By Mike Bodeen · 16 January 2017
As our blog readers are quite aware, we use a lot of very good and, in our opinion, sound statistical information to help our clients and friends stay abreast of our Phoenix-Scottsdale Metro real estate market on a weekly basis. The information we disseminate is up-to-date and virtually real-time. We believe it gives our clients a leg up on most anyone else about trends occurring in the market.
There is another seemingly uncanny method of spotting trends in the market and it has almost nothing to do with “stats.” It’s really about a Realtor’s day to day business life. What we observe day to day, in the trenches, so to speak, is often where we sense the real pulse of the market.
Over the past few years, we’ve experienced a moderately strengthening market. Yes, we’ve called it healthy – and still do. If our activity during the past week is any indication, however, there is a quickening pulse to our market.
2016 ended strong for us as far as closed sales. The downside of that is that most of our listings have sold, leaving very little listing inventory. Following the holidays, it usually takes a few months for sales to pick up again. Indeed valley-wide, late spring has the most closings for the year, peaking in May and June. This year may bring a change to that timing.
Along with referrals from clients and friends, we also receive referrals from the huge real estate portal, known as Realtor.com. Last week we closed on a North Scottsdale home priced near $500K on 2 acres. The wonderful buyers are a Realtor.com referral for a Doctor and his wife and family who are relocating from Nebraska.
In the past week, I’ve shown homes in a wide price and type spectrum. One gal who is a talented furniture designer is relocating here from the east coast along with her mom. They have wanted to do this for years, but this winter’s cold and snow was the last straw. She will be making an offer today on two manufactured homes that are for sale next door to each other priced at $120,000+-. She will live in one and her mom will live in the other.
Another lead came in on a $2,000,000 home in Desert Mountain in North Scottsdale that Jonathan and I previewed for the buyer. She will be coming out shortly to look at it and others.
On another Realtor.com lead, yesterday I showed the highest priced home currently for sale in Gainey Ranch at $3.5 mil. It had 6600 SqFt on almost an acre, was ‘lavishly and expensively’ appointed and located on the 5th hole of the Arroyo course at Gainey. It’s a terrific lot and setting, but my client, when asked by the listing agent if the home could work for her, replied, “to be honest, no, there’s too much work and money I would need to put into the house.”
A Scottsdale home that we had listed and sold in the Cactus Corridor last month is closing this week and the sellers are temporarily moving in with family until they find a home. Well they had found one two weeks ago in North Scottsdale, and then just prior to making their offer, another buyer slipped in ahead of us and bought it — greatly disappointing my clients — and me. Well, that deal fell through at the end of last week and my client got to buy it after all.
Another listing, a townhome in S. Phoenix, I was going to write an offer on last week and it also had gone under contract to another buyer the day before. My client too was VERY disappointed. Guess what, that one fell through too, so now we’re back in offer mode.
Finally, I was going to show a home to a friend of mine this past Saturday in Tempe. When I spoke to the elderly owner about showing the home, she was so sweet and apologetic, “I’m so sorry, my husband passed away earlier this week and we’re having his memorial at the house today. Would you mind showing it next week?”
Now please understand, this does not happen every week, and especially this time of year, but things may be a changing.