Features Buyers Want

Here are the five kitchen and bath features buyers want the most:
36% want a separate shower enclosure in the master bath
31% want an eat-in kitchen
24% want high-end appliances
23% want granite counter tops
21% want a kitchen island

Source February 2009 issue of REALTOR® Magazine - Source: NAR 2007 Profile of Buyers' Home Feature Preferences

Impove Your Odds of Getting Your Home Sold

When you are selling your home what it looks like on the inside matters. Buyers will look at photos of the inside of your home on the Internet and will decide based upon these photos whether or not they want to see your home. Don't think that if the inside of your home is a mess that you can still get buyers by not having interior photos of your home posted on the MLS. Many buyers browse only those homes that have multiple photos.

Once you get them interested enough to come view your home, it is important that the home look clean and clutter free when they arrive to view it. Potential buyers should be able to picture themselves living in your home. This means that you need to pack up or give away items that are cluttering up your home. To get an idea of what this means, look at a few model homes in new built subdivisions and see how they are decorated. Look in some home decorating magazines and count how many personal items are displayed. Limit yourself to a similar number. Homes with clean and spacious (uncluttered) interiors tend to sell faster.

For more information - Realty Times article - Clutter Free Helps Sell Homes

A New Year - A Fresh Start

The Federal Housing Administration has a new website page full of information that will help you get your financial house in order. The page is titled My Money, My Home, My Future. This is for anyone wanted to review their finances and finacial plans not just home owners.

FHA - My Money, My Home, My Future

What Style is Your House?

The National Association of REALTORS® has a web page that describes all of the common architectural styles of homes in the United States. While the page is meant for real estate professionals, it is also assessable for the public. Styles discussed include: Pueblo, Contemporary, Ranch, Prairie, and many more.

NAR Residential Styles

How Much Will I Get When I Sell My House?

It is important to understand when you sell your house that there will be costs associated with selling. You will net the amount of the agreed upon purchase price minus the costs to sell. The following are types of costs which may apply to your sale:

• Outstanding balance and interest owed on your home loan


• Any real estate taxes still owed (annual taxes are typically prorated between the buyer and seller based upon the sale date)


• Any outstanding home owners association fees or assessments due plus home owners association transfer fees


• Title Insurance


• Closing fees charged by the escrow company


• Recording fees, transfer fees, or other government registration fees


• VA or other loan fees required to be paid by seller, if applicable


• Survey fee, if applicable


• Home Warranty, if agreed as part of sale contract


• Any outstanding liens, if any, against the property


• If an attorney is utilized, attorney fees


• Brokerage commission

In addition to these costs, some seller's agree to pay a portion of the buyer's cost as part of the negotiated contract for sale. Additionally, you may owe federal, state, or local income tax on the proceeds of your sale depending upon your situation. Consult your accountant or the IRS to determine if you will owe taxes.

Federal Take Over of Fannie Mae & Freddic Mac

The federal government has taken over conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It is believed that this will lead to more stability for these companies and the financial markets and economy in general. It may lead to low interest rates for mortgages. There is a lot of information available about this and I've provided links to some articles below for those of you who would like to be more informed.



Mortgage Industry Welcomes Federal Fix - Sept. 9 - AZ Republic



A Primer on Fannie and Freddie: What the Bailout Means - Sept. 8 - U.S. News & World Report



Fannie and Freddie: What You Should Know - Sept. 8 - U.S. News & World Report

Planning Your Move

We have added a button "Moving Checklist" which is just below the "Condo Search" button. This will link you to a Moving Time Table and a Moving Checklist. You can print either or both out for your use in planning your move. A few more tips are listed below.

Packing Considerations
· When obtaining boxes look for medium size ones that will be easy to lift when full.
· Compartmentalized containers (with cardboard dividers) are great for packing glassware and other small fragile items.
· Don’t use newspapers to wrap items that could be damaged if the ink rubbed off. Use tissue paper or plain paper designed for packing. Towels and linens can also be used for wrapping items.
· Empty and clean your refrigerator prior to the move.
· Be careful packing any containers of liquids that could easily leak. Seal them tightly with tape and place in plastic bags.

Small Bits & Parts
Whenever you dismantle an item for the move. Place small pieces, screws, and wires in a zip lock bag labeled with the item. Tape bag to item or place all such zip lock bags in one clearly marked box.

ASHI Client Bill of Rights

The American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) has created a Client Bill of Rights. Before ordering a home inspection it is a good idea to visit their site and read the Client Bill of Rights along with some of the other information they provide. There is information for home buyers as well as home sellers and home owners. You can even take a Virtual Home Inspection Tour.

