I wanted to give you a summary of two Ballot Propositions that will be voted on in Arizona in November. Both involve real estate. If you are an Arizona voter PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU VOTE.
PROPOSITION 100
If passed, this Initiative would prohibit the State Legislature from enacting a real estate transfer tax when you sell or buy a home. This would be an additional tax over and above what we pay now. The Proposition would amend the State Constitution so that the Legislature could not override it by passing a law. With the current State Budget in the red by quite a bit, Proposition 100 will block the Legislature from enacting a real estate transfer tax as a way to help make up the state's substantial tax income shortfall. The Arizona Association of Realtors sponsored this Proposition and recommends a "yes" vote as do I.
PROPOSITION 201
This Propositon is a bit tricky. You have probably been seeing ads on both sides of this Proposition. At first blush it sounds good, More protection for home buyers and protection against the big builders. But, if some of the ads are to be believed, ANYONE can sue a home seller for up to 10 years after the sale. Evidently, it will apply to private home sellers as well as builders.
A home builder friend of mine predicted that if Prop 201 passes, new home building will be drastically curtailed because builders will not want to build homes in, what will be for them, a legally more risky environment. For me, that is an important consideration.
Read your voter materials on Prop 201 and make up your own mind. Remember, this is a long Proposition and with long ones the devil is often in the details.
Richard
Showing posts with label resale homes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label resale homes. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Official Buyer's Advisory for Arizona
Click on the link below to go to the Arizona Department of Real Estate's BUYER ADVISORY. This is an excellent resource for all sorts of community information and things you should know about buying a home.
Consider yourself a veteran home buyer? I'll bet you even money you will find something in the Advisory that is new.
My recommendation? Take time to take a look.
Click here to go to the advisory.
Richard
Consider yourself a veteran home buyer? I'll bet you even money you will find something in the Advisory that is new.
My recommendation? Take time to take a look.
Click here to go to the advisory.
Richard
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Short Sale Homes
While short sales are fairly simple in theory, many Realtors and buyers are finding them very frustrating. The primary problem is the weeks and weeks it takes for the bank or lender to respond to offers from interested buyers.
You see listings that say they have "Short Sale Expeditors" on hand to help. My experience with these expeditors is that they are of little real assistance as they don't do anything but call and pester the bank to make a decision on the offer (something that any Realtor could do by themselves).
Well, a Realtor in my office has tackled that problem head on. He will be debuting his short sale service shortly. He has gotten to know the real decision makers at many of the local banks and knows how to put a presentation together that they can decide on in a couple of hours instead of waiting weeks and weeks for someone at a lower level to make a decision.
If you or someone you know are about to be or are in the middle of a short sale problem and would like some help, give me a call at 602-370-1450 and I will hook you up with this Realtor for a frank evaluation of your short sale situation.
Richard
You see listings that say they have "Short Sale Expeditors" on hand to help. My experience with these expeditors is that they are of little real assistance as they don't do anything but call and pester the bank to make a decision on the offer (something that any Realtor could do by themselves).
Well, a Realtor in my office has tackled that problem head on. He will be debuting his short sale service shortly. He has gotten to know the real decision makers at many of the local banks and knows how to put a presentation together that they can decide on in a couple of hours instead of waiting weeks and weeks for someone at a lower level to make a decision.
If you or someone you know are about to be or are in the middle of a short sale problem and would like some help, give me a call at 602-370-1450 and I will hook you up with this Realtor for a frank evaluation of your short sale situation.
Richard
Phoenix Home Market Update for September 2008
We got a briefing today from our affilated mortgage company regarding future trends for the Phoenix area.
Our home pricing trends will be affected by several recent news items. First is a news item I heard on the radio several days ago announcing that a record number of "foreclosure related" letters will be going out to Phoenix area homeowners this month.
Second, the federal downpayment assistance programs for first time homebuyers are going away on October 1 of this year. And third, about 5,000 adjustable rate mortgages in the Phoenix area will be resetting before December.
All this adds up to fewer buyers eligible for loans and mortgage payment increases for 5,000 additional home owners.
So, it ain't over yet. Predictions are currently that the downward pressure on home prices will continue through most of 2009.
Two bright spots showed up however. Since the Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac takeovers by the government, mortgage rates have fallen back into the high 5% area. And, there are a lot of very good buys out there for homes. You need to be selective but you can find very good buys on good homes if you look around.
You takes your positive news where you can get it.
Contact me if you have questions that are specific you your particular home or financial situation.
Richard
Our home pricing trends will be affected by several recent news items. First is a news item I heard on the radio several days ago announcing that a record number of "foreclosure related" letters will be going out to Phoenix area homeowners this month.
Second, the federal downpayment assistance programs for first time homebuyers are going away on October 1 of this year. And third, about 5,000 adjustable rate mortgages in the Phoenix area will be resetting before December.
All this adds up to fewer buyers eligible for loans and mortgage payment increases for 5,000 additional home owners.
