Here is the 24 hour report for 7-23-2008 activity in the Tucson Real Estate market according to the Tucson MLS.

This information is provided directly from our local MLS. Please feel free to check back often for the most accurate and updated information available in the Tucson area for local real estate reports and statistics.

For more free reports and Tucson Real Estate visit http://www.wiselisting.com/

24-Hour Market Watch

New Listings	137
Back on Market	14
Price Increases	14
Price Reductions	134
Contingents	50
Pendings	30
Solds	57
Expireds	28
Inactives	35

Here are some tips on marketing your listings.

Have Your Own Open House

Where is it written that only a real estate agent can do an open house? Have an open house of your own and call it a block party! Really!

All of your neighbors and all of your friends have friends of their own. When you add up all the friends of friends, it totals hundreds of people. You need to let everybody you know or come in contact with that you want to sell your home. This is a great way to get some exposure for your property.

Spruce up your house, print up some flyers (or ask your agent to get a batch for you) and invite everybody from your neighborhood over for burgers and pop. Pass out the flyers freely. Let them wander through the house and tour the property. Let them ask questions and hang out for a while. If they like your house (remember, they probably live in one similar to yours, so they'll like it), they just might invite one of their friends to come live in the neighborhood.

Selling is a numbers game. The more people who know what you have to sell, the higher the chance you will find a buyer.

Call a Mortgage Professional (a good one can help you sell)

No, this isn't where we tell you to call us! The reason to call a mortgage professional is simple. You need to know if there is any special financing available for the geographic area in which you house resides. You might be surprised what you learn.

Here's an example. In Bremerton there is a little known loan program available for certain neighborhoods. The funds come from the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977. Only one of the local banks handles these loans and only one local Mortgage Brokerage is signed up to market them. This loan program has low, fixed interest rates, flexible credit requirements, no mortgage insurance and low down payment requirements. Yet very few Real Estate Agents know it exists and even fewer consumers are aware of it!

Also, with the high number of Military families here, you need to know about VA Mortgage requirements and FHA home loans. A good mortgage professional can give you all the details concerning requirements. The more you know about what a buyer will be faced with, the better you can align your marketing to attract the attention of as many buyers as possible.

Remember, you are selling! It is not a spectator sport! The more active you are promoting your house, the more people will hear about it, and the better your chance of selling.

Selling is a numbers game. If you have more financing options than the house down the street, your house will appeal to more potential buyers.

Give Something Away (how about a boat, a lawnmower or a vacation?)

Why not? If you plan to do this from the start, you can work the cost right into the price. You lose nothing. Do anything you can think of to make your home stand out from the crowd.

No matter when you sell your home, you will have other properties competing for the buyers. Imagine that just when you decide to sell, 15 other similar properties happen to be also for sale. Buyers are going to want to see all of the 16 properties to compare which one is the best deal for them. That's perfectly normal buyer behavior. You need to do something to make your house different from the other 15 homes. So, give something away! Make purchasing your home a better deal than the others.

Selling is a numbers game. The more people who take a second look at your listing because it is different from all the rest, the better chance you have of selling quickly for the price you need.

Get High Quality Photos Taken of Your Home

Professional photographs cost a little extra money and are worth every penny of the investment. Ask your agent to arrange for a professional photographer to take a series of attractive photographs of your property.

If you spend a little time looking through the houses available on the Multiple Listing Service (almost every Real Estate Website will have access to these listings), you will notice that a high percentage of the listing look very similar. Many of the photos will be under or over-exposed, some will be tilted, others will be off-center. In short, the photos won't jump out and grab anybody's attention.

You, on the other hand want to grab attention! Professional pictures will do just that. A good photographer will make your home look even better than you would believe. Once again, this is a way to make your property stand out from the dozens (or hundreds) of other homes for sale that are similar to yours.

According to the National Association of Realtors, over 80% of home shoppers turn to the Internet to gather information about available properties. Often the pictures on the Multiple Listing Service are the first chance you have to make an impression. You don't want to waste the opportunity!

Your new collection of attractive photographs can be used other places as well. Why not use them on your flyers and websites?

Selling is a numbers game. If your pictures jump out at viewers because they are so much better than your competition's pictures, you have additional chances to get noticed by a home buyer.

Request a Broker's Open House

You've never heard of a Broker's Open? Don't feel bad, your competition hasn't either. A Broker's Open House is a semi-private open house that is only advertised to Real Estate Agents in your area. Normally a group of Agent will carpool on a scheduled day to visit a small number of currently listed properties. Your agent will know exactly what this is.

It is pretty well-known in Realtor circles that statistics on homes selling because of a Public Open House are very low. It's not bad to have an open house, just don't expect much from it. The reason many Agents will agree to an open house is simply because sellers expect them to, not because they work very well.

