Here’s the link to the IRS website is case you aren’t exactly sure what it is.

Are you in a home now that is upside down in value?  Have you been “on the fence” about short selling or foreclosing and don’t know which would be best &/or when?

In 2007, it was one of the last things Bush signed and it blew open the doors for Short Sales because before then people had to pay taxes on the “Phantom Income” they received from their creditors (IRS Form 1099 C). 

Until the end of this year, it’s still in effect. 

We do expect it will be extended again, but probably not until the last hour like in 2010 when President Obama had extended it for another 2 years.

We do expect it will cause delays in the last half of this year for short sales in general because of the “rush” of people who will want to short sell their home they are upside down in before it’s they think it’s too late.

We do think it’s a good idea to talk to someone now just in case it doesn’t get extended. But again, we do feel strongly that it should.

Please call at 480-696-5800 OR Click here and get started online if you think you are ready to explore your short sale options.

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!

Seems the whole world at the end of any given year going into the next makes New Years’ Resolutions and Goals of things they’d like to do in the following year. 

For me, to be a better Mom and Wife and take better care of my health… pretty boring stuff- somewhat the norm- I do also want to buy a home again myself as my own waiting period of 3 years after a Short Sale or Foreclosure is coming around already and I figured I probably wasn’t the only one.  Since 2007, with the help from my team, we’ve helped over 300 families either Short Sale their home OR buy a home and we’d love to do the very same for you or someone you know that may need our help. If you are one of our past clients, the timing may be right for you this year to buy again too?

IF SHORT SALE is something you’ve been putting off- PLEASE DO NOT put off any longer- as it stands now, The MORTGAGE FOREGIVENESS ACT OF 2007 signed by Bush is set to expire at the end of this year.  Short sales can take 3-6 months on average.  If this does not get extended soon, I predict that we are going to have a rush of Short Sales towards the second half of this year which may cause additional “traffic jams” with the lenders. Some folks trying to do a Short Sale in 2012 may miss the boat entirely for the forgiveness of the “Phantom Income” that the banks issue via 1099s at the end of each year from their losses on distressed loans. DON’T let this happen to you or someone you know! Click Here to get started with the Short Sale Process

On the flip side, it’s never been a better time to buy- RATES are @ 4% and sales prices lower than I’ve seen in most of my nearly 20 year career in Real Estate.  Click Here to see the in depth Power Point Presentation from Mike Orr of the Cromford Report with very interesting statistics on our current market and what it’s done the last couple of years.

Either way- we are here to serve! Please feel free to call us anytime at 480-243-4242 for help achieving your Real Estate Goals!

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.

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.

<<——–PLEASE CLICK MICROPHONE TO LISTEN TO REBECCA HIDALGO, DESIGNATED BROKER OF INTEGRITY ALL STARS, TALK ABOUT SHORT SALES ON THIS WEEK’S EPISODE. (She goes on from minutes 10-18 on podcast)

If you or anyone you know is in need of help, found themselves upside down on their home and they may or may not be able to still make their mortgage payments- have them call 480-243-4242 for a free personal consultation OR click here to get started.

The below chart is very interesting because it shows the Inventory Levels in the last 10 years for here in the Valley; compliments of The Cromford Report. I’ve had the pleasure of working in Real Estate now nearly 20 years, since 1993. When I started my career, I mainly focused on selling HUD homes which are definitely becoming quite prevalent in our marketplace again. Real Estate traditionally will bring someone a 5-6% gain in value year over year here in the Valley because of the steady flow of Supply and Demand- that was until 2004 when we saw our market go “crazy” and values increase exponentially.

To put this into perspective- our “happy place” for supply and demand typically is about 4-5 months worth of inventory.

Today we have just 27,618 Active properties in our marketplace and 104 days worth of inventory

Last Quarter; May 2011- we had 33,094 Active properties and 132 days inventory

Last Year; August 2010- we had 43,417 Active properties and 172 days inventory

Clearly the trend is downward with our Active properties available to pick from; but the word has not gotten out to the general public yet- therefore we have not seen a jump in prices as of yet.

Our average price per square foot today is just $82.46 and our prices have been relatively stagnant since September 2010. The question is how long will that last? Inevitably, the law of Supply and Demand will have to kick in sooner or later and the prices will definitely start to rise at some point in our near future.

When I reflect on my own career- today’s pricing is very comparable with the nineties and rates under 7% were considered very good back then. Today we are happy when rates are below 5%, which means monthly our homes cost us less today than they probably ever have ever in recent history.

In 2004, I had the first Holiday Season where my business did not slow down at all. The Days of Inventory in November 2004 were just 46. The “peak” of our market was April of 2005 when the supply was at 31 days of inventory VS the worse we have seen being in April 2008 (just 3 yrs later) at 425 days of inventory available. Our advice to folks watching the market and trying to decide when it’s safe to get back in it- is TODAY is the day but you MUST have patience and be prepared for the bidding wars and multiple offers.

It can be frustrating, but it’s worth it because the prices & rates are still so low. If you or someone you know is considering making a purchase and needs help from an experienced and trust worthy Realtor- please let us know. Contact us here to get started OR call us at 480-243-4242 & we will gladly send you a customized list of homes to check out!