Priced for quick Sale!

This is the latest Realtor pitch on MLS listings. And yet the listing has been at that price for 8o days. I guess it is in the eye of the beholder as to what is quick. List prices are still being dropped by 30 and 40 thousand dollars. The year over year prices are still higher and thus leading to the news reports of price increases, but they are dropping. If you are buying, be patient. Make offers ahead of the price drop.

Another pitch I am seeing is the Listing Agent offering a chance at $10K if a full price offer is accepted. No kidding!! $10K is nothing when the home is priced $100K over what it is worth! Spare me! This, to me, is a form of steering. Get my clients to like your house and there will be more money in it for me. Not professional or ethical in my humble opinion.

Maricopa city

Another article in todays AZ Republic about the real estate market. This one focused on Pinal County with emphasis on Maricopa city and the Santan area. The article profiled several sellers and real estate agents. Of course the big question is "what is going to happen in the real estate market?"

The immediate problem for the sellers in the area is that a new build costs less than an existing home. Open houses are getting very little traffic and the price of gas is making these outlying communities less and less attractive. The real estate agent talked about the builders offering higher commissions and the sellers are dropping prices at $10,000 increments.

An investor was also interviewed. His take was that he can live with losing $200 on a rental as long as his equity is going up $10,000. In other words, he still thinks he is getting price appreciation while the people with homes on the market are cutting their price. I think it is a big contradiction. Of course, what investor is going to tell the Republic they are losing money and are about to panic?

I thought I would take a look at the MLS data to see what is really going on. So "just the facts ma'am." According to the MLS (which mainly covers the resale market):

At the present time there are 879 homes for sale in the city of Maricopa.

Jan 06- 95 Solds, Average days on market (DOM) was 47, average $ per foot was $139.89 and the average square footage was 1,888

For analysis:

Jan 06- 95 sales, 47 DOM, $139.89/ft, 1,888 sq ft
Feb 06- 58 sales, 66 DOM, $138.42/ft, 1894 sq ft
Mar 06- 105 sales, 65 DOM, $138.57/ft, 1953 sq ft
Apr 06- 88 sales, 76 DOM, $145.56/ft, 1853 sq ft
May 06- 46 sales, 77 DOM, $135.66/ft, 2019 sq ft
Jun 06- 58 sales, 100 DOM, $128.31/ft, 2013 sq ft

There has been one sale in July- 95 DOM at $115/ft.

April was a good month, there was about a 5% drop in price from May to June and DOM jumped about 30%.

If you are a buyer in Maricopa, make your first offer at around $110/ft.

If you are selling in Maricopa, list your home at around $120/ft.

Generally easy living...however,

I get asked all of the time if I like living in Phoenix. When I say yes, the next question is why. I always say, because it is easy living. The roads are good, things are easy to find and get to, shopping is good, the people are good and above all, the weather is good. It does get hot but you learn to deal with it. There are no hurricanes, no tornadoes and no snow storms. However, the dust storms are a pain in the rear!

We had one last night. I wake up and the pool is full of leaves and tree buds and the patio has a fine coating of dust. It is the one thing that I don't like about the Phoenix weather. To add to it, I think my house sits just the wrong way. My garage in front gets leaves blown into it and the pool in back suffers the same fate. Of course, I think my neighbors homes remain spotless through it all.

My next home here in the Valley will be shifted about 90 degrees!

For those interested, the front of my house faces southeast and the rear faces northwest, not good!

About me

I live in Goodyear, AZ which is on the west side of Phoenix. The area has been a boom town for about the last 5 years. In 2003, I decided to get my Real Estate license so that I could partake in the boom, if just on a small scale. I also fly airplanes. I just retired from the Air Force Reserves after being a Fighter Pilot for about 21 years. I still fly for Southwest Airlines.

The hardest thing about Real Estate is the marketing. My background has been very cut and dry: here is the task, go accomplish it. I hate the hard sell in any purchasing situation and refuse to do it.

It is my opinion that the market will sell, or not sell, a house. There is only so much I can do to move a home. I do everything I can, but I will not stand on the corner and wave a sign saying "Come Buy This House!" There are better and more effective ways to market a home. Open House's are more for the Agent than the Seller. Sellers should imagine they are buyers and Buyers should imagine they are Sellers. Realtor's should not imagine anything other than having a satisfied client.

I'm 45, married with 2 kids and 2 dogs. I road bike to stay in shape for mountain biking. I have Cardinals season tickets and firmly believe we will be in the Super Bowl in 2008. I think Jim Rome is the best commentator in any media and America is the middle ground, extremism has no home in my world.