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Tag Archive: Phoenix Real Estate Agents
How many subscribers does ARMLS have?
A common question soon after the ARMLS yearly bills are due. Here’s a quick summary showing how many bills were sent compared to how many bills have been paid. It also compares this year to last.
How many real estate agents are in the Valley?
As we have reported before, the answer to this question is a moving target. However, paying dues to the Association of REALTORS® is one of the great indicators of the year. So here you go, some recent numbers* to report.
Source: NAR Leadership Directory <- requires you to use your realtor.org login.
*These numbers do not include provisional members. Every time a local association adds, changes or deletes a real estate professional the numbers change.
(h/t Diane Scherer for the link)
Real Estate Agent's Job One – Educate: The Rest of The Story Series
flickr photo credit: iainrbanks
We are deluged with information daily especially data and statistics in charts, graphs, pie charts etc. There appears to be no shortage of statistical information. We are also used to instant answers many of which are simply thrown out there without much thought or reason. I am sure it has created problems on many levels and in many industries but none more so than the real estate industry. Making local real estate decisions based on national housing headlines is a little bit like trying to dress for national weather, even Willard Scott wouldn’t suggest it. What real estate consumers need is someone who can provide Information Analysis! Someone like Scott and Sandy Farmer of John Hall & Associates’ Scottsdale office.
I talked to Scott at length last week about his methods of conveying and analyzing data for his clients and customers. Scott says that people come to him with vague impressions about what is going on in the market. Seldom can they quote the source of their perceptions, only that it is negative. For example, take the constant comparison of the stock market with housing prices. A share of stock is priced the same whether you buy it in Phoenix or Houston, location doesn’t matter. Additionally, stock doesn’t require maintenance, insurance, monthly payments or property taxes. People resist selling their present house if it’s lost value thinking that they can “get back” the lost equity. Actually, selling now to buy something with greater value potential makes much more sense. Consumers that would not hesitate to dump a stock that wasn’t performing are trying to hold on to their houses until the “market comes back”.
In order to help clients and customers “get real” about housing decisions, Scott narrows their 360-degree view down to their own property. Localizing the housing facts is the first step in helping consumers analyze their position and make solid decisions based on those numbers that are relevant. Scott says that comparable sales that are even 3 weeks old are no indication of successful pricing of the subject property. Scott prefers the absorption method of determining value and helping the prospect understand the market. Absorption pricing takes into consideration the number of listings currently on the market in a given market area and then looks at the rate at which those houses are selling. For example, if there are 120 similar properties for sale in the market area and they are selling at an average of 10 per month, you have a one-year inventory. Your seller will have to price the property near the bottom in order to sell it. And, that’s only if no new listing come on the market. According to Scott, absorption pricing also applies to price ranges. Examples include properties under $200,000 have a current supply of approximately five months or less while homes over $1,000,00 have a six year supply. Sobering information for any seller.
For more information about Scott and Sandy’s information analysis check out www.scottsdalescott.com. You’ll find lots of great information and solid advise about the current real estate market.
DF
Real Estate Buyers Like Pictures
Don’t take my word for it – read the Point2Agent study or check out the newly designed realtor.com. Why do you think realtor.com made ‘Sort by number of photos’ the most prominent sort link? These real estate websites have a ton of data to study and it all says the same thing – home buyers want to see pictures.
I’m not talking about 1 picture of the front of the house. I’m not talking about 1 picture of each room, the backyard and the frontyard. I’m talking lots of pictures. Each year these studies come out they find home buying consumers researching properties online are more interested in listings with more pictures. Of course they view the properties longer when they can scroll through the shots of the house, but they are also more likely to view the ‘Listing Details’. One more time? Your Listing Detail page is viewed more frequently on properties with more pictures.
Now of course there are limits, both on your side and on technology’s side. Spending days loading 100′s of pictures on each listing is unnecessary. 25-35 pictures seems to be the amount needed to get the best traffic. But don’t be disappointed when all your pictures don’t show up on all the listing syndication partner websites, like realtor.com. Some of these sites are in business to make money – from you. They’ll charge you $$$$ if you want more photos to display. However, your pictures will show up when an ARMLS agent sends their clients an email of possible listings and yours is included. You know all those automatic searches in flexmls that send out emails when new listings are added or edited? Bingo! All your pictures go with it.
87% of agents use digital cameras. So, you’ve got the technology needed to do this – at no cost. Get out there and take some pics, upload, and label them. You may even find the more you take, the better you get!
How many Valley agents renewed their Supra keys?
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.
FREE IDX Solution for ARMLS Members
Let me just say the Diverse Solutions free IDX solution is bad to the bone. I haven’t played with it much yet, but it was so easy to set up, I’m already a fan. Instant gratification! Go get yours. To see how it comes right out of the box – click here.
It also gives you the code so you can frame your site around it. Very cool!
How many ARMLS members threw in the towel?
On June 1st, Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service (ARMLS) sent out annual bills to over 36,000 members. They gave all the recipients until July 8th to get their payment in before shutting them off. Even with over a month to pay, last Tuesday evening ARMLS created minor heart attacks across the entire Valley of the Sun.
Forethoughtfully, Bob Bemis bumped up his call center staff on the following days expecting a barrage of phone calls from agents wondering what had happened. They were right, on the 9th and 10th ARMLS reinstated 1,358 members and expect to reinstate another 1,300 before the wave passes.
All in all - they are anticipating a 15% reduction of membership to about 31,000 active members.
AZ Real Estate Licenses
Mr. Jim Sexton often gets asked, “What’s going on with the number of real estate licensees in AZ?” This is a tricky question to answer because there are a few different “cleansing” periods throughout the year.
The first of which happens in January when the Associations send out their bills. Then the next one is in July when ARMLS dues are expected. And then the last one is in September when SUPRA charges to operate lockboxes (an essential tool for REALTORS®).
In October SUPRA reported a 4.2% cancellation rate and a 13.5% unpaid rate. So about 17.7% of agents with-in ARMLS (which primarily covers these cities) aren’t renewing their tools.
We recently received the latest report from the Arizona Department of Real Estate. This a moving target because there are is no set date the license renewal fees are due. It is based on when you got your license. But, at least we can compare year over year and see that across the entire state we are down about 2%.
Click on the chart to see the hidden columns.
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