The Phoenix Agents » Uncategorized

It’s Construction Time (again)

Chris Butterworth — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 05:10:33 +0000

Ahhh. The last week of the year. Time for reflecting on things past and setting goals and direction for the next year. And for our long-time readers, this is usually a good time to revamp our website’s layout & design!

Personally, I think it’s been a little stale around here lately, and we’ve both been a bit less than energetic with our writing over the last couple of months… So let’s mix things up!

Seriously, I’ll be making some changes over the next couple of weeks – sidebars, buttons, widgets, colors, theme.. “a little ham & eggs coming at you”, as the great Ron Burgundy would say. Bear with me, and if you notice anything goofier than normal, please let me know.

Thanks,

Chris Butterworth

It’s Construction Time (again) is a post written by The Phoenix Agents at Thompson's Realty. If you're reading this anywhere other than a feedreader (rss subscription) of ThePhoenixAgents.com, the site you're reading this on is guilty of copyright infringement.

Chris Butterworth is: Realtor. Analyst. Husband. Father. Writer. Amateur Photographer. Triathlete. Soccer Dad. Big fan of technology, efficiency, and the Arizona Wildcats.

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Bing uses Google search results..?

Chris Butterworth — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:28:16 +0000

I thought this was interesting. (posted via google+)

https://plus.google.com/u/0/110663925268354128146/posts/UBH2RitD1MQ

Bing uses Google search results..? is a post written by The Phoenix Agents at Thompson's Realty. If you're reading this anywhere other than a feedreader (rss subscription) of ThePhoenixAgents.com, the site you're reading this on is guilty of copyright infringement.

Chris Butterworth is: Realtor. Analyst. Husband. Father. Writer. Amateur Photographer. Triathlete. Soccer Dad. Big fan of technology, efficiency, and the Arizona Wildcats.

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Things to consider when buying a home

Heather — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:22:48 +0000

Chris originally wrote this in August 2007. I’m republishing it today because it’s even more true now than it was 3 years ago. In most of the price ranges I call “real-people pricing”, buyers are finding they have to “give” on more of their wishlist than they expected to. This is especially true the lower down the price ranges you go.

Folks who can afford to spend $500,000 or $600,000 on a home still have many choices. Those of us with wallets that only stretch to $100,000 or even to $200,000 find we have fewer options to choose from, and a more difficult decision to make.

While Chris’ advice below might sound like a no-brainer at first, if you let it sink in your home buying process will be much simpler, easier and happier. — heather

I wrote some time ago (Extra Extra – homebuyer has realistic expectations) about the five major criteria most buyers have to think about when they start their home search, and I think it’s a topic that’s important enough that I wanted to touch on it again but in a little more detail.

Most home-buyers have it in their mind that they’re going to be able to get everything they want in their next home (and within their budget). Unfortunately, most buyers aren’t able to reach their initial goals in all five criteria – something will have to give. Here’s a look at the five criteria & some thoughts about how they interact:

Price – Would you consider paying more if you found the perfect house? Or is your price range a hard ceiling? If it is, you need to look at homes within that range and be prepared to buy the best one of the bunch, even if it’s not perfect. If money’s no object, you would buy a palace on the mountain. But since money is, for most of us, a major consideration, we have to determine a maximum price and then stay below it. A little house in a great neighborhood might be the same price as a big house in a lesser neighborhood, but maybe the big house in the great neighborhood is out of our price range..

Size (&/or Number of Rooms) – Is it absolutely necessary to have 2,500 sqft, or 4 bedrooms Plus a den? Or could you make a smaller home work if it has everything else you’re looking for. Obviously a larger home will cost more than a smaller home, with all else being equal. For some buyers the home’s size is their sole reason for moving – they need the extra bedroom. For others it’s an extra that might not be necessary.

Condition – Do you really need to buy a model-home, show-ready, best-in-class home, with all the latest upgrades? Or can you do some of the decorating and upgrades yourself, either when you move in or over the next few years while you live there? If the former is a hard & fast requirement, you’re going to be much more limited in your search, and you’re going to pay a premium for it.

