From the monthly archives:

December 2008

Happy New Year

by Heather on December 31, 2008

in Op Ed

1124434_times_happy_new_year_2009Happy New Year!

We’re looking forward to a great new year here at The Phoenix Agents and we wish the best to all our readers.

image courtesy of user djayo at Stock Exchange, the leading free stock photo sharing site


heather

Heather Barr is a Realtor. She's a chow hound, a gym rat, and the only political junkie in the USA who can actually keep her political views to herself. Instead, she focuses on educating her clients about the often-confusing world of residential real estate.

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Welcome NorthPhoenixAgent readers!

by Heather on December 30, 2008

in General Musings

Wow! Thanks for following me and finding me over here at my new home, ThePhoenixAgents. I’ve combined forces with my colleague Chris Butterworth, who is an outstanding Realtor and all around great guy.  In future, all our posts will be here, so I hope you’ll take a moment to update your bookmarks and/or feedreaders.

As Chris mentioned in his welcome post (immediately below), it turns out to have been quite a big job to combine our 2 blogs. I must say, he did most of the heavy lifting! Readers here will notice a few cosmetic quirks and tweaks over the coming few days.

But you can continue to expect the great content here that you’ve become used to from both The North Phoenix Agent and The Butter Homes Blog.  Welcome!


heather

Heather Barr is a Realtor. She's a chow hound, a gym rat, and the only political junkie in the USA who can actually keep her political views to herself. Instead, she focuses on educating her clients about the often-confusing world of residential real estate.

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Welcome ButterHomes readers!

by Chris Butterworth December 30, 2008 General Musings

And thank you for finding your way over here to ThePhoenixAgents! 
I’ve been writing on ButterHomes for more than 2 years (594 posts, to be exact.)  And during that time, I’ve referred you to read the great content Heather Barr writes too many times to count.  Now I’m finally able to give you the [...]

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The Phoenix Real Estate Market

by Heather December 29, 2008 General Musings

Some days working as a Realtor is pretty discouraging. Buyers are scared to buy a house now, afraid it won’t be worth what they paid for it on the day they take possession. I’m not sure I can blame them.
Cash investor buyers make offer after offer at 50% of list price or less, only to [...]

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Smokey’s Garage Door Repair

by Chris Butterworth December 29, 2008 Homeowner Help

Friday morning last week I pulled out of the garage, and the garage door wouldn’t close.  I was heading to an appointment, so I didn’t have time to play with it - I simply disengaged the electric motor and closed it manually.  When I returned home after lunch, I spent an hour goofing around with [...]

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Merry Christmas!

by Heather December 25, 2008 Op Ed

The North Phoenix neighborhood of Moon Valley puts on a holiday light display complete with luminaria.

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Check Out A Neighborhood

by Heather December 24, 2008 Buyer Help

SpotCrime is an interesting new online research tool for potential home buyers. (If you want the national version of the website, visit www.SpotCrime.com)
It’s a map based tool that allows you to see crime reports in your area. The website claims the reports are in real time, i.e. they show up online within 3 to 24 [...]

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New Light Rail Photos

by Heather December 22, 2008 Central Phoenix

Shot a few quick pics of the light rail trains running up and down Central Avenue late last week. Used my cell phone so the quality isn’t super, but thought y’all readers would enjoy these.
. . . . .
The smudges in the lower left frame of photo 2 are my dashboard. Didn’t have [...]

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Buying Foreclosures?

by Heather December 22, 2008 Buyer Help

I was thinking about writing (again) about how buying a foreclosure home can be a great deal, but isn’t always what it seems. Then I found Realtor Amy Jones’s post about the same topic, complete with a picture (below). A picture is worth a thousand words indeed. Go check Amy Jones’s post about foreclosures out.

Foreclosure [...]

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Sunday Stats

by Heather December 21, 2008 Market Analysis & Stats

photo credit to MiamiAmia, courtesy of StockExchange.
Click here to see the entire Sunday Stats series, and for historical perspective.
This week’s chart is a mess of red and green all over, not following any discernable trend. Kinda like the Valley’s real estate market now. Or maybe the stats chart is feeling Christmasy.

Heather Barr is a [...]

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Phoenix in Winter

by Heather December 20, 2008 See Arizona

Yes, Virginia, there is winter in Phoenix. People living in the Northeast and Midwest call it “fall.”  This is a picture of it.
I took this photo earlier this week, on Central Avenue between Bethany Home and Northern, just a few dozen feet south of Maryland Avenue.
Google Maps Street View has a nice summertime picture of [...]

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When to Refinance

by Chris Butterworth December 20, 2008 Mortgages

I’ve fielded several calls this week from friends and clients about refinancing; apparently when the Fed drops the interest rate to 0% people take notice!  The problem is that 30-year mortgage rates aren’t tied very tightly to the Fed funds rate.  In fact, I’ve even seen mortgage rates rise when the Fed lowers rates.
So, to [...]

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