Phoenix Market Foreclosures No Longer Hot Topic

From the Cromford news line:

April 1 - Foreclosures are not a hot topic anymore, but continue to happen in good times as well as bad.
In March we had a slight increase in the number of new Notices of Trustee Sale in Maricopa County from 923 to 965 (up 4.5%). We also had a very slight rise in Trustee Deeds from 572 to 575 (up 0.5%). However this is misleading because March had a 10.5% increase in the number of days that the trustees were working, up from 19 to 21.

If we look at the number of notices per working day, we declined from 49 to 46 (a drop of 5.8%).

If we look at trustee deeds per working day, we declined from 30 to 27 (a drop of 10%).

This is the most accurate way to measure foreclosures. Looking at the monthly counts is very popular and common, but of no use at all if you are trying to detect small changes. This is because the change in the number of working days in each month is much greater than the change in the foreclosure numbers, so the noise is larger than the signal. April has 22 working days, so even though it is a shorter month than March it should have 4.8% more foreclosures than March if foreclosures have reached a stable level. At the moment we have not reached stability and the declining trends in foreclosure starts and foreclosure completions are still intact.

There are currently only 2,980 lender owned properties in Maricopa County. There are only 4,494 pending foreclosures (active notices). To put these into context we counted 16,342 lender owned properties and 45,173 pending foreclosures at the beginning of April 2010.

Residential numbers are about 92% to 94% of the totals. Some 6% to 8% are commercial or other non-residential.


#Avondale , #Goodyear , #Buckeye , #Glendale,  #Phoenix, #Surprise, #Peoria, #Tolleson, #Laveen, #Waddell , #Wittman

Why Your Realtor Needs to Talk to your Lender

If you look like the guy in this picture when your Realtor asks you for the contact information for your #Mortgage #Lender, you wouldn't be alone.

Many people don't understand that their Realtor needs to talk to their lender.  Here are many of the reasons why:

• Offers must come with a pre-qualification, or they will not be answered.  Put yourself in the Seller's shoes: If you have one offer with a pre-qualification from a lender, and another offer without any assurances of being able to have funds to buy your house, which will you choose?
• Realtors must know the type of loan that you will be getting.  Sellers can refuse to accept offers with a particular type of loan.  For example, if a Seller knows that a house will not pass an FHA appraisal, they can say that they will only accept Cash or Conventional loans.  This is not discrimination, it is a business decision made by the Seller.  Why look at homes that you are excluded from buying?
• If you have a very low down payment because you have a small cash reserve, the Realtor and Lender can often come up with a plan to help you get a particular home.  By coming up with a mix of Lender paid, Seller Paid and Realtor Paid closing costs, they can come up with a winning offer at no cost to you!
• If you are planning a huge down payment, a discussion between the Realtor and Lender can often save you cash out of pocket to use for things for the home, or just to keep for a rainy day.
• A Lender can give a Realtor tips that will help the Realtor save you money.  For example, it may be that if you have a 7 week escrow instead of a 4 week escrow, you can save another 1/8th of a point in interest due to a credit score change or a DTI change!
• Lenders will have suggestions as to how to implement a transaction to be able to take best advantage of your financial situation, especially if you need to be near your maximum borrowing power.  They can tell your Realtor what the maximum taxes and HOA fees can be for your situation.
• The biggest reason that a Realtor needs to speak with you Lender, is to be sure that you are seeing homes in the right price range.  There is no bigger heartbreak than to look for weeks and get your hopes set on a house, only to discover that you cannot make an offer because it is out of your price range.  The flip side to that is to discover that you are looking far below your price range, and that you could have easily have had that home with the pool and the 3 car garage.  Why spend time, use up the energy and live through the emotional turmoil of buying a new home, only to find that you should be in a different neighborhood?

#Avondale , #Goodyear , #Buckeye , #Glendale,  #Phoenix, #Surprise, #Peoria, #Tolleson, #Laveen, #Waddell , #Wittman

Seller Motivation in 2014

This is first in a series of blogs on buyer and seller motivation in 2014.

Yesterday morning was spent in the company of several agents and one broker touring homes that are for sale.   All of the homes that we saw were well kept (except one), priced according to the market, available for viewing with little trouble on the showing agent's part, and in good neighborhoods.  One was a new build two years ago. The rest were purchased by their current owners as foreclosures.   One had been on the market for over 5 months, the rest on the market for between 30 and 50 days.

After the tour, there was an informal discussion centering on the attitudes of the people whose homes were for sale.  Without exception, the seller's motivation had to do with moving to another part of the city.  They had purchased theirs homes when the values were low,  now they have equity that they want to use to obtain a home in an area closer to an emotional anchor - work, aging parents, better schools.  Another interesting point, the seller's wanted their price, market be damned!

