I have researched the numbers again for sold Boulder real estate. You will see both single family home sold data, and also attached homes sold data. We track all condos, town-homes, and similar properties as one category: ‘attached’. You will see a brief comment from me on the trend in the market and some comparison between [...]

• Loan moddification contact list. — Mortgage Industry Blog http://tinyurl.com/5vt7h5 #
• ARM / Mortgage Resets: More Bad News - CNBC By The Numbers - CNBC.com: "… even without rese.. http://tinyurl.com/6fmk7o #

Powered by Twitter Tools.

Scrapbook Arts is reopening today at its new location and under new ownership.

The scrapbook store was previously located at Old State Road and Polaris Parkway but will now be located in the strip mall near Wholly Joe’s and Cookie Cutter Haircuts on Powell Road.

Hours will be Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. unitl 8 p.m. and Sunday from Noon until 5 p.m.

Kimberly Collins from the Collins Group will be providing a make-n-take for Saturday’s Grand Opening. There will have lots of prize drawings throughout the weekend and we will be serving Sugardaddys Scrumptuous Brownies.

From the Ask the Broker Inbox:

I currently live in idaho Falls, ID. Until 3 years ago I lived in Mesa for 20 years. Looking to sell my house in ID and return to the Phoenix area. The realtors in Idaho Falls require my wife and I leave our house each time we have a scheduled showing by any agent or when we have an open house. I have asked the question of my local realtors as to why I have to leave and they all say so the client can feel free to critque the house without my being there.

I am 67 years young, have lived in many cities and bought and sold many houses. I have never been asked to leave my home during the showing or open house, including the house I sold in Mesa.

I have a real problem with that issue now for many reasons but the 2 that are predominant are: I pay your salary why am I the one inconvenienced?; No realtor knows my house as well as I do and is not in a position to answer question beyond what’s in the listing. I have already seen where a realtor was asked a question about an aspect of my house and didn’t know the answer. He also never got to me to ask the question and provide the answer to the client.

I had a mistrust of realtors before, these past dealings don’t endear me to the real estate community any more. I would appreciate your input into the question of the homeowner leaving during a showing or open house.

Well, you’re probably not gong to like my answer either. I think your agent is giving you very sound advice. We *always* advise our sellers to vacate the home any and every time a buyer or their representative is present. This includes initial showings, repeat showings, open houses, inspections and final walk-throughs.

Never, ever make your buyers feel uncomfortable in your home

Yes, it is an inconvenience to have to leave your home. Selling a home is a big giant hassle all the way around. I can assure you that buyers will spend longer in your home if you aren’t there, and they will talk about it more — both the good and the bad.

And that is exactly what you want. You want buyers to spend time in your home. You want them to talk about it — the good, the bad and the ugly. The longer they spend and the more they talk the more emotionally vested they become in the home. And the more they are likely to want it.

Of course no agent will ever know as much about the home or the neighborhood as the person that lives there. But you can certainly educate your agent. Work with your agent to put together a “showing package” for your home and leave it in a prominent place (a kitchen island / counter works well). You can place photos, neighborhood demographics and info, photos, even a letter from the seller talking about your home.

I’ve shown homes to buyers with owners present and without fail the buyers feel uncomfortable in the home. You are trying to sell your home. Making potential buyers feel uncomfortable in it is the last thing you want to do.

---

Search the Phoenix area MLS.

© 2007 Jay Thompson, Phoenix Real Estate Guy . If you are reading this outside your feed reader or on any blog other than The Phoenix Real Estate Guy, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact legal@ThompsonsRealty.com so we can take legal action immediately.

---
Related Articles at The Phoenix Real Estate Guy:

Ask The Broker

The Wall Street Journal on Home Pricing

How Not to Sell Your Phoenix Home

Sometimes I wish I’d thought of things first… Jessica’s index card blog is now one of my favorites for pure ingenuity. This chart of hers is humorous to me, but what do YOU think of it? Have you been touched in a positive or negative way by any of these programs?

