photo credit: kevindooley

Realty Studies associated with the Morrison School of Management and Agribusiness at Arizona State University’s Polytechnic campus reports that Greater Phoenix residential resale numbers show a huge decline in prices.

The decline in prices certainly does not come as a surprise as we painfully witnessed this negative trend over the last couple of months, however ASU’s Jay Butler’s findings may signal a glimpse of hope.

The October 2008 same-month sales volume of non-foreclosed resale homes increased by a whopping 58% compared to resales numbers reported in 2007. Median home prices in the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area have come down by 30% compared to October of last year and sparked interest for potential investors and owner-occupants, especially in the lower income ranges.

Lower prices are certainly helpful to improve the absorption of the existing inventory but so far we are nowhere near to a recovery of the real estate market due to; eroding consumer confidence,  a weak economy, possible job losses and tighter mortgage underwriting guidelines.

Last June, after great due diligence I have implemented a map-based mls property search on the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area Real Estate Blog because it is simply one of the best.  Today, approximately 5 months after the initial release the map based MLS-search has gotten even better.

Here are some of the most significant improvements:

• The search panel has been completely overhauled. Now you are able to expand the search criteria boxes by the clicking on them with your mouse.
• The text boxes and sliders are no longer separate options. Instead, your can now use either option at your will and use either option at any time. No more switching back and forth, just simply choose your preferred method of input.
• The first search box (city / community / tract / neighborhood / zip input box) has been changed. Instead of using commas to separate the different areas, you will need to press “enter” when you’re finished typing or just click on the city in the drop down. Entering multiple areas is much easier now.
• Now you can search for pre-foreclosures (short sales, notice of default, etc) and foreclosed (bank owned) properties. Diverse Solutions developed a proprietary algorithm that analyzes each property’s description to determine whether or not a property is a pre-foreclosure or has been foreclosed upon. If you view the details of a property the search returned you will know wether the property is a foreclosure or pre-foreclosure.
• Looking for a home in a certain school district? Now you have the option to search for properties by typing in the name of the school and/or school district.  Once you entered the the first two letters a drop-down menu will appear with available schools and/or school districts to choose from.
• Bargain hunting? Now there is a feature to easily look for properties by price-drop-percentage over a period of days. Just select your parameters.
• Have you seen a lot of properties? Now you can take and save notes to make your pre-selection easier.

The guys and gals over at Diverse Solutions say that today is a really good day, and I totally agree!

Now what are you waiting for? Go explore the new features and start searching for properties on the Phoenix Home Search!

Well not exactly and if it just were that easy. Today is post-election day and finally it is sinking in: Barack Obama is President elect of the United States of America.  This campaign was tough, and it almost felt as if there was no end in sight but now this chapter of American history has come to an end and with that the unbelievably annoying robo-calls. Now the daily interruptions will revert back to the occasional carpet cleaning and credit card offerings.

Come January 20th of 2009, a new chapter of American History will begin and so far we only have the title and summary on the flap of this book; “Yes We Can”. It sure looks promising and could be a heck of a story, however the story of this book will be concluded in 4 years (and possibly 8). Jay Thompson, the Phoenix Real Estate Guy, gave us a little glimpse of the beginning of this book and there is a chapter called “Obama on Housing”; most certainly a chapter of importance for homeowners (present and to be) and the Real Estate and Mortgage Industry alike. One thing I know for sure is that  this book will have a lot of difficult chapters and sections, but we’ll have to wait and see how the saga continues and if there is a happy end.

Now, as this first day after an election comes to an end, it is starting to sink in… Barack Obama is President Elect. There is hope in living where a democratic process is valued and respected; and I saw it today at the pre-kindergarten my son goes to. Principles of choice and democracy are taught early - the substance of this Country.

This country has spoken loud and clear, and so has the 3-year-old group of my son’s pre-kindergarten. Time to change the flavor, if only it was really just that simple in politics.

Jay Thompson, The Phoenix Real Estate Guy and Drew Myers from Zillow.com giving feedback on Inman Connect.

So what did you like best about Inman Connect?

One of the many reasons why I attended Inman Connect is to stay informed and keep abreast with the latest industry issues, social media, the transformation of the real estate business.  During Bloggers Connect first day’s session I realized that it was time to lay out the ground rules on my blog, the comment policy.

Fortunately I have not ran into any nasty situations here on the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area Real Estate Blog and just have to deal with the common nusinace of comment spammers. But it does not hurt to establish some house rules which I call common sense.

photo credit: jakedobkin
One would think that commons sense, and the principal of ethic reciprocity should be enough to avoid any problems, but needless to say that this is simply not just the way it is and rules have to be spelled out.

No, my comment policy is not as long and detailed as the Blog Herald suggests, and I prefer to lay out some simpler ground rules which are governed by the golden rule, but my comment policy should at least cover the basics. What do you think, care to comment?

Now I am ready to turn off the computer and will be heading out to San Francisco shortly.

This will be a first for me and I am looking very much forward attending these events. See you in San Francisco!

Have a Happy and Save 4th of July!

Photos by iaincaradoc

Wow, it almost has already been a year again since I have blogged about where to celebrate Forth of July in the Phoenix Metro area.

Most of the links in last years post point to updated information, however Scottsdale’s Family Barbecue will be celebrated at the Scottsdale Stadium.

photo credit: phxpma

If you are not sure where to celebrate Independence Day in the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area and looking for another 4th of July community or special event then go check out phoenix.about.com.

The Arizona Republic has also a list of events here.

There is a very good chance that the Phoenix DUI Taskforce saturation Patrols and other law enforcement will be out and around the valley this coming holiday. Needless to say who they will be targeting…So if you are going to party make sure you have a designated driver or use public transportation. Some of yo may think there is not much public transportation action going on in the valley, however the light rail is coming very soon. Having said that, RailLife.com is a great source for learning more about the areas and venues surrounding the light rail line and Nick Bastian covers the 4th of July festivities in Tempe on the RailLife Blog.

Enjoy Independence Day 2008 and be safe!

Schweiger stands for Quality - not only in Real Estate:

Online reputation management seems to become more and more important in this Web 2.0 world, especially when conducting business on the Internet and connections are intertwining via social media. A good Reputation is the biggest asset any individual or business can have, it takes a long time to build and only seconds to flush it down the toilet so it is very important to keep tabs on what people think of you.

Even if you don’t have a blog or website and your modus operandi is completely off line, people still may talk about you online.

If you haven’t set up a Google Alert which includes your blogging-identities, social networking/media user names, business name and your first and last name then I highly recommend to create a Google account to start monitoring such things.

Wouldn’t you be curious to know what other people write about you on the Internet?

Always concerned about my reputation, I set up a Google Alert to monitor myself and less than two weeks ago I got such a Google Alert from the keyword “Schweiger” and was a little bit surprised. No worries, nobody was talking bad about me, on the contrary it was a pleasant surprise.

Following this link I ended up finding good memories of a trip to Schweiger Vineyards in Napa Valley.

Being the son of a vintner, not to forget to mention growing up and working on one, I am naturally drawn to this ancient beverage and the people who make it. Especially finding a local (as in the USA) vintner with the same last name… it was just a given to go visit Schweiger Vinyards on family trip to see what the other Schweiger’s are all about. But this is a story for another time.

Now as I write this post I am still bewildered by how the internet mingles things together – luckily in this case it happened in a serendipitous kind of good way.

It is the same name, different but very competitive lines of work, and both always striving for the best Quality - Wine & Real Estate:

Nothing is more gratifying than to celebrate a closing with a Schweiger!