All Things Considered In Phoenix - Three Hundred Eight

I'm sitting in my back yard at a table as the sun goes down, the pool twinkles and my dog, a smooth fox terrier - a lovely beast, is laying in the tea house observing the surroundings and listening to the birds. A good beer at my side and my trusty Apple MacBook Air beneath my fingers and of course the telephone on the left.

My eyes are near tears from the good feeling this weather is bringing. Today's high was a perfect 70º F. It's not nippy yet. There is still a good amount of heat radiating from the summer soaked ground and asphalt, but it still feels good.

My roses look amazing. They are bursting in flowers as if revealed from the summer of suffering: they look and smell extraordinary.

The air smells wonderful too. It's hard to explain after a winter lager, but it's the kind of smell that adds strength and positivity and an overall sense of well being. It's moments like these that make me believe in divinity, but I know it's nature, a force we as man kind try to fight and defy

I've got new hand made German bicycle tires on my bike in red and I'm ready to go riding, once again exploring the city of Phoenix, so look forward to a few more posts from the 'urban bike series'.

Phoenix Home Sales Data

Today Joanna got a call from a client who would like to sell home to move into another, larger home, he commented on how many home there are on the market and how weak it is. He commented on how some REO at $200,000 should be $150,000. It's times like this where there may be a disconnect. The real estate market in Phoenix is much different. Once you get into it you notice how ferocious it is, how few good homes are on the market and how competitive it is. If you thing there are a lot of homes on the market you may want to see the current, September 2011 Housing Market Report, which shows how it really is: not in the buyer's favor. Interestingly AZCentral.com picked the following quote to place in the Arizona Republic a few days ago.

"According to Artur Ciesielski of the Phoenix Realty Group, [note: should be inPhoenix Realty Group - with HomeSmart Elite] short sales have been holding steady at about 38 percent of sales, and foreclosures are declining."

Yet, prices are weak. You could have purchased a  home in the late 1990's and now be underwater. How do you reconcile the American dream, the prophesy of real estate with this. 10-14 years is a lot to lose. Many people failed to pay down the mortgage and are left with no money, many close to retirement, others with squashed dreams. And, further more many will have to wait several more years just to break even from buying well over a decade ago, well before this mess started. See it quoted at AZCentral.com

Interest Rates

After some really low rates, 30 year mortgages below 4%, they gave some ground after that, yet anything below 5% seems like free money. If you're staying in a house long enough you can even buy it down lower and you payment will be pitifully low and your principal portion high: yip, the proportions are determined by the rate, the lower the rate the more goes toward principal. It will still take 30 years to pay off, but if you move in 10 there will be more paid off at 4% then at 6% so more in your pocket.

Remodeling A Mid Century Apartment

I'm going to write several post on this on the multifamily section at PhoenixMarketTrends, but I've been a little occupied remodeling a 1950's mid-century modern fourplex. Certainly not the extent I'd like to, but enough that it's really nice. I love providing nice places to live and getting a good return for it. Often I go overboard, but I've found that spending that little extra and putting in some additional through into materials and design bring upon better long tern results: that means, better tenants, less maintenance, less hassle and quicker turnover: some it this translates into money in the bank, and other benefits are more difficult to quantify like management hassles, how to you quantify those?, but they sure matter.