One Prescott Realtor's Creed:  Don't worry, this is NOT another "Here's why you need a Realtor" write-up or "What has the Bank done for YOU lately" complaint.  This is a "I woke up this morning, it's a perfect day and I will go to bed tonight knowing I did everything I could do today! As a firm believer of "It's not what you do, it's the way you do it that gets results", I can see the light!  As we all know, the past couple of real estate market years have been full of gloom and doom and "woe is me" attitudes.  Sometimes, we Realtors get a bad rap - consumers rank us third, right under attorneys and car salesmen.  No Offense! Attorneys and car salesmen are some of my closest friends! But, at times, we've all felt like Lucy in New York's Holland Tunnel desperately hoping that some small ... 04/19/2010

Relaxing and elegant, the new outdoor spaces are features that home buyers love. According to the U.S. Census Bureau Housing Survey, homeowners spent more than $40 billion in 2003                       improving outdoor areas.  Some improvements can fetch 75 percent of the cost when it comes time to sell.  At one time, outdoor living involved mainly a deck with a grill. Today outdoor rooms range from elaborate to simple and there are lots of choices. At the high end, open-air outdoor rooms can include a full kitchen, dining area, fireplace and television. Arizona rooms, also called knee rooms, are fully enclosed, climate-controlled, four-season rooms flooded with light from many windows. They often include a door to an open deck. provide comfortable warmth. In warmer climates, the rooms... 04/16/2010

Enclosing the Patio It's easier than ever to transform your patio, deck or breezeway into a place for living and entertaining during the spring, summer and fall. Manufacturer enclosures can be designed to fit your space, lifestyle and budget. Styles include studio models with cathedral ceiling and gabled roofs. They can include tinted glass, skylights, electrical outlets and phone and cable lines. All-season patio rooms cost more but are best for those who want to use them during the entire year 04/16/2010

View the Webcast for this beautiful home by copying and pasting the following to your browser:http://webcastcity.com/WhyBuyThisHouse/14460NPaulsSpurDr View the Virtual Tour of this beautiful home by copying and pasting the following to your browser: http://vt.realbiz360.com/MLS-142970.html       04/15/2010

View the WebCat for this beautiful home.  Copy and past the following to your browser. http://webcastcity.com/WhyBuyThisHouse/14460NPaulsSpurDr View the VirtualTour by copying and pasting the following to your browser: http://vt.realbiz360.com/MLS-142970.html   04/15/2010

Our local Prescott "Professor of Freedom" made this wonderful and inspiring video.  Please check it out. I will be featuring Dr. Lovell's video lectures on my website at WeTip.net, short for We the INFORMED People.  You will also want to get acquainted with our local "Patriot's Patriot," Quang Nguyen, who produced this video.  Find his videos by searching for Qman on youtube.   Difinitely re-post this if you like it! 03/25/2010

Dr. Terry Lovell has made this hard-punching, no-nonsense video to explain how to take a stand and stop this devastating bill. I believe this bill is totally agenda-driven and is intended to enslave the productive in order to "buy votes" from the 30 million illegals. The video was produced by Quang Nguyen, a naturalized legal imigrant from Vietnam. Subscribe to this blog and see more of Dr. Lovell and Quang (Q-man). Everyone is encouraged to re-blog this post. Dr. Lovell, Quang and others are actively involved with the website of "We the INFORMED People at WeTIP.net All readers and contributors of Active Rain are invited to Blog with us at the WeTIP.net website. 03/17/2010

I did some searching in the Prescott Area MLS to investigate this question. First I searched for homes priced at $1,000,000 and up with Prescott Zip Codes 86301, 86303 and 86305. I chose only homes on 0.25 to 3.0 acres in order to take out those which had significant value in the lot itself. I found 29 homes active and on the market in this price range. One of these is an historic home built in the year 1900. The rest are newer, ranging in age from years 2001 to 2009. Prices per square foot ranged from a low of $157 to $469. Homes ranged from 3 BR, 4BA to 6 BR, 6 BA with sizes from 3,676 to 7616 square feet. It appears that my listing of the home at 3000 Rainmaker on MLS # 944402 is properly priced at $1,000,000 for 4,479 sq-ft and $223 per square foot.None of the 29 homes showing activ... 03/14/2010

