Selling Your Home? Home Buyers 1st Impressions Count

Are you living in the Phoenix area and want to sell your home quickly to avoid tons of strangers walking through it? There have been plenty of articles written on how to sell your house. However, they usually come from the perspective of a realtor telling the buyer what to do to make their house more presentable. This article will focus on a very important topic that many realtors want to avoid: professional quality photography.

Why do many realtors avoid the topic of photography? Quite simply, their knowledge of photography is limited and they don't want to pay a professional between $100 - $500 for a set of pictures. They hope to sell your home after taking 15 minutes to shoot some photos and uploading

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Phoenix Area Home Sales Increase Slightly in October 2009

Phoenix Area Home Sales Increase Slightly in October 2009

The increase was slight, but October 2009 home sales in Phoenix surpassed those of September by about 200 sales. These numbers continue to be evidence of confidence from buyers looking for homes in the Phoenix area.
The confidence can be attributed lower housing prices and the first-time home buyers credit. It also helps that the number of active listings in Phoenix has remained stable thereby keeping the balance between a "buyers" and "sellers" market in check.

This is great news for the housing market in Phoenix. Increased sales always stimulates the overall economy. People who have "gotten off the fence" and contributed to Phoenix home sales are making this the 3rd best sales year in the last decade.

As seen in the charts, 8,145 homes sold in October of 2009. Only four months had higher sales in the Phoenix area. It is also important to note that in the previous two years home sales were already tapering off by October. However, Phoenix area sales over the last three months have been stable.

if you are comfortable with housing prices, president Obama's policies, and interest rates -- this may be your time to consider homes for sale in the Phoenix area.

Homes for sale in Phoenix increase slightly to begin November 2009

Homes for sale in Phoenix increase slightly to begin November 2009

MLS listings in the Phoenix area were up slightly for the second consecutive month to begin November 2009 (highlighted in orange).  This is a contrast to the previous nine months when active homes on the market dropped a whopping 23,500 properties from 54,538 in December 2008 to 30,995 in September 2009 (highlighted in yellow). There are currently 32,351 active residential listings in the Phoenix area real estate market.  This includes both "normal" and foreclosure homes for sale.

This slight increase in homes for sale will do little to impact the demand in our current real estate market, especially for foreclosures. The Phoenix real estate market has averaged about 8,700 home sales in the six-month period from April through September 2009. Phoenix home sales for October are expected to be right around 8,300 properties. Much of this demand in Phoenix is due to affordable home pricing and the $8,000 tax credit. The $8,000 tax credit is currently set to expire at the end of this month, but the federal government is evaluating extending it into 2010.

Phoenix Area Foreclosures

The number of Metro Phoenix foreclosures increased to begin November 2009. The total increase was about 550 homes.  This includes both real estate short sales and REO property (bank owned homes).  Look for the number of foreclosures to increase further as short sales continue to be increasingly popular and banks have inventory they have yet to release.  The chart indicates approximately 38% of all active homes for sale over the last six months have consisted of foreclosure-properties (highlighted in blue).

My next post will look deeper into the foreclosure market and compare the number of short sales versus the number of bank owned properties currently for sale in the Phoenix real estate market.

Learn about the short sale process

September 2009 Phoenix home sales keep pace with August 2009 - foreclosures still dominate

September 2009 Phoenix home sales keep pace with August 2009 - foreclosures still dominate

Of the almost 31,000 Phoenix homes for sale, 7,942 homes were sold in the metropolitan Phoenix area in September 2009. That's 97 homes less than the total sold in August. A majority were Phoenix foreclosure type properties. 2009 has been a very good year for homes sales in the Valley of the Sun. At current sales levels, I expect to see approximately 90,000 homes sold in the Phoenix area for 2009, making it the third best sales year for housing in the last decade. As of this writing, 72,451 homes have been sold in and around Phoenix. The only two years with more home sales were the “boom” years of 2004 in 2005 -- with 98,100 and 104,000 sales respectively. The next closest year was 2003 with 79,500 sales.

It seems clear that the Phoenix foreclosure market, the $8,000 tax credit, low interest rates, and the overall affordability of Phoenix area homes has done much to stimulate sales. This post is not about whether or not the $8,000 tax credit is spoiling the Americans into a feeling of entitlement. It is simply reporting on the sales trends in the Phoenix area and confirming that local residents have cast a vote of confidence in returning to the home market. Having said that, it must also be noted that some figures indicate that approximately 30% of all Phoenix home sales in 2009 were from investors.

Foreclosures continue to dominate Phoenix area sales

67% of all home sales in the Phoenix area during September 2009 were foreclosures, foreclosures being either REO property (bank owned homes) or real estate short sales. This has been a trend in the Phoenix area for the last year.

