Greater Phoenix Area February Real Estate Market Update - 02/26/08 06:56 PM
So I just signed up to make some news videos with Realty Times – to talk each month about the real estate market in the Phoenix area.  Of course, I’ll post the videos on www.myphoenixmls.com as soon as they come out. 
While they’re in production, I figured I’d offer you a sneak peek into what I’ll be talking about.  Welcome to the inaugural edition of the monthly Real Estate Market Update.
 
RT: What specifically happened last month/quarter in this market?
MyPhoenixMLS.com: In the Greater Phoenix area (the Valley of the Sun) the median home price was $230,000 in January … (0 comments)

What's Going On in the East Valley: Market Conditions Update - 02/26/08 06:51 PM
I was updating my Phoenix-area market conditions report on Realty Times the other day and I realized that they would make good blog material: after all, our motto is Knowledge is Power, and what better way to stay knowledgeable and powerful than to stay informed about market conditions?  Today, I’ll post market conditions reports for some of the East Valley cities; tomorrow we’ll look to the Scottsdale and North Phoenix areas as well as Phoenix proper.  If you like reading about the market conditions in specific areas of the Valley, let me know and we’ll make it a regular monthly feature.
… (0 comments)

Creative Ways to Sell that House: Down Payment Assistance - 02/26/08 06:48 PM
I’ve blogged before about the lengths sellers will go to these days.  An older couple offered potential buyers their money back when the couple died.  Others offered cars.  Trips.  Super Bowl tickets.
Then there are more practical ideas: like sellers offering to “give” prospective buyers part of the down payment.  Fellow Phoenix-area blogger Greg Swann wrote Monday in the Arizona Republic that creative financing can help less-qualified buyers purchase your home.  Creative strategies like carrying back a note for a third mortgage are more risky, but, Swann says, “the marginal difference can be moot if the house wouldn't sell otherwise or … (4 comments)

“There’s No Place Like Home, There’s No Place Like Home” Home Values vs. Perception - 02/26/08 06:46 PM
I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.
It shouldn’t be news to anyone who ever reads the newspaper, surfs the Internet, watches TV, listens to the radio, or generally communicates with the outside world in any way at all: the real estate market has been in a downturn.
Yet maybe it’s one of those things that happens to everyone else but not to me.
I don’t know what else could explain the discrepancy between actual home values and people’s perception of their home values.
Last week Zillow released its Home Value Reports for Q4 2007.  It’s no surprise that the report … (1 comments)

Trust is critical in realtor-client relationships - 02/05/08 08:49 PM
February 4, 2008
Last week an article came out in Advertising Age bashing realtors.  It’s title: Pay Heed to What Realtors Don't Say in Their Latest Pitch, These Agents Will Wallow in Conflict Like Pigs in a Sty for Their 7% Cut.  Ouch!
The article went on to lambast a recent National Association of Realtors (of which I am a proud member) TV ad talking about the value of home ownership.  The author of the article admits, though, “There’s no quibbling with what she [the actress in the TV ad] says.”  So what’s the fuss?
The author says the fuss (and … (3 comments)

Home equity: use it wisely - 02/05/08 08:45 PM
February 1, 2008
There’s not really any single reason we could point to that explains why the housing market/ lending industry has been through such an upheaval.  Certainly rapidly rising home prices had something to do with it.  And the rise in risky loans, like interest-only and subprime loans played a part, too.
But the unwise use of home equity was a problem, too.
Home equity is the difference between the market value of your home and the amount you owe on it.  For example, if your home is market valued at $300,000 and you currently owe (including all mortgages and … (2 comments)

The Latest Fed Rate Cut Makes History - 02/05/08 08:44 PM
January 30, 2008
 
The Fed cut rates again Wednesday, the second rate cut in 8 days (last Tuesday the Fed cut its Fed funds target rate by 0.75%).  Today, the Fed made a 0.5% rate cut.  It’s more aggressive rate-cutting than we’ve seen in many years – even after September 11, 2001, Greenspan’s Fed reduced the overnight rate by 0.5%.
According to the New York Times, “Taken together, the back-to-back rate cuts totaling 1.25 percent amounted to the Fed’s most aggressive effort in years to head off a recession.”
The Fed’s rate cuts, coming at the same time that Bush … (1 comments)

In Case of Recession: Learn How to Protect Your Finances - 02/05/08 08:42 PM
January 28, 2008

As economists like to do, they’re prophesizing on whether the economy will go into a recession.  Some say yes, others say no.  Some say there’s a 40% chance; others say the odds are 60/40.  But the fact is that even the brightest economist, with the best data, can’t know for sure whether the economy will go into a recession, and – if it does – how long it would last and how severe it would be.
A recession is any period – technically a period of six consecutive months – in which the economy is actually shrinking rather … (1 comments)

 
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Bob Stahl

Phoenix, AZ

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Keller Williams Arizona Realty

Address: Scottsdale, AZ, 85258

Office Phone: (480) 767-3000

Cell Phone: (602) 318-1114

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Knowledge is power. In that spirit, the MyPhoenixMLS Phoenix Real Estate Blog covers everything that's Phoenix-area real estate, with the goal of helping buyers and sellers navigate the market.


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