Show Low, AZ

Good Evening Everyone,

Tonight's post is addressed to the sellers out there who are frustrated because their homes are not selling. Well today I came up with the magic formula, take 20% off whatever you want or think your home is worth and that is the price a buyer will be willing to pay for it. Oh, I can hear the moans and groans and the delete buttons going already. But hear me out please.

I was looking at the possibility of listing a property for someone today. This individual had already told me where he wanted to price the property. I thought is sounded a little high but rather than just discourage him up front, I wanted to run the comps before we met. This individual honestly thought he was right where he should be at the price he wanted. Well, if we were in normal market with normal appreciation rates the price probably would have been good. But today that price was just about 20% higher than the comps showed the selling price would probably be. In today's marketplace there is no such thing as a normal market. Nothing relating to Real Estate is NORMAL anymore and whatever you think Real Estate ought to be just doesn't hold in today's market. The old rules of the game just don't apply anymore.

What I am saying here is that you really need to listen when your agent tells you what your home will sell for. We are not talking LIST PRICE here, we are talking SELLING PRICE! If your market is down 10% than that is where you need to be if you want your home to sell. If it is down 30%, that is where you need to be.

Today's buyers are making their offers based on research they have already done or that they ask their buyer's agent to do on their behalf. If they make you an offer, that is the offer, and that is the price they are willing to pay for the property. You have two choices, accept it or not. If you don't accept it than that buyer is probably going to move on down the road to their second choice and it could be months or in some cases years before you see another offer.

It is a tough market for sellers right now because buyers are scarce and they are very reluctant buyers too. They have heard all the reports, they don't know, any more than I do, what the market is going to do in the future. They simply will not overpay for a property. If they are getting a loan they can't even if they want to, because the appraisal will tell the story. Many a sale has gone sideways this year because the appraisal didn't support the agreed on price. Sellers didn't want to come down to the appraised value and buyers just can't or won't go up. Buyers are very cautious and they will only move on a property that is at or below the comps in the area.

One more little point that is a little off the track but that you need to know. Sales are taking a LONG TIME to close. There is no sense in pressuring your buyer to a 30 day closing because unless it is a cash sale, it isn't going to happen. Lenders are very slow to move on anything these days and they are underwriting loans, re-underwriting, and underwriting them again. They are questioning appraisals and asking for second appraisals and desk appraisals before they will give final approval on a loan. In today's market being smart and patient are the keys to a successful sale. I hope you found this post helpful.

Good Afternoon Everyone,

In honor of the fall season in the White Mountains I decided to use some real fall colors for my post today.

Yes, this photo really is of the White Mountains in the area over near Greer,AZ. It was taken a couple of years ago at the height of the "color" season.

It is that time of year again and when we passed through that way a couple of weekends ago, the colors were already showing and it promised to be a glorious year for color in the high country. If haven't visited the White Mountains recently, this is a great time to do it.

Warm & sunny days to envy and cool crisp nights to relax and enjoy a cozy fire or a night out at one of the local restaurants.

So come on up and take a drive over toward the Sunrise Ski Area and take advantage of the magnificent nature show. This weekend is the Winter White Out Sale in anticipation of the ski season that is just around the corner. Take a lift ride and enjoy the colors around you.

This is my favorite season of the year and I'm sure you will find it to be yours as well.

See You Soon!

Sandra & Bruce Paulow, Your High Country REALTORS®

YES AR DOES GENERATE BUSINESS. Thanks to AR I got a nice Lender referral today and I am thrilled. I don't get a lot of them because our market is small and not a big RELO area but I am thrilled. Thanks AR.

For those of you that don't know, Torreon is a golf course community just outside of Show Low, AZ off of Highway 77. All of the homes are cabin style properties from roughly 1200 square feet to 6,000 square feet. They have 2 golf courses that both go up to 7100 yards and are very challenging. I played the Cabin course in July while we were on vacation.

Layout- 7.5 of 10. The course is at 5000 feet elevation and is in the trees. There are lots of bunkers, waste areas and lakes. I really enjoyed the layout, but I think i would hit 3 wood off the tee a few more times if I were to play it again.

Condition-7 of 10. The greens are bent grass and very fast. Bunkers were raked. The rough was about 4 inches deep and would really take some practice to get comfortable.

Amenities- 8 of 10. They have it all and they don't charge extra for the yardage book (or sheet in this case). We saw the beverage cart several times during the round and there is a snack shop at the turn. Player services visited with us several times during the round and it wasn't because of my pace of play. I was impressed. If someone had wiped the clubs when we finished, I would have given this a 9.

Scenery-8.5 of 10. Trees, lakes, streams, grass and some really good looking "log cabins", if they can be called that. Plus, the temperature was about 15 degrees cooler than Tucson.

I thoroughly enjoyed this course and the property in general. They have a bunch of rentals available and a very kid friendly family center. There was a trout pond for fishing, playground, game room, tennis courts, basketball and two golf holes for the kids to enjoy.

The golf course beat me up a bit as I shot 87, but I would love to have another go at it. Property prices go from around $170,000 to up into the millions. If you are in the Show Low area, take a few minutes and drive over there to check it out. You won't be disappointed.

__________________

Patrick Randles

SUNSTREET Mortgage, LLC

Tucson, AZ

Call me at (520) 850-7485

Good Afternoon Everyone,

My broker and I were talking about selling property today, the right way and the wrong way to do it. I think there isn't an agent out there who hasn't found themselves being chastised by a client for injecting their own opinion about a particular property. How often have you found yourself looking at a property with a buyer and feeling strongly that it isn't the property for the buyer. Have you injected your opinion of the property, questioned the price, anything that might give the client the impression that you do not like the house? I have, I think we all have, but it is a lesson to be learned that what we think does not matter! It is the buyer's thoughts that do.

I have seen this on MLS tours, the agents get caught up in looking at the seller's taste in furnishings, paint colors, carpet colors, etc., but if you ask them later about the house itself they have no idea what the floor plan is like or anything specific about the property. They just know they liked it or not and it may have had nothing to do with the property itself.

So the next time you are out with a client ask yourself am I selling property or showing property? Am I projecting my own opinion on to this buyer? Am I trying to influence this buyer to my way of thinking? If you can answer yes than it is time to take a step back and let the buyer do the talking. They may like what you don't and your job is not to change their thinking but to capitalize on their thinking when they are ready to make that offer.

Show it, don't sell it or not, because in the end the house will sell itself whether you agree with the buyer's assessment or not.