One of those events that set Delaware, Ohio apart is the all-horse parade. It begins the “Run for the Jug” every fall.

On Sunday, hundreds of horses and thousands of spectators will take up station along the parade route and enjoy a wide-selection of beautiful creatures.

This year’s parade begins at 3 p.m. at the Fairgrounds and will travel along the traditional parade route along Sandusky Street.

It is a great time for all!

So I’ve probably looked at hundreds, if not thousands, of homes during my lifetime. What I find interesting is the fact that I’m always drawn to the same part of a home whether I’m over at a friend’s house for dinner or walking through an open house….the garage. Maybe that’s because in my current home, the [...]

Tired or reading or looking at spreadsheets? Here’s some more video footage from our rising television star Spencer Rascoff as he unpacks Zillow’s Q2 Real Estate Market Reports and offers up advice to buyers and sellers.

Zillow’s Q2 Real Estate Market Reports

Tips for Buyers and Sellers

WellcomeMat.com highlights the top five new videos of the week to support the many agents, brokers and video producers helping to re-define the real estate buying and selling experience. We feel it’s important to give props to those who are digging in and making great videos.

And as always, congrats to this week’s winners!

George Packard - Video Producer - Warner, NH

Take a walk through this 5 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom beauty! Video producer George Packard elegantly guides you through this Waterloo neighborhood in the historic 1826 Nehemiah Ordway Homestead. George’s camera work is stately with smooth transitions and a patience that is shown throughout the video tour.

Daniel Polimino - Real Estate Agent - Englewood, CO

Real Estate Agent Daniel Polimino does a great job at presenting this luxurious home in Denver, CO. This home has amazing features including bamboo flooring, 8 foot Alder doors and, of course, build green energy efficient features. The camera work is steady and inviting. There’s so much to see which is why this video tour is a perfect tool in getting the house out for others to enjoy.

Scott Harwell - Video Producer - Salt Lake City, UT

The unique angles and shots help make this video tour stand out. Video producer Scott Harwell puts together a nice concept in his video of this Salt Lake City, UT home. The originality comes through with his camera shots from the beginning to the end. The viewer gets to enjoy the natural lighting from the morning and the shots of the home in the evening.

Sherri Anderson - Video Producer -Cumming, GA

Looking for a mansion?! Take a look at this huge 7 bedroom, 8 bathroom Georgia home. Located on Lake Lanier near Gainesville on 11 acres this is one estate to be seen. Video Producer Sherri Anderson goes on a tour starting at the electronic gate down to the incredible rooms, custom wine cellar, pool and outdoor kitchen. Sherri does a great job getting this huge home filmed all under six minutes. This is one video tour you have to see!

Emmanuel Fonte - Real Estate Agent - Bellevue, WA

Real Estate Agent Emmanuel Fonte offers this move in ready townhome in Issaquah, WA. The video tour plays nicely with music that compliments the feel of the townhome. Nothing too flashy or overwhelming in this video tour, but that’s what puts it in the Top 5. In just over two minutes the viewer gets to see the details and enjoy the show.

ShareThis

I was just looking over the results of the American Institute of Architect’s latest Home Design Trends Survey, and I noticed a few interesting trends. According to the AIA, home sizes are trending downward:

As recently as 2006, almost twice as many residential architects participating in the AIA Home Design Trends Survey reported home sizes to be increasing as reported them to be decreasing. By 2007, that trend had reversed, as more residential architects reported home sizes to be decreasing than increasing. With the 2008 survey, more than twice as many respondents reported home size declines as reported increases (33.5 percent vs. 15.5 percent).

As home interiors are getting smaller, AIA says more homeowners are looking to increase their living spaces by tapping into the outdoors:

Despite a downsizing of home sizes and general concerns about keeping housing costs affordable, residential architects note the growing interest among households in improving their properties, even as lot sizes continue to shrink. At the forefront is the growing movement toward outdoor living. This trend encompasses anything from increased emphasis on traditional outdoor elements like decks, porches, and patios, to expanded outdoor cooking areas and outdoor “rooms.”