Why no one is looking at your home for sale.

Click on picture for a larger image.

Showing homes to potential buyers start these days at the computer. Agents search for homes using criteria that is given to them by the buyer. It has to be in a certain city or it has to have four bedrooms. If you've bought anything, you've been through this process.

Realtors input this information into the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). What most of them fail to realize is that each input is a possible connection with the buyer. The more you input, the greater the chance that the buyer's agent will find it in the MLS. If you put in a typo that the price is $3,500,000, instead of the correct price of $350,000 (one extra zero), than no one is going to see your home. If you leave a field blank, than it might limit the showings as well.

Here's an example. I have a client that needs a ground level unit that is one level. She's disabled and she cannot do stairs. I found 37 properties in the area she wanted to live in that were single level. Now, you can have a single level home on the 2nd floor. I then narrowed it to how many were ground level and found five. Now, I thought the number would be higher. So, I went back to the first search and manually looked at each listing. Sure enough, I found about 15 properties that were ground level, but wasn't listed as such. 15 agents that left the field blank and 15 agents that are getting less showings because of it. Look at the picture, there's other boxes that might need to be checked. All in all, there are hundreds of places for agents to mess up on.

If your home is listed for sale and you are not getting enough showings, I'd check your MLS listing to make sure it is accurate. If you are in the process of interviewing your next agent, ask him or her for an audit of your current listing.

Here's the five top things I'd check for:

1. Is the location correct in the MLS map? I was looking at a Queen Creek property the other day. When I clicked on location, the map showed dozens of properties pinpointed far from Queen Creek. One, was in Salt Lake City, Utah.

2. Can you get to the home with the written directions?

3. If you live in a condo/townhome is the level, shared walls, unit style correct?

4.Under features and room details is everything possible listed?

5.Are there pictures and virtual tours attached to your listing? Did you know that agents can choose to send only listing with these items. I've seen properties on the MLS for over a year and no picture of the home.

Rules for Loans Change on October 1, 2008

If you are thinking about buying a house in the next 12 months, you should really talk with a lender now. The new housing bill will have an impact on everything from down payment requirements to seller assistance. These are some things that will change on October 1, 2008 as I understand the bill:

• The down payment requirement for an FHA loan will go from 3.0% to 3.5% of the purchase price.
• For FHA loans, the seller will no longer be able to assist the buyer with the down payment through programs like AmeriDream and Nehemiah. (There are currently a lot of sales using these programs.)
• Provides for a tax credit of up to $7500 for qualified home purchases between 4/9/08 and 6/30/08. This credit acts like an interest free loan in that it must be repaid over the next 15 years.

For more information: NAR Summary of Housing Bill Provisions

We recommend that you contact a lender to discuss the specific impact for your home loan and that you speak with an accountant for more information regarding the tax credit. We will also be happy to answer any questions that we can.

Newspapers - Are Classified Ads going away

I frequently hear the statistic that about 80% of home buyers start their home search on the Internet. The impact of this change can be seen in the shrinking size of the real estate classified ad section of the newspaper. Even though we have an historically high quantity of homes for sale in the Phoenix area, the size of the real estate classified section in the AZ Republic has gotten much smaller in the last few years. Today, I read that the Los Angles Times printed it's final edition of their real estate section on Sunday. (Article - A Good Steady Market) I think that over time most of the classified ads in newspapers will be posted on-line only, and this is not just for real estate.

What this means is - if you are thinking of selling your home, make sure you hire a real estate agent that is experienced with Internet marketing.

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

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?

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?

When Is a Termite Report Clear?

Whenever I speak with people about real estate they always ask me how it is dealing with today's real estate market. I tell them that we are selling houses but that everything is harder and more work than in past years. The newest wrinkle is the termite report.

Most lenders require that a termite report be done and that a clear report be issued before they will approve/fund a loan. It used to be that the report needed to show "no visible evidence of infestation from wood destroying insects was observed". If evidence was observed, then proof of a recent treatment needed to be provided or a treatment needed to be done and then a clear report provided. Now lenders particularly for FHA loans are requiring that if any "conditions conducive to infestation" are listed on the termite report they must be corrected and a clear report issued before the loan can be approved/funded. The conditions may include excessive moisture, wood to earth contact, and dry rot. It is best to ask for these repairs as part of the Buyer's Inspection Notice and Seller's Response. However, sometimes the lender is not notifying the parties until right before closing that these items need to be fixed which results in a scramble to get them corrected and often times a delay of closing.

