Chris and Heather - Your Phoenix Agents

Are home buyers getting smart about short sales in metro Phoenix? The tale of this particular home seems to indicate yes. Read on….

Cute home, no? Three bedroom, two bath, 1500 square feet. Nice neighborhood, good schools, newer homes. In winter 2005 it sold for $242,000.

This house was listed as a short sale for just over 7 months. In August 2008 the asking price started at $173,000. By February 2009 the price dropped to $119,000. It sat there for about 6 weeks, until the bank finally took the home back at foreclosure auction in mid-April 2009.

For 6 weeks nobody wanted the home for $119,000 if it was a short sale.

May 4, 2009: the home is listed as a bank-owned property. Asking price, $101,500.  The bank got so many offers they took it off the market on May 5. On May 8, the bank picked a winning bid. The winning bidder took possession on May 23, 2009.

Final sold price: $133,200. That’s 12% higher than the short sale asking price.

At least in this case, a buyer was willing to pay a 12% premium to take possession of a bank owned home right away rather than sit out the frustrating months-long wait for a short sale.

If you’re reading this and smugly thinking “That’s stupid! Pay 12% more? They shoulda bought it as a short sale,” then chances are you’ve never tried to buy a short sale. Read some of the posts in our Short Sale category and you’ll see why they’re rarely short and rarely sales.

Heather Barr is a former paralegal turned Realtor. An avid reader and aspiring writer, she loves helping people navigate the often-confusing world of residential real estate.

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I knew that was too good to last!  After a 2-month decline in the rate of new bank-owned listings hitting the market, we showed a pronounced upward spike in June.

I’m not sure what this means, other than we’re not out of the woods yet.  The silver lining, though, is that as long as our brisk pace of sales keeps up, we’re treading water rather than sinking under the weight of these new bank-involved listings.

The first chart below shows the total number of new listings for distressed properties by month.  The second chart breaks the number down to a listings-by-day number, which better accounts for the varying number of days in each month.

(click on each chart to see a full-screen view)

I’m pulling all new distressed listings from the MLS, regardless of their current status (active, sold, etc.)  I’m looking at Single Family Detached homes in Maricopa County, with some sort of bank involvement - Short Sales, Pre Foreclosures, Auctions, and Lender-Owned properties.

All data pulled from MLS and is assumed accurate but not guaranteed.

Your treading water with everyone else Realtor,

Chris Butterworth

Chris Butterworth is a Realtor. He's also a husband, father, writer, amateur photographer, and self-proclaimed tech junkie. And he's an all-around good guy!

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No, these are not a place to keep your stash. Or your mis-spent youth. Although they often become the reliquary of all things green.

See up above the kitchen cabinets where the fake green plants sit? That’s sort of a pot shelf.

Here are some more.

Just to prove that it’s not only working class families who don’t know what to do with pot shelves:

This photo is from a home listed for sale at $2,000,000.  Two million smackers and still we can’t figure out how to effectively utilize pot shelves. Personally, I put pot shelves in the category of “everybody says they want one, but then nobody uses it once they move in.” Kind of like garden tubs.

Heather Barr is a former paralegal turned Realtor. An avid reader and aspiring writer, she loves helping people navigate the often-confusing world of residential real estate.

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A former client’s question prompted this post, so thanks Jon!

According to Wikipedia:

The North American Monsoon (NAM) occurs from late June or early July into September, originating over Mexico and spreading into the southwest United States by mid-July. It affects Mexico along the Sierra Madre Occidental as well as Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah,Colorado, West Texas, and California.

When I was a kid and we moved here in the late 1970’s, the knee-jerk reaction answer to “When’s the monsoon?” was “August”.

With the heat island effect, it seems like the monsoon arrives earlier and lasts longer each year. Last year, the National Weather Service announced they would date the monsoon season in Arizona from June 15 to September 30 each year. In prior years, the weather services had dated the beginning and ending of the monsoon season based on meteorological readings of the barometric pressure, temperature, humidity, etc.

Monsoon With a Dust Storm Chaser

originally posted on Kathy Anderson’s AZ Active Retirement Living blog

Monsoon Clouds Over Phoenix Skyline

image courtesy of The Downtown Phoenix Journal

Monsoon near Quartzite Arizona, 1976

photo courtesy of, and copyright by Douglas Stockdale

Video of Monsoon Storms

Here’s a really exciting video about Phoenix monsoons created by the local CBS news affiliate, channel 10 (hat tip to Kathy Anderson for linking me to it). The video clip is undated but it appears to be a retrospective of the 2008 monsoon season, which was one of the Valley’s 10 worst.

