Q & A

Q. Is the short sale purchase price negotiable?

A. The short answer is yes.

The purpose of a short sale is to sell the property, often to prevent foreclosure which is something both the owner and his/her lender would like to prevent. In order to sell the property has to meet the demands of the market just as any other property be it a normal sale or bank owned property. It will be the market place that determines what price is right. 

That does not mean that the bank will not stick their hands and ideas into the process. It depends on what program is being used to sell the property short. There are a few predefined programs like HAFA in which a sales price is set by someone other than the seller and or the seller agent, but for the most part if…

When I visited Coronado Park in the Coronado historic district the tennis courts were full, there were people doing Thai chi on the tree shaded grass, a family was feeding pigeons and several people were exercising and stretching. The public pool was empty closed for season.

The main field was filled with water, the irrigation had filled it full and it looked like a lake, maybe a shallow swamp with wild grasses strewn throughout it. If you can narrow your vision like the photo below, you could be somewhere else, but this is the middle of the city, the middle of one of the older Phoenix historic districts with home from the early 20th century: homes over 100 years sold still standing and full of life, in fact invigorated by a new influx of…

Q. What's The Difference Between A Bank Owned Foreclosure And An REO?

A.  These terms, bank owned, lender owned, bank owned foreclosure and REO which stands for Real Estate Owned, essentially mean the same thing.

They all mean that the lender itself or the servicing company, or trustee in some cases which all represent the mortgagor hold the property deed after it has gone through the foreclosure process which in itself varies by state. 

Want to Buy These Properties?

♥ Bank Owned Homes For Sale

♦ Lender Owned Foreclosures

♣ Phoenix REO Properties

Note: These will all take you to the same place to see the same properties.

Q: Can I buy a home in Phoenix, AZ with $5,000 in cash and bad credit but a good job?

A: A similar questions was asked on Realtor dot com, but with the wrong answers in part. The answer is you may be able to, but should you.

Purchasing real estate is a big deal and a huge obligation that's constant, but life is not. Life changes and if you have limited cash and a low credit score it's not as easy to go through the ups and down the come up. 

You don't just need money to buy a house for closing costs and so on, but you need a reserve. What if your A/C goes out at $4,500 or something else comes up? Usually you need at least 6 months of reserves. Is $5K enough?

There are other options like lease options etc, but those as well require a…

There are many ways to hold title to real estate in Arizona. It can be held individually in your name(s) or indirectly as an entity.

Dale A. Walters, CPA, PFS, CFP® the author of the book titled - Buying Real Estate in the US: The Concise Guide for Canadians has put together an overview of the options for Canadians owning property in the U.S

View the selection of the different ways Canadians can hold title to real estate in the U.S.A. with both pros and cons of each and a conclusion plus where you need to go to find out more.

Q: What is the difference between pending and under contract? 

Under Contract or AWC-O - active with option, AWC-I - active with instruction, AWC-C - active with contingency, is similar to Pending except there is less certainly about the viability of the current contract and the property continues to be advertised as active, but the seller and broker need to disclose that it's active subject to what ever contingency is there.  

This is common in short sale because buyers have a tendency to pull out of the contract and the seller's want back up offers.  

Short sales are very precarious beasts and subject to changes…

Excluding any preferences based on culture and beliefs, the best position is north/south for houses.

The heat is really something here: in the summer it's hot, really hot: painfully hot, but due to the dry air, it's fairly bearable. 

It's the bare sun that's truly painful. A direct hit from the sun's rays can even be deadly with enough exposure and houses bare the brunt of that exposure. 

I walk into my closet in the mornings facing east and I can feel that it's warmer than the rest of the house. 

Of course, it also depends on how the home is built. In the winter I showed a contemporary home in Central Sunnyslope that had a huge wall of glass facing south. That home in the early afternoon was an oven inside and this was January. In the…

HOA fees can be quite steep for some properties. $150-300 is not uncommon for Central Phoenix condo and town-home complexes while high-rise properties such as Portland Place or Lexington one range from $300's to $600.00+ based on square footage.  These are due month after month and you really don't have much control over them. 

Most often then include quite a bit of things including reserves.

Either way the number can be scary and often higher then the mortgage payment for the lower priced condos.

But the comparison is not HOA fee and no expense. A single family home has ongoing expenses as well.

Consider that in many communities the HOA includes water, insurance and common area maintenance if not additional capital improvements then the…

There is a lot of stuff happening in Sunnyslope and inquiries are pouring in about the neighbohrood and homes for sale. One of the common questions is where is the Sunnyslope neighborhood that everyone is talking about?

Sunnyslope is located North of the Arizona Canal which is between Northern Avenue and Dunlap at the Central Ave. mid section. From the canal the neighborhood stretches not much farther to North Mountain.

On the east and west the major boundaries are 19th Avenue along with will run the future light rail station. On the east the boundary is the Phoenix Mountains preserve. 

Also Sunnyslope has three major sections, East, Central and West which have their own distinct styles and local color which developed over the years.

The area once developed as Orangewood in the area North of Camelback along Central Avenue in the late 18th Century had developed over much of the 20th Century into a rather high demand suburban part of town.  It still has that suburban feel and also the location and ammenities of and urban city.

It's part of the greater Central Phoenix area and there are no clear boundaries for this neighborhood as many others in Phoenix, so North Central Phoenix is roughtly an area from the Arizona Canal in the north, I-51 in the east, 19th Avenue on the west and Camelback on the south.  Some call North Central Phoenix or at least the southern part, Uptown Phoenix.

Just north of North Central Phoenix is Sunnyslope, the Biltmore area to the east and west…