Answer: About 2 minutes if you can sign your name several times quickly.  I’ll be right over.

But seriously folks…

Usually, it takes me about a week to get everything I need prepared.  If you need to make repairs or paint or otherwise do sprucing, then tack on about 3-4 days once you’re all done for me to get my photographer in there.

I don’t like my listings to hit MLS without complete information and fabulous pictures.  I want to be able to answer questions about your property from day one, so I get everything verified and prepared before the listing is entered.  Once your listings hits MLS, I’m uploading pictures usually within minutes so no one sees it without photos - only once chance to make a first impression!  I want to have my brochures ready and in the house and waiting for that first potential buyer.  I want your blog page to go live as soon as the listing does.  These things take a little time to prepare.

So if the house doesn’t need any cleaning or painting or sprucing?  It takes about a week to go from you signing the listing agreement at our listing appointment to your home being for sale and in the Tucson MLS.  It could go a couple days one way or the other, depending on my photographer’s schedule.  Trust me, he’s worth waiting for!

Not so in Tucson.

You might get a survey if you buy a parcel of land, certainly, but not usually for residential properties.

This has created some interesting situations in terms of our real estate transactions.

For example, in many older areas of town, people tend to put up fences or sheds where the old fence used to be.  Which may or may not have been within the property line.  I’m willing to bet that there are subdivisions where every single home has a fence or other structure that encroaches on the next persons lot.  And that person’s lot has something that encroaches on the next person’s lot, and so on down the line of homes.

So then one person comes along and gets a survey, and discovers their neighbor’s garage sticks out one foot over the property line.  So then person A goes to neighbor B, and then neighbor B goes and gets a survey and finds out that neighbor C’s shed sticks out 16″ over his property line.  You see where I’m going with this.

There’s something called a prescriptive easement, where - within certain rules - someone else can claim the right to use part of your property, just by using that part openly long enough.  Like, say, having a garage partially over the property line for the last 10 years.  Whether you knew it was or not.

But if you really want to know where your property line is for sure, you better get that survey.  Just know that it isn’t typical around here, and it could take a couple of weeks to have it done, so we’ll need to plan for that.

Photo via Flickr, courtesy of AndyMc73

I found a website that will help us understand the schedule, potential impact area, as well as keep track of current status, at www.GrantRoad.info. 

The project in a nutshell:

There’s a five mile section of Grant Road, between Oracle Road and Swan Avenue, in Central Tucson.  The road is currently 2 lanes in either direction, and will be widened to a road that is 3 lanes in either direction.  After talking to a guy on the citizen task force for the project, I’m told there will be wide bike lanes and sidewalks as well.

The thing is, there’s a lot of businesses and homes along Grant Road, and no one is sure yet how the road will be aligned - who will be loosing some property through eminent domain.  That’s one of the big controversies of the project.  The RTA is anticipating having an alignment plan in late 2008 or early 2009.

They’re also considering some different traffic flow patterns, where at the major intersections, vehicles turning left will have to go past the intersection, pull a u-turn, head back, and make a right turn.

Construction is scheduled to begin in 2013, so there’s a while yet until the project will start to impact motorists.  The impact area for this project technically stretches a quarter mile North and South of Grant Road, so if you live in or around the area, you might want to keep an eye on the project.

You can join the mailing list from the RTA Grant Road improvement plan website to stay current on the widening plans.

Usually, once the lender orders the appraisal, you need to pay for it, somewhere around $350-$400.  That’s only fair, if the person does the work, they get paid for it, whether or not you buy the house.

A couple years ago, we wouldn’t order an appraisal until we were through inspections and repair negotiations - no sense in incurring the appraisal charge until we know if the house is in good shape and we know you’re going to buy it.

In today’s real estate market, however, sometimes appraisals are coming back marked as a declining market, which means you may have to pony up additional down payment.  This is something we might want to know sooner rather than later.

More often than not, my clients are deciding to have the appraisal done during their inspection period.  Yes, the incur that cost without having gone through repair negotiations, but at least they know sooner if the appraisal will come in fine or if it will cause problems.

