Tucson Real Estate Blog

It is looking like the bottom is here. Units Sold was up by 64 over the last month and this was indicated by the number of units that went pending in April/March. The number that went Pending for May went down some but I expect the number of Units Sold to be very close to the May number.  Inventory went down by 384 units and this will make it harder to find what buyers are seeking. The good ones will get snapped up. I think we will see a firming in listed price and offered price and probably start seeing multiple counteroffers.  The time involved to buy a short sale is weighing on buyers as to the uncertainty. They do not want to wait 3+ months to find out if they are able to buy the home. 

* Closed during the month
** For the current month (not the total listing under contract)

There has been good housing news coming out all over the West. Even Phoenix has seen a big jump in homes sold. We are not Phoenix but their statistics seem to drive the Arizona figures making Tucson look worse then we are. We are Tucson and somewhat different. We will still see Short Sales and Foreclosures, but soon that number will start to decrease. Once those slow down we will not see the push down on properly priced homes but a push up and possibly a larger push up from the $8000 credit for anyone that has not owned a home in the last three years. FHA has approved using the $8000 towards closing costs and additional down payment if the lenders can provide a Bridge Loan until the buyer files their taxes. You will still need 3.5% of your money for the down. As soon as I know who is doing it I will put it on my Blog.
 
You need to start the loan process and start looking. Call me at 520-240-7130 if you need help.

I really think we are holding and may be very close to the bottom. I have been showing property to two clients, one under $130,000 in the Northwest and the other under $180,000. The $180,000 client has quite a number of homes to choose from but almost all are “Lender owned” or “Short sales”. The $130,000 buyer has very little to look at and again “Lender owned” or “Short sales”. The thing that really hit me was when I was signing in upon showing a home I found a lot of other agents names had signed in over the previous two days. Buyers are looking!! This will help reduce inventory, as has happened over the last month where we see a drop of 525 Active listings at the end of April. Total units sold is down 10 closings over last month but listings under Contract is up by 141 more units. This all makes me think we are very close to the bottom. The numbers are looking steady and ready to start climbing.

_{* Closed during the month
** For the current month (not the total listing under contract)}

There is more consumer confidence and the stock market is above 8400 for the DOW at this moment. A friend of mine told me he eats out a lot and is finding the restaurants are very busy and he has wait times again. Things are getting better but again what is all this Government spending going to cost us down the road.
 
If you have not owned a home in the last three years you really should see if you can purchase, as you can get an $8000 credit on your taxes next year and get up to that amount in a check from the IRS. Look into it soon, as this expires on December 1st 2009.
 
If I can help you in any way please contact me on my cell 240-7130.

If you look at the stats the big thing that I see was the drop in the Median Sales price. Everything else is just an improvement over the February Statistics. Inventory fell by 100, Units Sold increased by 233, and listings under contract increased by 184. I am feeling much better about the Tucson market. We should see sales start to increase over the next months and I expect that prices of homes will start back up slowly. We still have a larger number of Foreclosures starting to hit the market because of the delays in actual foreclosures at the beginning of the year and this could slow the price increases another couple of months. But over all I think for Tucson we are very close to the bottom of the housing cycle.

* Closed during the month
** For the current month (not the total listing under contract)