Last week I got the strangest phone call. The guy is a Buyer. He saw my listing on Trulia. He liked the remote land, which is a 36-acre parcel, that I had listed. He has been to the property and thoroughly walked it and researched it. You can see the Property on my Seligman maps page here and the Virtual Tour of the lot here.

In our phone conversation he told me he had summarized his offer and sent it to me via e-mail. On further questioning, he told me that he used Trulia to send me the e-mail. I stopped paying for Trulia Pro around two years ago. I suspect that his e-mail went to an Agent who pays Trulia for Buyer Leads.

This story has a happy ending though, as the Buyer told me to write up his offer and we are now in escrow. Both the Buyer and Seller seem happy with the accepted contract. I am also happy that the Buyer did not stop with the e-mail to Trulia.

Lesson to Buyers who may read this: Do not depend on Trulia or other search site such as Realtor.com or Homes.com to make the connection with the listing agent.

The chart below shows the 3-Year Trend in the Ratio of Selling Price to Asking Price for the Prescott Area. The chart shows that the ratios run from a low of 91% in March of 2011 to highs to a range of 94% to 96% most of the time. As our inventory of homes dropped in the last few months of 2011, the ratios are near 95.5%.

This chart can be interpreted to mean that a Buyer can reasonably expect to pay between 90% and 100% of the asking price. A home that is priced to sell quickly can sometimes attract enough potential buyers that the selling price could actually be above the list price. On the other hand, an overpriced home can often be purchased at a price considerably below the 90% mark.

The real estate market in Prescott, Arizona is getting a little healthier. This chart below shows that equity sales are returning to around the same higher fraction they were in the last half of 2009.The chart also shows that short sales are only slightly higher at around 12% in the last couple of months while the 3-year average is close to 9%. The encouraging trend is that the sales of REOs (foreclosures) has decreased from a high of 50% to around 32% for the last couple of months. I think Prescott is a healthier market than many other parts of Arizona.

The real estate market in Prescott, Arizona is getting a little healthier. The pie chart below shows that 53.5 percent of the sales in December of 2012 were regular (equity) sales. REOs (foreclosures) were 34.2 percent and short sales were 12.3 percent. This is a continuing improvement in that a larger percentage of our sales were equity sales.

Arizona's Republican Legislature could virtually wipe out public employee unions in a sweeping new package of legislation far broader than the collective-bargaining bills that shut down Wisconsin's Capitol last spring.

The bills would:

-Make it illegal for government bodies to collectively bargain with employee groups. Public safety unions would be included in the ban.

--End the practice of automatic payroll deductions for union dues.

--Ban compensation of public employees for union work.

Wisconsin's collective bargaining law enacted last year made unions effectively irrelevant by limiting issues that could be bargained by a government and an employee group. Arizona's bills would do away with collective bargaining entirely and also go beyond Wisconsin law by including public safety unions.

Coupled with Gov. Jan Brewer's plan to do away with civil-service protections for state employees, the new legislation could make Arizona ground zero for union protests during this election year.

The Goldwater Institute worked with state lawmakers to draw up the bills. The libertarian think tank has churned out research and reports over the past few years highlighting what it views as excesses in public-sector employment.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was the guest of honor at Goldwater's annual dinner last November. Walker had some advice for Arizona legislators when I interviewed him on "Sunday Square Off."

The package of bills is scheduled for a hearing at 9 a.m. Wednesday before the Senate Government Reform Committee.

I suggest that preemptive preparations be made to prevent the destruction of the Arizona State Capital as was done in Wisconsin.