Some of Arizona’s most Successful Agents call John Hall & Associates home.

Tag Archive: Phoenix Real Estate News

Foreclosures in Maricopa County: November 2010

by on Dec 3, 2010 | Buying, Careers and Training, Real Estate Statistics, Selling

Wow-I bet the press will have a field day reporting on November’s Maricopa County Foreclosure numbers.  Don’t get too excited if the ‘Foreclosures Plummet’ headlines come.  I think the Headlines should say something like ‘Foreclosure Moratoriums Impact the Market’.

Here are the numbers-

Notices for the November 5891-down 17% (1187) fewest new Notices since 3/08;

Foreclosures Completed:  2694-down 37% (1562) lowest since 3/08;

Canceled Notices:  3339-down 4%;

Total Active Notices:  41,771-which is up 192 from 10/10

Number of Bank Owned Properties:  19,966-down 4% or 855 for the month.

What’s this mean for December?  Most moratoriums have been lifted, and foreclosures are being completed again, although Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have announced they will halt foreclosure evictions between Dec. 20 and Jan. 3.   And Bank of America has said it will pause its foreclosure sales and evictions from “late December through New Years Day,” on loans held in its portfolio or loans held by investors who will allow such a moratorium.

So the foreclosure market won’t return to a full calendar month until January.  These actions in November and December should make for a ‘surge’ in foreclosure numbers for the 1st Quarter of 2011.

Phoenix Real Estate Market News – September 2010

by on Oct 2, 2010 | Buying, Careers and Training, Real Estate News, Real Estate Statistics, Selling, Technology


Phoenix Real Estate Market News Video

The number of sales in September was down 8% from August sales @ 6601.

The number of REO sales (2870) was up 4% in September, with the percentage increasing from 38% in August to 44% in September.

Short Sales fell 24% in September (1560), and the percentage went from 28% to 24%.

So this is the “Hot off the presses” report using live ARMLS data from today. But let’s cover accuracy versus current information. Last month on September 1st, I reported that ARMLS showed 7538 closings in August, which was correct when I pulled it. Today ARMLS shows 7166 closings for August a decrease of 372 or 5% which ‘changed’ after 9/1. Basically all the false reported closings were Short Sales that the system switched from Pending to Closed automatically. When the agent realized their listing showed Closed, they changed it back to AWC or Pending. Usually on the first of the month, the reported number of closings is slightly lower than the final number, but August didn’t follow that trend.

What else is newsworthy from September? Prices continue to fall – but not as fast as in August. September dropped 2.5% to $160,000 for the Average Sales Price. Why are prices dropping? Yes we can still talk about the tax credit going away, but we are also seeing an increase in REO sales. As mentioned earlier, the number of REO’s was up in September as was the percentage of REO sales. The prices for the REO sales were down also. Is this a ‘blip’ or a trend? I think it’s a trend that will be with us for awhile. You should read Mike Orr’s 9/30 article (login required) on The Cromford Report regarding active REO listings. REO listings are up 68% in the last 5 months, primarily in the $200,000 and less price range. Although we’ve seen REO’s fall recently-12% for the 3rd Quarter of 2010 vs. 3rd Q 2009 and 20% YTD 2010 vs. 1st 3 Quarters 2009, September reversed the trend. With active listings up, and foreclosure numbers up, it’s safe to say REO’s will make up a significant portion of our market for the next year or so. The month’s supply of REO’s is approaching 3 months; last October it was 1.2 months. We are looking at some basic Supply and Demand issues with the increasing number of active inventory.

So stay tuned.  We’ll do some 3rd Quarter comparisons and YTD analysis in the next week or so.

Have a great October.

Goodbye 2009! Hello 2010!

by on Dec 31, 2009 | Legal Issues, Technology

Did 2009 seem like the year of e-newsletters to anyone else?  I think AAR went digital with their publication Arizona REALTOR® Magazine in January.  PAR went digital with the Phoenix REALTOR® Forum, and ARMLS’ digital magazine Wave hit inboxes in August.  I’m not sure if going green or saving green was the bigger motivator???

As far as electronic communication at John Hall & Associates, we wrote fewer blog articles, but got more traffic and more interaction in 2009 than in 2008.  Blog traffic increased 40% compared to 2008.  The number of posts decreased 15% while comments increased 15%.  Here is a quick review of 2009, according to our Phoenix real estate blog…

January:

  • We had a kickin’ kick-off event for our agents with Rick Mack, Jim Sexton, and a panel of successful agents.  The feedback for this event was awesome.  Agents especially loved the information shared by Attorney Rick Mack.  In fact he’ll be giving an encore presentation at our 2010 Kick-Off Event scheduled for January 12th.  Jim Sexton and Tom Farley will also be presenting updated market information and law changes.
  • At the end of January we launched the Phoenix Real Estate Toolbar to help make life easier for agents in the Valley of the Sun.  We’ve had 243 installations thus far, averaging just over 20 a month.

February:

  • Feature Code Friday is born!  I think my favorite feature code highlighted was Near Light Rail.  (See March for how Feature Code Friday evolved.)

March:

  • AAR’s Winter Conference in Prescott was an awesome event!  Partly due to the fact 2 of the 4 person technology panel are members of the John Hall & Associates family.

April:

  • The first of what looks like many RE Bar Camp’s in Phoenix took place.  It attracted hundreds of people from all over the country, facilitated excellent techno-learning, and was a successful day for the planning committee.

May:

  • HVCC goes into effect May 1st.
  • Our brokers, Jim (his report) and Marge (her report) attended NAR Mid-Year conference to explain to Arizona Senators the importance of bringing changes to our state in regards to short sales and REO’s.

June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

  • ARMLS begins publishing WAVE.
  • Jim and Marge get elected to the Arizona Association of REALTORS® Board of Directors.

November:

  • NAR Conference and Expo 2009 and RE Bar Camp hit San Diego hard!

December:

  • AAR announces relationship with Mongofax.

The end of the year always reminds me of a funny quote I heard from a friend, “Life is like a roll of toilet paper, the closer you get to the end the faster it goes.”

Enjoy 2010!

New Closing Cost Estimator – Flexmls Feature Friday

by on Apr 17, 2009 | Careers and Training, Technology


kid holding a newspaper with the headline new closing cost estimator If you follow F³ at all, you may have noticed I like to switch things up a bit.  Sometimes you’ll find pictures that help describe a feature, other times you’ll find a video.  If you’ve been in this since the beginning you know the OG (that means original) version wasn’t even F³ – it was FCF.  I bring this up for 1 reason.  Instead of an explanation of how a feature works, today you’ll get the most exciting announcement since we told you flex was coming to town.

FLEXMLS WEB UPDATED THEIR CLOSING COST ESTIMATOR

I’ve heard:

  • it fits on one page,
  • the taxes prorate correctly,
  • the options change when you select cash verse financing.

The intended result from updating it is to make it something that you will use.

Please be the judge.  Report back.

Happy Flexmls Feature Friday!

Phoenix Real Estate News – in a new format!

by on Feb 3, 2009 | Technology


Hey Phoenix Association of REALTORS® members,

3d-issueDid you see the coolest new newsletter on the block?  You should have received the official email announcing the change was coming.  PAR basically said they are transitioning to a digital world.  This year’s plans for the Phoenix REALTOR® Forum is to have 6 months in print and 6 months online.

Sure enough February’s issue is in an electronic format – and it’s bad to the bone!  Check it out…

It won’t be long until they publish that back page all right side up!  ;)