Lot (size & location) – Lots that are larger, have great views, have less noise, or have something else that’s “better” than the neighborhood average will be in high demand. This is one thing about the house that cannot be changed, unlike flooring or countertops. A premium lot will always be a premium lot, and an undesirable lot will always be undesirable. You’ll pay for this accordingly, and you’ll receive the same consideration when you sell it years from now.

Neighborhood – We all know that some neighborhoods are inherently more desirable than others, and their homes are going to be priced accordingly. If you are completely set that you want to live in a particular neighborhood, you may need to be more flexible on one or two of the other criteria. Or, you might be able to get everything else you want, but in a neighborhood that wasn’t your first choice.

Most buyers come to me with some specific ideas about each of these five criteria, but very few buyers are able to hit a home run across the board. The more consideration you give to which of these criteria you’re willing to be flexible on (if necessary), the more likely it is that you’ll have a successful and fun home-buying experience!

Personally, when we moved last year, we scored well on 3 of our criteria, and got “half points” on the other two, so I gave us a 4 out of 5. Hey, even realtors don’t get all 5!

Things to consider when buying a home is a post written by The Phoenix Agents at Thompson's Realty. If you're reading this anywhere other than a feedreader (rss subscription) of ThePhoenixAgents.com, the site you're reading this on is guilty of copyright infringement.

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More Bad MLS Photos

Heather — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 01:17:48 +0000

This text:

OWNER HAS TWO DOG! MUST ARRANGE WITH OWNER WHEN SHOW. OWNER DID A OUTSTANDING JOB ON THE REMODELING. KITCHEN REMODELED WITH GRANITE COUNTER TOPS, STAINLESS STEEL APPLIANCES AND CUSTOM MAPLE CABINETS. BOTH BATHS HAVE BEEN UPGRADED AND REMODELED. THE WHOLE HOUSE HAS BEEN REPLUMBED WITH COPPER PLUMBING AND UPGRADED 1/4′ DUAL PANE WINDOWS. THERE ARE BLOCK-OUT WINDOW BLINDS IN THE BEDROOM. NORTH/SOUTH EXSPOSER. LARGER IRRIGATED LOT WITH SPARKLING RESUFACED POOL WITH ORANGE TREES AND POSTINOS. BACKYARD IS GREAT WITH PLENTY OF ROOM WITH CHILDREN’S PLAY AREA AND LARGE COVERED PATIO.

is accompanied by this photo (and only this photo):

The owner may have done an outstanding job remodeling, but the Realtor didn’t do such an outstanding job photographing. In this age of digital cameras barely larger than a credit card, this is just unacceptable.

By the way, only certain Phoenicians would know that “postinos” isn’t an architectural feature. It’s a local wine bar. Don’t even get me started on the awkward sentence construction. Was the pool resurfaced with plaster or with actual orange trees?

I’m shaking my head, and heading off to the next meeting of the Professional Organization of English Majors. (Fans of Garrison Keillors weekly radio show and it’s fake commercials will get that reference; others can see here but I warn you that old GK has a distinctly Midwestern sense of humor.)

More Bad MLS Photos is a post written by The Phoenix Agents at Thompson's Realty. If you're reading this anywhere other than a feedreader (rss subscription) of ThePhoenixAgents.com, the site you're reading this on is guilty of copyright infringement.

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Yet Another Bad MLS Photo

Heather — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 21:50:11 +0000

Granted, it’s a bank owned property. Goodness knows the listing agents who work for the banks are swamped with inventory and don’t have a lot of time on their hands. Often they don’t have access to the inside of the home until days after the photograph’s been taken.

But for the love of sinkholes people! Straighten your photos. Picasa is free to download and makes it a 5 second job.

Yet Another Bad MLS Photo is a post written by The Phoenix Agents at Thompson's Realty. If you're reading this anywhere other than a feedreader (rss subscription) of ThePhoenixAgents.com, the site you're reading this on is guilty of copyright infringement.

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Top 10 Ways to Tick Off A Realtor

Heather — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 02:19:08 +0000

The following is a true story about a prospective client of mine, a married couple living in the Midwest. We’ve emailed each other for about 6 or 8 weeks about their desire to buy a foreclosure home in Arizona as an investment. I usually avoid writing about clients and prospective clients online, because it’s just a little weird & squicky to expose private conversations in a public forum. However, I couldn’t resist posting this gem.