A/C Servicing - Who to Believe

SRP has a program where you can schedule a 16 point service check-up for your air-conditioning system for $29.95. You call them up and they send out one of their contractors. We decided to do this since it would less expensive than having the service done by the company that installed our a/c system. They came out today and gave us a whole list of things that they recommend be fixed up to and including replacement of the whole system. We had him give us a written list of what he thought was wrong with the system. This is a system that is currently working. So, it is difficult to know if what they are recommending is really needed or not. So, here are our next steps:

1) Look up the company who did the service today at the Arizona Registrar of Contractors site. I can see that there are two resolved complaints and that the company has been in business since 2002. I strongly recommend that you look-up any contractor on this site for any type of work before signing a contract with them.

To look-up contractor by license number (license number is usually in ads and on invoices as ROC#)
To look-up contractor by name

2) Someone else from his company will come out in a few days to give us estimates on replacing the whole system or just the inside air-handler. The outside unit was replaced several years ago but the inside unit is original to the house. It can be difficult to replace an inside unit only and make it fit with the existing outside unit.

3) After we have this written estimate, then we will have the company that replaced the outside unit come out and review the recommendations and provide an estimate for any work they feel needs to be done.

4) If we feel that it is needed, get an estimate from a third company as well.

5) See what we can do to validate the information provided. For example, he said the inside unit was working harder than it should. We can compare our electric bill to the typical electric bill for a house our size. SRP sent us a year end statement that shows we are paying more than the average amount for a house our size. Is this due to the a/c unit or other factors?

6) Research incentive programs and tax breaks that might help off-set the cost if we replace the unit. We already found one - SRP PowerWise Cool Rebate.

We'll keep you posted on our experiences. If you have any recommendations, please leave a comment.

Who Should You Call??

If you have started having trouble making your house payments or anticipate having trouble in the near future, you may want to ask for some advice or help. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development has a listing by state of approved housing counselors on their website.

HUD Approved Housing Counseling Agencies for AZ

They also have Tips for Avoiding Foreclosure and a lot of other valuable information. One of the first things listed, which I have heard recommended by others as well, is to call your lender and explain your situation and ask for help. If your lender can't help, you might want to call one of the approved counseling agencies for advice. There are some new government programs to help struggling home owners and the counseling agencies should have current information about the programs.

Which lockbox is right for you?

You've listed your real property with a licensed real estate agent in Arizona. The agent places this lock box on your property. Is it the right one for you?

It's a numerical code box that anyone with the number can access. It's used for non-agents to gain access. Maybe a plumber or HVAC guy to do work. Maybe a cleaning crew to tidy the place up. It's called a combo lock box or builders key safe. But, if the code is put into a MLS listing, it is like leaving the key in the keyhole for all the world to use. I don't recommend one for an active listing on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Although agents are not supposed to do this, on a rare occassion some agents will give the key safe code to their clients to view a vacant home on their own.

Maybe your agent is using these grey boxes. These are what we used before. It's safer than the key boxes, but not all agents can access this type. An agent with a lock box key like the one in the picture can access it, but more and more agents are using an infra red key to open the lock box and they can't get access with this lock box. I use my Treo phone with infra red to gain access and I can't open the grey boxes. When we moved to the blue boxes, GE gave us a blue box for each grey box we turned in. I'm not sure why any agent kept a grey box.

Hopefully, this is the box your agent is using to secure your home. It goes on the door knob, the hose bib or any pipe. It's accessed by a computerized key by a real estate professional that needs to be updated every night. It will send contact information on any agent that shows your home to your listing agent. It is the most secure way to give access to real estate agents, inspectors and appraisers. It's the best way to get feedback from other agents too. I look on my phone for yesterdays showings and I can call each agent to find out if they liked it, hated it, showed it or just previewed it.

If your prospective agent isn't going to use a blue lock box, then pick another agent.

Higher Allowable Loan Amounts for FHA Loans

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced on 3/6 higher loan limits for FHA loans. The old limit for Maricopa County for a single family house was $263,150 and the new limit is $346,250. This means more financing options are available for potential buyers of properties priced between $263,150 and $346,250. NAR List of All Counties

In an email we received from Dick Gaylord, President of the National Association of REALTORS®, he said "We expect the impact of these loan limit increases on the housing market to be significant because of the infusion of capital into the mortgage market, which should result in lower interest rates across the board. In addition, there will be a direct impact on high-cost areas that previously required borrowers to take out costlier jumbo mortgages."

If you want to read more: CCN:Money - High Cost Mortgages Just Got Cheaper