay for the rice. 20 grains of rice may not seem like a lot but it adds up quickly. Just yesterday over 75 million grains of rice were donated through this program.

There is a lot more information on the FAQ button on the http://www.freerice.com/ website.

Redesigning the Blog

I recently made some changes to the look of the blog. Hopefully, you all like it. I got great information from www.bloggerbuster.com. The A Cheats' Guide to Customizing Blogger Templates that I got from that website was very understandable and easy to use. I will say that it may or may not be for people who are computer phobic but is pretty good for those with average computer knowledge.

Highway Maintenance and Traffic Information

You might want to check out ADOT's http://www.az511.gov/ site. It has a lot of information about road closings, traffic conditions, and more. You can bring up a map of a lot of different areas and check the things you want to see. For example, this is a link to road closures and road maintenance in the East Valley this weekend. There is also information on all ADOT camera locations, a map of current traffic conditions with colors highlighting the speed of traffic on the freeways, and still shots from those camera's of actual roadway (example Tempe - just move your mouse over the little camera icons). Have fun!

What to do with Old Eye Glasses

I discovered recently that Costco's optical department collects old prescription eye glasses for the Lion's Club. I just dropped off a bunch there today that we have been accumulating. The Lion's Club cleans and categorizes the glasses and then has a program for distributing them to needy people in developing countries. You can read more about their program at their site.

The downtown branch of the Chandler Public Library has had a box for them in the past. I'm not sure if it still does. Please leave a comment if you know of other locations that people can drop off their used eye glasses.

Have Fissures? Can You Lower Your Property Taxes?

Here is a link to an East Valley Tribune article about a woman living in Pinal County who successfully worked with the County Assessor's office to have her property value lowered due to the fissure under her home.

Assessment Shows Affects of Fissure

I hope none of you have this problem; but, if you do or know someone who does you might want to direct them to this article.

For more information on Arizona earth fissures in general you can download A Homeowner's Guide Online Guide to Geological Hazards in Arizona from the Arizona Geological Survey website. This information is useful for homeowners and those considering purchasing property in Arizona. You can also access fissure maps at their site.

New Law Requiring Liscenses for Mortgage Originators

We received notification from the Arizona Department of Real Estate that the Governor, Janet Napolitano, has signed the legislation to require licensing of loan originators. The new law will go into effect in January of 2010. This bill has been supported by many in the lending and real estate industry. It marks a positive step forward for Arizona. It will require loan officers and mortgage originators to pass a test, pay a fee, meet continuing education requirements, and notify the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions where they are working.

Information from: Catherine Reagor's Real Estate Blog (AZ Central), ABC15.com, and ADRE

Saving Money on Gas

The US Department of Energy and the EPA have a pretty informative site on fuel economy, http://www.fueleconomy.gov/. You can compare cars side by side for mpg (miles per gallon), safety, greenhouse gas emissions, and more. There is information on hybrid vehicles and tax rebates offered, finding the lowest gas prices, how to drive more efficiently, and more. You can even calculate the mpg you get on your current car and compare to other people with the same or similar car. One example of the suggestions to improve your gas mileage is to make sure you aren't carry any excess weight. It may be time to clean out the trunk or back of your car and remove anything that doesn't need to be there.

Pets - When You Want to Sell Your Home?

Lots of people enjoy having pets; but, when it comes to selling your home, remember the buyer may not see your pet the same way you do. Here are some things to consider doing when you are selling your home and you have a pet:

• Make sure the house does not smell like pets. You may want to ask a friend to walk into your home and see if he or she can smell the pet. You are probably so used to the smell if there is one, that you will not notice. If there is a smell, do everything you can to eliminate it. This may mean having carpets and upholstered furniture professionally cleaned, cleaning floors thoroughly, cleaning window treatments, and airing out the house by opening windows if possible. Also, if there is a liter box, make sure that it is cleaned daily while the house is being shown.
• Avoid putting limitations on showing times for your house due to pets if at all possible. If an appointment has to be made to see your house so the dogs can be removed, potential buyers and real estate agents may pass it up if there are lots of other houses for sale in your area. I know of a seller who asked a family member to care for his dog at their house while his house was on the market so his home would not have this showing limitation.
• If your back yard is one of the "features" of your home, try to avoid limiting access to it because you have put the dogs there. If the buyer can't go out into the backyard he most likely won't see it as a feature.
• Remember that your dog may seem fairly friendly to you but may seem scary to a potential buyer or agent, especially if the dog is large.
• Let your real estate agent know that you have a pet or pets. Discuss the best options dealing with your pets while your home is on the market before your home is put into the MLS. If there are special instructions for pets - ask your agent to put these into the MLS.
• Consider your pet's well being as well. Does your pet like strangers or is he or she afraid of them. How will he react when strange people come into your home?