I cannot stress enough how proud of Reita everyone at John Hall & Associates are for being among the 5 winners of REALTOR® Magazine’s 2008 Good Neighbor Awards.
Marge Lindsay said, “Not only am I proud of her as a salesperson, but I’m exceptionally proud of her efforts with Gabiel’s Dream.”
Jim Sexton said, “This is an incredible act of selflessness.”
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As we have reported in the past, the number of active agents in the Valley is difficult to pin down. There are 3 main cleansing periods throughout the year. The local REALTOR® associations, ARMLS, and Supra all clean up their membership by sending annual bills. The latest of which was the $120 Supra bill sent back in August.
Total invoices sent out on 8.20.08 – 32,694
Total payments received as of 10.20.08 – 24,372
Number of cancellations as of 10.20.08 – 1,063
Number of deactivated accounts due to non-payment as of 10.20.08 – 7,259
Total reduction of lockbox keys as of 10.20.08 – 8,322
That’s a 25% reduction of Supra lockbox keys.
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Have you noticed the changes? They make contact management better, communicating with clients easier, and zip code searching visual-er. If you have ever looked at the flexmls list of suggestions, you know these updates are FBS Data’s response to feedback they have received from their users. And their not done yet, within this release of updates is a promise for more to come.
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CHICAGO (October 23, 2008) – Realtor® Reita Hutson, a sales agent with John Hall and Associates in Scottsdale, Ariz., is one of five winners chosen by the National Association of Realtors® to receive REALTOR® Magazine’s 2008 Good Neighbor Award. Hutson founded Gabriel’s Dream Inc., a nonprofit that secures medical care and educational funds for the Lost Boys, young men who fled Sudan during civil war in the 1980s.
“Realtors® play an important leadership role in building strong communities,” said NAR President Dick Gaylord, a broker with RE/MAX Real Estate Specialists in Long Beach, Calif. “These five Good Neighbor Awards winners exemplify the compassion and commitment of thousands of other Realtors® who volunteer in their communities and help so many others. I’m pleased to honor these exceptional professionals.”
Six years ago, Hutson, then a 65-year-old grandmother, was visiting a supermarket when she introduced herself to Gabriel Kuany, a tall young man from Sudan, Africa, as he carried a mop. “He glided by me like a gazelle and had the look of an angel,” said Hutson. “I thought to myself, that’s one of the Lost Boys I saw on TV.”
Huston and Kuany e-mailed and met regularly. When Hutson asked Kuany what he needed, he told her he would like an education and teeth. A tribal ritual required boys to have their six lower teeth pulled for initiation into manhood.
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According to ARMLS, 78% of the homes that sold in September were vacant.
September had the highest number of sales (6,150) since August 2006 and the lowest average price ($219,000) since May 2004. I was surprised to find out that 4,850 of the 6,150 were vacant. As the chart shows, that is the highest percentage of sold vacancies since the turn of the century – by a lot.
Of course, vacant homes have the most motivated sellers. However, I expected a higher number of the vacant homes to be lender-owned. Only 2,400 were both vacant and lender-owned. I guess the other 2,400 were either sellers that upgraded, downgraded, got transferred, or liquidated rentals. What are some other reasons a home that sells is vacant?
On the lighter side of statistics, 50 of the 4,800 vacant properties informed the showing agents the home was on lockbox w/ occupants. I wonder if they were referring to the seasonal ghosts and goblins?
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As I’m sure you know, all new and current Arizona real estate licensees must provide the Arizona Department of Real Estate with “Proof of eligibility to work in the United States”. For the last two weeks the Department has asked all licensees to email the Proof to them. That changes today!
They have added a new portal to their intranet site that enables you to upload Proof directly to them. They no longer want emails. This new portal displays the status of approval (for you and your broker) and a copy of the file you upload. The new tool leaves the guess work out of whether they got your email or not. It also allows the Department to easily match your Proof with your license number.
The hard part still remains – how to get a digital/scanned copy of your license, passport, etc. Well, here are some other options if you don’t have a scanner.
1. Take a picture of Proof with your digital camera and upload the image to your computer.
2. If your cell phone has a good enough camera, use it to take a picture of Proof. If the picture is legible, send a text/picture message from your phone to your email address. You should receive the picture as an attachment.
3. Use a copy machine and the post office. 
One last thing I want to mention is that this is a one time event. Get it out of the way now and you won’t have to ever think about it again.
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FHA’s newest program (HOPE for Homeowners) has come up a couple times this week. The rumor around the office is that you can refinance your home for 90% of the current appraised value and the bank eats the difference/loss. If only it were that simple…
Check out the FHA website for the rest of the story.
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Maricopa County Foreclosure Numbers (Click to Enlarge)
The foreclosure market is peaking … or has it peaked?
If you believe that the Federal Rescue package will provide immediate short-term relief for distressed or delinquent homeowners, then your answer is Yes it’s peaked.
If you need to see empirical evidence like I do, you might say, “It’s attempting to plateau” like Tom Ruff reported in his newsletter this month.
The main “run up” that’s continuing is the number of Pending Foreclosures. Although the number of Trustee Sales is setting records, not all notified Beneficiaries are completing the foreclosure process. Why? A few reasons may be: 1) Negotiating a short sale with the seller; 2) Seller filed bankruptcy or other title problems with the property; or 3) Lender doesn’t want the house and has been waiting for a “Government” solution.
Another trend shows the number of Trustee Sales completed each month is greater than the number of bank sales, therefore the REO inventory is increasing.
So with these facts and trends identified, what’s my crystal ball show for in the 4th Quarter? Very cloudy – hard to call. In recent years, the number of sales in the 4th Quarter is down, usually described as seasonal factors. Prices are usually down also in the 4th quarter. This year with DPA being shut off, consumer confidence down, the financial market meltdown, and the Presidential elections, all points indicate a weak housing market. But sellers/banks are starting to understand what it takes to sell a house – price it right.
Jim Sexton – Designated Broker – John Hall & Associates
“The Most Knowledgeable Brokers in the Valley”
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On the bulletin board next to my desk I have an on-growing list of login names and passwords for various websites. There are a plethora of tools being shared on the web these days, most of them cost nothing, aka $FREE.99. I’m going to share 3 that could be useful in your real estate marketing. 2 of the 3 are used to draw in your readers or website visitors, they are interactive, empowering your future clients by giving them some control over the material. The third tool (which is actually listed first) allows you to customize your marketing materials like never before.
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Here is the latest report from Tom Ruff with the The Information Market.
Subject: September Foreclosure Number
It’s October and elections are just around the corner, with that spirit in mind I’d like to attract attention to myself by attacking Zillow. I know it’s popular within the real estate community to attack Zillow, but quite frankly they deserve it. They have a beautiful product, their IT department could be the best, however, their understanding of data, and their valuation models are less than desirable. Zillow currently displays Trustee Deeds as the most recent sale, and in turn, uses this number, which 95% of the time is the opening bid amount of a failed auction, to determine the home’s present value. Don’t believe me, look for yourself. Their model is not only naive, it’s dangerous. I should have been a politician, let’s talk specifics.
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