Arizona

Home Owners in Phoenix, Scottsdale and surrounding cities... you can SELL YOUR HOME NOW, even if debt is greater than value! You may wonder, why do home owners who could not sell their homes for years, finally have the opportunity to sell NOW!

The answer is simple:

First, and most important, there are not enough homes for sale in the Phoenix area to meet current Buyer demand.

That's right, with historically low interest rates, and a large number of investors with cash in the market, there simple are not enough homes in the Phoenix, Scottsdale region for both investors and traditional buyers. When demand exceeds supply, prices go up as well, setting the conditions for folks to sell the home they've been wanting to sell, and enabling them to move on with their life plans.

Second, Lenders have changed their practices and are now cooperating with Home Owners to allow Short Sales to succeed.

In other words Lenders are willing to recoup less than the amount that is owed to them. Lenders are realizing they can get a better return of their money through a short sale as opposed to a foreclosure. So, if you're home is worth less than the debt on it, the timing may be right for you to sell the home as a Short Sale NOW!

What to do in 2012

The first step in deciding when to sell your home is to get an accurate home valuation. Click here for a FREE Home Valuation report on any property you own.

If you have equity in your home you can sell it in a "traditional" mannor. If you have negative equity you can still sell your home as a "short sale". The short sale process is different than a traditional sale and requires a Realtor who is specially trained to manage the entire transaction. As a CDPE designated Realtor (Certified Distressed Property Expert), I am uniquely qualified to assist you through through the short sale process to a successful close. Click here to learn more about short sales and other home owner options you may want to consider this year.

For a personal, private consultation with regard to your real estate options in 2012, please feel free to contact me.

John Ciallella
Realtor, CDPE
Licensed in Arizona
Phone: 480-220-3275
email: jciallella@cox.net

A yellow ball is not needed here!

How hard is it to find your golf ball in the snow in March? How many yellow golf balls is enough? If you enjoy golfing in 30 degree weather, you won’t like it here. But if you prefer the dress of choice a sports short and shorts, golfing on lush verdant greens in 70 degree weather, consider Phoenix Arizona retirement communities. Weather this week is in the 70’s and 80’s ideal for outdoor sports, especially golf.

Arizona golf communities Sun City Grand in Surprise Arizona and Sun City West offer numerous golf courses, each with varying levels of challenge. There are four championship golf courses in Sun City Grand. Sun City West offers seven golf courses plus one private country club. Four of the golf courses in Sun City West are regulation, three are executive. Briarwood golf course is a private country club in Sun City West. Want to hear about how to get a free trial membership at Briarwood Country Club? Call me for details.

Sun City West Arizona and Sun City Grand golf courses meander throughout the communities providing some of the most beautiful golf course views in Phoenix Arizona retirement communities. Residents have privileges. Sun City Grand and Sun City West Arizona stands for GOLF!

2012 Market Trends for Metro Phoenix Arizona:

Contract Ratios

We are fortunate in our market, to have Mike Orr, who publishes the Cromford Report. Mike follows "everything real estate" in the Valley of the Sun, compiles the statistics into hundreds of charts and explanations that enable each of us to understand the nuances of a market that covers multiple municipalities with many variables.

A great example of how Mike explains a market index is this explanation of the Contract Ratio. If the explanation isn't enough, look at the great charts!

"One way to compare supply and demand is to measure the contract ratio, defined as 100 x (pending listings + AWC listings) / Active listings. This is the ratio between listings under contract and listings without a contract. In a balanced market this is usually around 30 to 40, though luxury markets often have much lower numbers. We can see how "hot" the market has become in Greater Phoenix with the Contract Ratio by Major City chart. Here we see that the contract ratio has spiked upward sharply since January 1 in most of the major cities.

• Avondale - from 301 to 410

• Glendale - from 150 to 298

• Gilbert - from 150 to 263

• Queen Creek - from 171 to 255

• Chandler from 140 to 228

• Tempe - from 125 to 219

• Phoenix - from 140 to 218

• Mesa - from 122 to 202

• Peoria - from 105 to 172

• Surprise - 94 to 137

• Goodyear - from 99 to 132

• Scottsdale - from 43 to 56

Scottsdale is least affected because of the dominance of more expensive homes and a relatively larger supply of active listings without a contract, but even here we report a jump of 30%. Anything above 100 can be considered abnormal. Supply is now at a level where buyers are experiencing extreme competition among themselves and we have a classic "seller's market" with multiple bids on most properties in the first week they are listed for sale. This is not so much because demand has increased - it is quite similar to last year at this time. It is because the supply has fallen dramatically over the last 12 months, especially the supply of distressed properties (i.e. lender owned, HUD, pre-foreclosures and short sales)."

I divided the charts so each city could be traced.

The Cromford Report is a subscription service, and some of the best money I spend.

2012 Market Trends for Metro Phoenix Arizona

Listing Success Rate

A useful statistic for understanding our market, is the Cromford Report's listing success rate. The Listing Success Rate is the percentage of listings that closed with a sale rather than expiring or being canceled. It compares the number of listings sold in a month with the number of listings that were sold, expired or canceled in the same period. This percentage gives a useful indication of what percentage of terminated listings closed successfully.