October 2008 was recorded as the first month that foreclosure sales exceeded 50% of total sales. Foreclosure sales increased from 51.4% in October to a high of 75.9% in March 2009. The decrease in REO property (bank owned homes) has been a significant factor in the gradual reduction of foreclosure sales beginning in April 2009. My post in the next few days will show that Phoenix foreclosures are increasingly being affected by real estate short sales, a trend barely noticeable 12-18 months ago. Short sales deserve a look if you are considering making a purchase from the inventory of Phoenix homes for sale.

Mesa Homes for Sale - Augusta Ranch

Ron Wilczek, Broker/Owner
Metro Phoenix Homes
480-445-9480

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"Active" homes for sale in Metro Phoenix remain consistent - October 2009

The total number of "active" homes for sale in Metro Phoenix remained consistent at just over 31,000 homes for the fourth month in a row. As the chart indicates, that's 20,000 homes less then we experienced during 2008 and all the way up March 2009.


The number of active foreclosure listings has also been steady at just under 12,000 homes over the last four months -- after reaching a high of over 22,000 homes for sale in the Phoenix area in February 2009.

Metro Phoenix foreclosures have accounted for the majority of home sales over the last 12 months, reaching as high as 75.9% of all Metro Phoenix homes for sale in March 2009. Those figures will be updated in the next few days on this blog. The foreclosure market has severely impacted the Phoenix area and the prices of all homes for sale.

Phoenix homes for sale ranked 21st most affordable in Metro area

Phoenix homes for sale ranked 21st most affordable at $78 per square foot in Metro area

This table ranks Metro Phoenix cities and their corresponding homes for sale by their annual average sales price per square foot. Only single family detached homes are included in these numbers. Information for major and secondary cities is current as of September 30th, 2009. Data for the small cities is updated on a monthly basis, and is measured on the 13th of each month. As you can see, Phoenix homes for sale are more affordable than those in many surrounding communities.

The primary function of this table is to show the least and most affordable homes for sale in the Phoenix metropolitan area together with longer term pricing trends.

Annual averages are based on a relatively large number of sales. Therefore they are not as subject to rapid change as monthly averages. The downside is that they do not necessarily represent the "current" market (or market right at this moment on 9/30/2009) very accurately, since they include sales from up to a year ago. Pricing may have moved a great deal since then. However, the information is consistent for all homes for sale in the Phoenix area and will give good trending information.

Note that Higley has been included in Gilbert and Ahwatukee included in Phoenix. Desert Hills is still counted separately though it is increasingly being incorporated into Phoenix.

Note that Phoenix is second only to Tonopah Arizona with the largest year over year (YOY) decrease in average price per square foot for all homes for sale in a range that extends from $337 to $59 per square foot.This can be attributed to the large number of new home communities built in west Phoenix over the last seven years, complete with all of the bad financing and other troubles that led to the classic foreclosure profile we have now come to know.

Statistical Information courtesy of the CromfordReport.com

Seller's market for Metro Phoenix homes for sale

We seem to be in a Seller's market for Metro Phoenix homes for sale. Granted, there are many places in the Metro Phoenix area were homes are still not moving. But Metro Phoenix homes for sale under $200,000 -- and particularly Metro Phoenix homes for sale under $100,000 -- are moving extremely fast. It's been quite a long time since we could say that, but statistical evidence points in that direction.

The chart depicts what is known as the Cromford Market Index^TM. Many experts, and myself, consider this report to be every bit as valuable as the Case-Shiller index -- but 3 months more current in its release for the Phoenix homes for sale market. Here is a simple description of the index from founder Mike Orr:

... a value that provides a short term forecast for the balance of the market. It is derived from the trends in pending, active and sold listings compared with historical data over the previous four years. Values below 100 indicate a buyer's market, while values above 100 indicate a seller's market. A value of 100 indicates a balanced market (http://www.cromfordreport.com).

Realtors trying to find Metro Phoenix homes for sale for clients can testify to this seller's market. We are constantly facing multiple offers undesirable properties. Buyers face a regular dose of frustration when they are outbid on Phoenix homes for sale. This condition parallels what happened in 2004 and 2005, although prices for Phoenix homes for sale will never get that high again.

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2009 market distress for Phoenix homes for sale

This post is exclusively for City of Phoenix homes for sale (not the entire ARMLS). It reports on normal, pre-foreclosure and lender owner properties as indicated by the dark blue, light blue and red colors respectively. The left side of the chart is dedicated to "active listings" and the right side to "monthly sales" for Phoenix homes for sale.

The chart indicates approximately 57.6% of active listings and 77.1% of recent monthly sales are distressed properties. Roughly speaking, on average 67.3% of Phoenix homes for sale are distressed properties as of September 2009.

It's particularly interesting to note the $75 difference in price per square foot between the asking price of normal "active listings" and the sales price of normal "monthly sales" for Phoenix homes for sale. Normal sales account for only 22.9% of recent monthly sales, but buyers are unwilling to pay for overpriced listings. On the other hand there is only an $8 difference for pre-foreclosures and $12 for lender owned Phoenix homes for sale. However, there is evidence in parts of the city that distressed properties are selling for 5% above asking price.

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