Remembering Moving…
February 27, 2009
I’ve got several clients closing and moving this week. I started thinking about everything that goes into a move, how disruptive and frustrating it can be, but also incredibly exciting to be taking that step. Which reminded me of a post I wrote here back in mid-2007, the last time I moved. So in sympathy, here’s that post again, for your general amusement. May you not make the same mistakes I did. Repeatedly.
The Top 10 Lessons Learned while Moving the last time
1. The screws that come in the bag with the new door pulls for the cabinets are not long enough to use on the drawers. Also, when you present the too-short screw to the guy at Ace Hardware and tell him that you need the same thing, only a half inch longer, make sure he gives you something that’s really a half inch longer, not a quarter inch longer. Ideally, you should do this IN the store and not when you get home.
2. You can’t tell if the pilot on the water heater is really out every morning unless you’re lying flat out on the dirt about half an inch from the little window at the bottom of the water heater. Also, it takes an average of 12 clicks to light the pilot, and 20 minutes to accrue enough hot water for a shower. Every morning.
3. U-haul will buy back unused boxes, so get plenty at the start.
4. Many new in-sink disposals don’t come with a power cord – the cord is sold separately, and conveniently, right beside the disposals (which you’ll notice on your second or third visit).
5. Every smoke alarm at both the new and the old house will have the batteries die within 48 hours of each other, most typically between 2am and 4am. Keep several AAs on hand.
6. Do all of your laundry BEFORE you move, as the handyguy may not be able to get to the new house to hook up the washer and dryer for several days, and you only have 3 comfortable pair of work-appropriate pants.
7. If you put something in your cart at the Home Depot, make sure it gets purchased.
8. If you purchase something at Home Depot, make sure it gets into one of the bags and into the car. You’ll be back a third time to return it for something of the correct size, so go ahead and save your receipt.
9. New utility knives are much sharper than you think, and cut knuckles bleed much faster and more profusely than you’d expect.
10. After close to 9 months of renovation, take a minute to relax and enjoy the new home. The reward of the house is far greater than the more temporary hassle of moving. Also, ask a neighbor right away which day is trash day, or else you’ll miss it and have to stockpile trash for a week.
Stimulating Tucson
February 26, 2009
Found a site called StimulusWatch today that I thought was interesting. It’s a site that:
was built to help the new administration keep its pledge to invest stimulus money smartly, and to hold public officials to account for the taxpayer money they spend. We do this by allowing you, citizens around the country with local knowledge about the proposed "shovel-ready" projects in your city, to find, discuss and rate those projects.
It seems there’s a list of projects from the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and that’s where these proposed projects came from. You can search by city to find a list in your area. Here’s Tucson’s list of proposed stimulus programs. If you click on the project description, you can read and add to the description, discuss the project, and vote on whether you believe the project is critical or not.
Take a peek, if you’re interested. There is heated debate on some of the projects – and comments on said projects should be left on the StimulusWatch site, not here. 
Lead Based Paint Testing in Tucson
February 23, 2009
Got a call from a friend who I helped buy a home a few years ago. They’ve got a new baby in the house since we last worked together, and in the course of their regular pediatrician visits, it was recommended that they test their child for lead poisoning because they bought a house built prior to 1978.
But not wanting to stick their child with a large needle when she didn’t have lead poisoning symptoms, they decided to just test the house instead, for safe measure.
They found a company called Act Environmental in Tucson, who came out for $500 and pointed some kind of machine at the walls and determined that there was no lead. And they got an answer without having to deal with needles and a screaming, terrified child.
Just thought I’d pass along the resource.
Photo via Flickr, courtesy of Editor B.
Tucson on the Cheap
February 19, 2009
Discovered a new Tucson Blog the other day called Tucson on the Cheap, the "local resource for freebies, discounts, and deals in Tucson." With authors like Cheap Chick, I. M. Frugal, and Hortense P. Tightwad, how could I not love this one immediately?
