While the rest of the country is still dealing with the tail end of winter, right now in Arizona we’re in our prime home selling season. Here in Tucson in particular, February through June are our strongest months. If you’re a seller, how can you maximize your sale price while minimizing your costs? 

Let’s start with maximizing your sale price. Your home must give a strong first impression, and that first impression starts outside on the street where people pull up in their cars. The front yard landscaping, the front entry, and your home’s exterior painting all contribute significantly to your home’s curb appeal. 

The earlier a house sells, the higher the price it generally sells for.

Once you get inside the house, the carpeting, flooring, and windows all need to be clean. Layer on a fresh coat of paint if possible. Making these areas look spotless might seem like a nuisance, but doing it will help your house sell quicker. The earlier a house sells in its listing period, the higher the price it generally sells for. 

What about minimizing your costs? Not many sellers do this, but we recommend getting your home inspected. Have a home inspector go through your home with a fine-toothed comb so you can repair any items with a vendor of your choice. You lose a lot of cost control if you let the buyer do their own inspection after you’re under contract and select which vendors to use.

Whether you’re a buyer or a seller looking to make a move in our market, please give us a call so we can help you out. We look forward to hearing from you!

Today I’m discussing the post-election market in Tucson and what things look like going forward for buyers and sellers. As many of you are aware, interest rates were slightly over 3% in the last quarter of 2016. Since then, they have shot up to as high as 4.5%. That swing is certainly affecting buyers because it’s making homes more expensive and forcing buyers to come down from their previous purchase prices a little bit.

There are a few factors that you need to consider if you're buying or selling in Tucson. One of these is the abundance of new construction in town. We’ve had virtually no new construction here since 2007, so there’s pent-up demand for new homes.

New construction could affect your sale price.

If you’re a seller, you need to be cognizant of new construction in your area because of how it could affect your home sale. If you’re selling under $300,000 however, you shouldn’t have to worry about it too much. Home sales are up 12% over a year ago and inventory is down 28%. This puts you in a strong seller’s market. Homes in this range are selling quickly and very close to, if not over, list price. Some homes are even getting multiple offers.

If you’re buying in this market, you need to be prepared to move and move quickly on a desirable property. However, it might take losing a few properties to get the right one, so be cognizant of that as well.

If you have any questions for me or if you’re thinking about buying or selling in Tucson, give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you.

I'd like to take this chance to reach out to potential investors and renters to talk a bit about the Tucson market and how it may affect you.

First, let me point out that rental rates are rising two to three times faster than the appreciation of new homes. If you're a renter, you already know this, because you're probably seeing your rent go up. 

Here in Tucson, our average sale price for a home is $217,000, which is pretty competitive as far as the country goes. If you pay $1,300 to $1,400 a month in rent, you can actually buy an average-priced home in the Tucson market for the same amount. Interest rates are still very low, but they will start to inch up as the economy improves.

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ROI for investment properties in our market is better than it has been for decades.

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If you're a renter getting pushed around with rent and you're thinking about buying a home, talk to a lender and seriously take a look at what you could buy for the same amount of money you pay every month in rent. Then, you could have the additional tax write-offs at the end of the year that you don't get as a renter.

As for investors, now is a good time to start looking at properties. Prices are going up and inventory is going down, so it's getting a little more complicated. The point is that the return on investment today in the Tucson market for investors buying a rental property is probably higher than it's been in the last couple decades.

If you're a renter or an investor looking to buy a property, don't hesitate to give me a call or send me an email today. I'd be glad to help you in any way that I can.

Now that 2017 is underway, I wanted to bring you a quick update on the Tucson real estate market. 

As it turned out, 2016 was actually a great rebuilding year. Our average list price is up about 4% and our average unit sales are up about 3% from last year. Things are looking pretty positive, and we are still in a recovering economy, which means the market is recovering as well.

On the other hand, we have seen a large decrease in inventory. The active listings in the MLS are down to about 4,000, which is a 20% decrease from last year. As supply goes down, prices go up, which means we should see continued upward movement in prices in 2017. This is great news for sellers, but buyers need to be prepared to move fairly quickly to purchase a property. 

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Growth in Tuscon will bring a great year for real estate.

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Last year, our average days on market was 60, and today it’s 47. Homes that are in the right areas and priced right are selling very quickly. In fact, 68% of our sales happen in the first 60 days. If you are looking to buy, make sure you have met with your lender and are ready to jump on a property. 

2017 is going to be a great year for real estate based on a few things that are happening here in Tucson. Raytheon, one of our largest employers, just got a $2 billion government contract and will be hiring somewhere close to 2,000 people over the next couple of years. Caterpillar, from Peoria, Illinois, is moving some of their management level people here. The University of Arizona will be opening a graduate veterinary school in Oro Valley which will bring in 500 students initially, then grow to 800. Roche Medical is also continuing to expand. All of these factors will be great for our market growth.

If you are looking to buy or sell a home or if you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you! 

Today I want to talk to renters who are considering buying a home. In the past four years, rental rates have gone up at a dramatically higher rate than home values. Rental rates are skyrocketing right now, so we are going to talk you through a few statistics when it comes to renting vs. buying.

The median sale price last month in Tucson was $173,000. If you were to buy that house with 10% down, your monthly payment would be right around $900. If you were to rent that same house today, your payment would be around $1,360 per month.

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It’s a great time to take a serious look at becoming a homeowner.

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As you can see, you are paying a premium for renting. I strongly suggest that renters reach out to a real estate professional or a lending professional and have them explain the details to you. I’m sure you will find that buying is in your best interest.

I suggest you talk to someone soon. Interest rates are still at record lows but housing prices are starting to inch back up as the market recovers. It’s a great time to take a serious look at becoming a homeowner, no matter what your situation.

