Phoenix Real Estate to Fall 23.5% Over Next 5 Years!! (Tucson: 2015, foreclosures)

[sheena]

Originally Posted by Great Joy

For the many, many people who are trying to sell their homes (we're not one of them)....curious, can you please explain what you mean by marketing the home very strongly in this housing market to make it stand out from the "gazillion" number of homes for sale?

Making it look like a model and pricing it way below everyone else will help

[Great Joy]

Originally Posted by sheena

Making it look like a model and pricing it way below everyone else will help

Sheena, I agree with you. Bill said though, "If one cannot attract people to see a home, then it is very difficult to sell." And he also said he priced the home at market value. So I'm curious what he means by "strongly marketing the home" to get people to come and see it.

[mortimer]

Our realtor says that if you are not getting traffic, it's priced too high.

If you are getting traffic and no offers, it's also priced too high.

He advised us to lower the price again to compete with the new builds
about a mile away so we dropped it from $350k to $330k and we are
back to, say, 2003 or 2004 prices I would guess. I'm guessing offers
will come in at, say, $310k (if it's priced low enough).

We're close to the Fulton Ranch development which is very nice, but
some of those properties are on the market for prices 60% more per
square foot than properties in our development circa 2000-2002.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by mortimer

Our realtor says that if you are not getting traffic, it's priced too high.

If you are getting traffic and no offers, it's also priced too high.

He advised us to lower the price again to compete with the new builds
about a mile away so we dropped it from $350k to $330k and we are
back to, say, 2003 or 2004 prices I would guess. I'm guessing offers
will come in at, say, $310k (if it's priced low enough).

We're close to the Fulton Ranch development which is very nice, but
some of those properties are on the market for prices 60% more per
square foot than properties in our development circa 2000-2002.

You need an honest realtor. You are not getting traffic because there is no traffic. Have you been to the new models? There's grass growing in the parking lots. Buyers are on the sidelines timing the bottom. Yeah, if you get low enough some speculator or a Canadian will come along and take it off your hands figuring it's priced below any potential down-the-road bottom. The realtor gets his cut and you get screwed. There is no way I would have a typical house in a typical subdivision for sale in this market unless I HAD to. Few are buying that. I figure there are worse places to sit out the housing slump than Phoenix.

[artvandelay]

Ponderosa, I totally agree.

My co-worker listed his house in Anthem with a decent price break, but no traffic at all. His neighbor undercut his price with more amenities, but no traffic.

I know it's Anthem and that's a bit on the outskirts, but I see NO ONE looking for houses to buy and live in, except the wealthy (1 MM plus) market.Either people are too scared, or timing the market, or can't get home loans.

I don't think I could sell my house at even 60% of its current estimated value (which is already down about 15%). And then it would only be investors interested.

[MotleyCrew]

I agree with Ponderosa. We could not be happier stuck here in Vistancia!

[mortimer]

Ponderosa advised:

> > Our realtor says that if you are not getting traffic, it's priced too high.

> You need an honest realtor. You are not getting traffic because

We *are* getting traffic -- now. Previously, under old management,
we were not. From May 4th to Nov 1st, our realtor (old management)
advised us of six showings. That's all.

We've had over six showings per week since November 2nd.

> there is no traffic.

Over 3,000 homes changed hands in the Phoenix area last September.
The market is down, but over 100 people a day are moving to Phoenix.
Even if the amount of new homes and resales were down by 50% (which
they are not), there would still be thousands of sales (and showings)
(and offers) every month.

It still boils down to what the buyer is willing to pay, presentation,
location, and all the SAME things that were necessary back in 2005.
We are simply operating at different price points. That's all.

[Ponderosa]

You can add your traffic experience to the growing body of anecdotal evidence that the housing market is recovering (or stabilizing at least).

[ArizonaBear]

Originally Posted by artvandelay

Ponderosa, I totally agree.