Not only do they provide various discount information, but they’re mentioning a lot of smaller local events – things like the 2nd Annual Carnaval in Tucson coming up this Saturday, which is a free event. 150 drummers at the finale? Brazilian dances? This I may have to see.
Negotiating Repairs
February 16, 2009
Having a couple of buyers in the throes of repair requests reminds me the topic deserves a review.
When you buy a home in Tucson and use the customary purchase contract, you’re allowed an inspection period. By default, you get 10 days, but I usually like to write in 15 days. Regardless of duration, at the end of your inspection period, or earlier if you’re ready, we’ll write up a document that formally ends your inspections.
Within that document, we’ve got several options. You can:
- Take the house as-is without any repairs.
- Tell the Seller you’re not buying the house and walk away from the deal.
- Ask for repairs.
There are two kinds of repairs – and by the way, this is a one-shot deal, we get to ask for stuff ONCE.
The first kind of things you put on that document are any non-working warranted items that you’ve discovered. The contract outlines that the heating, cooling, electrical, mechanical, and plumbing, among other things, will be in working order at close. So if you find any of those things that don’t work, you give notice to the Seller and he has to fix it.
The second kind of things you put on that document are the repairs that you want that don’t fall in that warranted items category. This could be a wide variety of things. You’ve probably got some kind of list in your head after doing inspections, so we’ll put that together and submit our request.
The seller has 3 options once they get our repair request. They can:
- Agree to do everything in the way we requested
- Decide not to do any repairs on our list
- Propose an alternative to our repair request
If they agree to do everything in the way we requested, then we’re done, and you’re one hurdle closer to buying a home.
If they don’t agree to everything or give us an alternate solution, then we have options again. Basically, we can take it or leave it, and there are timelines associated with that decision that are negotiated in the initial purchase contract.
As a Buyer, the final decision is yours. And that’s how we negotiate repairs.
What Is Your Agent Thinking?
February 13, 2009
Got a blog topic request from a regular reader that starts:
I often wonder what’s going through a realtor’s mind when we look at a house. I have a feeling that every trip, a realtor is having a silent conversation that ends up with a decision "yes, I’d buy this house" or "no, not in a million years". And there is no way, unless that realtor is my buyer’s agent, that I’m ever going to hear that silent monologue.
I usually try to keep quiet about my personal opinions when I show a home to my Buyer clients for several reasons. Biggest of those is that ultimately, we’re not shopping for me so my opinion doesn’t really count. If I see any red flags or issues or nice features, I’ll point them out, but otherwise, if I think the carpet is ugly or don’t like the floorplan, I tend to keep my mouth shut.
When I walk through a house, I’m looking for problems, I’m evaluating the house against what my clients have told me they want. I’m looking for signs of hidden damage, past alterations, if there’s room for everything they’ve told me they must have, if it appears to fit their stated lifestyle or not, I’m looking down the street and peeking over the fences. But ultimately, the final house choice they make is a question of their tastes, not mine.
As hokey as it sounds, I usually know within about 10 seconds if we’re in the house they’re going to buy – because of the emotional reaction from my client within those first 10 seconds or so. I’ve gone out previewing, found a handful of suitable properties and thought I knew which one my clients would pick and been completely wrong. But as soon as we’re out together and they walk into the one they’ll buy, I usually know. In fact, I just went though my sales list for 2008 and for all but 3 of my buyers – my 3 most analytical clients – I knew when we walked into the right one.
And it’s not always the one I would have picked. But it doesn’t really matter, because I’m not the one living there.
It’s easier to point out why a house is wrong than to point out why it is right. Because ‘right’ is so very subjective and totally dependent on that specific household’s needs.
I think it would be an awesome blog series if every now and then you’d post your internal monologue as you went through a notable home (good or bad). It’s kind of like "House Hunters" lite. You almost do this now – every now and then you talk about really bad homes, but you never talk about the really good ones and why they were really good.