I thought you might find this article interesting.  Buyer Beware, Title Defects Plague Foreclosures and Short Sales Agents involved in foreclosures and short sales may need to begin to disclose the possibility of serious defects in title associated with these types of lender controlled sales. If recent court decisions are any indication, we are headed for an explosion of litigation in this area.It also seems to me that knowledge of this situation may be of TREMENDOUS advantage in contesting foreclosures.******************************************* Here is another Excerpt from the original article. In Ohio On October 31, 2007, U.S. District Judge Christopher Boyko dismissed 14 foreclosure actions and delivered a strong admonishment in a footnote: �Plaintiff�s �Judge, you just don�t unders... 03/09/2010

The information in this report includes this chart showing the mix of regular sales, REO/Bank-Owned Sales and Short sales. Observe that regular sales represented 43% of the market, REO/Bank-Owned Sales were 45%, while Short Sales amounted to 11% of the market.   Distressed Sales have become an even more important part of the market report, as it shows the percentage of sales that were bank owned/foreclosed,short sales, and regular sales. A bank owned/foreclosure home is one that the seller no longer owns –it has been taken over by the lender(s) who had a note on the home. Short sales are homes where the seller is negotiating with the bank to “forgive” a portion of the debt in order to avoid foreclosure. We saw a slight decrease of 2% in the percentage of REO/Bank-owned properties that s... 02/28/2010

During the last few weeks I have been really busy. Mostly with Prescott area REO buyers looking for great deals. This one lady I have been working with has given me reason to examine my motivation for doing what I do. We spent weeks looking for a home for her that would fit her very modest budget. The home also had to fit her very specific financing ability. We finally identified a home that was in much need of cleaning. Not the kind of cleaning you do with a mop and a broom, but rather the kind you do with explosives, dangerous chemicals and high pressure and temperature water while wearing a special suit with a helmet and air tanks. Anyway this was the home she wanted to buy and we outbid another buyer and went into escrow. The financing she wanted to use was USDA (nearly 100% financi... 02/26/2010

For the past year I have been working with a client who's property is going through the foreclosure process. And for many people this process runs in a similar pattern. First upon realizing that they can no longer make the mortgage payments they seek a short sale. A short sale package is submitted to the lender(s) and then we wait and wait and wait. Finally after three months or so, a notice of trustee's sale is issued to the borrower. This is notification that the lender is going to try to collect the debt with a sale on the courthouse steps. In this particular case the lender is using a company called Trustee Corps to manage this account. Trustee Corps seems to be disorganized and difficult to communicate with. They have delayed the trustee's sale for 8 months running. During the holi... 02/16/2010

We now provide a means of searching for FORECLOSURES on our map search pages. Pick a search area. Here is an example of a search screen: In the detail below, notice that one can choose between all Active listings as well as chosing to search only for foreclosure properties. Foreclosures are also known as REOs. REO is an acronym for real estate owned (by lenders). 02/10/2010

Ok, let me begin by pointing out that this is not going to be about real estate, but rather about building relationships and marketing.   Today I had to drop my car off with my mechanic for some minor work. There is a Starbucks and a Toastie's within walking distance. So I took my laptop to Starbucks to get some caffeine and get to work. My first goal was to get online and check todays new listings and send out some emails. However Starbucks now requires me to purchase a gift card to receive two hours of free wifi. I asked one of the nice ladies behind the counter why I needed to pay, when I had just spend almost $10 for breakfast. She said something about company policy. Lucky for me Toastie's just a block away on Iron Springs Road has Free WiFi, nice music and very friendly staff. So ... 02/10/2010

