Is it a buyer's market, a seller's market or ?

[Ex New Yorker]

Originally Posted by BriansPerspective

Thanks! I'm glad it worked out for you High pressure agents drive us nuts. The last thing you need in a major decision is someone breathing down you neck telling you to sign something. We often tell people to sleep on it to make sure that they are making the best decision.

You're welcome! Your post really hit home with us, when it comes to buying and selling a home. We never considered our home to be an investment or a bank. It's a place to live and our reason for moving was to get the hell out of New York come hell or high water. Whether the market was good or bad was irrelevant. When we first put our home up for sale it was a seller's market in Prescott. So we looked at other area's of Arizona since Arizona was our #1 choice of states to live in the southwest. Utah and New Mexico 2nd and 3rd. But most of our energy was focused on Arizona. My wife wasn't too crazy about Prescott Valley, Chino Valley or Kingman. We also looked at Queen Creek, Apache Junction and Lake Havasu City. We both liked Payson. But to me it didn't matter, I could live just about anywhere in this great state, except for maybe Flagstaff or Show Low. I've had enough with winter. Winters are nothing in Prescott compared to the northeast. It doesn't snow often enough to be a nuisance and when it does snow it's usually gone in a day or two. There are plenty of 60 degree days which feel much warmer when you're out in the sun. You also do not have to be all cooped up in your house all winter long.

If it wasn't for the summer heat I'd love to live somewhere in the Sonoran Desert. That's our favorite place in all of Arizona. It's iconic and screams ARIZONA. It's what comes to mind when most people think about Arizona. Fortunately we can and do go out there quite often as it's not too far away. Don't get me wrong we love this area too, for us it's the ideal place to live in this state due to it's four relatively mild seasons and the landscape here is awesome too. But there's just something about the Sonoran Desert with it's strange and mysterious landscape that captivates our imagination. I don't know how else to describe it?

As it turned out when we finally sold our home it was now a buyer's market in Prescott, that was our first choice from the beginning as to where to live out here. Sure we probably could have gotten a nicer home for our money had we chose elsewhere in the state. Going into debt for an even bigger and better home in Prescott than what we have now was not an option. The home we have here is much nicer than the one we had in New York along with our neighborhood. Where we are now in Prescott would be considered upper middle class in Westchester County, New York. When compared to Arizona you'd be amazed at how little you get for your money living back there. I just don't get it as our quality of life out here is at least 10 times better than it was back there. I was surprised at how easy it was to meet new people and make new friends as we didn't know a single soul out here before we moved. People just don't seem to be as uptight? I guess it's because of all the people we know, they want to be out here instead of being stuck someplace where they hated it. It gives you a different outlook on life. Unfortunately no one gets to choose where they are born. But for some of us we do get to choose where we want to live. That can make all the difference in the world in your overall quality of life.

[BriansPerspective]

Originally Posted by Ex New Yorker

...Where we are now in Prescott would be considered upper middle class in Westchester County, New York. When compared to Arizona you'd be amazed at how little you get for your money living back there. I just don't get it as our quality of life out here is at least 10 times better than it was back there. I was surprised at how easy it was to meet new people and make new friends as we didn't know a single soul out here before we moved. People just don't seem to be as uptight? I guess it's because of all the people we know, they want to be out here instead of being stuck someplace where they hated it. It gives you a different outlook on life. Unfortunately no one gets to choose where they are born. But for some of us we do get to choose where we want to live. That can make all the difference in the world in your overall quality of life.

I completely agree. When we traveled through Prescott, we fell in love with the area and the climate. We decided to move here and then figure out what to do, rather than get a job and then move to where the job was. We couldn't be more happy with our choice.

[Ex New Yorker]

Originally Posted by BriansPerspective

I completely agree. When we traveled through Prescott, we fell in love with the area and the climate. We decided to move here and then figure out what to do, rather than get a job and then move to where the job was. We couldn't be more happy with our choice.

My wife and I both lost our jobs in manufacturing when the company we both worked for moved out of New York due to the astronomical cost of doing business there. They only offered one of us a job at one third less than what one of us was making. Fortunately for us our home was paid off when we lost our jobs. Before they moved we worked a lot of overtime and along with severance pay had enough to live on for a few years until we found something else. It wasn't easy during those few years living like paupers, but we managed. We taught ourselves how to use computers and became self employed working from home. Then it was Arizona here we come! There was no rational reason to stay in New York, and we have no rational reason to ever go back.

