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Southwest Valley

REOs Rule, But Not Everywhere

by Heather on September 21, 2009

in Foreclosures / Short Sales, Market Analysis & Stats

Image ID 1150734 by svilen001 Image courtesy of Stock Exchange user svilen001

Just a little blurb from one of our favorite title/escrow officers, Maggie Clark of Equity Title. This gives a good picture of just how much the REO (“real estate owned”, i.e. bank owned foreclosure) properties are driving the market lately.

Southwest Valley - REO active listings represent 16% of the total listings, and 50% of the sales for the last month.

Peoria and Glendale - REO active listings represent 17% of the total listings, and 54% of the sales for the last month.

Scottsdale - REO active listing represent 6% of the total listings, 29% of the sales for the last month.

We still get calls on a regular basis from buyers seeking second homes and winter vacation homes. They often ask for Scottsdale, and expect prices to have nose-dived there just like everywhere else. Not the case! Scottsdale hasn’t been hit with the tsunami of foreclosure much of the rest of the Valley of Sun has. Not as many bank owned homes on the market at bargain bazaar pricing equals prices have not nose-dived. Not in Scottsdale anyway.

You want bargain basement, clearance sale pricing? Go to the older neighborhoods in Phoenix, and to the West side neighborhoods of Peoria, Goodyear, Avondale, Tolleson, Maryvale, Buckeye, Peoria, etc. The far Southeast has seen plummeting prices too: think Queen Creek, Florence and Apache Junction.

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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Real Estate Glossary, Starter Home

by Heather on July 17, 2009

in First Time Buyers, Real Estate Investing

This isn’t an official definition. I’m not sure there is one. It’s just what I use as shorthand for a certain type of property.

  • 3-4 bedrooms
  • 2 bathrooms
  • about 1200 to 1600 square feet
  • small yard
  • usually located about 20-30 miles from anything you can reasonably call ‘downtown’
  • almost always in a master planned community, i.e. there is a Homeowners’ Association which charges fees and makes rules for the community

Like I said, not an official definition, and you’ll see there are a lot of qualifiers in my list (sometimes, usually, often). Take it for what it’s worth.

What about pricing? This isn’t a scientific survey, but lately we at The Phoenix Agents have been helping folks buy these houses for between $60,000 and $150,000 in various parts of the Northwest, North and Southwest Valley. The lower the price, the harder it is to find a house that’s inhabitable which the investor buyers haven’t already made multiple cash offers on.

Homes that fit this description often make great purchases for first time buyers, and often fit the bill for investors too.

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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Phoenix is a Big Grid

by Heather June 19, 2009 Phoenix By Area

Here’s a bit of handy introduction-to-the-Valley sort of info about Phoenix’s street system.
(click to enlarge/”back” to return)
Thoughtfully, our Phoenician forebears laid out our fair city on a big grid. Nearly every street is straight and major streets are 1 mile apart. Numbered streets go north & south, named streets go east-west.
Obviously the big yellow [...]

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