Is this what we’ve come to? We’re going to rent from investors from Canada? According to the New York Times, investment firms are buying hundreds of our homes here in Phoenix as rental properties. They are buying bank foreclosures and then leasing the properties back to the original borrowers. In many ways, this works out for all those involved. Renters have a place to live, and the investors are gaining equity AND cashflow. This should be a wake up call to local investors that we should be able to take advantage of our local market. Don’t let outsiders drive up the prices again on us like many of the investors did last time.
Added Commercial Foreclosure List
May 18, 2009 By
Friends,
Many of my most recent investors have been looking at foreclosures in commercial real estate and multi-family properties. Since many of my clients have deemed this to be a favorable avenue for investment, I have decided to unveil these exclusive properties to the public. If you are interested in seeing what’s available, check out commercial foreclosure properties and apartment foreclosures.
Cheers
Tempe Housing Market Update
May 10, 2009 By
Tempe has continued its trend of having about 500 homes available on the market. For the month of April, we had an inventory of 8.68 months. We are starting to see more homes trickle into the $50k-$100k price range. Many of these homes are bank owned and require a lot of rehab. The 8.7 months of inventory in this price range is misleading because we just recently broke into this barrier, and they are all getting snatched up quite quickly.
| Price | Active | Pending | Sold | Inventory |
| Total | 456 | 160 | 71 | 8.68 |
| 50-100k | 20 | 15 | 4 | 8.75 |
| 100-150k | 31 | 37 | 16 | 4.25 |
| 150-200k | 83 | 42 | 25 | 5.00 |
| 200-300k | 154 | 46 | 22 | 9.09 |
| 300-500k | 113 | 23 | 7 | 19.43 |
| 500k+ | 60 | 3 | 1 | 63.00 |
As expected, homes in the $100k-$200k price range are flying off the shelves. We have less than 5 months of inventory.This is the price range that is hitting many investors that are looking for cash flow as well as first time home buyers.
Over $300k, the price range where most home buyers are moving up from their first home, is at over one year supply. At this price point, a few things come into play. First, many people are less motivated to move up to their next house. The other issue is FHA loan limits as well as Jumbo loan guidelines. Additionally, the pace of homes moving at sub $300k is applying more pressure on the higher price range.
2920292 Carmel
May 8, 2009 By
What would you say if a large organization has just told you, “We want to sell your house. We really do! We just don’t want people to find your house on Google, Yahoo, or any other search engine of choice.” Would that make you happy?
Currently, the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors has decided that none of its members will be allowed to have their clients homes available for Google to find. That means that it violates the boards’ terms if buyers can find YOUR house on Google. It was a local issue at first, but when the National Association of Realtors came into the picture, they sided with MIBOR! That means that if we don’t right the ship right now, this policy can come to a board near you (read AAR)!
To read more about this subject, read http://agentgenius.com/?p=12261
If you like the idea of having Google find your house when you want it sold, write to CNiersbach@realtors.org
Don't bank with your mortgage lender if…
May 6, 2009 By
This might seem like such common sense, but let me state it explicitly as Joel the Realtor recently had his checking and savings account pillaged by Wells Fargo. If you are facing foreclosure, if you are unable to make payments, please please please do NOT leave money in the same bank that you are facing foreclosure with. Recently, a local Realtor had Wells Fargo wipe out his checking and savings account. They were the second note on the account, and according to Wells Fargo:
“State and federal law gives financial institutions the right to claim unpaid and past due amounts owed to them…. This is a common industry practice.”
So again, it might seem like common sense to us all, but let us learn from Joel’s lesson.
Mortgage Help
May 5, 2009 By
I just ran into a neat site about mortgages. Those over at Mortgage Forum can answer any questions that you may have.
