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5 West Valley View, Avondale, Arizona, Tuesday, May 29, 2012


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Housing (From Page 1)


than we know what to do with.” “At the low end it’s a very dominant investor market,” Heagerty said. “They are flying off the shelves. As you move up the chain, there are less investors and more homeowners.” The fact that people are


buying homes, no matter who they are, reduces the supply, which in turn puts the rest in higher demand, which is a factor in prices going up. “At one point, we had 14 to 15 months of inventory on the market,” said Poirier, who has been working in the West Valley real estate market for 27 years. “Now it is at two months.” “We have six months under our belt of steady price increases,” Heagerty said. “Unless something drastic happens, we are not anticipating that to stop.” The six-month trend of monthly price increases has sent the average price of a home in Arizona up 20 percent. Although that may not seem like much considering the market fell 60 percent, “it’s in the right direction,” Heagerty said.


Foreclosures down


route, Poirier also credits “a lot of federal programs now available to help bail out homeowners” for the turnaround, he said. However, by no means does this mean distressed properties will soon be a thing of the past, especially in the West Valley, Heagerty said. “[The West Valley] has more than their fair share of distressed properties,” she said. “That is a phenomenon you’re going to see in the outlying areas.” The reason being, back when everyone was bit by the


“If you’re thinking about moving, now is the time to do it. Even though you may get less money [than what you paid] on the sale of your home, you can buy more on the other end. The interest rates on loans have never been lower.”


buy-a-house bug, prospective buyers would keep driving farther from central Phoenix until they reached a price point they could afford. So the outlying areas had a lot of first-time home buyers who paid more than the home was truly worth.


Apr l 2012


April 2012 Forclosures Forclosures


— Harold Poirier Goodyear branch manager, Coldwell Banker


“During the boom years, we were selling homes in the $250,000 to $300,000 range as quickly as we could get them,” Poirier said. “Now we’re selling the same home in the $175,000 to $200,000 range.”


Time to buy Now is the time to buy a home in Arizona, both real estate veterans agree. “If you’re thinking about moving, now is the time to do


Another part of the industry going in the right direction is the number of homes that reach foreclosure. “There is a shifting percentage for how many are short sale compared to foreclosure,” Heagerty said. “That shift is a positive sign for communities because short sales, most of the time, has the owner living in the home and taking care of it. With foreclosures, they are vacant and look rundown because no one is taking care of it.” Both short sales and foreclosures happen when the property is classified as a distressed home, which means the owner is behind on payments to the bank. When the market first started to crash, banks were willing to foreclose on the property as opposed to allowing a short sale. They have since switched their stance, Poirier said.


VS. No. of


it,” Poirier said. “Even though you may get less money [than what you paid] on the sale of your home, you can buy more on the other end. The interest rates on loans have never been lower.” “There is tremendous affordability in the Valley, now is a good time to buy,” Heagerty said. “We have historic low interest rates and tremendous value.” Now is also a good time because soon the homes in your price range may be all gone, she said. As the houses in the under-$50,000 range vanish, the


buyer moves up to the under-$100,000 range, and when they are gone, they move up to the under-$150,000 range and so on, Heagerty said.


“REOs (Real Estate Owned, which is the category of a home after it is foreclosed on) are almost nonexistent now,” he said. “Short sales are becoming excessively popular.” Besides the banks’ willingness to go the short-sale


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next higher price range, because all across the Valley, regardless of your price range, you’re getting a lot of home because [prices] had fallen so much,” she said.


Rich Ott can be reached by email at rott@westvalleyview.com.


The number of homes for sale in Maricopa County in April 2012 was 17,005, compared to 28,507 in April 2011 and 35,090 in April 2010. “As homes become more scarce, buyers move to the


Forclosures ZIP Code 9 3


25 10 8


10 41 8


12 2


85340 85395 85338 85323 85392 85396 85326 85354 85353 85307


VS. Short Sales No. of


Short Sales 57 61


149 117 99 40


153 8


113 8


Numbers provided by the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service, April 2012.


Short Sales


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