Prescott, AZ

INFO THAT HITS US WHERE WE LIVE The Pending Home Sales Index recovered from its November slump, increasing 1.0% in December, putting it 10.9% over its level of a year ago. National Association of Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun sees "...a broad improvement over year-ago levels. December activity was the fifth-highest monthly tally in two years." The slump was attributed to the rush before November to grab the tax credit set to expire at the end of that month.

We now know the tax credit was extended to buyers who can sign a contract by April 30 and close on the home by June 30. It's also been expanded, adding a $6500 credit for repeat buyers to the $8,000 credit for first timers. The NAR's Yun estimates 2.4 million households should take advantage of the credit this year.

The NAR also released their adjusted overall outlook for this year and next. They estimate existing home sales will grow from 5.19 million in 2009 to 5.66 million in 2010 and 5.7 million in 2011. They see new home sales growing from 375,000 in 2009 to 446,000 in 2010 and 637,000 in 2011. They believe prices have bottomed, projecting a 3.4% hike in the median price for existing homes to $179,800 this year and then a 4.3% rise to $187,500 in 2011. New homes should go up 3.7% this year to a $221,300 median price and then 4.7% in 2011 to $231,700.

Glenn Beck was interviewed 2/5/2010 by Greta Van Susteren.  He has really NAILED it on what the TEA Parties are all about.  To summarize, both Republicans and Democrats are under scrutinity.  Gretta asked if the Democrats are more vulnerable than Republicans.  To that Glenn replied that liars, cheats and thieves are in trouble. In my view this is our year to GET THE CORRUPTION OUT.  That will be from school boards, city councils, state legislators all the way up to US Senators.

John McCain is running for US Senator in our state of Arizona. I live in Prescott, Arizona and have participated in the TEA Party events here and in Flagstaff. Many of my friends, including me believe that John McCain had his chance to take a stand against corruption in the Senate when he ran against Barak Obama. He did not take advantage of that when he had the chance. Had he done so then, I believe he would be President today.

I am not sure McCain can win the primary here. There was a good write-up by Michael M Phillips in the Wall Street Journal Online: "McCain Feeling Primary Heat From His Right Flank."

Another profound statement that Glenn Beck made was "Hope comes from the truth!"

Definitely not a new topic for any of us, but maybe a different perspective!

The other day I ran into a Realtor that had been in the industry for many more years than I. She has been through market crashes and the high rollin times. Each year that I see her it is a different perspective, but one thing remains the same. It is always the markets fault!!

The first thing she does is to come up and ask how business is doing/ It is not what she asks but how she asks it. Her squince on her face and tone, lead me to believe that I don't even need to answer. I always reply respectfully, with the exception of this time. She started off like usual with her question about how our business is but quickly went into her latest experience with a listing appointment. She said that in her listing appointment she said to the seller that if they did not list for market price or under she would not take the listing (This part I agreed with). The part I had a hard time with is when she said that she would not market the property because it was going to cost her money!! That's it, I lost my mind at that point! I said, how can you expect the property to sell and have a fighting chance if you didn't do your professional part as a Realtor? She sassed me for a while and we went back and forth. Negative Negative Negative is all I heard, until I told her that we had one of the best years ever, without short sales or bank owned. You should have seen her expression after that, TOTAL CONFUSION! It was like a colonic after Christmas dinner (a little descriptive but you get the image)!

It was amazing that after I mentioned that she became interested in what we were doing different. She went on to ask if she could call me for some heplful tips with her marketing. I welcomed her calls and questions any time.

I do the same things with consumers but at least with them I can understand the confusion and trouble. I can't understand how Realtors can have a negative attitude or mindset and stay in the business. It would be like selling cars and telling the consumer that they are about to test drive the crappiest car on the market and they would be lucky if it lasted the first year (although that might be the truth in that industry).

The stronger the alliance between Realtors and their community, the stronger the transaction. When you see someone struggling or doing well make sure you make encouraging comments, especially if they are not in your office.

DON'T BE THE BLACK CLOUD OF YOUR INDUSTRY!!

Have a great year, Todd and Catherine Klein

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How often has this happened to you?... After much market research, driving around and conversations with your agent (and often many others) you find the bank owned home you were looking for. Its only been on the market one day and you know its priced below the market and within your approved budget. Your agent calls the listing agent only to find out there aleady 3 offers and the bank is asking for "highest and best" to see who gets it.

This has been my experience way too often in the last few months so I found a creative way to get my buyer's offers first in line. Its all about building relationships with the AZ REO listing agents. Just as they had to work to build relationships with the lenders and the asset management companies, Prescott AZ REO buyers agents need to invest time and effort into relationships with the people who can help them.

I spend a lot of my time on the phone with other REO agents working to find out which prime properties are about to be listed and at what price. Often I can can even get my buyers into them several days before the listing. Last week I was able to successfully get an offer into the lender the day before the listing went active. By the time the listing went active the next day, I already had an accepted offer and the listing went pending immediately.

An important fact to consider is that REO teams have listings for as much as 3 to 6 weeks before they show up on the MLS. During this time which is known as "pre list" or "pre marketing", if I know what you are looking for I can give you the opportunity to tour a home long before most agents even know its going to be listed. To take this one step further, some REO teams share this "pre marketing" information with each other which benefits each team.

As Buye'rs agents in the foreclosure market, its important to be looking for new, more effective ways to represent our client's interests. Building good relationships with the agents who have what we need just makes good sense.

Dave Conners enjoys finding creative new ways to better serve his clients:)

We need to thing of ourselves and gardeners in our "field" not cooks in our kitchen!

It is interesting if you think about the role of a listing agent. We can either be a cook, marinating the listing and waiting for the right situation to come along. The problem with this technique is that we marinate it for the next Realtor. Usually these Realtors are the ones that have a hard time communicating with their client. There is too much personal relationship there to tell them what they need to hear. Instead we tell them what they want to hear.

In all our time selling homes in Prescott Arizona we have though of ourselves as gardeners in our trade. Cultivating the soil and planting the seeds at the right time. If you think about how this ties in to our field it is an important simile! By cultivating the soil we are having honest conversations with our clients, letting them know that we don't need to hang our signs on a two year listing. We express how we are there to meet their goals and cultivate their home into the proper sale.

As professional gardeners we need to know when to plant the crop and when the product is over ripe. We also need to make sure that we acclimate to opur surrounding climate. In a dry climate you must water (market) more frequently. In a wetter climate you must be more attentive and responsive to the needs of your clients assisting with the traffic and giving proper feedback.

Our seed that is planted is called "homes in Prescott Arizona" or "Historic Prescott Arizona Homes". Yours might be "condos in downtown Chicago". Regardless of what seed it is we are planting, it is crucial that we know our strengths and weaknesses as gardeners, and that we follow the timing and professionalism of others before us. Don't plant the same seed next to your networking agents, but instead work with each others strengths to build a team.

I know this all sounds a bit silly but if we plant the proper seeds at the proper time we will be the ones standing with flourishing crops and harvest the riches of our trade.

I would love to hear some success stories on how you position yourself for the best results in you market.

Here is to a fruit-full year!

Todd and Catherine Klein