April 2009

Moving Stills 59 – Kierland Golf Club

Photoblogging

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Kierland’s a neat area.  There are plenty of resort-style destinations, subdivisions, and master-planned communities around town, all offering hotels, condos, homes, restaurants, golf, shopping, etc etc.  But there’s something about Kierland that’s a little different.  It "feels" more comfortable than most of the others… You can read the rules for a Moving Stills post and [...]

30 April 2009 Read the full article →

Homes for Under $25,000 ??

Buyer Help

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Buy a Valley home for under $25,000? (map courtesy of FlexMLS. Click to enlarge, use browser’s back button to return) The map above shows the homes (single family detached only) in the greater Phoenix area, with list prices of $25,000 or less, that sold between March 25 and April 25 of this year. Each blue [...]

29 April 2009 Read the full article →

Spuds MacKenzie – you know you’re old when…

Op Ed

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Today I was talking with a young woman in her 20′s, and the conversation turned to “attack breed” dogs – specifically pit bulls.  Somehow we got stuck on the difference between pit bulls, bull terriers, and pit bull terriers. At the same time we each pulled a popular iconic dog into the conversation: Her:  “like [...]

28 April 2009 Read the full article →

Buyers having hard time getting accepted bid

First Time Buyers

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I’m helping a first time buyer shop for a house on the near-Northwest side in the under-$70,000 price range. She wants at least 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and must have a backyard (big! dog!). We’re shopping from 19th Avenue to about 83rd Avenue, and from Peoria road north to the 101. We’re searching inside the blue [...]

28 April 2009 Read the full article →

Winners and Losers in today’s economy

Op Ed

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Our recent economy has been tough – probably the worst since the Great Depression.  I’ve talked to scores of people who have lost their homes.  I’ve also talked with dozens of people who are using today’s low real estate prices to buy investment property.  The strange thing is it’s virtually impossible to tell the difference [...]

27 April 2009 Read the full article →

Sunday Stats for April 25, 2009

Foreclosures

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Here’s the chart for this week: (click to enlarge; use browser’s back button to return) The gray bands are new this week. They’re to highlight ZIP codes where the real estate market is balanced. Most folks in the biz generally agree that 6 months’ inventory is a “balanced” market. What this means is that if [...]

26 April 2009 Read the full article →

Down Payments For Dummies

Buyer Help

Seriously. You’re not a dummy if you don’t understand the in’s and out’s of down payments. I didn’t either when I bought my first home. It was just a catchy title. And possibly a trademark infringement, but don’t tell the Patent and Trademark Office on me, ‘kay? Here’s the skinny for all you first time [...]

25 April 2009 Read the full article →

the shrinking middle class

General Musings

I was talking with my neighbor last night about the current state of the market/economy (as if anybody talks about anything else nowadays).  He made a comment I found interesting: "Half the people we know are losing their homes and cars, and the other half are buying up property for $60,000 a home.  We feel [...]

24 April 2009 Read the full article →

Hand-written still matters

Op Ed

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Remember back in the dark ages before email and the internet?  We used to send and receive letters and cards.  And you could easily tell the difference between a hand-written, one-of-a-kind note and a Dear Blank mail-merged letter. The same holds true today. Personal, individually-typed emails are night and day more powerful than a copy [...]

23 April 2009 Read the full article →

Rainbows and Sunshine

General Musings

Today I’m attending an MLS sponsored real estate technology fair, and running into a lot of colleagues I haven’t seen in a while, as you usually do at these industry seminars. One Jonathan Dalton jokingly told me I’ve sounded waaaay too negative here on The Phoenix Agents lately.  It was meant as a joke and [...]

22 April 2009 Read the full article →

Moving Stills 58 – Shetland Pony

Photoblogging

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There are a few areas around Phoenix where neighborhoods grew around pre-established ranches and stables.  I like this diversity; we’ve come across horses, cows, goats, sheep, llamas, long-horn steer, and just about every other type of livestock.  This Shetland Pony was watching me; I think he wanted his picture taken.. You can read the rules [...]

22 April 2009 Read the full article →

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