You can certainly see this trend taking over in the most popular yards and gardens in Dueling Digs, our source for home improvement ideas. Of course, it helps if you live in a climate that lends itself to being outside year-round, but at least us wet-and-cold-weather dwellers can dream. Hey, that’s why they invented outdoor heaters!

Here’s a look at some drool-worthy ”outdoor rooms” from Dueling Digs:

This lovely living area with brick fireplace is from 1829 Barrington Dr., Roanoke, TX
See more Roanoke, TX real estate

A slate-covered outdoor dining area from 19877 Trotter Ln., Yorba Linda, CA
See more Yorba Linda, CA real estate

This tiki-inspired room is from 1927 N. Normandie Ave., Los Angeles, CA
See more Los Angeles, CA real estate

A New Mexico-meets-California outdoor living room from 5217 Linea Del Cielo, Rancho Santa Fe, CA
See more Rancho Santa Fe, CA real estate

Patio with hot tub and fireplace from 797 Lynwood Dr., Encinitas, CA
See more Encinitas, CA real estate

This super-cool deck with fire pit is from 1507 Mariners Dr., Newport Beach, CA
See more Newport Beach, CA real estate

You may have seen these type of vehicles around the Kingman area (no not a Police vehicle, and not simply a golf cart). I can think of one gentleman that I've seen driving a similar vehicle on Stockton Hill Road. I found an interesting article (linked here) about how local governments are changing laws and ordinances to allow for the use of these vehicles on public streets. Please read that

Mimis Cafe will present Martinis and Jazz with Jamie Whetstone on Thursdays in September.

The jaz begins at 8 p.m. and runs until 11 p.m. and the kitchen and full bar are available but the martinis are only $5.99!

Mimi’s Cafe is located at 1428 Polaris Parkway which is situated in front of Polaris Fashion Place Mall near the intersection of Polaris and I-71.

You might wonder if you own two or more homes how the housing stimulus package might affect you. Life is apparently getting a little harder for those who own more than one home. If you’re thinking of investing in more Boulder real estate, or already own investment property, you should know that part of the housing [...]

In this month’s Nestoria interview we have the pleasure of speaking with Simon Baker, author of Property Portal Watch and ex-CEO of REA (owners of major European portals - and Nestoria partners - PropertyFinder and Casa.it, amongst others). He is director of 3eep and Redbubble, and Chairman of Arts Hub. In his free time Simon also writes MyCEOLife, a blog about the challenges of being a jet setting CEO.

Simon, great that you could make the time to chat with us.

1. What are your goals with Property Portal Watch?

The vision for Property Portal Watch is to create the go to destination for information about property portals around the world. The site will provide overviews, news, analysis, gossip and more on portal sites, the companies that own them and the key people in the industry. The audience we are targeting are the property portals themselves, industry players, analysts, media, investors, as well the agents themselves.

We believe that we can make Property Portal Watch successful by leveraging the in depth knowledge, relationships and experience that helped build the REA Group and as we gain momentum, we plan to offer additional products and services to the market.

2. In many countries in Europe there is a dominant local number one: (Rightmove, ImmobilienScout24, Fotocasa). While at REA you seemed to pursue a multi-country strategy, investing in PropertyFinder and Casa.it. What advantages does a multinational strategy offer?

When I was running the REA Group, it was clear that a multinational strategy had a number of benefits.

First of all, being the market leader in one country can be very profitable, therefore if you are able to purchase or create the market leader in a number of countries, then your long term profitability will increase. Also, by being in multiple countries, you can de-risk the business in terms of single market failure risks. We adopted a portfolio approach to this with countries in established and emerging markets.

Secondly, I believe that there are some benefits that accrue from running multiple sites. These include scale efficiencies in technology (build one and use many times) as well as scale efficiency in marketing - in particular in the offer that you make to an agents and you can say “give me your listings and we can publish them on the UK’s #2 site as well as a network of 10 million home buyers and investors globally”. It provides a clear point of difference to the singe country players.