What follows is a snapshot of my Friday afternoon and a lesson in how to make a Realtor very, very angry.

10. Fly to town unannounced. Call Realtor Thursday evening to say “We’d like to go out looking at homes all day tomorrow and Saturday too.”

9. Act exasperated when Realtor apologetically says that since she didn’t know you were coming, her calendar is pretty booked… but she can shift a few things around to show you homes from 3p-7p on Friday and get a colleague to show you around on Saturday.

8. Present a list of 8 homes in the North Phoenix area which you found online. Explain that you’ve ”done the research,” these are the homes you feel are a good bargain, and generally ignore the Realtor’s attempts to recommend additional areas.

7. Midway through the first showing, insist you don’t want to see condos or townhouses (even though 2 of your original 8 picks are condos).

6. Become frustrated when Realtor says that of the original 8 properties you asked to see, 2 are sold or under contract, 2 are condos (which you don’t want to see), and 1 we can’t see without 24 or 48 hours’ notice to the tenant living in it.

5. Let Realtor drive you to the remaining 3 properties on your list. Describe the 1st as “acceptable”. Decline to go inside homes 2 and 3 because you don’t like the look of the neighborhoods.

4. Announce that you want to call it a day. While Realtor drives you back to hotel, lecture her about your extensive research into foreclosures and the real estate market in general. Explain to the Realtor that it will take 20 years for the Phoenix market to get back to normal, “there are no buyers today” and “we know these desperate sellers will be happy to get our offer, even though we won’t offer higher than 60% of list price.”

3. Listen while your Realtor notes that:

While Phoenix has tons of foreclosures for sale, we’re selling an average number of homes monthly (about 5,000 each month)
While outlying towns are down 40% or more from peak prices, central and North Phoenix are generally down about 12-15% from the peak
The North Phoenix home you said was “acceptable” is located in a ZIP code that’s actually turned into to a Seller’s Market in past weeks, since there’s now only 5 months’ supply of homes for sale (6 is considered balanced, higher than 6 a buyer’s market, lower than 6 a seller’s market).

Listen quietly to Realtor’s statistics, but ignore her information.

2. Tell Realtor that:

“We’re ready to buy today. We have money in hand and are serious about buying. We want to sign a contract today.”
After 2 or 3 sentences of polite chit-chat about your lives in the Midwest, tell Realtor “We aren’t in a hurry to buy. If we can’t find a great home at the right price, we’ll just wait these sellers out. The prices are going to drop, they’ll see and they’ll be sorry.”
Realtor assures you that the ideal home you’ve described is available, is in your price range, and located in a part of town you drove through this morning and said you liked. Perhaps North Phoenix just isn’t the right area for your needs.

Realtor takes a call from a partner agent. She hangs up and says none of her 5 partners are free to show you homes tomorrow but she will cancel her personal plans for the afternoon and meet you again at 2pm to look at homes in the other neighborhood we’ve agreed is good for you.

1. Twenty minutes after the Realtor drops you off, call her and leave this voicemail message: “We’re sure you’re a very nice person, but we just don’t feel that our time is being well utilized. We only have 2 days in Phoenix and we can’t afford to waste our time. So we just wanted to say we don’t want to work with you anymore.”

I should add that by the time I went to sleep that night, I was over it. In fact, the sheer absurdity of the whole thing made me giggle. Just another day in the life! At least my job is never boring.

Top 10 Ways to Tick Off A Realtor is a post written by The Phoenix Agents at Thompson's Realty. If you're reading this anywhere other than a feedreader (rss subscription) of ThePhoenixAgents.com, the site you're reading this on is guilty of copyright infringement.

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A Monsoon Hangover – Blooms!

Heather — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:11:17 +0000

When is a hangover beautiful?? When it’s a monsoon.

One of the gorgeous side effects of the Valley’s monsoon rains is the blooms in the desert. “In Arizona, we typically experience monsoon storms during the summer. Humidity levels increase, and the season is marked by wind storms, dust storms, and periods of heavy desert rains.” (from About.com)

It’s really quite beautiful to drive around the Valley and see the newly green landscape spread out before you as you crest a hill. As a kid I loved our very rare cloudy days and spent them looking forward to the rain which would wash the sky into an unbelievable cerulean blue and stripe the cedar fence marking our back property line with gorgeous deep-mahogany splashes of color. It was all set off by the nearly neon green hue of the putting green grass in the manicured section of our 1/3 acre. Ahhh.

