SanTanValley.com

Since January real estate has changed. It happened faster than I have seen in over 40 years of selling real estate. I have seen markets turn from a buyers market to a sellers market but never this fast and this strong. I think the reason could be bent up buyers demand. 

February sales according to Security Title Company are as follows.

REO or Lender Owned are selling for $70 per sq ft up from $55. The prices are being bid up my a much smaller supply of homes going back to the banks. Why? Very few homes are being sold at auction, even less are going to short sale; Homeowners are trying to weather the economy and stay in their homes. 

Median home pricing is now $129,000.

Why? We got JOBS! We are currently working with dozen’s of new buyers from Intel in Chandler. Banner Hospital recently opened and Doctors nurses and support staff are moving into San Tan Valley! 

Watching, and listening to, the #OWS crowd on TV provoked a 'flashback' to the time I was readying myself to enter the corporate world.

I was a Marine jet pilot with an engineering degree, a wife, two young kids, a dog...and a cane. After sixteen months of 'paint and repair' at a naval hospital following a plane crash, and an additional half-year of rehab, it was decided that I would never sit in an ejection seat again.

FHA Jumbo loans went from $417,000 to $287,000 and back to mid $300,000 this last year. Two questions come to mind. Firstly Why? And secondly Why?

If you own a home in the mid $100,000’s and want to move up you most likely have to find someone selling the bigger home who also wants to move up. If the bigger home buyer cannot finance the home he wants to purchase he cannot sell you his home.

Most newbies will tell us June, July or August.

But the best time to list and sell your home is actually November and December! Why? There are several reasons!

The average sale price in Queen Creek is going up! What did you just write? Are you crazy!

The average sale price is actually going up in Queen Creek. The prices of homes have stayed the same but the average is higher. What happened?

One year ago, the average 2200 sq ft home sold as a bank owned for $100,000. The bank owned needed some work. The above average retail home, really special home, 2200 sq ft sold for $150,000.

One year ago 90% of the sales were bank owned and 10 % retail.

Today, sales are 10% bank owned and 90% retail. So the average has gone from $118,000 to $134,000 but the prices are the same, just the weighting is towards retail.

Real Estate News you won't find in the papers!

In 2000 my son and I were looking for a place to Golf. He had just helped me and as part of his pay I agreed to take him and his cousin golfing. It was October and all the courses were booked and expensive. So I got out the yellow pages and found an ad for The New Johnson Ranch Golf and Country Club. I called and was told they were wide open and at ½ the price of courses “in town.”