It’s an interesting idea though. Thinking about how to apply that suggestion.
Snowy Tucson
February 10, 2009
Last night, as the wind was howling by my window, I noticed the weather report called for early morning snow, down to 3000′ but this morning at my house in Central Tucson, I had none.
Newcomers often ask how cold it gets here, and that answer depends on where you live in the city. The outer edges will get colder than locations in town. We’ll get hard freezes though, occasionally. Our average low temperatures are in the low 40s during winter months, so if a cold front blows through, we’ll drop into the 30s or slightly lower overnight.
You can always tell when we’ve had a freeze, because all the bougainvillea looks like this:
Poor little guy. He’ll be back though, in the spring. Hardy little plant, the bougainvillea. I’ve been trying to kill that particular one for years because it gets too big and the thorns scratch people as they approach my front door. And if I can’t kill a plant, you know that’s a plant species with a ferocious will to live. But I do love the flowers, so bright and pink:
Tucson Market Statistics and Report – January 2009
February 8, 2009
The Overview via Podcast:
Download Tucson Market Stats for January 2009 here (MP3) or subscribe to the Tucson Market Reports podcast here.
The Quick Numbers:
- Single Family Home Average Sales Price: $225,415
- Single Family Home Median Sales Price: $169,500
- Single Family Home Units Sold: 457
- Single Family Home Months of Inventory: 13.6 months
- Townhouse Average Sales Price: $148,853
- Townhouse Median Sales Price: $122,000
- Townhouse Units Sold: 35
- Townhouse Months of Inventory: 18.4 months
- Condo Average Sales Price: $133,433
- Condo Median Sales Price: $130,000
- Condo Units Sold: 12
- Condo Months of Inventory: 39.0 months
- Citywide Average Sales Price: $217,491
- Citywide Median Sales Price: $165,250
- Citywide Units Sold: 504
- Citywide Months of Inventory: 14.5 months
January went by about as expected. Seasonally, sales dip but pending sales go up in January – and they did, coming in at 504 units sold and 1287 units pending. The average sales price ticked up about $10k to $217,491, but the median went down about $5k, to $165,250.
Months of inventory went up to 14.5 months – it will be interesting to watch that figure for Feburary. The number of active listings has been staying in the low 7000s for a while now, if more of those pending sales close, we might see some improvement over the coming month in absorbtion rate, though I wouldn’t expect improvements in average sales prices for a while yet.
Condo sellers appear to be out of luck. While condo inventory levels are finally coming down, they still aren’t selling. There were 467 condos for sale, with only 12 being sold in January.
The luxury market continues to suffer as well, with the North and Northeast – traditionally the ritziest areas of town – posting incredibly high inventory levels with few sales and declining average sales prices. In January 2008, the average home sale price in North Tucson was $745k. Now, it’s $535k.
As always, there are extensive charts and statistics and whatnot, broken down by area and type of housing, over at Statistics.Housechick.com. The market in this city varies widely from one end to the other, so you can check out what’s going on in your area over at that section of my site.
Data gathered from the Tucson MLS and is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Figures quoted here include only single family homes, townhomes, and condos in the 9 areas that make up the Greater Tucson Area: NW, N, NE, W, C, E, SW, S, and SE.
tags: market reports, market statistics, tucson, tucson real estate
New For Sale Signs!
February 3, 2009
The picture is a little dark, and admittedly was taken from my camera phone, but you get the idea. We have new signs!
The top part is the regular part – how could I leave behind the recognition that comes from having that yellow sign in the yard? Long Realty has such a dominant market share, I couldn’t give up that part.
But – there’s more. See that bottom sign? It has pictures of the inside on it, as well as the address, the MLS number, contact information for the latest pricing info, and a description of the house. I think it’s pretty cool, all in all. I might tweak the design yet, resize some of the text, but isn’t this so much better than an empty flyer box sitting in front of your house, taunting potential buyers?
I think so.
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