From the category archives:

Buyers

Phoenix Real Estate Market Report May 26th

by Shar Rundio

Over the years I have spent hours and hours at the end of the month on the MLS breaking down the active, pending and sold numbers by city and price range and importing them into Excel spread sheets. While I greatly enjoy the knowledge and interpretation of the numbers, as someone who doesn’t love Excel or spreadsheets this is almost as much fun as a paper cut on my eyeball. Recently, I have become acquainted with The Cromford Report a subscription site where they compile the numbers and I just have to pay for it. There really sick are people out there who LOVE putting this stuff together. They even come with colored arrows for those who can’t figure out if things are trending up or down.

Here’s a quick snapshot of the Phoenix real estate Market as of today:

Things to make note of include:

The active listings – see how they are coming down, that means that houses are selling and/or expiring and not being replaced with new listings.
The pending (under contract) listings – nearly twice as many as this time last year! The buyers are getting it…
Sales are up too!
Months Supply of inventory is way down. If no other houses came on the market at the rate things are selling it would take 4.3 months to deplete the inventory on the market.

Things are a-changing…

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GreatSchools.net: A Resource for Moving Parents and Beyond

by Shar Rundio

If you are a parent and you are contemplating the idea of making a move one of the likely things on the top of your list of questions pertains to the schools. Where are they? What are they like? How are they rated? I frequently have clients ask me questions about schools and thought I’d share with you the resource I send them to: greatschools.net.

Greatschools.net is a researching parent’s dream. From public to charter to private schools, you can learn about everything from student and teacher statistics, spending per child, test scores (see Las Sendas Elementary 4th grade AIMS scores above), demographics, extra cirricular activities, parent & student reviews, and much more. You can also compare schools or school districts.

If you have something to say about a school your kids go to make sure to leave feedback for others there, too and then sign up to receive updates about your specific schools.

Don’t miss Great School’s blog, too!

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First Time Buyer: Definition for Tax Credit

by Shar Rundio

With all the first time buyers realizing the opportunity that exists if they buy a home this year in time for the $8,000 tax credit I am frequently asked questions about who qualifies as a first time buyer. I thought this bit from the Q & A section of the National Association of Home Builders website was worth sharing.

What is the definition of a first-time home buyer?

The law defines “first-time home buyer” as a buyer who has not owned a principal residence during the three-year period prior to the purchase. For married taxpayers, the law tests the homeownership history of both the home buyer and his/her spouse.

For example, if you have not owned a home in the past three years but your spouse has owned a principal residence, neither you nor your spouse qualifies for the first-time home buyer tax credit. However, unmarried joint purchasers may allocate the credit amount to any buyer who qualifies as a first-time buyer, such as may occur if a parent jointly purchases a home with a son or daughter. Ownership of a vacation home or rental property not used as a principal residence does not disqualify a buyer as a first-time home buyer. (my emphasis)

Now is a great time to be a first time buyer. If you know of anyone who should be taking advantage of the opportunity let me know.

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First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit: Get Your $8,000 Now & Use It Toward Your Down Payment

by Shar Rundio

This just in: If you are a first time buyer, you now have an $8,000 down payment!**

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced this morning at the National Association of Realtor’s (NAR) Midyear Conference that the Federal Housing and Administration (FHA) will allow it’s lenders to offer first time buyers the opportunity to use their $8,000 federal tax credit toward their down payment.

This is HUGE!

Now, if you qualify for the first time home buyer tax credit you don’t have to wait until you buy the house, close on it and then file or amend your taxes to get the $8,000. The $8,000 will be offered in the form of a small bridge loan that will be paid back after you get your tax credit. To find out more about the tax credit, check out this informative website.

With the interest rates at historically low numbers, prices at 10-year lows and an $8,000 tax credit there has never been a better time to buy a home! And I’m not just saying that because I get paid to.

If I can help you with your dream of home ownership, please don’t hesitate to ask.

**(Some limitations and exclusions apply, yada, yada, yada…see your friendly loan officer or Realtor for specific details.)

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New “Low” with Buyers at a Bank Owned Property

by Shar Rundio

I had a new experience while showing houses the other day — DUMPSTER DIVING!

I used to go dumpster diving with my best friend when I was young. Stacy and I found all sorts of treasures: an artificial Christmas tree (that my family used for years), office supplies, a wedding/honeymoon album with mementos from Acapulco (I didn’t realize the implications of finding that in the dumpster until years later). One person’s trash is another’s treasure, right?

Back to current times…we pulled up to look at a bank owned house and low and behold across the street there was another bank owned house (I know crazy, huh?) with a trashout going on. A trashout is when the bank or listing agent hires a company (or their brother) to go in and remove the remaining belongings and debris of a foreclosed house prior to listing it for sale.

There were two guys each with big trucks and a HUGE trailer with tall sides. As I am trying to reach the listing agent on the phone (because the lockbox is a contractor’s lockbox with no code and no indication that I wouldn’t be able to use my normal lockbox key — that’s a rant for a different day) I hear Mrs. Buyer say, “Are they just going to throw that away?!” When I get off the phone I find that Mrs. Buyer has approached the workers and inquired as to what they are doing. She’s learned that they have to keep anything with a value over $50 but the rest is going to in the dumpster.

Here’s where the fun begins. She starts scurrying around grabbing things: an infant car seat, 2 bicycle helmets, a Boppy…I’m trying to find places to put things…my trunk is small (it’s a hybrid) and has a bunch of real estate and personal junk in it. We all start picking through the “junk” cautiously at first and then not so much. The guys are helping by bring out more and listing stuff off for us. Mr. Seller and I wind up IN the trailer. Then comes the bigger stuff…an ice chest, a wagon, a kids basketball stand & hoop, a small Fisher Price play set with slide. (Now what to do with it?) We decide to stuff this behind the gate of the initial house we went to look at and they’ll pick it up later.

Want to see the treasure I ended up with?

Not a big ticket item but who can’t use some extra napkins around the house?

The buyers keep commenting on it throughout the remainder of our time looking at other houses. Why didn’t the homeowners take their hard earned stuff? Why didn’t they sell it? Why didn’t they donate it? Why doesn’t the trashout company sell it, donate it, something other than send it to the dump where good stuff will take up precious space on our limited planet (I added that last bit)? I don’t know the answers to this particular situation but it’s similar to those I see every day. Maybe the time frame they needed to be out within, maybe denial, depression, laziness, apathy.

I still don’t have a great place to put all these napkins, anyone have a spill?

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