3. As someone watching different markets around the world what trends do you see emerging? What evolution will we see in the market in the coming 12 months?

There are a number of major trends that I think will occur over the next 12 - 24 months:

Firstly, the professionalisation of the property portal industry will improve. Now what do I mean by professionalism? At the moment there are hundreds of sites out there offering a vast range of advertising products and services to agents. However all the marketing of those portals is based on their owns stats and usually stats that sound big but are meaningless to an agent. Therefore I think that independent online property tracking services will emerge that provide agents with cross portal comparisons of their marketing spend efficiency.

Secondly, as agents understand more about their marketing efficiency (ie where their leads come from) they will redirect more and more of their spend in that direction to the detriment of the papers and to some of the smaller portals.

Thirdly, I also think that the list for fee, pay for upgrade model will faulter as agents struggle with the concept and the sites therefore struggle to make any money. Some will be purchased by the bigger players and integrated into a paid offering.

Finally, in markets where there are a number of paid sites (like the UK) there will be consolidation as financial pressures force traditional foes to talk and merge.

4. What are our thoughts on the innovation in the property search space in the last 1-2 years, particularly in relation to pure aggregators like Nestoria?

The property search space is still in its infancy and I believe that many new models will be tried over the coming years - while some will succeed, most will fail.

The types of innovation I think we will see are:

1) Better and more intuitive interfaces for consumers that really make sure that they get the right search results. This will become more and more important as the number of listings sites have increases.

2) There will be innovations in the underlying advertising models and as agents become more and more web savvy, they will increase their investment in the models that deliver the results. I still think it will be a pay to advertise model - just not sure if it is CPM based (straight advertising) or more pay for performance.

Thanks very much Simon. Interesting views from someone with keen insight and international perspective. As a service that partners with 30+ property portals across Europe, we here at Nestoria very much welcome the move to increased efficiency and rational measurement of marketing spend in the market.

past Nestoria interviews: Tim Youngman, Jesus Encinar, and Ivailo Jordanov.

Thanks to all those real estate professionals who signed up and tuned into our Webinar for Real Estate Professionals this morning. Jorrit Van der Meulen, our VP of Partner Relations, and Dr. Stan Humphries, our VP of Data and Analytics, discussed our Q2 data and some ways agents and brokers can benefit from Zillow’s API Network. Attendees asked great questions, and the conversation was informative and interesting.

If you missed it, or want to hear and see it again, it is available at events.acttel.com/zillowreports.

If you’re a tennis fan, you relish the thwack-thwack sound of the ball as it is pulverized across the net as one of tennis’ Grand Slams, the U.S. Open, plays its final rounds this weekend. As a salute to some of tennis’ greatest stars, we’d like to serve up (pun intended) a few homes you might enjoy.

Andy Roddick’s house
4104 Shimmering Cove, Austin, TX 78731
See more Austin, TX, real estate

Tennis beefcake Andy Roddick, who was born in Nebraska, but lived in Austin, TX, up to age 11, has a few homes to his name, including this one in a gated community of Austin. He purchased this 5,558 sq ft home in November of 2003 for $1,463,000. Perhaps he plans to split his time here with his fiance, Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker. [Sources: Big Time Listings, Real Estalker, ARS LLC Company]

Chris Evert’s home
8563 Horseshoe Ln, Boca Raton, FL
See more Boca Raton, FL, real estate

Retired tennis star Chris Evert, always the princess of the court, has had a tabloid year after divorcing her dashing downhill skier husband Andy Mill in 2006 and this year marrying golf great Greg Norman amid headlines of “he stole my wife!” Evert and Mill bought this home together in 2003 for $2.8 million. [Sources: TopSynergy.com, bnet.com]

Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf’s house
110 Gilmartin Dr, Tiburon, CA
See more Tiburon, CA real estate

Tennis’ supreme power couple, Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf lost money on their Tiburon estate when they bought it in 2001 for $23 million and then sold it in 2006 for $20 million to California hedge fund investor Stuart Peterson. Valleywag dubs it the “House YouTube Bought”.