Just like the cost of inspections, it’s what you pay as a home buyer, basically as risk mitigation.  Better to pay a bit up front and find out for sure if the property is sound and that you can get appropriate financing, then not pay those things and end up with a lemon.

Too bad.  My duties are first to my client, not to their lender.  Don’t be charging my buyers crazy extra fees.

Remember, a short sale is where the owner owes more on the house than they can sell it for.  They’re most often incredibly long, frustrating sales, and often, the sales never actually complete.  You have to get the lender to agree to take less than what is owed, and, well, I don’t want to go into a huge short sale discussion now, but know that they’re often ugly transactions. 

On the plus side, if the listing agent deals often with short sales, knows that they’re doing, then you’ve got a better chance of actually purchasing a short sale home.  That’s a better chance, but still no guarantee.

Today, there are 665 single family homes in the Greater Tucson area marked as a short sales in the Tucson MLS.  In the last 6 months, 139 disclosed short sales have actually sold.

Which makes the chances of a short sale closing roughly one in five. 

Last time I ran that calculation back in March, it was one in ten. 

Progress? 

Just because I was scared of the procedure didn’t mean I wasn’t committed to it.  I just wanted the right person to help me through it all.

Skip to a few days ago when an email arrived in my inbox from a woman looking to buy her first home.  She had a whole list of questions for me, and after a couple of exchanges, she let me know that she firmly believes that buying a home is absolutely the scariest thing she’s ever done.

And when I read that, it made me pause for a bit.  Man, I remember being a first-timer.  I hadn’t a clue what was going on half the time, I didn’t understand the loan stuff, overall, it wasn’t a fabulous experience.

But how awesome is it that this person is taking the time to find an agent that will work in her style, and give her the confidence and knowledge she needs to make good decisions?

So many buyers just end up with some random agent from an open house, or by calling a number on a for sale sign.  I know I did.  More than once.  I wish I had put the same kind of effort into picking my real estate agent that I did picking my Lasik surgeon.

And that first time buyer?  We’re meeting this weekend.  I’ve got a whole bag of warm-fuzzies and lots of questions and answers.  We’re gonna get her through this, making confident, well-informed decisions, with a smile on her face when it comes time to pick up the keys to her new home.

See those words circled in blue?  “Well agreement.”  Ah, what well?  We have no information about a well on the property.

Also this: see that blue arrow pointing to that long rectangle?  That long rectangle is a utility easement, 10 foot wide, where the electric company has the right of way to that strip of land on the parcel, a strip where the owner can’t put a building or a fence or otherwise obstruct the electric company’s access.

Now, I’m no surveyor, but I’m going to give you one guess as to where it appears house is, relative to that easement…

You can learn more about it at his website, EasyCoolerCare.com.  Given the amount of questions I field from people buying homes with swamp coolers, this book looks like it might be a fabulous $10 (plus $5 shipping and handling) investment.

There’s a section of the Easy Cooler Care book available free via PDF file that you can download and read - it’s a guide to helping you figure out the proper sizing, make, model, and so on for your cooler.  I think that’s pretty helpful if you don’t know how to measure for pads or what size pump to purchase.

• It can be difficult to finance non-resident foreign nationals (AKA Canadians) trying to get an American mortgage.  I believe I still have two resources where a Canadian can get an American loan to finance a home here in Tucson though.  You’ll need at least 30% down.
• Prices for homes in Tucson are much more affordable than pricing for similar homes in such areas as Vancouver, or so I’m told.  We can find a 3 bed, 2 bath, reasonably sized home, pretty much move-in ready, anywhere between $175,000 and $250,000 pretty easily, depending on the area of town.
• If you’re looking for investment property, I’ve got resources for property management, general handymen repair, landscaping, etcetera, to help you maintain and operate the property here in Tucson while you’re back home in Canada.
• Also - If you’re looking for a vacation property here in Tucson, we’ve got several condo conversion projects that might fit the bill perfectly.  There’s even a condo project in a resort area with a rental pool, to help offset the carrying costs of the vacation property.

I’m told it’s 12°C and rainy in Vancouver today.  Supposed to be in the mid 30°s over here in Tucson.  I’m just sayin’.