In the video, CBS reporters talk to a hi-rise condo owner in downtown Phoenix who shot video of the August 28 (2008?) storm as it swept across town, blew out the windows in his condo, and then proceeded to dump cherry-sized hailstones into his living room!

At about the 6:28 minute mark of the video, there’s a mind-boggling shot of a huge dust storm surging across the Valley. It reminded me instantly of the videos of the 2004 Indonesian tsunami.

Just the Facts, Ma’am

Are you the type who likes detailed statistical information instead of shocking videos? Here’s the National Weather Service explaining the meteorological in’s and out’s of monsoons. Local news AzFamily Channel 3 has some more great statistics on wind speeds and dollars’ worth of damages during monsoon season.

Related Posts and Information on Other Sites

• Chris Butterworth’s Moving Stills shows Phoenix area storms on various dates
• Additional Google images of monsoons
• About.com’s Monsoon gallery

Heather Barr is a former paralegal turned Realtor. An avid reader and aspiring writer, she loves helping people navigate the often-confusing world of residential real estate.

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Usually seen in upscale (read, expensive) homes. Encyclopedia Brittanica online uses this definition:

in architecture, a square or polygonal ornamental sunken panel used in a series as decoration for a ceiling or vault. The sunken panels were sometimes also called caissons, or lacunaria, and a coffered ceiling might be referred to as lacunar.

If the builder or homeowner wants to you to think they’re really fancy-schmancy, they extend the coffer into squares. This is usually seen in the office/den or the dining room.

Coffered ceilings have been around for a long time. An example from the 15th Century - a flat-panel coffered ceiling with gold overlay, in the Duomo, a medieval cathedral in Pisa, Italy next to the Leaning Tower.

picture credit to Wikipedia user Lofty

A modern example, from the Washington Metro station, Washington, D.C., USA, upper level tracks (circa 1968).

picture credit to Wikipedia user Kkmd

If you’re so inclined, Google Images has a great stock of different types of coffered ceilings.

Heather Barr is a former paralegal turned Realtor. An avid reader and aspiring writer, she loves helping people navigate the often-confusing world of residential real estate.

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After using a Palm organizer for a few years, and then a Treo smartphone (the big bulky kind with the fat stubby antenna) for 4 years, I finally down-sized to a Blackberry Pearl last year, and I ABSOLUTELY LOVED it!  I spent the next few months in awe at how small it was (same size as Cheryl’s regular cell phone), yet it could do 99% of what my Treo could.

Eventually the shine wore off, and I’ve found myself looking around at other phones.  Some have full qwerty keyboards, others have better cameras, and a few others have sexy touch-screens & lots of apps.  And these don’t even count the new “android” phones about to hit the market - phones built by Google and expected to rival iPhones in form and function!  But since my phone excels for business (phone, email, text), I was reluctant to jump ship.  Instead I spent some time playing with it and “tricking it out.”

Here’s what I’ve done:

Memory Card ($25).  Doing anything fun, or extending your business use, is going to require memory.  I had a 2gb micro sd card, but I just upgraded that.  An 8gb micro sd card (with an sd adapter so you can plug it directly into a computer) is only $25, maybe less if you shop around.

Movies & Videos w/ any dvd converter pro (free demo or paid version).  Last year I downloaded an application which allowed me to copy dvd movies onto the kids’ mp3 player.  Doing this for myself, I can now watch Wedding Crashers, 300, or an episode of Entourage on my BB.

Custom Ringtones w/ Audacity (free).  Audacity lets you grab any part of a song (just the chorus, or the guitar riff, for example) and turn it into a ring tone.  You can then assign different sound-bytes to different callers.

Blackberry iPod w/ Blackberry Media Sync (free).  Send your iTunes’ playlists to your BB with a couple of mouseclicks.  I now use my Pearl as my iPod, with the added functionality of a built-in speaker if I don’t have my headphones with me!

Blackberry Radio w/ Pandora (free).  Sign up for a pandora account, then download the pandora app to your BB.  You now have a smart-radio; you get a chance to give each song that plays a thumbs up or thumbs down, and Pandora will customize a radio station to suit your tastes.