If you have a listing, please comment with their motivation.  I am beginning to sense that this is the year of the no-motivation seller!


#Avondale , #Goodyear , #Buckeye , #Glendale,  #Phoenix, #Surprise, #Peoria, #Tolleson, #Laveen, #Waddell , #Wittman

We only have the Market.

This quote pertains to homes as well.  I have many people who want to find homes under $100,000, and are shocked that they don't get a 2000 sq ft home built in 2002!  They want a quality home cheap.  And, while the homes that are available in their stated price range is were not originally build poorly, many are now over 50 years old and require extensive repairs.

There is no such thing as a "bargain" in real estate.  The only thing we have is the Market.


#Avondale , #Goodyear , #Buckeye , #Glendale,  #Phoenix, #Surprise, #Peoria, #Tolleson, #Laveen, #Waddell , #Wittman

A Poor Investor Decision

The house was originally built in 1942.  It has two bedrooms and a single bath in about 800 square feet.  Unknown is whether the attached "apartment" is supposed to be a portion of the 800 square feet.  There is an addition in the back of the house that allows the "apartment" to access the main house.  The roof appears sound and has maybe another 5 - 7 years left on the shingles.

Here is where it gets interesting:

The swamp cooler doesn't work. The A/C unit, which is about 8 years old, runs, but doesn't cool or heat properly.  Probably 50% of the breakers in the breaker box have two - one has three - wires running from them to somewhere.  The gas water heater is in a compartment that vents inside, and has no insulating collar around it where it goes through the roof.  The electrical service is from overhead power lines, and the fixture that secures the power line to the house looks like it could come off at any time.  There are no smoke detectors or carbon monoxide detectors.  The house has been treated for termites, and there is evidence of a major termite infestation.

My client currently owns - and lives in - a home just down the street.  Many of his relatives live in a 3 block radius.  His emotional pull to this house is such that he desperately wants to own it.  However, he has never been a landlord.  I have tried to explain to him what his responsibilities as a landlord will be, and how much money he must spend to make the house safe and livable.  He doesn't seem to care.  He is ready to own this home for $55,000, and then put another $20,000 into it, just because it is in his neighborhood.

What a pity.


#Avondale , #Goodyear , #Buckeye , #Glendale,  #Phoenix, #Surprise, #Peoria, #Tolleson, #Laveen, #Waddell , #Wittman

The New F35 Fighter Aircraft at Luke AFB

Despite the fact that our military hasn't received much in the way of pay increases, the cities immediately surrounding #LukeAFB in the western Phoenix valley have all seen very nice increases in the past few years.  With the arrival of the new #F35 fighter at the base, this area seems destined to maintain its values, and continue its upward momentum.  Here is a look at the last few years median prices.

#Avondale , #Goodyear , #Buckeye , #Glendale,  #Phoenix, #Surprise, #Peoria, #Tolleson, #Laveen, #Waddell , #Wittman

AS-IS Homebuying - What it really means

During the heyday of foreclosure home buying, #AS-IS  (sometimes referred to as  AS-IS, Where-Is) meant that the buyer would make absolutely no repairs.  You bought all the problems with a property when you signed on the dotted line.  After your inspection, you either bought the property or you didn't.

With a "normal" sale, after an inspection is completed on a home, the prospective owner usually has some sort of list of things that they would like to have repaired.  This list can lead to negotiations that might change the terms of the transaction.  With an AS-IS property, there is not supposed to be a list of repairs.  The buyer is just supposed to either take the property or not.  There is one exception to this rule:  If a defect in a property is uncovered that would stop another buyer from purchasing the property, there might be room for further negotiation of terms.  For example, a cracked foundation, the presence of mold, discovery of termites - things that a bank will not allow to exist prior to issuing a mortgage.

However, minor things are not on this list - especially those things that can be discovered simply by being observant when going through the house.  Things like missing cover plates on electrical sockets and switches, burnt out light bulbs, absence of a tilt guard on a stove and drywall repairs should not be something that an owner of a home being sold AS-IS should be asked to repair.

There seems to be a pervasive idea out there that the AS-IS clause or addendum in the contract is something that can be ignored if a prospective owner wants anything repaired.  Unless the Realtor properly prepares their client, submitting a list of repairs to a home owner after having established the transaction with an AS-IS clause or addendum may be considered to be dealing in bad faith.  This could open up the Realtor to potential litigation.

So please, when you submit an offer for a client to own a property in AS-IS condition, prepare your clients properly, and keep yourself out of the muck!


#Avondale , #Goodyear , #Buckeye , #Glendale,  #Phoenix, #Surprise, #Peoria, #Tolleson, #Laveen, #Waddell , #Wittman