TJ Harris, Exclusive Buyers Agent, Certified Negotiation Expert 85268 AZ

2009 WAS a very good year for real estate. Is it too soon to say that, after all it is the end of November and I don't know about most of you but with the holidays and all, things seem to pretty much slow down till after the first of the year. So I chose now to say 2009 WAS a very good year for Real Estate. after all it is the end of November !"

Now some of you would say "Are you crazy, were you selling real estate in the same year I was?" I would say "hey, are you not reading this blog post, which tells me you are "still an active Realtor". Three cheers for those of us that are still around. We must have done something right to accomplish that.

I think that those of us that kept a positive attitude about the real estate market and kept our heads above water and figured out new inovative ways to work with clients and make things happen can be proud to say 2009 WAS a very good year for real estate.

Take a moment to buy yourself something special for Christmas. You deserve it and pat yourself on the back for a job well done. . and yes HAPPY THANKSGIVING TOO, you have a lot to be thankful for as well.

I know there are tons of qualified buyers out there that just can't seem pull the trigger to buy a home, condo or whatever kind of real estate they would love to have. The reasons are many, the negative press saying we have not hit bottom, friends and family saying wait, the prices are going to go lower, look at how many people are losing their jobs, eventually interest rates are going to 3% and I'll wait till that happens, the banks are'nt loaning money etc. As real estate agents we hear it all.

I also know there are going to be tons of buyers that a year or so from now are going to say "I should have and could have bought that house for X. Buyers have to be armed with the positive reasoning why it is a good time to buy real estate, and who better to do that then the folks that do this for a living, the real estate agent.

What a great time for a 1st time homebuyer or somone who has not owned a home for 3 years to buy a home and take advantage of the new $8,000 tax credit that is NON-REFUNDABLE. Don't have a large down payment, or your credit score is not pristine but respectable, hey FHA is your source, only 3.5% down and FICO scores can be as low as 620. Have great credit, I spoke to a Washington Federal mortgage originator that said if you have good credit and have good debt ratios they will do 90 to 95% financing! Many agents and buyers think this type of financing is a thing of the past. . just not so.

Buyers and real estate agents it is not all doom and gloom out there. It is a great time and the right time to buy real estate. Prices are at an all time low, interest rates are low, there has to be at least ten homes that are right for each buyer with inventory at an all time high. So I say, stop listening to all this day to day negativity about the market, stop letting the fear factor take over good judgement. There is no better time to buy real estate than right now. A year from now you will be saying "I got a smokin deal".

If you are in the market for a home in the next 90 days and want an agent that has your best interests at heart and knows the Scottsdale/Phoenix real estate market and knows how to get you the best deal and has the best finanancing sources call me at Buyers 1st Realty, TJ Harris, 480-836-4338 "We're always on the buyer's side".

Today I had a fellow business owner stop in my office to see how things were going. He has an mid to upper range designer flooring business. We started chatting about how slow things were and he told me a story about a client that he had given a quote to for carpeting in their home. He had quoted this client a price based on 98 yards of carpet and had given the client a nice discount in the quote. The client called him and said "well I measured and I came up with 90 sq. yds". My friend said I will be happy to come over and show you how and why we came up with 98 sq. yds. The client then replied that this was not necessary but still only wanted to be charged for 90 sq. yds.

Now I am not a large real estate company and my fellow flooring company neighbor is not a large company either, between the two of us we have 2500 Sq. Ft. of space. We fall into the class of what we all know as the small business owner. I spoke with another agent today about how difficult it is trying to put a deal together with the majority of the buyers that we are now encountering that want the deal on top of the deal. After getting a firm rejection from the seller, be it the lender or homeowner that received the unrealistic offer, the bottom line response is, "well there is always the next one" having learned nothing from this offer or the previous one that have been submitted. Yes I know many agents would say "perhaps I am not the right agent for you" etc., etc. I could not agree more with you, but I have just spent countless hours with this client and in today's market its not like there is "another one coming around the corner". But what bothers me more than anything is this new buyer attitude and often they verbalize it with no apology "I want a steal".

Now please don't get me wrong, a buyer has every reason to want a deal right now and I respect that and frankly if I were in this market to buy right now I would want the same thing. I know the tables have turned from the boom years, but lately I am seeing and hearing about this new "culture" of buyers wanting something for nothing beyond what I consider to be "reasonable". We all work hard to make a living especially in this market, driving buyers to see some 30 or more properties and putting in offers that are unrealistic is not only time consuming, but what I find most frustrating is they don't want to hear what you have to say, could care less about the statistics, and just does'nt seem to want your expert advice.

Well I don't know how long this deep recession is going to go on, or how many of us are going to still be around on the other side, but I miss the good old days when it was a "win win" for everyone.

When we are successful in negotiating a Contract on your behalf for the purchase of your home one of the tasks to be accomplished is obtaining home owners insurance coverage. The short hand method to describe this policy is "Homeowners Insurance".

The first step in this process is to obtain a report that will reveal if there have been any prior insurance claims made for repair of damage to the house or for the loss of personal property. This report commonly referred to as a "CLUE Report" or a "Loss History Report" is provided by the Seller. I will of course be responsible for obtaining that for you. Our standard Arizona Contract requires that the Report be furnished to you within a period of five (5) days following final acceptance of the Offer. The Report will reveal the information required for a period of five (5) years.

When we receive the Report I will want you to take it to your Insurance agent or broker. If you do not have an agent or broker I will give you a list of responsible competent agents and brokers representing well known and well financed Insurance companies. You can meet with any one you choose to discuss the insurance you will require. The Report will aid your agent or broker in determining (1) if the house can be insured and (2) the amount of the premium.

