Living in The East Valley » Buying a Home

Housing Market Moving Forward

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:04:27 +0000

Mike Orr was quoted in the Arizona Republic as saying that he believes the housing market in the Phoenix area hit bottom in September of 2011. Mike Orr is the Director of the Center for Real Estate Theory and Practice for Arizona Statue University.

We are seeing multiple offer situations for many properties priced below $150,000. The inventory of homes for sale is roughly half of what it was a year ago. We think this will start putting upward pressure on home prices. It will take time but a slow recovery would be much healthier than a fast one. Interest rates are also at historical lows which combined with the current low prices will make homes affordable for many people.

Here are some links to recent articles about the housing market.

Mortgage Rates Reach New Record Lows

Optimism Builds in Housing Market

Foreclosures Post Big Drop

Some Good Signs for the Real Estate Market

admin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:36:03 +0000

The article below is about the National Housing Market. The good news is that this also holds true for the Great Phoenix area real estate market. The inventory of existing homes for sale is about half of what it was a year ago.

Some Good Signs for the Real Estate Market.

Retiree Havens Offering Good Buys

admin — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 17:18:52 +0000

Many people are recognizing that now is a good time to buy a retirement home. Even thought the inventory of homes for sale in the Greater Phoenix area is about half of what it was a year ago, many condos and town homes are still available for less than $100,000. With the decrease in inventory and the many properties that are receiving multiple offers, many experts are saying that they think this is the bottom of the market. Interest rates are still at historical lows – so this is a great time to buy.

Here is a link to an article with more information about buying a retirement home.

Retiree Havens Offering Good Buys.

Freddie Mac Launches Winter REO Sale

admin — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 22:48:17 +0000

Freddie Mac is offering an incentive for a limited time for owner occupant buyers of it’s foreclosure homes. They will pay up to 3% of the final sales price towards buyer’s closing costs . They will also provide a two year home warranty. Contract must meet all requirements including being accepted by January 31, 2012 and closing by March 15, 2012.

For more information:

Freddie Mac Launches Winter REO Sale.

Realty Times – 30-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgage Averages 3.99 Percent

admin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 23:14:11 +0000

Home affordability is at an all time high. With interest rates at historical lows, now is a great time to buy or to refinance.

Realty Times – 30-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgage Averages 3.99 Percent.

Realty Times – The Joys of Homeownership

admin — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 21:26:08 +0000

Realty Times – The Joys of Homeownership.

Realty Times – Choosing a Condo

admin — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 21:23:02 +0000

Realty Times – Choosing a Condo.

Housing Affordability at Highest in 20 Years

admin — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:13:09 +0000

Housing Affordability at Highest in 20 Years.

Multiple Offers for Properties

admin — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 17:27:31 +0000

We are starting to see multiple offers being made on properties in the Phoenix area. This seems to be particularly true for properties priced under $100,000. There are a lot of people purchasing second homes and a lot of investors buying properties. Prices are low enough that buyers are coming back into the market. In October there were roughly 39,000 properties available for sale in the Phoenix area. Currently there are about 28,600 properties available for sale. This is a significant reduction.

What does this mean for you? If you have been waiting for the market to hit bottom before purchasing a home, now is a good time to start the purchase process. Interest rates are still low and housing prices are affordable. Start by talking with a lender about the loan options available to you. FHA loans are still available that require a 3.5% down payment and allow the seller to assist the buyer with closing costs. Once you have been pre-approved for a loan, contact a realtor to assist you with the home buying process.

If you would like to search for homes on the internet, you can search townhomes, patio homes, and condos at www.townhomesonly.com and you can search for single family homes at www.realtysecrets.net.

Using QR Codes for Real Estate Marketing

admin — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 22:20:06 +0000

We recently learned about a new technology to use for real estate marketing and we are giving it a try. Lots of people have access to the internet on their phones now. However, accessing internet information from the phone can be difficult unless the website is formatted for mobile phone display. Using this new technology, it is easy to display property information on a cell phone.

We create a mobile phone formatted website for each property. We also create a QR code for each property. A QR code looks like a bar code except it is square instead of rectangular. It also has a smaller square in each of three corners.

To access property information, a mobile phone user first needs to download a free QR Reader from their app store. Then follow the softwares directions to scan the code (take a picture of it). Be careful when taking the picture to get a clear picture and try to have the QR code take up as much of the photo as possible. Then, it should be as simple as clicking on the button to access the property information. Property information and photos are available on our listings. The service we are using also provides a map of the property’s location and some local information.

Do you want to try it? You can use either of the QR codes below.

If you would like to see what the property information looks like on your mobile device without scanning the QR code, simply visit the following website on your phone.

http://vyoo.it/7ksj8