A Broker's Open, on the other hand, will attract the attention of a multitude of professionals in your area who have access to BUYERS! Real Estate Agents often go on the Broker's Tour (another name for it), because they are actively shopping for a homethat fits a client's needs. These are not "Looky Lou" visitors. Agents know a good buy from an average buy. They can cover a lot of territory in a short period of time while gathering accurate information. Agents have no interest in wasting your time, they won't stand and chat for an hour. They will get in, get out and head back to their office to contact the buyers they are representing.

Remember, this is a numbers game.

At a Public Open House, each visitor represents one person; themselves. At a Broker's Open House, each visitor may very well have multiple clientssearching for homes. At a Public Open House each visitor may be in the market right now. At a Brokers Open, each visitor has clients in the market right now! Play the numbers. Spend your time with the group that is more likely to produce results.

One Final Thought (or maybe two)

This is a worrisome market. There is bad news on every corner. If you are in the position where you need to sell your home, regardless of the current market condition, all is not doom and gloom. There are things you and your Agent can do to greatly increase the chance of getting your property sold.

It is very difficult to think creatively when we are worried or anxious. But selling a home in a tough market requires some creative action. This list is meant to get you thinking about slightly unusual or unique ways to get as much attention for your property as possible. It's meant to shake you up a little bit. It's meant to give you a dose of enthusiasm that there just might be some things you can do to affect your financial future. Don't rely entirely on someone else to handle something this important.

Most importantly, don't expect to be able to sit back while your Agent brings you a long line of people just begging to buy your house. It is not going to happen. Buyers are in the driver's seat right now, and they know it! You must be actively involved in the sale of your home! You must take the "bull by the horns" and grab the attention of the buyers. Your Agent will be doing a long list of things to get your property sold. They can't do everything! There are not enough hours in the day for one person to do everything.

It's important to think of your Agent as your team member, not "the hired help". This is not a situation when you hire someone to complete one task for a fee. This is a relationship more like a Team Captain (the Agent) and Team Members (you and your family). Teams accomplish incredible things when they work together!

In closing, consider this: If you do exactly the same thing your competitors are doing, you will get the same results your competitors are getting. Ask you Agent for current market statistics and you can predict those results. It will probably take months to get your house sold. And, each month will whittle away at your home's value.

Do something different! Get different results!

Here is the 24 hour report for 7-22-2008 activity in the Tucson Real Estate market according to the Tucson MLS.

This information is provided directly from our local MLS. Please feel free to check back often for the most accurate and updated information available in the Tucson area for local real estate reports and statistics.

For more free reports and Tucson Real Estate visit http://www.wiselisting.com/

24-Hour Market Watch

New Listings	117
Back on Market	36
Price Increases	5
Price Reductions	127
Contingents	52
Pendings	25
Solds	52
Expireds	30
Inactives	45

One of my favorite activities is meeting new people. In this case the owner of this excellent Tucson company isn't someone I just met. But the day I did it was memorable .

Over the past year I've heard testimonials from at least a half a dozen people who used his expertise and service and had no problem sharing their delight. The first thing that seperates Kenny Mongeon and his business from the rest is their focus on water conservation. Before the first shovel, or jackhammer in our case, hit's the dirt he encourages all his clients to perform a water audit. What a concept in the Sonoran desert! And after he's certain the water usage is right on then a plan to use only trees and plants that naturally grow in the desert are encouraged to be used in your yard. Also known as: Indigenous. Most of these varieties survive heartily on only what mother nature gives them. So if you are in the market to make your yard beautiful try the modern way of doing things. Go Green! Way to go Kenny!

     The Olympics Are Soon To Begin!

I know that some folks are wondering when I will stop bragging about Tucson and the people who have ties to "The Old Pueblo."  The answer is:  NEVER!  This is an amazing city, and the people are what make it so!

Without further ado, I would like to honor those with local ties, whose efforts bring them to the pinnacle of sport--the Olympics.  Whether they win medals or not, the fact that they have earned a spot to represent their country is something to be noted.

Olympic Coach: Mike Candrea
Softball

Jennie Finch-Daigle  
Softball                                                      

Caitlin Lowe
Softball                                                               

Tairia Flowers
Softball                                                                  

Lovieanne Jung 
Softball

Jennifer Nichols
Archery

Olympic Coach: James Li
Track and Field

Bernard Lagat                                                                      
Track & Field                                                       

Jillian Camarena
Track & Field

Olympic Coach: Frank Busch
Swimming

Amanda Beard  
Swimming                                                         

Lacey Nymyer
Swimming                                                          

Matt Grevers
Swimming

Congratulations, Tucson Olympians!  Good luck in Beijing...and may the experience be one you never forget to pass on to others.

I apologize in advance for any omissions I may have inadvertently made - I will be adding to the list as more teams are announced.  If you know of anyone that isn't on this list, please let me know.  We should honor these individuals for their efforts!