Tethering. Use your BB as your laptop modem to access the internet when you’re out and about.  Verizon charges $30/month for this feature.  Or you can call Verizon and have them activate the service only on the days you need it.  They’ll prorate the charge ($1 per day), but they’ll only let you do this once or twice per billing cycle.

Google Sync (free).  I moved to Gmail a couple of months ago, mostly as a way to deal with spam.  Once there, I didn’t like having to use Outlook for some things and Gmail for others, so I moved my contacts, calendar, and tasks to Google.  Now my email, contacts, calendar, and tasks sync automatically without me having to do anything!  I haven’t opened Outlook or my Blackberry Desktop Manager in over a month - this is faster, easier, and just as accurate!

Voice-activated Google, and Google Maps with “you are here” w/ Google Mobile Apps (free).  One-click access to your own personalized Google Apps Suite, along with the ability to voice-command a google search (or google maps search).  In addition, when I open Google Maps it displays a little blue dot showing me where I am, a nice feature when I’m driving around an unfamiliar part of town.

Big Sound w/ little capsule speakers ($50).  These speakers are tiny and amazingly loud.  They can be used individually, or together for a bigger stereo sound.  And best of all, they contain a rechargeable battery & plug into your usb port to charge.  It takes about 30 minutes to charge them for about 4 hours of sound.

Alarm Clock w/ BBSmart Alarms Pro (<$10).  A heavy-duty timer and alarm clock with an unlimited number of alarms and the ability to use songs (and custom-built ring tones) as alarms.

Blackberry App World.  one-click access from your BB to hundreds of other apps (some free, some not), allowing you to customize your BB to your liking.  This is where I found the Pandora app.  (and the FaceBook app, too!)

New Battery ($30).  Part of my desire for a new phone was because my battery had gotten old and my talk-time on a full charge was less than an hour.  One new battery later and my BB is like new; I can get through most of the day on my initial charge again.

Super Cool Sticker.  Well, super cool to a 5-year old.  I took J to Ridemakerz for his 5th BDay, and when he decked his dragster out with flames stickers, he put one on my phone.  I’m pretty sure it makes by BB a little faster..

What else? OK Blackberry fans - what are you doing with your BB that I haven’t mentioned?  I’d love to hear your tips!

Your happy to have new love for an old phone Realtor,

Chris Butterworth

Chris Butterworth is a Realtor. He's also a husband, father, writer, amateur photographer, and self-proclaimed tech junkie. And he's an all-around good guy!

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I need to be in Old Town Peoria this morning at 8:00, so I leave the house at my usual way-to-early time in the morning and head that way.  I like to get where I’m going before traffic gets bad, and I can always find a coffee shop to work from, right?

This morning I criss-crossed South Peoria for 20 minutes before finding It’s a Grind on Thunderbird and 84th Ave.  (technically it’s probably considered north of South Peoria, but it’s the closest I could find!)

The quick review:

a clean, wobble-free table, a strong cup of coffee, a friendly girl behind the counter, free wi-fi, blue-sy music at a reasonable volume, and the only option in this part of town..!  Overall, better than average in just about every category, although nothing stands out to me as outstanding, or very different from any other coffee shop.

ps. Safeway at 83rd & Cactus displays a big sign advertising their cafe inside.  Here’s a tip: what Safeway calls a ‘cafe’, other stores refer to as a deli.  sheesh.

Your grateful for this cup of joe Realtor,

Chris Butterworth

Chris Butterworth is a Realtor. He's also a husband, father, writer, amateur photographer, and self-proclaimed tech junkie. And he's an all-around good guy!

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Folks in the real estate industry have been debating for months about whether or not there’s a “shadow inventory” of homes banks have already foreclosed on, but have not yet listed for sale.

The theory says banks will eventually open the floodgates, list all their hoarded inventory and home prices will take another shocking nosedive. They follow up by saying don’t buy now, wait until the banks let loose and prices drop another 20%.

So, is there a shadow inventory?

Not according to Mike Orr. He runs the statistics-packed subscription real estate website The Cromford Report, which focuses on the greater Phoenix real estate market.

This is palpable nonsense.

Let’s look at why the shadow inventory is relatively insignificant:

First, we need to establish how many properties have been foreclosed but not yet sold to a third party. It takes much time and effort to establish this, particularly because government entities are not required to file an Affidavit of Value when they deed property. They get an “A-3″ exemption. However Tom Ruff of the Information Market is up to the challenge and has counted all the trustee sales, searched for subsequent sales to third parties, accounted for all the A-3s and produced a spreadsheet of shadow inventory counts by ZIP code within Maricopa county. There are a total of 18,386 homes within Maricopa county in REO status.