If you have any questions, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

When you make an offer on a home in Arizona, you will present a home seller with our residential purchase contract. The primary point to that offer is what you are physically offering – the financial side of things. 

This includes your down payment, your earnest money, and your pre-approval if you’re buying with financing. We put all of this together and submit an offer so it’s taken seriously. The purchase contract contains three contingencies, which are in there to protect you as a buyer.

The first contingency is the inspection period, which gives you 10 days to order and complete any inspections on the home that you choose. We then send the inspection report to the seller with a list of items that we want them to repair. If they don’t respond in the way you want or you can’t come to an agreement, you are then free to cancel the contract. At the same time, we use a title company to make sure the home will be easily transferable if you choose to proceed.

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We have never lost a penny of our clients’ earnest money.

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If you and the seller come to an agreement on the repairs, it’s time to move on to the next contingency – the appraisal contingency. Your lender is going to order the appraisal for an appraiser to come up and inspect the property and confirm the property is worth what the offer is. This ensures you don’t overpay.

The final contingency is the loan contingency. Through the entire process, the lender is going to give the seller updates on how the loan is proceeding. If something were to happen in the middle of the transaction that resulted in you not being able to afford the home, you won’t be forced to buy the property. 

If you manage the transaction properly, your earnest money is never at risk. We have never lost a penny of clients’ earnest money in 16 years and we don’t plan on starting now.

If you have any questions for us or would like to take a look at a copy of our purchase contract, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.

I wanted to revisit the topic of mortgages so that buyers have an idea of what to expect in today's market. 

The Dodd-Frank Act brought a lot of changes to the mortgage industry in the last couple of years, and most of them were implemented this year. This affects you, the consumer, in terms of the time it takes to close a home loan. Before the act, a mortgage usually took about 20 to 30 days to close, whereas today, it's closer to 30 to 45 days. Some of the government-backed loans like VA loans or FHA loans are stretching out even longer.

If you're a buyer, you'll want to get your lending issues resolved as early in the process as you can so your lender can move quickly once you go under contract. On the seller side, you can also expect delays. Typically, agents write contracts with a 30- to-45 day closing, and if the lender runs into any difficulties getting it approved, we end up having to push them out a bit.

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You want to get lending issues resolved ASAP to avoid delays.

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Make sure you coordinate with your agent so that neither of you encounters any surprises like having to move out of the house earlier or later than you originally thought.

Another issue in the mortgage world that's affecting both buyers and sellers is appraisals. With new government regulations, lenders don't reach out directly to appraisers anymore; instead, they go through a central clearing house so that the lender can't affect the results of the appraisal. 

Appraisers are backed up as well. Normally, they have a 10-day window from the time they're ordered to respond back with the appraisal. With the volume of activity we're having right now, the appraisers are also backlogged. That 10-day period is now closer to a 12- to 15-day norm.

If you're thinking about buying or selling a home or you have any questions about mortgages and how they've changed, give us a call. We'd be happy to help you in any way we can.

The nationwide real estate market has been very strong for the last couple of years, and the same is true for the current Tucson real estate market. I’ll go over a quick market update for you today.

There are many great Tucson area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call us at 520-544-5555 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

As everyone knows, the economy is recovering and people feel more optimistic. Interest rates have also been historically low lately. As a result, the nationwide real estate market has been very strong for the last couple of years. The same is true for the current Tucson real estate market.

Right now, housing inventory in Tucson is dropping. That means buyers have fewer options to choose from and need to be a little better prepared. You need to be able to move fast on a property because as inventory continues to drop, you will face more competition for that same property. In fact, multiple offer situations are happening right now. Buyers who are able to put in a strong offer will prevail and win those properties.

If you are a seller, falling inventory is good news. As inventory goes down, home prices go up. Prices are currently on the rise in Tucson and have been for the last couple of years. Sales are also up by 14% year to date, further depleting our existing housing inventory.

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As inventory goes down, home prices go up.

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What does this mean for you? If you are buying a home, you need to get everything squared away with your lender so that you are ready to make an offer on a property right away. Homes are spending fewer days on market, so not only will you face more competition in today’s market, you also have less time to make a decision on a property.

If you are a seller, now is a good time to talk to a real estate professional and figure out what your home is worth in the current market.

If you have any other questions about today’s market, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

There are many great Tucson area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call us at 520-544-5555 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

If you are considering building a new construction, custom home, there is something you should know.

Lending rules have changed quite a bit in the last four years. The industry has become very conservative about lending for land purchases. Just know that if you are going to buy a piece of land and build a house on it, you probably want to talk to a lender as early into the process as you can.

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Talk to a lender as early in the process as you can.

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We have lenders who specialize in new construction as well as land and construction packages. We can help guide you through that process.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. We would be happy to help you!

There are many great Tucson area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call us at 520-544-5555 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

If you aren’t from Southern Arizona, you are probably in for a bit of a surprise. Our listings here have heating and cooling, just like any other home in the country. However, some properties have evaporative cooling in addition to regular air conditioning.

What is evaporative cooling? Evaporative cooling dumps a high volume of moist air into the house. Since our area has low relative humidity, the moist air evaporates and cools the home. You don’t see this in other parts of the country because our area is so dry.

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Evaporative cooling will save you a lot of money on utilities.

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Evaporative cooling can save you a lot of money on utilities. In fact, you can run an evaporative cooling unit at 25% of the cost of a standard AC unit. The downside is that once monsoon season starts in July, our humidity goes up and evaporative cooling doesn’t work as well.

However, you can still use evaporative cooling during the first half of the summer. When monsoon season hits, you can use your regular air conditioner.

If you have any questions, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!