I received this information from Dennis Harless, Sales Agent at The Lakes at Rancho El Dorado in Maricopa Arizona. "Here is a great article I found for you and your prospects (Dennis Harless, Meritage Homes). I think this really shows that the benefits definitely out way the small, if any, price difference! Newly built properties can offer fewer hassles, greater efficiency and more customization. By Luke Mullins of U.S. News & World Report "

1. Customization: Many homebuilders allow buyers to help design the property, which helps create a living space tailored to the consumer’s tastes. New-home buyers, for example, can often decide where their bathroom might go, choose their favorite flooring or pick the exterior paint color. Buyers moving into a subdivision can sometimes pick the lot they like best. “There is a lot of flexibility for [new-home buyers] to kind of put their personal signature on the product,” says Patrick Costello, president of Forty West Builders, based in Ellicott City, Md. “Those kind of things you can’t do with a used house — it’s just not possible.”

2. Building envelope: Building codes have mandated higher energy-efficiency standards since they began to address the issue in the late 1970s, says Kevin Morrow, senior program manager for the National Association of Home Builders’ green-building programs. The most recent International Energy Conservation Code came out in 2009 and required about 17% more efficiency than three years earlier, he says. “So using that as sort of a gauge to how newer homes should perform from an efficiency standpoint compared to older homes, it’s pretty clear that just as homes meet code, they are going to be more efficient,” Morrow says.Top of Form Newly constructed homes use energy more efficiently in two ways, Morrow says. First, they tend to have a tighter-sealed building envelope, or the enclosed part of a structure, that helps prevent conditioned air — cool air in the summer, warm air in the winter — from escaping. Features that create this envelope include higher-efficiency insulation, doors and windows. “Gone are the days of the single-pane window,” Morrow says. “Now, I think you are starting to see triple- and quadruple-paned windows. These are windows that are designed to really minimize the transfer of heat either from warm to cold or vice versa, and they of course will help the building envelope.” Article continues below

3. Green appliances: The more energy-efficient mechanics of the house also help reduce utility bills for new-home buyers, Morrow says. New homes often include green systems and appliances — such as high-efficiency stoves, refrigerators, washing machines, water heaters, furnaces or air conditioning units — that homes built years ago might not. “The conditioning equipment is usually considered to be one of the larger energy-consumption devices, but certainly, those kitchen appliances matter,” Morrow says. Slide show: Charming beach cottage is secretly 'green' Owners of existing homes can always retrofit their property or buy higher-efficiency appliances, but doing so can be expensive. Bing: What do energy-efficiency ratings mean?

4. Fewer repairs: The features of new homes should also hold up better than those of existing homes, which may have experienced years of wear and tear, says Evan Gilligan of Mandrin Homes, which has offices in Maryland and Delaware. Read: What will it cost to maintain that home? “People will buy [previously owned] houses, and then the carpet needs to be replaced or it needs to be repainted or it needs new appliances or the flooring is shot,” Gilligan says. “When they buy a new home in today’s market, it really is new.”

5. Less maintenance: At the same time, today’s new homes are engineered specifically to minimize maintenance requirements. For example, Costello says his company uses composite products for a home’s exterior trim instead of wood, which could rot or need repainting. “You buy a used house, you don’t know what you are getting; you might have to do a lot of maintenance,” Costello says. “We are trying to look down the road and make things as easy as possible for [homeowners] so they can enjoy living there and not have to be saddled with maintenance.” Slide show: Will your new home still be standing in 50 years?

6. Warranty: In addition, builders often agree to take care of the necessary repair work in a new home for at least the first year. “A new home is generally fully warrantied by the builder for a minimum of a year, and most of all the other components are warrantied for extended periods,” McCabe says. So if your roof starts leaking or the heater breaks during the warranty period, your builder will pick up the tab for the repairs. “When you buy a resale home, even if you have a home inspection done, it still does not turn up hidden defects that you don’t find out about a lot of times for two years,” McCabe says.

7. Fire safety: New homes often include fire-safety features that may not be in properties built years ago, Gilligan says. “We use fire retardant in our carpeting and in our insulation,” he says. In addition, all new homes are required to include hard-wired smoke detectors. These devices can provide better protection than battery-operated smoke detectors, which can fail if their battery runs out, Morrow says. “Hard-wired [smoke detectors] run on the electricity of the house and then have a battery backup for if the house power goes out,” he says.

8. Concessions: Especially in today’s sluggish housing market, buyers could squeeze more concessions out of a homebuilding company than an individual seller. That’s because individual sellers often have an emotional attachment to their property that can blind them to its true value. “People usually think that their home is worth more money than it is,” McCabe says. At the same time, builders often have greater financial wherewithal to absorb a loss on a sale than individuals. “I’ll put it to you this way: A $30,000 hit [spread] over 30 lots hurts a lot less than a $30,000 hit on one existing house,” says Christopher Rachuba of Rachuba Home Builders, based in Eldersburg, Md. “So I think [buyers] may get more bargaining [power] that way.”

9. Financing: New-home buyers can take advantage of mortgage-financing perks available through their builder. “New-home builders — in many cases, the larger ones — have their own mortgage companies, or they will offer paying points or closing costs and buy down certain rates for you,” McCabe says. “The seller of a resale home is generally not going to do that for the buyer.”

To View all available homes at The Lakes at Rancho El Dorado, go to our web site at: http://www.MaricopaRealEstateExpert.com