How many of these are in the ARMLS system as of this morning?

1. 5,213 are active
2. 7,170 are pending (i.e. in escrow)
3. 477 are temporarily off market (in many cases because multiple offers are being negotiated)

Thus there are 12,860 accounted for. So the “shadow inventory” of REOs not currently being marketed through ARMLS for Maricopa is 5,526. No doubt many of them will be listed in the next few weeks.

Is this number likely to cause a flood? Absolutely not. This represents less than 1 month of supply based on the current rate of purchase of REOs through ARMLS (which is 5,556 as of today). In fact if this is the only new supply, the inventory of active REOs will fall over the next month, just as we expect. The trustees would have to increase the rate of their sales substantially to keep up with the current market demand for REOs.

So we can conclude, at least for Greater Phoenix, that shadow inventory is a fake issue.

I’ve got to say, so far I’m with Mike Orr on this point. The amount of buyer interest in bank owned homes continues sky-high. Nearly every buyer I’ve worked with this spring & summer who’s focusing on bank owned homes has faced multiple offers, bidding wars, and is often losing out to cash investors.

That’s the case from the very low end (sub-$75,000) all the way up through to the high $400,000s. I haven’t been looking at bank owned homes above $500,000 in the past 2 to 3 months, so can’t knowledgably comment on what’s going on up there. Any readers with first hand knowledge of making offers on bank owned homes above the half-million mark? Please comment.

Note: I originally picked up on Mike’s story via Irene Hammond’s Click to Arizona website.

Heather Barr is a former paralegal turned Realtor. An avid reader and aspiring writer, she loves helping people navigate the often-confusing world of residential real estate.

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“It’s a dry heat” is a ubiquitous phrase in Phoenix every summer. Like most stereotypes, it’s ever present because it’s true.

To a point.

“It’s a dry heat” works for me personally up to about 103 or 104. After that, it just feels hot no matter what, and my stock reply to “dry heat” is ususally, “Yeah, so’s my oven.”

On the other hand, late spring and early summer evenings are some of my favorite things. One truth about dry heat - at least in metro Phoenix - is that as soon as the sun sets the temperature drops quickly and noticeably.

Last night as I drove home from dinner with Dad on his Day, my car displayed 92 degrees at 9:00pm. I rolled down the car windows and popped the moonroof and it was one of the most pleasant drives I’ve had in quite a while.

Heather Barr is a former paralegal turned Realtor. An avid reader and aspiring writer, she loves helping people navigate the often-confusing world of residential real estate.

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I can’t remember a time, ever, when the first day of summer was actually the first day of summer.  Get ready, Phoenicians, summer’s here.  (it was bound to get here at some point.)

We’ve had one of the coolest summers ever, so far.  But once it gets hot nobody remembers last week.

Your prefers hot to cold anyday Realtor,

Chris Butterworth

Chris Butterworth is a Realtor. He's also a husband, father, writer, amateur photographer, and self-proclaimed tech junkie. And he's an all-around good guy!

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Just found this document produced by HSH Financial Publishers, the nation’s largest publisher of mortgage and consumer loan information.

It explains mortgage interest rate locks in plain English.  Check it out.

I just found HSH’s website but am quite impressed by their Library of Articles for consumers.

I especially enjoyed HSH’s article debunking the advertising that claims you can “Save $71,000!” by paying your home mortgage bi-weekly. Read all about Bi-Weekly Mortgage Conversion Programs and why most of them are scams.

Technorati tags: bi-weekly mortgage payment

HSH’s website claims: For 30 years, HSH has been conducting weekly surveys of lenders from coast to coast. Their clients include media outlets, media, Fortune 500 companies, lenders, secondary marketers, Wall Street firms, state and Federal regulators, and mortgage shoppers.

HSH doesn’t accept advertising, they don’t take commissions or kickbacks from the lenders they survey, and they don’t sell “leads” to lenders. HSH only advertise on their website (not their print publications or elsewhere), and all advertisements are clearly marked as such.

Like I said, I just found HSH online and while they look and sound credible, and I haven’t found any evidence they’re not, I didn’t do exhaustive research. If any readers know somethig - good or bad - about HSH, please add your comments to our blog.

Heather Barr is a former paralegal turned Realtor. An avid reader and aspiring writer, she loves helping people navigate the often-confusing world of residential real estate.

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