Steffi Graf’s house
81 N Hibiscus Dr, Miami Beach, FL 33130
For sale: $3,050,000
See more Miami Beach real estate

Just before marrying Andre, Steffi Graf purchased this 3,010 sq ft Mediterranean-style home on Hibiscus Island, a small, gated community of exclusive homes on Biscayne Bay. [Source: Big Time Listings]

John McEnroe’s house
296 Tennis Court Rd, Oyster Bay, NY
See more Oyster Bay, NY real estate

What a perfect address for tennis great John McEnroe, a four-time U.S. Open singles champion (1979, ‘80, ‘81, ‘84). According to Newsday’s blog Real LI, McEnroe lived there with his ex-wife, Tatum O’Neal. Evidently, McEnroe’s parents once owned the property and John and Tatum lived in the renovated carriage house for awhile. This sprawling, 20,000-square-foot “palatial Beverly Hills compound” includes four bedrooms in the main house (including a spa, a gym and a wine room), a pool house, a guest house, a carriage house with a ballroom, and a garage with apartment space. McEnroe sold the property in December of 2007 to record producer Ric Wake for an undisclosed amount (it was listed for $6.5 million).

Mats Wilander’s house
18 Richmond Hill Rd, Greenwich, CT 06831
See more Greenwich, CT real estate

According to public records, Wilander bought this home in 1987 for $800,000 and then sold it in 2000 for $2.3 million. [Source: Big Time Listings]

Betsy Nagelsen McCormack’s house
9600 McCormick Pl, Windermere, FL 34786
See more Windermere, FL real estate

Retired tennis player Betsy Nagelsen McCormack sold this gorgeous 16,000+ sq ft home, located in the exclusive Isleworth community, in July, 2007 for nearly $13 million. This came after the untimely 2003 death of her husband, Mark McCormack, who was founder and chairman of International Management Group (IMG), a powerful management company for sports pros and celebrities such as Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter, Elizabeth Hurley, and Itzhak Perlman. The home was purchased by NBA star Grant Hill. [Source: Big Time Listings]

Monica Seles’ house
2895 Dick Wilson Dr, Sarasota, FL 34240
See more Sarasota, FL real estate

Seles’ home is one of 400 located in the gated community that sits on the private Laurel Oak Country Club. [Source: contactanycelebrity.com]

Comments, corrections, additions, and submissions are welcome. Please send to celebtips@zillow.com

I pulled my active listing related figures yesterday from the Tucson MLS system - I’ll pull the solds over the weekend, just to give some of those slacker agents a little more time to finish reporting their sales for August.

So far, number of listings and pendings are down, and based on today’s number of sales figure, months of inventory is holding steady from last month.

I was talking to a couple of folks earlier in the week about the market in general.  Looking back at this year, I’ve had several clients in multiple competing offer situations, both as sellers and buyers.  While there are lots of homes that are overpriced or in bad condition and sit on the market forever, every once in a while, a real gem shows up, and you’ve got to fight for it if you want it. 

Coming soon: I’ve added some new metrics and charts to the Tucson market stats that I collect, including a graph of list and sale price distributions per area.  They’re not up in the regular stats pages yet, but I’m hoping that in the next 2 weeks or so (knock on wood), we’ll have a large site update rolled out and the stats will be consolidated into their own area.

By popular demand, we’ve introduced a new Print Flyer function on all vFlyer landing pages. This allows viewers of any vFlyer to print a simplified version of the Flyer with the title, summary information, main photo and up to four gallery photos, location information, map, contact information, and photo and logos. This means that if you’re a real estate agent and a potential buyer finds one of your vFlyers through one of our partner marketplaces such as Trulia, that person can simply click the Print Flyer link instead of having to try to print the landing page itself (which isn’t set up to be printed) or (dare I say) write down the necessary information for the listing. In other words, this new Print Flyer link makes your vFlyer landing pages that much more functional and valuable to both you and the viewers of your vFlyers. And isn’t that the whole idea?

