Phoenix Urban Real Estate Blog

Are we at the bottom yet?

Reports are out that we may be at the bottom.  The Phoenix Real Estate market is certainly heating up.  Investors and back and bidding up asking prices.  And why should they with asking prices 53% below 2006.  The difference this time is they aren't flipping them, they are renting them.  That's good for the resale market but what will that do to the rental market?  Many people believe when the monthly rents equals the same price it would cost to buy the same property we are at the bottom.  Not only does that make sense but why should someone rent?  The only real reason is they can't get a mortgage and with lending tighter than in 2006, there could be a lot of renters.  This sounds like a good  mix for the bottom but don't expect values to go up quickly.  They never have before in a housing past housing recessions and this one was worse.  Expect values to stay low for a while but not interest rates, they might start climbing slowly. 

Check out this story from AZCentral.com

Contact me for more information or to look at property.

Chris@RooPhoRealty.com or 602.224.0554

http://www.phoenixazurban.com/

Excerpt from CNN.com about Phoenix

Prices have dropped in Phoenix more than any other Metropolitan area.  Read this excerpt from CNN.com.

PHOENIX (Fortune) -- Did you happen to see the latest home-price stats from S&P/Case-Shiller, or did you avert your eyes? Here's what struck me: As of March 2009, every metro area in Case-Shiller's 20-city index, without exception, has fallen double digits from its peak. Ten are down more than 30%. Eight have dropped more than 40%. Las Vegas is down 50%. Phoenix? It doesn't get any worse than Phoenix. According to Case-Shiller, between June 2006 and March 2009 the average house in Phoenix lost a staggering 53% of its value. Possibly during the Great Depression, but almost certainly at no time since then, have house prices in a major metropolitan area fallen by more than half. It's almost unbelievable. Brother, tell me you didn't buy a house during the boom in Phoenix!

It's hard to say if we're at the bottom yet but prices are really really low all over the valley.  Interest rates are starting to go up a bit so you might not want to wait too long.  Contact me and I'll help you determine if this is the right time for you to buy.  You can contact me at www.RooPhoRealty.com or Chris@RooPhoRealty.com

Be careful where you buy.

Many of the apartment-to-condo conversions did not completely sell out and the developer has returned to renting.  There are still condos for sale by developers but also are for sale by owners who are selling them as a short sale or Banks that have foreclosed on them.  I believe it’s a bad investment to buy a condo in an apartment complex.  With the future economy uncertain, there’s no telling when the rest of the apartments will be sold as condos or for how much.  You could buy one today for $75k and the developer could start selling them next hear for $50k.  It’s hard to say and very risky.  I’m doing the best I can to keep track of these so if you’re interested in buying, please contact me at Chris@RooPhoRealty.com or go to www.PhoenixAZUrban.com

Some interesting numbers

There have been 58 homes in the Anthem Country Club that are over 2500 square feet that have sold since the first of the year.  12 were Short Sales and 31 were Bank Owned and 15 were regular sellers.  There are currently 57 homes in the country club over 2500 square feet that are active, 17 are Short Sales, 4 are Bank Owned and 36 are regular sellers.  There are currently 26 under contract, 13 Short Sales under contract, 8 Bank Owned and 5 are regular sellers.  It might be good to keep an eye on Short Sales but keep after the Bank Owned, they look like they are the ones closing.  Banks can close on their homes from 14 days to 30 days while Short Sales are still taking 30 to 90 days.  Regular buyers are still faster too but they normally are asking more then the Banks.

 

For more information, check out www.phoenixazurban.com or www.aznativeproperties.com

Looking for a property for under $50k?

There are a lot of single family homes as well as condos on the market now for under $50k.  Fannie Mae has a program called Homepath that can help.  It's only for homes that Fannie Mae owns and it’s for homes of all prices not just those under $50k.  Go to www.homepath.com and put in your desired zip code and price range and there are many properties that qualify.  You can also get more information about the Homepath program.  Then, you can contact

Joey Parisi

at Champion Mortgage who can help you with the mortgage.  Of course, I'd appreciate you calling "Yours Truly" to write the offer.  Joey's phone is 818-742-3404 and his e-mail is joparisi@prospectmtg.com. 