Zivaz Meican Bistro has great a Summer innovative menu

We often get asked for the Best Mexican Restaurants in Tucson by our clients and visitors to the Tucson area.

For that purpose, have made sure that we have tried mostly all of them!

This experience is very entertaining and fun, but also allows us give first hand knowledge of where to go, and what to recommend on the Menu.

In my long past, I trained as a Chef in London,and having worked at quite a few five star restaurants there, I have fun trying out new food from a variety of restaurants in the Tucson area.

Tucson has always been renowned for having great independent restaurants.

If good food combined with good value and ambience are part of your eating experience then Zivaz Mexican Bistro is a good place for you to go.

The Gazpacho con Ceviche is excellent so is the Salmon Asado. The also have Margaritas...try the Hibiscus flavor for something different but very good or the Pancho for a tarter taste.

Their menu does have a twist with Mexican Sushi on the Menu.

Currently they have some great Summer Specials, with Dark Rum Salmon, Salmon Menonita, and Chille Relleno de Salmon de nogada. The later is very good and has a nut based sauce with pineapple!

You can also read the Restaurant Reviews here

Bon appetit and enjoy!

Your REALTOR may or may not inform you about our desert critters here in Tucson. We live in a neighborhood called Tucson Estates II, and it is surrounded by Tucson Mountain Park, which in turn abuts Saguaro National Park West, in the Tucson Mountains on Tucson's western flank. Just down Kinney road a couple of miles from us is the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum. Google it. It's fantastic.

It doesn't look like it from this photo, but docent making the presentation to an audience of better than 200 people last Saturday night is holding this rattlesnake four feet from his body. If you ask me, that's not enough distance.

I don't think I was the only one in the audience wondering what critter nailed him under the eye, but no one asked. The black and white stripes on the tail just before the rattle identify this as a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. It's four feet long. The longest verified in modern times was just a little more than seven feet long.

Rattlesnakes come in 18 different varieties in Arizona, according to our friend. They're all venomous. And venom doesn't stop with the rattlers. Not even with the snakes. This lizard below is one of two venomous lizards found in Arizona. It's the Gila (hee-la) Monster.

They're not very fast. One and one-half miles per hour is top speed. But when they bite you, they hang on for dear life until they calm down. They're not calm unless they're on terra firma. There's the problem.

One man walked into the ER at St. Mary's hospital here in Tucson with a Gila Monster firmly attached to his chest. Somehow he thought it would be cool if he picked it up and put it in his shirt. I can imagine him saying to his buddy: "Here, hold my beer and don't spill it." "Okay, get a picture of this!" He survived.

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender.

Think of me as your local expert.

photo copyright Mike in Tucson

Saturday night entertainment. My Darlin' and I were on the very front row. My choice. She's a saint. The venue was an auditorium at the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum, just down Kinney Road from our neighborhood, Tucson Estates II.

The two speakers for the evening came walking down the auditorium aisle carrying boxes with holes in the sides and padlocks on the top. The tops are painted bright red. They house desert creatures who can put a hurting on you if you're not careful.

To give you an idea about the size of the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake here, consider that the folding table is 48" side to side.

The Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum is one of my favorite places on earth. They don't just display animals. They educate us about them. Nothing that I thought I knew about treating snakebite turned out to be true. None of it! And I thought I knew a thing or two.

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender.

Think of me as your local expert.

photo copyright Mike in Tucson

Hundreds of residents recently celebrated the opening of the new Tangerine Farms road linking the Gladden Farms housing development with Interstate 10.

On June 25 the nearly 4-mile stretch of brand new road was opened to much fanfare and anticipation of community residents. The new road is four lanes with a center median and sidewalks on both sides and will make commuting much easier for Marana residents, linking both the Gladden Farms and Rancho Marana communities to the freeway.

It will also serve as a major thoroughfare to the planned Fry's Marketplace on the corner of Lon Adams and Tangerine Farms road as well as the Shops at Tangerine, a 281 acre megaplex of retail, dining, entertainment and auto mall.

Signal lights have not been installed yet but are planned for the very near future (I've already seen two minor fender benders since the road opened so I hoped they hurry!). They are also planning to redo the freeway ramps which should make everyone happy; currently the off-ramp is only one lane so it tends to take a while during rush hour.

[Pictures courtesy of The Explorer]

Jim won't like this photo, but that's him on the right, practicing one of his numbers with the rest of us. Jim's a phenomenal lyricist and singer.

He called me this morning to let me know that he's been invited along with some others (none pictured here) to sing for President George Bush when he comes to Tucson soon.

The president will be helping raise funds for Tim Bee, who's running for congress.

Jim didn't say anything about tag-alongs, so I'll have to see what's going on on KVOA-TV, Channel 4.

We're pretty proud!

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender.

Think of me as your local expert.

photo copyright Mike in Tucson