Arizona

I frequent cemetaries. They're more educational than seminars, and the tuition is free. I like free.

Don't you wonder what dreams lie buried here?

Young Mr. Lemon of Aberdeen, Scotland lies beneath this headstone in a grave in Tucson, Arizona. He was 29 when his life was cut short. How that happened, we don't know. The style of the headstone would indicate that he was buried here in the early 1900s.

That was before Arizona became the 48th state of the Union. Unemployment (1900) was higher than it is now, at 5%, but things were a lot better here than back in Scotland. Beginning in 1904, more than 600,000 Scots (13% of the country's population) emigrated to North America in less than a decade.

Gordon was likely a part of this exodus, and he made his way farther west than most.

I wonder what dreams died with him.

I wonder why I'm complaining about the real estate market and the credit crunch, when I ought to be laying the foundation for tomorrow's success instead.

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender.

Think of me as your local expert.

I was chatting up one of my favorite mortgage guys today, while on my way to meet with a client. I asked him if he had heard anything about yet another interest rate drop from the Feds. The rumor mill is churning...

He had an interesting comment. "While the Feds are doing this to stimulate the economy, and help the American public to help themselves out of the pathway of a future recession...it is counter-productive for Realtors and for their clients who are fence-sitting and just waiting to see just how low they will go."

I'm thinking he meant that while Buyers are playing a game of "Mortgage Rate Bingo" waiting for that elusive winning combo...their dream home is being bought by someone else or taken off the market or sold on the steps of the courthouse.

Then there is the "domino effect" of selling your home to the next guy, that allows him to sell his home to the next guy, that allows him to sell...you get the picture. <Wait a minute here....I am getting an epiphany! The whole real estate collapse was started by one person who backed out on the sale of their home? hmmmmm >

I hear-tell that there was a time when interest rates were actually double digits and mostly in the high teens...and Realtors were still writing contracts. So you need to ask yourself...Is it really worth the wait?

2008 is turning out to be the year of many opportunities in the SoAz Real Estate market. Whether movin' in or movin' up...it's gonna be a great time!

For all of the latest Real Estate and Local info for Southern Arizona...check out my website.

See you out by the Saguaros at sunset.....

This week before the Labor Day weekend has proved to be more than a little strange for our local real estate market. Even in our "soft" market we see an average of 6 to 8 pended listings per day during the week, with Monday being the big spike after the weekend. That was not true this week. When a normal Monday produces 8 to 10 sales, this Monday saw a grand total of...................ONE pended listing!!! Tuesday proved to be not much better with only 2 pending sales. Even more intriguing was Wednesday with a fairly normal 8 sales, but, of the six site built homes entered into escrow, ALL were foreclosure homes sales!!

Thursday and Friday ended up being similar to Monday and Tuesday with a total of 7 sales for the 2 day period. Now, what really makes this odd is, we have been REALLY, REALLY busy!! Our top producing agents have been showing homes like mad, often going out to show homes 2 or 3 times per day! Many of our agents have been on the road EVERY day for the past 6 to 8 days showing homes to 2, 3 or even 4 prospective buyers in a single day.

OK, so where are the sales? Just around the corner. We have seen a shift in our local market and now all the pent up demand by bargain hunters, first time buyers and investors is starting to show. The buyers know there are great deals to be had and our market is nearing the bottom and the buyers are coming to pick their special deal from the tree. For the first time since Hurricane Katrina it looks like our fall and winter sales wiil go up, not down.

For buyers and sellers now is the time to act. Sellers need to get their home on the market and priced right to attract the buyers. Buyers need to find those special deals before the market starts back up and the great deals are all snapped up. This could be the start of our next big market shift and a return to a sellers market.

Don't get left out, call your Realtor today and get in on this special time in real estate!

The other day, I shared a list posted on the website of the Arizona Department of Real Estate of builders having financial difficulties. Today, there were two articles for two separate builders in our Phoenix Valley filing bankruptcy - Chapter 11.....

1. Woodside Homes based out of Utah which have several communities going....one in Mesa, Arizona. The link to that article is from the Salt Lake Tribune. Hopefully Woodside Homes will be able to work itself out of bankruptcy, and sell some homes. I didn't realize they built in so many states. Woodside floorplans have always been some of my favorite.

2. Charlevoix Homes is another builder, and that article is found in the Arizona Republic.

Bottom line, everyone is struggling in this market, though I have see positive signs of our market. These builders, along with others, are finding it difficult to sell their homes. Words to the wise: Make certain that you are informed when purchasing a new home by checking online, or on the Department of Real Estate website for any information you can find on the status of builders in your area.

Mesa, Arizona Real Estate. Call me at: 480.216-3334 for information on purchasing or selling a home in Mesa, Arizona or surrounding towns. OR email me: Teri@TeriEllis.com. Feel free to visit one of my websites: HomesAzRE.com, MoveToMesaAz.com or MoveToSunnyAz.com. Or stop by my blogs at: Active Rain; or Phoenix Valley Real Estate Blog.

Let's all pray for the people that may be in the path of this storm. Let it weaken or dissipate before any threat to any human beings. All I know is we don't need anything else dropped on our shoulders this year.