Return on Home Improvement Projects

So many people do big projects - like updating a Bath - that costs thousands of dollars.  Unfortunately, they don't really imporve teh vallue of their home.  Many times, the least expensive projects provide the greatest return on the dollar.

Here are some examples:

Home Improvement Advice

Current Median and Average Prices Artificially High

If current indicators continue, this year is going to be very interesting. The Median Price and Average Price are unnaturaly high because the number of homes in the lower price ranges are low.  From the Cromford Report:


January 18 - Overall we have fewer homes available for sale than at the same time last year, but the picture varies a lot by price range:

Active listing counts above exclude those in UCB status Over $300,000 we see plenty more supply than last year at this time but under $200,000 there is far less. When demand grows it is likely to grow at the bottom end first, creating a shortage. The top end of the market has plenty of supply and this would remain true even if demand were to increase significantly in this segment. The other implication of this change in the mix is that the average price for active listings has increased a lot since since year even though the asking price of any specific home has not. This effect can lead to a lot of misunderstanding by sellers who can easily get over-optimistic.

New Year Holds Optimism as the Number of Listings Climb!

New Year Holds Optimism as the Number of Listings Climb!

January 15 - After 2 full weeks it is now possible to analyze the rate of new listings coming on to the market without distortions due to the highly weighted distribution by day of the week.

There have been a total of 4,353 new listings added since the start of the year (across all areas & types) which is 9.1% below 2014 and 1.3% below 2013. This is a low number and suggests that supply trends are weak despite the seasonal increase in active listings that we see in January every year. In fact it is a new record low for the 15 year period 2001-2015.

New supply is particularly weak at the bottom of the market under $200,000 while it is quite strong over $800,000.

Sellers of entry level homes are going to have less competition while sellers at the top end are going to have more competition compared with last year.


The new supply of short sales and REOs across greater Phoenix is much lower than in any of the years since 2008, but is higher than 2007 and all previous years since 2001. HUD homes are down to insignificant levels, lower than all years since 2001 except 2005 through 2007.

That doesnt make and Scents!

I only disagree with the idea that scents should be removed from the property - I love the vanilla and baked cookie scents!

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/32492-the-secret-to-selling-a-home-fast-home-staging

The Rental Picture is changing in the Valley of the Sun.  For more info:  December 2014 Rental Stats

In essence, the number of rentals is down every month except one in 2014.  On the other hand, rents are pretty good!

Here is the data from ARMLS that this info is based on:

Beware Boutique and Niche Lenders

The words "boutique" and "niche" have no place in lending for mortgages for a subdivision type of property.  If your loan officer is the  "Owner",  "President", or some other high-powered type of title, beware the consequences!

Two clients of mine have become victim of shoddy and slovenly practices by lenders from "boutique" agencies.  While the name "boutique" conjures up ideas of unique goods and high quality, my experience with these types of lenders engenders the exact opposite.

One story involves two Sellers, and one Buyer, all clients of mine that suffered excruciating delays in their transactions due to the inexperience of the lender.  We (my client and I) were told by the lender that all was fine - until within days of closing we were told that things were not fine.  We could tell that things weren't going well when the other agent stopped taking phone calls or returning emails promptly.

In each case, the lender - who swore up and down that he had all the necessary documentation - needed additional documentation from the Buyer to close the loan.  In one case, the documents were unobtainable because they were in the moving van somewhere between the east coast and Phoenix.  In the other two cases, it was documentation that could have been obtained easily at the beginning of the transaction but wasn't because the loan officer - even thought they were the president of the company - didn't know enough to ask for them until the underwriters asked for it.  The delay here was caused by the lack of follow-up on the lender.  It would take them days to follow up on something when a good lender would have never had the problem.

One lender was the spouse of the agent representing a buyer who wanted to buy my Seller's house - talk about a red flag!  When this was pointed out - my seller ignored the warning and decided to sell anyway.  The lender had assured us that the loan was a slam-dunk and there was nothing standing in the way of a smooth close, until there was that little documentation problem that delayed things a week, which took us into a holiday requiring another week.  Then it was discovered that something was incorrect in the package sent to the underwriter, which took another week.  What a mess!  All of these things should have been handled up front, or within 24 hours of the problem being discovered.  Taking a week to fix a documentation problem is not acceptable!

Most of the Realtors out there have working relationships with lenders based on an expectation that the lender will perform as they have in previous transactions.  Lenders with integrity will turn down loans that they are not experienced with.

However, if the lender recommended by a Realtor happens to be their spouse or relative, find another lender.  Find out how many loan officers are in a given lender's company.  If there are less than 5, be very careful!  Talk to a couple different lenders to get their opinions on how a loan should be done for your circumstances.  You will be surprised that there are lots of loans out there for you!

December is Not for Listing

Even though we have had less than a stellar year for sales of property within the Phoenix Metro area, at least we are following the normal pattern of highs and lows in the numbers of sales per month.   Buyers are likely to wait until after the holidays to make a commitment to own a new home now.  Sales will gradually taper off until about the end of January when people who made offers early in January are completing their transactions.  Following that, there is a bit of a "feeding frenzy" from buyers as they shake off the holiday lethargy and move forward with their plans for the new year.

So, if you are planning on listing a property, the best time to do it would be in mid-January, to take advantage of the surge of buyers coming in the nicest months of the year!