OK, out of my childhood and back to monsoons….

Much of the Phoenix area’s annual 7 inches or so of rainfall comes in the monsoon season. The definition of ‘monsoon’ has changed just this year. It used to be that the monsoon arrived when there were 3 days in a row with a dew point of 55 degrees or higher. This usually happened in mid-July and continued through mid-September.

Since nobody really understands what a dew point is anyway (insert tongue in cheek ) it’s a good thing the rule has been changed as of 2008. The monsoon season now lasts from June 15 to September 30 each year. 2008 has been the wettest monsoon in recent years.

What’s a dewpoint? Wikipedia gives a nearly unintelligible definition. Weather.com does better (on a redirect to the National Weather Service): “Dewpoint is the temperature at which air becomes saturated and produces dew.”

Despite the heat, the Valley’s landscape comes alive during the monsoon, storing water to get through our dry and (relatively) cold winters. It makes for beautiful Sunday drives.

Want to see another monsoon photo? Or more photos of the Valley in general? See my partner’s site, Chris Butterworth of Butter Homes and his Moving Stills series. Or, try About.com’s photo album of Phoenix dust storms. This link also provides an excellent article series about the Valley’s monsoons, if you’re interested.

Don’t miss out on the psychedelically cool monsoon maps at the weather.com link above!

And by the way, folks make candy out of the ruby red cactus “flowers” pictured above. The quintessential confectioner is local favorite Cactus Candy, but they don’t do online orders. It’s worth the phone call. But if you simply must order via the web, you can buy these red jelly candies from DesertUSA.com

A Monsoon Hangover – Blooms! is a post written by The Phoenix Agents at Thompson's Realty. If you're reading this anywhere other than a feedreader (rss subscription) of ThePhoenixAgents.com, the site you're reading this on is guilty of copyright infringement.

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Moving Stills 26 – First Monsoon

Century Plaza Condos

Heather — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 02:22:27 +0000

Century Plaza is an interesting new hi-rise condo development at the intersection of Osborn & Central Avenue (ZIP code 85012), and there’s a lot for sale there. Pricing goes from the high $200,000′s to $1.5 million, see more info on this below.

Originally built in 1974 as an office tower, it was completely gutted and rebuilt starting in 2006 by Equus Development Corporation (dba Windsor Century Plaza, LLC). The Century Plaza site offers condos from 734 to 2,911 square feet with current asking prices starting in the high $200′s and going up to over a million.

The views are stunning and one reason for that is that setback regulations in the 1970′s allowed buildings much closer to Central Avenue than today’s setbacks allow. The effect from the upper floors is almost like you’re floating above Central Avenue!

The Osborn light rail stop is literally outside the lobby doors and with the light rail scheduled to begin regular operations this December, residents will have easy access to downtown & Tempe.

Each condo has 11 foot ceilings, 8 foot doors, a shaded balcony off the living room and master bedroom. The site boasts private covered parking, secure key-card access, concierge service, a 24/7 clubhouse and fitness center and a unique Car Share program for urbanite owners who want to use a car once in a while but not foot the maintenance and storage costs. Upscale retail shops were built into the ground floor. (I’m not sure the Car Share program is up and running yet. Phoenicians are pretty addicted to our cars, so it’ll be really interesting to see how this idea takes off.)

After many construction delays, the tower is finally complete. The builder’s reps are still onsite, selling never lived in units. List prices currently start at $291,000 for a 3rd floor, extra large 1 bedroom. Expect to drop at least a cool million for 1600 or 1700 square feet on the upper floors. The current high list price is $1,449,000 for 1700+ square feet with a panoramic view from the 16th floor.

Think urban loft living is right for you? Contact me for a private tour, or just for more information. Just want to see downtown hi-rise condos on an MLS search? Email or call and I’ll setup a custom search for you which will email you whenever anything that suits your needs hits the market. Heather@NorthPhoenixAgent.com or 602.999.8831

This is probably an appropriate spot to remind readers that you absolutely need a Realtor to represent you when you buy from a builder! The builder has sales reps onsite who are lovely, helpful and charming people. They will tell you they’ll “make sure you get what you ask for” but the builder’s sales reps work for the builder. Their job is to sell inventory and they have no obligation to protect your interests.