Freddie Mac has their own program called Homesteps.  In many ways it works the same way.  Go to http://www.homesteps.com/ for more information.  These are both great ways to get a property directly from Fannie or Freddie and from what I’ve seen a good prices.  You can contact Shelley Wiggins at (480) 348-3123 shelley.wiggins@ncmc.com for Homesteps help.  This may be your only way to finance a home under $50k and it may be some of the best deals on the market at any value.  If you find a way to find better prices for the average buyer, please let me know.

Positive signs for the Phoenix Market

There's has been a lot of news nationally and locally about the real estate market and it's been looking good.  That is until yesterday when they noticed that foreclosures went up in April 09 over April 08.  They keep forgetting to mention that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had a moratorium on Foreclosures from last fall through March 31st of 2009.  It only makes since that once the moratorium was lifted that foreclosures would go up again. 

I still think there are some positive things in the Phoenix market.  I'm selling single family homes for $50k and less and I just closed on a 1 bedroom condo for $45k near the Biltmore.  I have a half a dozen buyers looking and many are cash buyers or have 20% to put down.  It really is a great time to buy.

Check out these stories from AZCentral.com

http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2009/05/13/20090513biz-resales0513.html

Happy Earth Day!

In the spirit of Earth Day, I wanted to share a few things that we have done to help the environment and thus the Earth.  We just bought a Prius for cleaner exhaust and transportation not to mention we saved money on gas, payment and insurance, that was a win, win, win for us. 

We have also installed timers on our cell phone chargers so they are not consuming energy 24 hours a day but only 2 hours per night.  We have also installed timers on the H2O heater, TV's and cable boxes.  All of these things consume energy even when you turn them off.  The timers are set to be on only during our normal hours of use.  We also use the Light Rail for almost all of our social outings.  If the restaurant is not on the rail line or if we can't walk to it, we aren't going there with very few exceptions.

Do your part, we can help you find a great home near the light rail, a bus route or near your work so you too can reduce the amount of drive time and exhaust.  Give us a call or check out our website for many great properties.  www.PhoenixAZUrban.com

Is RL Brown right? Is the housing market getting better?

If you believe what Catherine Reagor said on AZCentral.com he is.  Check out her story and then note that Fannie and Freddie have had a moratorium since last fall. 

http://www.azcentral.com/php-bin/clicktrack/email.php/8717693

Why is there no comment about the foreclosure moratorium?  Of course there was a lower number of foreclosures.  Doesn't that mean there is a backlog of people who are behind in their payments and foreclosures will skyrocket again?  Please see http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/01/foreclosure_moratorium.html

contact me at www.PhoenixAZUrban.com

Mortage Rates are Lowest in History

Mortgage rates are lowest in history according to CNN.com.  I've been showing homes in the Phoenix metro area for $50k, and they are pretty nice homes.  OK, so they aren't on Camelback Mountain but they are very livable and the neighborhood's are pretty nice.  There are even some good deals out there for condos in Central Phoenix along the Light Rail.  If you have a credit score of over 640 you can get a mortgage.  But be careful, lenders aren't lending less than $50k.

Here's the whole story at http://money.cnn.com/2009/04/16/real_estate/weekly_mortgage_rates/index.htm?postversion=2009041613

www.PhoenixAZUrban.com

www.AZNativeProperties.com

Is the resession starting to level out?

AZCentral reported this morning there are some positive signs.  I've also heard that sale of resale homes is up and foreclosures are down.  Of course, it seems the press all forgot about the foreclosure moratorium that was on for the first three months of this year.  They finally started to report that this week and now are saying foreclosures are going to go back up.  We may be at the bottom and we may not be, everyone needs to be cautiously optimistic.   Read the whole story here.

 

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/2009/04/17/20090417biz-economy0417.html

 

www.PhoenixAZUrban.com