My co-worker listed his house in Anthem with a decent price break, but no traffic at all. His neighbor undercut his price with more amenities, but no traffic.

I know it's Anthem and that's a bit on the outskirts, but I see NO ONE looking for houses to buy and live in, except the wealthy (1 MM plus) market.Either people are too scared, or timing the market, or can't get home loans.

I don't think I could sell my house at even 60% of its current estimated value (which is already down about 15%). And then it would only be investors interested.

60% of its current estimated value?

Damn: here I though were were going to see an avg. 40% drop in values-------including core inflation which would equal about a 30% 'monetary' drop.

Methinks I may have understated the deflation from its 2006 peak.

[Captain Bill]

Originally Posted by Great Joy

Sheena, I agree with you. Bill said though, "If one cannot attract people to see a home, then it is very difficult to sell." And he also said he priced the home at market value. So I'm curious what he means by "strongly marketing the home" to get people to come and see it.

For some agents the market plan is to put a lockbox on the door, a sign in the yard, list it in the MLS and pray. The MLS puts in on Realtor.com as a free basic listing, and it is buried among the millions of homes on Realtor.com and very seldom will show up on the first page.

My marketing plan goes far beyond that. It has taken me a lot of time and money to develop my market plan, so I can't spell it out in public. However, in general, it begins where the basic market plan leaves off. I utilize some print media where it will benefit my listing., and some local marketing. I pay a large monthly fee to feature my homes in particular zip codes on Realtor.com where 83 % of people first search for homes. I pay extra to have more photos and more space for details. I pay a larger monthly fee to own a zip code on Realtor.com so when people search that zip code either looking to buy or sell a home, they get me.

That is still a beginning. I do much more internet marketing of my listings in particular, and for buyers in general.

I take many photos with a high quality camera and edit them myself. The seller helps me determine the main selling features of the house, and I utilize the photos and the detailed descriptions to emphasize those features. At the risk of appearing to be advertising, if you want to see an example of what I'm talking about you can google herculesdr.com and see the photos and description. In reading the detailed description you'll see the main features that we're building on. That is the large Ramada, low maintenance yeard, a golf cart garage door, two master bed rooms, and of course the redecorating that we did. It's in an adult 40+ retirement golf community so the feature description is geared to that market segment.

I take full advantage of the internet for marketing in many ways, and continuously look for other ways to use the internet.

The marketing plan also includes preparing a home for sale, and pricing it at the market. The market is determined by the recently sold comps in the immediate area. Then you look at the homes on the market that are your competition.

Getting a home ready to sell is extremely important. Picture a 5 year old automobile that has been driven through a lot of dust and dirt and has not been cleaned inside nor outside, and has some minor cosmetic scratches. To determine pricing, one would go to the Blue Book. However, the car won't sell at the blue book price because it isn't prepared to show.

One needs to have the minor scratches taken care of, the car cleaned and detailed so it shows like a new car in order to get the blue book market price. Then people will be more interested. Next it must be advertised in places where people go to search for cars for sale. It's pretty much the same with real estate.

The home I mention had been on the market for 6 months by another agent. The yard was overgrown (the house is vacant) The home needed a lot of cosmetic repair. The carpet was old, blue colored, and reeked of cigarette smoke. It was priced way above the current market. When they contacted me to list the home, I told them what needed to be done and they agreed with me.

With a $10k budget I added new carpet, new vinly in the kitchen (no budget for tile) cleaned up the yard, painted the outside trim, power washed the stucco, had a color coordinator help choose colors for the carpet and inside walls to blend in with the outside walkway and rear patio stamped concrete flagstone colors. This tied the outside in with the inside and gave the appearance of much more space, and an appealing view as one enters the front door.

Then we staged it and priced it at the market and within 30 days of going back on the market we have an offer that is being written up today. We have two other people who really like the home and are considering an offer.

All of that is what I mean by strongly marketed.

Bill