If, in the unlikely event the house cannot be insured because of prior claims or the prior claims while allowing a policy to be placed will cause the premium to be substantially more than normal you will have the contractual right to cancel the Contract and receive a full refund of your earnest money deposit.

The other purpose that the Report will serve is to determine if the disclosures we have received from the Seller are accurate. So the Report actually serves a dual purpose.

Please be aware that is has been estimated that some 66% of US homes are underinsured by an average of 16%. Your insurance agent or broker will or certainly should have information on replacement value so that when your insurance is placed it is placed in the appropriate amount.

Here are just some of the questions that will need to be answered;

1. Do you need flood insurance?

2. Are you going to operate a business out of your home?

3. Do you have the correct replacement cost covered, both for the property contents

4. Will the Policy have inflation protection?

5. Will any unique personal property that would require a separate Appraisal be kept in the property

Finally, after we close on your new home, please as a special favor to me and certainly for you as well, prepare a complete inventory of all the personal property that will be in your home. In the unfortunate event of a loss you will need this inventory. It is a good idea to use your computer to date up a remainder to update the inventory, once a year is a good idea. The inventory should be put in a safe location outside the house.

Today it very easy, utilizing your digital camera or your video camera to photograph all of the rooms in the house, please do not forget the closets and other storage places. This is an easy way to prepare the inventory and obviously is very descriptive.

The proper insurance and the idea of maintaining an inventory of your personal property is often overlooked and should not be.

So you see as an Exclusive Buyer Agent, I go beyond just selling my clients a home. The subject of insurance is too often overlooked between a client and their agent. As your exclusive buyer's agent this will be a topic of conversation that we will discuss together as well as a number of referrals I can provide to you to be sure you are getting the right coverage for you individual situation.

If you are n the market for a home in the next 90 days, for a property priced between $300,000 and $1,500,000, have been pre-approved, and want an agent on your side that is a Certified Negotiation Expert, never represents a Seller and will $ave you thousands of dollars on your next real estate purchase, contact me, TJ Harris at Buyers 1st Realty, Fountain Hills, AZ. 480-836-4338 Email tj@azbuyers1strealty.com website www.azbuyers1streatly.com

In Arizona Sellers of real property are, in most cases, required to complete and deliver to the Buyer a Residential Seller's Property Disclosure Statement commonly referred to as the "SPDS" (think of a potato "spuds").

The SPDS is a disclosure document. It is intended to provide the Buyer with pertinent information regarding the property. This includes, but is not limited, to current information regarding the condition of the property and anything in the past that may have affected the property and has been repaired. In addition the SPDS contains disclosure regarding various other matters that relate to the subject property

The typical Residential Resale Real Estate Purchase Contract requires the Seller to deliver a completed SPDS to the Buyer within a period of five (5) days after the complete execution and delivery of the Contract. The Buyer then has a fixed period of time to review the SPDS, and if appropriate, notify the Seller of any "SPDS items disapproved". In the typical transaction I will receive the SPDS and deliver a copy to you to review. If the SPDS reveals anything that the Buyer disapproves of we will notify the Sellers. The Sellers can (i) explain the reason for the disclosure that is disapproved of which might satisfy you as the Buyer, or (ii) agree to remedy the issue. Should neither of these alternatives occur, you as the Buyer have the right to cancel the Contract without further liability or responsibility on your part.

On occasion I receive a SPDS for my Buyer that discloses the fact that the house needed repairs in the past and that the required repairs had been made. In that instance I provide a copy of the SPDS to the Home Inspector. In so doing I have called specific attention to the issue so that the Home Inspector can take special care in inspecting the repairs to ascertain that the repairs were done correctly and the condition has been repaired.

So you can see that the SPDS plays an important part in the Due Diligence process.

But, what happens if the Seller will not provide a SPDS? This situation arises most often when the Seller is a Lender who has acquired title to the property through a foreclosure, the so-called "REO". The situation also arises in Estate situations; the Seller is the heir of a deceased person and the heir has never lived in the property. In these situations the Seller will often refuse to deliver a "SPDS" under the theory that the Seller never lived in the property. The Seller maintains that having never lived in the property the Seller has no knowledge upon which to base answers to the SPDS.

Because the Contract requires the delivery of the SPDS within five (5) days of final execution and delivery it is incumbent upon the Seller to take the necessary steps to avoid the delivery of the SPDS. This would normally take the form of a Counter-Offer. If I receive a Counter-Offer to that effect we will go over the entire SPDS in order that you can determine exactly what information this particular Seller will not provide. In so doing you can then make an informed decision as to whether or not you will agree to waive the SPDS.

It has been my experience that many of the answers required by the SPDS can be obtained by a due diligence effort on behalf of the Buyer. If it is your decision to waive the SPDS we can still obtain much of the information. We also can request that the Home Inspector provide some of the information that you would normally get in the SPDS.

In conclusion; while obtaining and reviewing the SPDS is an important part of the process the fact that a Seller cannot provide the necessary information does not necessarily prevent a contemplated purchase from being completed. Finally I want to say that the Sellers Property Disclosure Statement is and important document that a buyer should pay close attention to and you need to have an agent on your side that can go over this document with you. As an exclusive buyer agent I am there to guide my clients through this process.

So if your in the market for a home in the next 90 days, for a property priced between $300,000 and $1,500,000, have been pre-approved, and want an agent on your side that is a Certified Negotiation Expert and will $ave you thousands of dollars on your next real estate purchase, contact me, TJ Harris at Buyers 1st Realty, Fountain Hills, AZ. Email tj@azbuyers1strealty.com or visit my website www.azbuyers1streatly.com Remember I am "always on the buyers side".