  INFO THAT HITS US WHERE WE LIVE   The Pending Home Sales Index recovered from its November slump, increasing 1.0% in December, putting it 10.9% over its level of a year ago. National Association of Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun sees "...a broad improvement over year-ago levels. December activity was the fifth-highest monthly tally in two years." The slump was attributed to the rush before November to grab the tax credit set to expire at the end of that month. We now know the tax credit was extended to buyers who can sign a contract by April 30 and close on the home by June 30. It's also been expanded, adding a $6500 credit for repeat buyers to the $8,000 credit for first timers. The NAR's Yun estimates 2.4 million households should take advantage of the credit this year. The N... 02/08/2010

Glenn Beck was interviewed 2/5/2010 by Greta Van Susteren.  He has really NAILED it on what the TEA Parties are all about.  To summarize, both Republicans and Democrats are under scrutinity.  Gretta asked if the Democrats are more vulnerable than Republicans.  To that Glenn replied that liars, cheats and thieves are in trouble. In my view this is our year to GET THE CORRUPTION OUT.  That will be from school boards, city councils, state legislators all the way up to US Senators. John McCain is running for US Senator in our state of Arizona. I live in Prescott, Arizona and have participated in the TEA Party events here and in Flagstaff. Many of my friends, including me believe that John McCain had his chance to take a stand against corruption in the Senate when he ran against Barak Obama.... 02/06/2010

Definitely not a new topic for any of us, but maybe a different perspective! The other day I ran into a Realtor that had been in the industry for many more years than I.  She has been through market crashes and the high rollin times.  Each year that I see her it is a different perspective, but one thing remains the same.  It is always the markets fault!! The first thing she does is to come up and ask how business is doing/  It is not what she asks but how she asks it.  Her squince on her face and tone, lead me to believe that I don't even need to answer.  I always reply respectfully, with the exception of this time.  She started off like usual with her question about how our business is but quickly went into her latest experience with a listing appointment.  She said that in her listing... 02/06/2010

(edit/delete) How often has this happened to you?... After much market research, driving around and conversations with your agent (and often many others) you find the bank owned home you were looking for. Its only been on the market one day and you know its priced below the market and within your approved budget. Your agent calls the listing agent only to find out there aleady 3 offers and the bank is asking for "highest and best" to see who gets it. This has been my experience way too often in the last few months so I found a creative way to get my buyer's offers first in line. Its all about building relationships with the AZ REO listing agents. Just as they had to work to build relationships with the lenders and the asset management companies, Prescott AZ REO buyers agents need to inv... 02/01/2010

We need to thing of ourselves and gardeners in our "field" not cooks in our kitchen!  It is interesting if you think about the role of a listing agent.  We can either be a cook, marinating the listing and waiting for the right situation to come along.  The problem with this technique is that we marinate it for the next Realtor.  Usually these Realtors are the ones that have a hard time communicating with their client.  There is too much personal relationship there to tell them what they need to hear.  Instead we tell them what they want to hear.  In all our time selling homes in Prescott Arizona we have though of ourselves as gardeners in our trade.  Cultivating the soil and planting the seeds at the right time.  If you think about how this ties in to our field it is an important simile... 01/30/2010

After over 9 years of "putting heads in beads" at ERA we were forced with a decision that was out of our control.  Like most strong agents we don't believe that moving from plush grass to green grass will make or break your career.  What we believe is that the support system is so crucial in the career of an agent.  Towards the last part of our stay at our previous agency, we found that we were working much harder than the business would allow.  The support team was gone and the mood was grim!  We studied and researched the Right fit for us.  We wanted someone that was investing as much into their business as we were.  A strong network of positive agents was crucial and the management system had to be in place.  After reviewing over 20 Real Estate offices we found our clear picture.  Ke... 01/26/2010