Here’s an example of the new print version:

 

Got this in my email box and wanted to share. Bring your blankets and chairs, pack a picnic, and come on down to Metcalfe Park in Downtown Kingman THIS SUNDAY, September 7th, from 4 to 7:30pm for a FREE Jazz Concert in the Park Joel Clemons & The Lemons are on their Route 66 Music Tour, and are playing The Heart of Historic Route 66, Kingman Arizona, as they travel & perform all along Route 66

It’s barely September… Oh I guess it is the 4th.

People are already searching for Halloween 2008 in Columbus and ending up here for some reason (Halloween 2007?)

Experience Columbus - Central Ohio Halloween 2008 events

Boo at the Zoo, the Haunted Ship (Santa Maria), the Haunted Statehouse Tours, the Columbus Landmarks tours they are all there…and I assume more events will be added…

If you are thinking of selling your Boulder real estate, there are some strategies that you might like to consider before you get started. Without a strategic plan for selling, you are probably just shooting in the dark. I was inspired to write more about this after reading a WSJ article in early August. One thing [...]

Katie and Rudy setting up at the Trulia Booth

Today was the first day of the RIS Media Real Estate Leadership Conference in New York City - and Trulia was on the scene in full force. We had most of our New York based team in attendance and Katie even flew out from San Francisco to join us. It was a pretty busy first day with many meetings and face to face chats. Connections were made and stories were shared. It was a good day.

There are some stellar panels planned tomorrow that we can’t wait to attend.  We’re looking forward to another wonderful day of networking and connecting with some of the greatest leaders in real estate.

ShareThis

In order to help a home sell, people have been burying St.Joseph statues in their yards for ages. Some say the practice will help a home sell faster, and of course others say it won’t do anything.

The practice is said to date back to at least to the great St. Teresa of Avila (A.D. 1515 - 1582). St. Teresa founded an Order that needed a new convent built. The nuns found a perfect piece of land, but didn’t have the money they needed. So they asked St. Joseph to intercede, burying medals with his likeness. Over time, the folk custom developed into burying small statues of St. Joseph in order to help homes be sold,

I find it interesting how customs like these develop. I don’t know if there is anything to the St. Joseph’s statues, but this site sells over two million of them a year so apparently someone thinks it works…

Here’s an act comedian Ron Culberson does regarding the power of St. Joseph statues:

I don’t think I’ll be ordering cases of these things, but if one of our clients wants to try it, I’ll loan them a shovel.

---

Search the Phoenix area MLS.

© 2007 Jay Thompson, Phoenix Real Estate Guy . If you are reading this outside your feed reader or on any blog other than The Phoenix Real Estate Guy, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact legal@ThompsonsRealty.com so we can take legal action immediately.

---
Related Articles at The Phoenix Real Estate Guy:

Meme’d By the Cactus

Most Overvalued Housing Markets

One Wisconsin family is living the high life, up in the trees, after super dad John Peterson built his kids a two story, 200 sq. ft, fantasy tree house in their backyard.

While Dad won’t confess what he spent on the tree fort/house/mansion, it couldn’t have been cheap. The tree house is fully loaded with windows, doors, electricity, and even a spiral staircase. No Zestimate yet on this tree house, but there are still some affordable  homes for sale in Onalaksa, Wi. However elaborate, this indulgent spend is typical of Onalaskan residents, many of whom are “Stretching Couples” with cash, kids, and a childhood dream up their sleeve.

As Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, prepares to speak tonight at the RNC, we thought we’d take a peek at the school systems in the cities where the VP candidates currently reside.

Education will be a widely discussed topic during the next two months, so we decided to look at the public schools in both Wasilla, AK and Wilmington, DE.  Surpise, surprise - both are highly rated by parents; with Wilmington having a slight edge.

Stay tuned for Part Two where we will look at the crime statistics in both cities.

ShareThis