I've always been fascinated with the great American Southwest since I was a kid and still am. Arizona certainly didn't disappoint me. My wife at first didn't want to go because of fear of the unknown and parting with family, friends and everything that we were familiar with. But once we took our first trip out here she was sold, we returned home and the house went up for sale.

During the time the home was on the market we made additional trips out here checking out all the different area's before settling on Prescott. It's got pretty much everything we could ever want out of life. I could be happy in Prescott Valley or Chino Valley too. Just about everywhere you go you're surrounded by some of thee most spectacular scenery on the face of the earth. Millions of people come to vacation here and for good reason. I still can't believe we live here! We are proud to call Arizona our home. Something you'd never hear me say about New York.

[BruinsAngelsKings]

A somewhat related question.

If visiting a model home are you required to sign in or anything like that? I know when my family was looking at models in LHC in the early 2000's whenever we entered a model home they wanted us to sign in. We didn't know any better and signed the logbook. We eventually came to find out that 4 realtors got a piece of the action when we decided on a specific model as 3 of the realtors were at other models by the same builder that we did not choose.

Also, I've heard that when buying new construction from a builder you need (or should) show up with a realtor to have your interests looked after. Can you just walk in to a model home without a realtor present without any obligation?

We are nowhere near ready to buy/build but we will be making day trip to Prescott in a couple of weeks and were hoping to at least see the inside of some models.

[BriansPerspective]

Originally Posted by BruinsAngelsKings

A somewhat related question.

If visiting a model home are you required to sign in or anything like that? I know when my family was looking at models in LHC in the early 2000's whenever we entered a model home they wanted us to sign in. We didn't know any better and signed the logbook. We eventually came to find out that 4 realtors got a piece of the action when we decided on a specific model as 3 of the realtors were at other models by the same builder that we did not choose.

Also, I've heard that when buying new construction from a builder you need (or should) show up with a realtor to have your interests looked after. Can you just walk in to a model home without a realtor present without any obligation?

We are nowhere near ready to buy/build but we will be making day trip to Prescott in a couple of weeks and were hoping to at least see the inside of some models.

Regarding the first item... the only scenario that would make sense based on your description is if the builder's sales team all shared commissions no matter who wrote the actual contract. This is fairly common practice. They all work for the builder, so if they share commissions, then any of the agents are equally as likely to help you throughout the transaction.

Regarding the second item... nearly every builder has a sign saying that if you do not bring your agent with you the first time you look at the models, then they will not pay your agent a commission. With many of them, even their realtor sign-in agreements are only valid for 30-90 days. So, if you are not buying in the near term, then you either have to revisit with your agent or the agent has to resubmit the sign-in form after every expiration period. For the most part, the builders are reasonable. Their primary goal is to not have people spend time with their sales agents getting excited about building and to then go find an agent who had nothing to do with the new build activity.

In any case, make no mistake, the builder's sales agents work FOR THE BUILDER. They might be very nice, but they are not employed to help you make the best choices. They are employed to make a sale for the builder and to make the builder the most money.

If you are an early in the process, you might be able to get away with not signing in, but if you are serious, then you should bring your buyer's agent.

[BruinsAngelsKings]

Originally Posted by BriansPerspective

Regarding the first item... the only scenario that would make sense based on your description is if the builder's sales team all shared commissions no matter who wrote the actual contract. This is fairly common practice. They all work for the builder, so if they share commissions, then any of the agents are equally as likely to help you throughout the transaction.

Regarding the second item... nearly every builder has a sign saying that if you do not bring your agent with you the first time you look at the models, then they will not pay your agent a commission. With many of them, even their realtor sign-in agreements are only valid for 30-90 days. So, if you are not buying in the near term, then you either have to revisit with your agent or the agent has to resubmit the sign-in form after every expiration period. For the most part, the builders are reasonable. Their primary goal is to not have people spend time with their sales agents getting excited about building and to then go find an agent who had nothing to do with the new build activity.

In any case, make no mistake, the builder's sales agents work FOR THE BUILDER. They might be very nice, but they are not employed to help you make the best choices. They are employed to make a sale for the builder and to make the builder the most money.

If you are an early in the process, you might be able to get away with not signing in, but if you are serious, then you should bring your buyer's agent.

Brian, as always, thank you for the insight. I find your input on this forum very valuable.