About Yavapai County, AZ

Sedona AZ Real Estate has had and continues to have its' share of Foreclosures and Short Sales undervalue our marketplace. Since the 1st of January 40% of our sold homes are either a foreclosure or a short sale. AND of our homes currently under contract - 55% of those are Foreclosures and Shorts. What is even more interesting is in the Sedona AZ Real Estate Homes for sale- of the 450 currently active - only 20% are either a foreclosed home or a short sale. That tell's me that the Consumer is targeting those properties. We are starting to see even bigger discounts in the Foreclosure and Short Sale pricing - as lenders are trying to dump these off their books at a greater speed - and seller's in a short sale position are dropping their prices to entice a buyer to hang in therer for the long, ardous process of dealing with a short sale. With low interest rates, consumer confidence starting to return, high seller motivation, it continues to be a great time to buy. For all your buying and selling needs - I can be reached at www.barbarabaker.com barbara@barbarabaker.com 800-975-5943 or on twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.

Many lenders, real estate agents, and home builders applauded when HUD said it would let banks and local governments offer short-term "bridge loans" to cover the down payment for first-time buyers eligible for the tax credit. The loans would have been available to applicants for federally insured mortgages such as Federal Housing Administration loans.

See: Home builders see positive signs in market

Now, Federal officials have done a 180 saying that the money cannot be used as a down payment.

See: Tax credit ineligible for down payment

To many, including myself, this money should be used to for other things than the buyer's down payment. Without any skin in the game by homebuyers, we could end up where we are today...buyers need to have equity in their homes to make prudent decisions about their homes.

Sellers of homes in the Prescott, Prescott Valley, Chino Valley, and Dewey-Humboldt need every bit of help they can get and welcome Federal help. However, throwing good money after bad is in noone's best interest.

To find deals of REO, bank owned, foreclosed, short sale, and distressed homes in the Prescott AZ area:

Twenty new foreclosed or short sale homes came on the market last week, about one in every 4 homes being listed in the Prescott Arizona Area MLS system. 6/20 are short sale listings (see yellow highlight).

Want to see what the latest sales figures are for the Prescott Az area forelcosure market?

See: Prescott area REO and short sale homes sold 5-1-09 thru 5-15-09

To get more information about any of these listings or any others in Prescott, Prescott Valley, Chino Valley or Dewey-Humboldt areas, feel free to contact me, or you can search by MLS number, address, or lots of other ways in our Search Prescott MLS section.

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Note: Change to weekly report format. I will track foreclosures and short sales separately and do the analysis once a month vs. every week.

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Activity in the distressed home market in the Prescott AZ area remains moderate with 18 homes closing in the first 15 days of May. This compares to 42 homes sold by traditional resales during the same period.

The average price per square foot for REO and short sales was $98 and the average time to sell was 115 days compared to $138 per square foot and 239 days on market for tradional resales. You can see that the REO and short sales market in Prescott and Prescott Valley continues to move quicker and at a much lower average price.

Short sales about 20% of sales: of the 19 homes sold, 4 were short sales (highlighted in yellow).

Over 1/4 of the homes sold for more than asking price (see green highlight), sold fairly quickly, and got multiple offers to get there. This tells me that multiple buyers are getting in the game. Before you enter the fray, please read: Top 10 tips to win the REO multiple offer game.

See chart here.

For more information on any of these listings, please contact me.

Search for Prescott area REO/Foreclosed and Short Sale Listings

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Related Posts:

• 40% of condos sold in March 2009 in Prescott area were REOs
• Prescott area foreclosed/REO homes sold in last 15 days > 03-11-09
• Prescott area REO and short sale homes sold in last 15 days > 03-26-09
• Prescott area REO and short sale homes sold 4-15-09 to 4-30-09
• Prescott area REO and short sale homes sold 4-1-09 - 4-15-09

The Wall Street Journal said that ZipRealty reported this week healthy year over year sales increases and signs that prices were leveling off for the Phoenix metro area.

ZipRealty reported that Phoenix led the nation in the change in the number of homes listed for sale at the end of April compared with a month earlier with a drop of almost 15%.

"Banks have sped up the process for getting foreclosed homes on the market, and continue to lower prices to sell them," said Leslie Tyler, vice president and chief home hunter for ZipRealty. "The drop in days on market versus last year highlights that distressed properties in these hard hit markets are starting to move, which is a hopeful sign." "In markets where prices have fallen the most, such as many California cities, Phoenix and Las Vegas, we continue to see strong buyer interest," said Tyler. "The market is being driven right now by first time buyers and investors because of the affordability in these areas."

See WSJ article with additional graphs and more detail

The number of homes listed for sale in many U.S. cities continued to decline in April in what some analysts see as a sign that the market may be nearing a bottom. Other analysts are looking at a new round of foreclosures to hit the market soon and are cautious to say we are at the bottom. I'm personally on the cautious side and expect prices to struggle in some local markets and rise in others depending on the number of foreclosures hitting the market. Prescott should see bottom fairly quickly, while I expect some areas of Prescott Valley and Chino Valley that have high percentages of foreclosures will continue to see price pressure.

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