East Valley MLS Inventory History, 2001-2012

If you’ve been looking for homes in the Maricopa County East Valley recently, you’ve experienced it.  Multiple bidding wars are not fun when you are the Buyer but great for the Sellers out there- which mainly consist of the banks (either via REO or Short Sale). 

What’s different from last time this happened (2005) is we do not have available the “liar loans” any longer that were blamed for the false increase in values and our appraisers and underwriters are very conservative today, so I do not believe we will see pricing sky rocketing anytime soon; but the prices for Real Estate definitely are not going down any longer either.

Between the Local Builders not building homes during 07-11 the way they had in years past and the pricing hitting bottom (with investors buying up everything), not to mention interest rates being so low (4% on average); we’ve hit a perfect storm in our local Real Estate market- which will pass! But for the time being, Buyers Beware- it’s going to take some patience to get the right home at the right price right now.

Please feel free to contact us if you are wondering what your home is worth today or if you are in the market to find a new home and need the right firm with experience to help navigate you through this current madness!  480-243-4242

Rebecca Hidalgo shares our latest tool with you to shop all New Home Builders at the same time online, view floorplans and incentives- SHOP HERE NOW if you are interested in checking out homes with Builder Warranties, NO BIDDING WARS, no waiting on Banks to find out if your offer was accepted, and what’s best is everything is brand new and most of the time can be customized to your taste.  Our inventory in the Phoenix Metro Area is at a record low (just checked today, now only 15734 homes Active on the market, this time last year, 44000 were available to pick from?!?) and with record low rates, now is the time to buy!

Rebecca just helped Jimmy and Helen of Gilbert get the keys to their brand new house  at Ashton Woods in Gilbert.  After helping them with 2 Short Sales in the past, this was such a happy day for them to get the keys to their brand new home.  Tomorrow, Rebecca gets the pleasure of helping another family get the keys to their brand new Pulte home in Mesa.  For the buyer out there that has been beaten up in bidding wars and lost, the local builders are a wonderful alternative.

The Brand New Homes not only have Builder Warranties in place but are also built today with much more energy efficiency than we’ve seen in years past as well.  Shea homes and many others are building their homes GREEN and offering Solar Panels, we’ve seen advertising recently on homes that are so energy efficient they are promoting next to nothing utility bills?!

This is definitely a great alternative to shopping for a home.  Foreclosures and Short Sales may seem like a bargain, but after repairs and updating is done to those homes and taking into consideration the cost of utilities for a used home over a new home, they may not be the best bargain in town ANYMORE. 

Please feel free to ask for help from Rebecca and her team to figure out which is the best option for you. 480-243-4242

Photo: Panoramic Images | Getty Images- CLICK PHOTO FOR LINK TO COMPLETE STORY

The other area on this list that’s not in Florida is the Phoenix-Mesa area in Arizona. It used to reside at the number four spot, but jumped ahead two notches between the third and fourth quarters of 2011. This area experienced more than its fair share of foreclosures, and one in every 317 homes still goes into foreclosure. However, the foreclosed homes on the market are being sold at bargain prices, which has caused a 27.47 percent decrease in the median age of inventory.

The city’s unemployment rate in November was 7.7 percent, better than the national average, which can only help boost the local economy. Real estate broker Christy Walker has an optimistic forecast. "The Phoenix market has experienced a positive change in the past year and is poised to continue rebounding throughout 2012," she says. "Employment is up, foreclosures have dropped significantly, investor sales are substantial and our inventory is hovering around a three-month supply with increasing demand."

If you ask any Buyer shopping for homes today, they will tell you it’s a dog eat dog world beating the pavements trying to find a “good” home at a “good” deal.  We are seeing multiple offer bidding wars; offers being placed on homes “site unseen” to try to beat the masses. 

There is a Supply shortage out there with only 16,592 homes showing active in our local ARMLS as of this morning, when a year ago the number was more than double that!?!  We love our Investors who are coming from Canada, Hawaii, Australia and other parts of the world buying up everything they can at our rock bottom price HOWEVER it’s been very challenging for the local families trying to break back into the market again after a Short Sale or Foreclosure as a result since most investors are offering cash and quick closes.