So, it ain't over yet. Predictions are currently that the downward pressure on home prices will continue through most of 2009.
Two bright spots showed up however. Since the Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac takeovers by the government, mortgage rates have fallen back into the high 5% area. And, there are a lot of very good buys out there for homes. You need to be selective but you can find very good buys on good homes if you look around.
You takes your positive news where you can get it.
Contact me if you have questions that are specific you your particular home or financial situation.
Richard
Monday, February 25, 2008
Light at the End of the Tunnel? - Resale Home Sales - Jan 2008
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has released its updated resale home sales figures for January 2008 and there is at least a bit of good news.
In one section of the country sales actually picked up in January (Midwest) and had very small decreases in to other areas (South and overall for the USA).
In the West (our section) there was a further decline of 2.1% with a total for 2007 of a 28.5% decrease.
Sale prices increased in the Northeast and declined in the rest of the country. . In the west there has been an average 6.7% decline over the past year. We have some local neighborhoods which have experienced a greater decline. Overall, the Phoenix area decline is probably more than the average for the western section of the country.
The real bright spot is the NAR analyist said that he sees a turnaround nationally possibly as soon as this Summer.
So hang on, there may be a viable light at the end of this tunnel in the not too distant future.
For a scuccessful selling strategy in this type of market, see the post here from October 25, 2007 (in the archives).
In one section of the country sales actually picked up in January (Midwest) and had very small decreases in to other areas (South and overall for the USA).
In the West (our section) there was a further decline of 2.1% with a total for 2007 of a 28.5% decrease.
Sale prices increased in the Northeast and declined in the rest of the country. . In the west there has been an average 6.7% decline over the past year. We have some local neighborhoods which have experienced a greater decline. Overall, the Phoenix area decline is probably more than the average for the western section of the country.
The real bright spot is the NAR analyist said that he sees a turnaround nationally possibly as soon as this Summer.
So hang on, there may be a viable light at the end of this tunnel in the not too distant future.
For a scuccessful selling strategy in this type of market, see the post here from October 25, 2007 (in the archives).
Monday, December 31, 2007
New Resale Home Sales Figures
Just in time for New Years, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) released its latest resale home figures for the month of November.
This is a national figure and really is not localized for the Phoenix area at all but, since it is positive, I thought I'd pass it along.
NAR reported today that resale home figures for the month of November, ROSE 0.4% nationally. Not really a great figure but at least it was positive.
Another encouraging sales figure is that new home sales (again nationally) were LESS than new home permits. This means that the resale home competition from new builds is decreasing. Good news for existing home sellers.
Happy New year to you all.
Richard
This is a national figure and really is not localized for the Phoenix area at all but, since it is positive, I thought I'd pass it along.
NAR reported today that resale home figures for the month of November, ROSE 0.4% nationally. Not really a great figure but at least it was positive.
Another encouraging sales figure is that new home sales (again nationally) were LESS than new home permits. This means that the resale home competition from new builds is decreasing. Good news for existing home sellers.
Happy New year to you all.
Richard
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Light At The End Of The Real Estate Tunnel?
With the bad news about real estate permeating the news lately and homeowners still waiting for signs that the housing market is nearing its bottom - here is a bit of good news.
The "free" land that developers have been enjoying for months may be coming to and end. That means an end to developers offering these insane deep discounts to lure buyers to their new home developments (and away from resale homes).
Here is the how"free" land deal for developers works. It takes about three years for raw land to go from "desert to doorknobs". So, land being built on today had to be purchased about three years ago. Developers have most likely written off the value of that land long ago to compensate for their profits in 2004 & 2005. They are carrying it on their books at "zero" value.
The average cost of a residential lot in the Phoenix area is about $50,000. Thus it costs the builder essentially nothing to offer a $50K discount on his new homes.
That supply of "free" land is about used up and hopefully builders will soon no longer be able to afford to offer homes at these deep discounts.
This is good news indeed for all of us residential home owners who have seen the price of our homes depressed by new home builder discounting.
Maybe there is a light (of sorts) at the end of the tunnel.
Richard
Richard Haworth
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage
The "free" land that developers have been enjoying for months may be coming to and end. That means an end to developers offering these insane deep discounts to lure buyers to their new home developments (and away from resale homes).
Here is the how"free" land deal for developers works. It takes about three years for raw land to go from "desert to doorknobs". So, land being built on today had to be purchased about three years ago. Developers have most likely written off the value of that land long ago to compensate for their profits in 2004 & 2005. They are carrying it on their books at "zero" value.
The average cost of a residential lot in the Phoenix area is about $50,000. Thus it costs the builder essentially nothing to offer a $50K discount on his new homes.
That supply of "free" land is about used up and hopefully builders will soon no longer be able to afford to offer homes at these deep discounts.
This is good news indeed for all of us residential home owners who have seen the price of our homes depressed by new home builder discounting.
Maybe there is a light (of sorts) at the end of the tunnel.
Richard
Richard Haworth
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage
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