A colleague of mine tells a story of working with a buyer who bought a condo from a builder. The buyer intended to work from home and needed a condo with quiet neighbors. The builder’s rep assured the buyer the condo was quiet as far as she knew. The buyer’s own Realtor visited the condo one weekday about 10am, only to hear a trumpet being practiced (loudly!) next door. Turns out the neighbor played for the Phoenix Symphony and practiced at home daily. The builder’s salesperson never mentioned that to the buyer. The builder’s rep actually didn’t do anything wrong – she had no obligation to disclose the noisy neighbor because her duties were to sell condos for the builder. She had no duty to protect the buyer’s interests.

Had that buyer used the builder’s Realtor instead of hiring his own…… hmmmm. Earplugs, anyone?

Century Plaza Condos is a post written by The Phoenix Agents at Thompson's Realty. If you're reading this anywhere other than a feedreader (rss subscription) of ThePhoenixAgents.com, the site you're reading this on is guilty of copyright infringement.

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17% of US Homes For Sale are Lender Owned

Heather — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 20:35:34 +0000

RealtyTrac released data for July 2008 that shows that nearly 1 of every 5 US homes for sale is owned by a bank (a.k.a. “REOs”).

I’m loving the data-crunching capabilities of the new MLS software so much that I thought I’d check on the percentage of Phoenix area homes for sale which are lender owned. There are 53,767 metro Phoenix area homes for sale today, and only 3,886 of them are coded “Lender Owned Property” in the MLS. So according to that, only 7.2% of Phoenix area homes for sale are lender owned.

That seems reasonably accurate, just based on the anecdotal mental evidence I gather by scouring the MLS daily for my seller and buyer clients. On the other hand, RealtyTrac’s nifty color-coded map of foreclosure activity shows Phoenix is a hotbed of foreclosure activity (no surprise there).

The MLS data does suffer from garbage in, garbage out syndrome. If the listing agent doesn’t check the little data box for “lender owned property” when they enter the home for sale into the MLS, it won’t show up properly in user’s searches.

I also checked for the number of short sale properties for sale – only 2.6%, or 1,413 homes. That seems low. Again, just based on my mental picture of the MLS based on the fact that I look at it daily. I suspect that many agents don’t check the proper data box when entering their short sale listings into the MLS and the percentage is actually higher.

Regardless, I thought my readers would find this little statistical gem interesting. Want more statistical analysis of the MLS data that fits your situation? Call or email me.

Want to receive these updates by email? Send me an email with “subscribe to blog” in the subject line. No email spam and I do not sell, rent, share or trade your email address to anyone. Ever.

17% of US Homes For Sale are Lender Owned is a post written by The Phoenix Agents at Thompson's Realty. If you're reading this anywhere other than a feedreader (rss subscription) of ThePhoenixAgents.com, the site you're reading this on is guilty of copyright infringement.

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Fixing Your Credit? Here’s a Great Resource

Heather — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 02:13:18 +0000

I’ve been reading CreditBloggers in my feedreader for a while now and finally (Doh!) it dawned on me that my readers might find the site useful. I’m adding it to my blogroll and linking to them here.

Need to fix your credit? Want to understand more about how the credit scoring system works? Want reliable information on credit scams? Check out CreditBloggers.

Fixing Your Credit? Here’s a Great Resource is a post written by The Phoenix Agents at Thompson's Realty. If you're reading this anywhere other than a feedreader (rss subscription) of ThePhoenixAgents.com, the site you're reading this on is guilty of copyright infringement.

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The Phoenix Agents » Uncategorized

It’s Construction Time (again)

Bing uses Google search results..?

Blogroll Updated

Things to consider when buying a home

More Bad MLS Photos

Yet Another Bad MLS Photo

Top 10 Ways to Tick Off A Realtor

A Monsoon Hangover – Blooms!

Century Plaza Condos

17% of US Homes For Sale are Lender Owned

Fixing Your Credit? Here’s a Great Resource