OUR ADVICE?: Work with a knowledgeable Real Estate Company with experience and HAVE PATIENCE!  Start searching for homes HERE and please let us know if you or someone you know needs help navigating through our ever changing Real Estate Market!

On occasion, when someone is shopping around online for their next Realtor, I need to be able to share these recommendations and it would be so appreciated if you are willing to take a couple of minutes to express your experience with my services if I did a good job for you. Those that do will get a FREE pair of movie tickets to Harkins Theatres and if there isn’t one near you, I can certainly find a Theatre that is! Please click the box below to give me a recommendation! You will need my Name: Rebecca Hidalgo and my email address: rebeccahidalgo@cox.net. I really appreciate it!

Thank you!

Which city is most expensive?  Least?  Where does your city rank this year compared to last year?

<—– See chart provided by The Cromford Report for these interesting statistics.

There’s also a big difference in price per sqft changes depending on the price range.  To read the latest market update from Cromford, click here.  Seems the prices under $150k are on the uptick and we’ve noticed a lot of competition by investors for those homes, which have caused a moderate price increase just recently.

Typically we see a major slow down in activity during the holiday months, it will be interesting to see what these numbers look like in the spring time but it does seem the bottom has passed us here in Arizona.  No one is predicting huge gains but in recent months, we have not seen any drops which is a great indicator we are finally on the road to recovery.  Thus why we are seeing so much investor activity in our market these days.

If you have any questions or are interested in receiving help with either purchasing or selling a home, please feel free to give us a call at 480-243-4242.

Rebecca toured this fabulous community with Romie Tealdo and she shared with us what makes this place special.

One of the most unique things we found about this gated community is it’s offering of air conditioned 1000 sqft RV garages that are detached from the main home.  It’s not in the outskirts of town either, centrally located in North Mesa just a few minutes from the 202 Freeway.  All of the homesites are oversized to accommodate this amenity; however there is so much more here that meets the eye. Click here for more Community Information.

Benefits to building new rather than fighting over the Foreclosure homes in today’s market are:

• Brand New Homes have energy efficient features not normally found in Foreclosures
• Build it the way YOU want it; no gutting or remodeling required
• Home Warranties and no mysteries about what the previous owner may have done to the home
• Peace of Mind; Easy process- no bidding wars to get into or lose out on

With homes starting in the mid-300’s and today’s rates being so low; one could have a “Custom home” for a production price, meaning it’s within reach to have the home of your dreams.  Don’t settle for less! Click here for the current prices & floorplans.

Most people in this market, may have homes to sell and we are happy to consult with you to find out how to make the switch, just give us a call at 480-243-4242 for a FREE Market Analysis of your current home.  We can help make this move a reality for you and your family.

Under TOOLS on our Sidebar ——>>>>> you can Click on our Short Sale or Stay Calculator which will help you figure out when your home will become an “Asset” again.  It’s Free and Simple!

It will tell you instantly what it’s current value is and predicts under different appreciation rates how long before your home will be worth what is owed.  It’s a great tool to help people make that very difficult decision- Do we STAY in our home or do we GO?

We are also here to help you make that decision; you can click here to get started with a personalized application and Rebecca and her team will get back to you with a personalized Report and FREE consultation.

We know how hard this decision is and are here for you and your loved ones. You can always call Rebecca directly at 602.463.2978 to ask her any questions related to Short Sales.

We are starting our list for folks who can take advantage of this new program, already have our first client who qualified for this program- he just did his 2nd short sale with us 1 year ago.  His new mortgage payment will be $400 less a month than what he’s paying for rent.  If you or someone you know lost their home to either Foreclosure or did a Short Sale and it’s been less than 3 years (FHA minimum waiting period if someone had “lates” on their mortgage); they should really consider doing this program while it’s still around… Time and Funds are limited.

Tara Bianco talks with Rebecca about refinancing options.  If someone can either PURCHASE a home or qualify to refinance- they should- today’s rates are the lowest ever in history!

Part of her team at Amerifirst Financial is Jeff Underwood who speaks here about Upside Down Mortgages with Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac that can refinance at today’s low rates as well.

If you want to stay in your home and need help affording it, before you try for a loan modification- you should see if you can refinance today first.  Loan modifications are bandaids to the real problem of being upside down, so please consider a Short Sale before you decide to ding your credit with a loan modification attempt, which most seem to fail.