Tucson Real Estate Blog

May 2008 Statistics

We are still going in a positive direction. Total units sold was better than 50 closings than in April. I am not sure we will close over 1000 in June as the Listings under contract went down. I have two closings this month so I am putting in my share. All the statistics looked good with the proper things going up and down. The average Sales Price went down but I don’t put a lot of weight on that. As long as the Median hovers around $200,000 we should be fine.

There has been a lot of news in the paper this past week. The numbers that they are using I know are not always true. I remember back around last July or so I found lots of double reporting by RealtyTrac. I also read that their statistics include double reporting when the house has a second loan which many did from early 2004 through 2007. The numbers can really look bad if you are not comparing apples to apples. We have 8808 residential units on the market right now and a number I heard was in the 4000’s that were foreclosures. I am not seeing that. There are a lot of them out there but not that large number.

If Congress and the President ever get the FHA program going for the coming foreclosures/short sales it will really help slow down the number of foreclosures and keep the owner in the house. I think it is a great bill and will help everyone including those that are trying to sell and did not have any of the tough loans. Everyone is paying and paying for this housing crunch. If you are against the bill I hope you have read the information I posted last month. The Senate is changing some of that bill and it will get even stronger. I see it as a pay as you go for the program and some real financial gains for the program.

Are you enjoying the high gas prices? Are you still flying down the freeway at 75 to 80mph? I have dropped back to 62mph on my trip to work. I have about 9 miles of freeway in my 18 mile trip. I do not scream away from the red light and I watch ahead to see what the light is doing. I slow down long before I reach the lineup of cars. I can not believe the number of people that race from signal to signal in their big SUV. Slow down and save a gallon here and there.

If I can help you call me at 240-7130.

BAILOUT Bill?

I keep reading all these opinions that say we should not bailout anyone who is about to lose their home because they made a bad choice in their purchase and/or loan.

Lets get real here!! The bill that the Democrats and a small number of Republicans  sent out of committee is one of the smartest things our House of Representatives  has done in a long time. The problem is, will the Lenders participate? Click here for a news item that shows me most of the public is uneducated about this bill.  I see people that are complaining have not read the Bill, and the News Media now has a new topic to feed on and misrepresent the truth.

Here is a summarized copy of the bill. Read it for yourself and see that this is not a bailout for the lenders or investors. If it goes the way it is written, the program will more than pay for itself and then some. The Old Lender is the one to voluntarily cover the costs of most everything. I think most of the Lenders will approve the chance for the homeowner to stay in their home and take the Short Sale amount and move on. As this program is voluntary for the current Lender, it simply gives them one more option for dealing with a loss they are about to experience, and the homeowner gets to stay in their home with manageable payments if they qualify.

Now you say “so what”. WHAT is the fact that when YOU try to sell your home In say, Tucson, Arizona you will not have as many of those Short Sales and foreclosures as competition in the sales market. Think about it, and this really will save a lot of people from going into deeper debt, and I am not just talking the homeowner, but the people that lost their job because we all stopped buying and the employer had to let them go. Now tell me what did that have to do with the so called Bailout? Absolutely nothing. We ALL caused that. I can give you lots of other examples, but I think you get the picture.

This again is the best solution I have seen yet. We have two years or more of this current housing problem if we do not do something like this bill. Read the Bill a second time and understand it before you say something that shows me you really do not understand or do not care about it. I am sure this Bill will get changed between the House and Senate but something along this Bill’s lines will help our floundering economy and bring many peoples lives back to a much better position.

Once you understand what they are trying to do, get in touch with your Senator and Congressman and ask them to support something along this Bills Lines. We need to get our President to also understand this is not a Bailout and that it will pay its own way. NO VETO!  I am not a Democrat but HOORAY for the Democrats.  Bipartisan politics is the only way to save our economy and our country!  Now if we can just convince our divided Congress of this.

You have my permission to copy this and send to Your Senator, Representative or whoever you think will help. Use anything in my thoughts that will help you write something to make that contact.

THIS is a very important issue.

April Statistics

Well my crystal ball was off in some areas but it was better than I thought. Units Sold was up to 973 from 900. Active listings down to 8808 from 9022. Days on market went up by 3 days and not down as I thought, but that is OK. What I really liked was the number of Listings under contract which went from 1410 in March to 1547 in April. We have had a steady climb in that statistic since last December. I really feel at this point that we are starting out of our slump. Will prices still go down? Some will, but homes under $225,000 will get harder to find. I am already seeing this as I show property. Yes they are still there, but the nicer ones are starting to sell. The ones that are not that nice will take a hit or the owners will finally realize they need to do more to get their property sold.

Are prices going to go up? Not yet but we will see things starting to steady out. The Average and Median Sales price both went down in April but I look for them to come back to the March level in May.

If you are thinking of buying please talk to a lender soon. You will need to have the Loan Status Report (LSR) that the Lender will supply to your agent as it must go with your contract. No LSR, you will get a refusal from the seller because they do not know you are qualified to buy their home. This is very important!!  Call Elaine DeTour-Spronken at Countrywide  731-8382  Ext 235 for a very honest, service oriented Loan Consultant. Then call me at 240-7130