City of Maricopa sees increase in the number of homes closed!

The majority of the talk between individuals and in the news regarding the housing market is negative. I’m here to give you a bit of positive news – there are more homes selling in Maricopa month to month! Since most people that know me are aware that I am big on citing facts, not just my opinion, here are the facts: 

• In February there were a total of 75 homes closed in Maricopa according to the MLS.
• That was up 14 homes from January were only 61 homes closed.
• There have been a total of 50 closed in March as of March 20^th.
• If the trend keeps up, that will lead us to a total of 81 homes closed in March.
• Even better news – as of today there are 172 homes that are under contract but not yet closed yet within Maricopa. A majority of homes do go under contract within 30 days of closing but there a greater percentage going for 45-60 days since builders started to put their spec homes on the MLS.

 I know there is much difference of 14 homes more per month but that increased number shows a definite trend in home buying – more buyers actually purchasing instead of just looking! If you have any questions on the housing market within the City or County of Maricopa, please feel free to contact me at any time. Brought to you by Dawn Madden, Broker/Owner, ABR, e-Pro, GRI, MRE, Member CRS of Maricopa Properties. A residential brokerage serving the County and City of Maricopa. Dawn can be reached at 866-445-0555 or Dawn@MaricopaProperties.com. Feel free to visit her website at www.DawnMadden.com .   

Misc. Happenings within the City of Maricopa

According to the latest forecast by the National Association of Realtors, existing home sales are to remain steady until late Spring and then an anticipated recovery should take place in Summer of this year. To read more, please click on the link below:http://www.realtor.org/press_room/news_releases/2008/flat_existing_home_sales.html   

If you’ve been thinking of purchasing your first home or a home in the rural areas of Arizona (including the City of Maricopa), I have great news for you – the FHA has increased their loan amounts and there are two other loan programs available for you – USDA loans and Rural loans. Contact me for more information. 

Ever wondered what the Arizona Office of Tourism gives to people visiting our state? Click here for a free visitors guidehttp://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/azot/arizona-ovg08/ 

Brought to you by Dawn Madden, Broker/Owner, ABR, e-Pro, GRI, MRE, Member CRS of Maricopa Properties. A residential brokerage serving the County and City of Maricopa. Dawn can be reached at 866-445-0555 or Dawn@MaricopaProperties.com. Feel free to visit her website at www.DawnMadden.com .

City of Maricopa Rental Market

(written 2/18/08)

 

A few months back I met with someone who had their home in Maricopa up for sale. When that wasn’t happening, they wanted to rent it out. Their agent at the time told them they could list the home for rent themselves but that was not a service she provided. She also made the comment that it most likely would not rent out either as there are so many rentals on the market today. They had it listed themselves for a month or so but weren’t getting any closer to getting a tenant into the property.

 

That’s when they called me. They were referred to me from a past client whose house I rented out so they knew that I was knowledgeable about rentals and was working with rentals because it is part of my business plan – not simply due to the slower market as some Agents may be.

 

I met with them and listed their home for rent only (not for sale also) explaining that our odds to rent it were much better than the odds to sell it considering their expectations of what they wanted to net on the home sale. Within 20 days of listing the home and my doing the marketing that I require for rental homes, we had not one but two applicants! We ran the credit, did the background checks, verified the references and then I reviewed the information with the owners. They decided to rent it to the family that wanted the home for a period of two years. Their thoughts were that in two years the builders will have corrected their production and home valuations SHOULD have started to increase again. The tenants signed a lease 29 days after the homeowners signed paperwork to list their home with me.

 

We discussed our property management services as far as what they encompass and the fees. These particular homeowners decided to manage the property themselves since they are staying local and have a good handle on the accounting necessary as well as the vendors that they may need in the future. I always say that property management is not for everyone but the people with patience and time could very well manage their own properties.

 

In any case, any agent that tells you that the market in Maricopa is bad for renting and selling homes is simply looking for a reason to be a naysayer. Renting a home is completely possible – just ask clients this past year!

 Brought to you by Dawn Madden, Broker/Owner, ABR, e-Pro, GRI, MRE, Member CRS of Maricopa Properties. A residential brokerage serving the County and City of Maricopa. Dawn can be reached at 866-445-0555 or Dawn@MaricopaProperties.com. Feel free to visit her website at www.DawnMadden.com .  

City of Maricopa home sales slowing? Barely!

(Written 2/16/08) 

I recently met with a freelance reporter for the New York Times. She was here doing research for an article on the current state of the housing market within the City of Maricopa.

Why did she pick the City of Maricopa? You may not have known this but the City of Maricopa was actually the fastest growing city in the US for a few months in a row back in 2005.  As such, we had a huge increase in demand for housing while the supply was really low. This is what I call “Stage One”.

“Stage Two”: Builders continued to build, buyers continued to buy.

“Stage Three”: Market shift consisting of a large overflow of homes on the market including resale homes and new builds.

“Stage Four”: Influx of foreclosures and short sales being put on the market.

So where does “Stage Five” take us? That’s where we are today – In a position where there are more than twice as many homes being put on the market each month than there were back in 2005. This combined with the existing inventory is leading to an overflow of supply with the same amount of demand. YES – the same amount of demand. It’s shocking to some people to hear but comparing month to month data between December 2005 and December 2007, shows there were 7 MORE homes that closed in 2007 and 41 MORE homes that went under contract in 2007.

Want more data? In a comparison between the months of January 2006 and January 2008, there were only 3 less closed homes in 2007 but there were 43 MORE homes that went under contract in 2007.

The sale price compared to list price also has a greater differential meaning that people are negotiating more for their homes instead of simply selling for list price.

All this information shows that there are still approximately an equal number of homes selling in the City of Maricopa today as there were back in 2005 (“Stage One”). The difference is that the number of homes doing on the market is greater, therefore the days on market is greater (triple to quadruple).

I have yet to see the actual article from the Reporter, but I’m hoping she took my facts into consideration when writing about the housing market here in Maricopa. Next time you hear that homes aren’t selling in the City of Maricopa, please feel free to pass that call, email or post to me. I have the data to show they are!

 Brought to you by Dawn Madden, Broker/Owner, ABR, e-Pro, GRI, MRE, Member CRS of Maricopa Properties. A residential brokerage serving the County and City of Maricopa. Dawn can be reached at 866-445-0555 or Dawn@MaricopaProperties.com. Feel free to visit her website at www.DawnMadden.com . 

Welcome to the Arizona Residential Real Estate Blog!

My bio summarizes my career pretty well so why don’t I take this opportunity to tell you why I decided to start a blog instead of giving you the same run down you can read in my bio. Most of the news regarding the real estate market is negative and with good reason! However, there is a lot of positive aspects about the market today and that’s what I want to focus on in this blog. FACTS still but positive facts.

 In the next hour will be posting several articles that I wrote for another blog over the past few weeks. As with all postings, please feel free to contact me to debate, question or simply request additional information.

 Thank you!

Dawn Madden – Real Estate Broker

Maricopa Properties

www.DawnMadden.com