In today's Arizona Republic, reporter David van den Berg provides an overview of the current market conditions in our fair Town of Gilbert.
Our friend Shailesh, the Arizona Mortgage Guru is quoted in the article.
One minor error in the article is here:
Realtors say they are seeing an increasing number of short sales, where homeowners sell their properties back to the lender for less than what they owe. (My emphasis)
In a short sale, the homeowners aren't selling their property back to the lender. They are selling it on the open market for less than they owe. Here is one article (of about a bazillion) with an over-view of short sales.
Read a "bubble blog" on any given day and you'll see comment after comment that proclaim all Realtors are evil, uncaring people. That we only want a commission check and will sell our own mothers more home than they need in order to feed our greed.
Alas, that's simply not true. Many real estate agents will tell you that in the Phoenix real estate market, now may not be the time to sell.
From the article:
"If they can afford to stay in their house, sit tight for another year, maybe two, then their equity will come back," said Nelda McClaskey, associate broker with Keller Williams Realty Southeast Valley in Gilbert.
And some other agent said:
This isn't the smartest time for sellers who merely want a bigger or smaller home to be in the market…
Yes, that's only two agents. But I can assure you there are many more that weren't quoted in van den Berg's article that will tell their clients the same thing. The same thing goes for buyers. As I've said before, even in the current buyer's market now may be a great time for some to buy, but it may not be a great time for you to buy. It's very situationally dependent, consult your real estate professional. Just make sure they aren't of the wicked and evil variety…
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Eric 08.24.07 at 5:04 pm
Technically guilty on a couple counts being a ‘bubble blogger’, but I try to always mention that there are a few agents out there who I would trust. Folks like Greg Swan, yourself, and a couple others have earned my respect
However as a past agent, there are 90% I’d just as soon throw to the wolves. When you work in an office with over 100 agents and can only say you’d let 4-5 represent you.. there’s some truth to the concept
Jay - The Phoenix Real Estate Guy 08.24.07 at 10:02 pm
Thanks for the kind words Eric.
I just grow weary of the ALL agents suck, are evil, whatever. It’s not ALL. I don’t know what the percentage is, but I’ll give you that it’s way, way too high. People need to be *really* careful when chosing an agent to represent them.
Eric 08.24.07 at 11:35 pm
I think the web’s going to do a great job helping to sift those out though
If I used an agent I’d want to know a lot about them, especially since I’m trusting them with what is likely one of my most valuable assets, so those that blog and let me do that, really earn my trust before we even meet in person.
Most other agents simply toss up a site and wait for the phone to ring..
Austin Real Estate Blog 08.31.07 at 10:07 pm
Great post. I was in a few other industries before real estate. And I found there were some good and bad apples in each profession. I wish there were not bad apples in real estate just like I wish there were not people in my other professions that were selfish. But what bothers me about real estate is the assumption I am ‘evil’ whenever I say I’m a realtor. I wish people would not make blanket assumptions simply based on profession.