ACTIVE MARKETING               It takes a lot more than a "For Sale" sign in the front yard, a Multiple Listing entry, and an occasional ad in the classifieds to get a listing sold.  Be sure to discuss the details of the marketing plan with the Realtors you interview about selling your home.             Realtors who provide high quality service will usually have a written marketing plan tailored to fit your home and your individual needs.  A good marketing plan begins with pricing the home well, and exposing your home to as many real estate professionals and qualified buyers as possible.  The agent's job is to get buyers through your front door; your job is to ensure that the buyers like what they see.  A top agent can advise you about how to enhance your home's presentation.  There are... 01/01/2007

WHAT REALLY WORKS TO SELL YOUR HOUSE?               If you are trying to sell your home quickly, some real estate agents may recommend that you offer a bonus to the agent who brings in the buyer. They feel that a monetary incentive will cause realtors to emphasize your house over the one down the street.  Do such bonuses work?             You cannot expect a bonus to sell an overpriced house or overcome housekeeping shortcomings that detract from your home's overall appeal.  If your house looks great and is priced right, Buyers will be interested in seeing it regardless of the co-broke being offered.  Realtors earn their reputations by helping people find homes that they love.  When deciding which homes to show prospective buyers, their decision will be based on whether the home will me... 01/01/2007

HOME IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS               Many homeowners launch home improvement projects with the primary objective of increasing the value of the property. While upgrades and remodeling can add significant resale value to a home, there is a line that can be crossed. Building a large addition to a house or making it twice as big as other homes in the neighborhood could be counter-productive.  It pays to make improvements or additions consistent with other nearby homes. Luxury features such as a spa or tennis court will probably cost more than they increase the home's value with swimming pools being the least lucrative. Structural repairs, such as fixing cracked foundations, rewiring, replacing the roof or plumbing will cost more than can be recouped when the home is sold.              M... 01/01/2007

Time-on-Market Analysis                                                            CommentaryAverage days-on-market is the average number of days houses that have been sold were listed.   Typically in the Phoenix market this number has been between 60 and 70 days.  The graph clearly shows this number began to fall in June 2004 as the market gained sales velocity, bottomed out about August 2005, and then has since climbed steadily.  It has now shot right past the normal range to a current all time high of 80.2 days.Source: In-depth Analysis  12/26/2006

Arizona is the fastest growing state!Good Friday to all!Not surprising to anyone who makes Phoenix their home, Arizona is now the fastest-growing state in the US!  We officially surpassed Nevada last year, but the US Census just released their findings.  To read the full story in the AZ Republic, click HERE.Sharon Kotula, ABRAdam Tarr, e-PRORE/MAX Excaliburhttp://www.weareazrealestate.com/ 12/22/2006

This is the fifth in a series of blogs about Phoenix and the Valley of the Sun.  This chapter will cover higher education in the Phoenix metro area.  Phoenix Area Education- The largest and most famous institution of higher learning in the Phoenix area is Arizona State University.  Established in Tempe in 1885 by an act of the Thirteenth Territorial Legislature, ASU was initially formed as a teachers college. The name changed various times over the years as the school continued to grow.  University status was attained in 1958 and the school officially became known as ASU.  ASU's main campus in Tempe has the nation's largest enrollment for a single campus at 51,612 students.  ASU is known as one of the premiere research universities in the country.  Today, research at ASU spans the spect... 12/21/2006

 With our current cold front (highs for the valley expected to be in the 50's - BRRRRR!), northern Arizona is getting snowed on!  This is great news for the winter sports nuts, as well as the many businesses that depend on snow for their income - ski resorts, hotels, restaurants, etc.  Sunrise, in Greer, Arizona, is open now - click HERE for their website!  It is in the White Mountains.Snowbowl, just 2 hours away by car in Flagstaff, is receiving 8-10" of snow, and will open soon - click HERE for their site!That's just another reason Phoenix is such a great place to live - if you like snow, it's a short car-ride away, but you don't have to deal with it on a daily basis.  You can enjoy the 'pretty' snow, then be back in the valley 2 hours later and BBQ in your back yard!Sharon Kotula + A... 12/19/2006

From the Arizona Republic:Nov. housing market in the Valley held steady â€" Metropolitan Phoenix's housing market continues to show a steady pulse, with prices for existing homes edging up less than 1 percent in November to $259,000. 5,040 homes sold in November, up from the 4,985 sales recorded in October 2006, according to the latest housing report from the Arizona Real Estate Center at ASU. Last year, nearly 7,200 homes sold in November. "Instead of being overactive, or no pulse, it's running at a normal pulse," said Jay Butler, who heads the Real Estate Center. "It's a good, strong pulse. It's just not the pulse people like." Butler added that sales and prices are much more sustainable than those recorded in 2005. Sellers have been able to get about the same price for their homes fo... 12/18/2006

Almost 1 million Arizonans -- including 231,000 children -- do not have health insurance, according to new numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau. Only Texas, Nevada, Montana, Oklahoma, Florida, New Mexico and Colorado had a higher percentage of their children without health care than Arizona. Gov. Janet Napolitano is expected to focus on early education, children's health care and better linking universities to public schools and work force needs in her upcoming budget. The Census numbers also showed that Arizona ranked 38th among states for per capita income.    The Business Journal of Phoenix 12/18/2006

This is the fourth installment about Fabulous Phoenix and the Valley of the Sun.  Today we'll discuss some of the incredible cultural attractions throughout the Valley.We have some internationally-known institutions here. The most famous is probably the Heard Museum.  Its full name is Heard Museum of Native Cultures and Art.  The Heard was founded in 1929 by Dwight and Maie Bartlett Heard. The museum specializes in heritage and living cultures and arts of Native peoples, with an emphasis on the peoples of the Southwest.  Its main location is in Central Phoenix and it has opened two satellite locations in North Scottsdale and Surprise.  The Phoenix Art Museum's Collection includes 17,000 works of art that span the centuries and the globe. There are galleries specifically dedicated to Ame... 12/16/2006

State OKs speeding up freeway projectsHello!For your sanity's sake, we hope you are nowhere near a mall today!Great article on http://www.azcentral.com/, regarding starting freeway projects ahead of schedule - read the whole article HERE, but here's the condensed version:Maricopa County's total of $193 million includes accrued interest, according to ADOT, and will be divided among these projects: · Adding a third lane in both directions to Interstate 10 from Verrado Way to Sarival Road in the far West Valley, accelerated to a 2009 start date from 2023. · Adding a third lane in both directions to Interstate 17 from Carefree Highway to Anthem Way, moved to a 2009 start from 2023. · Adding HOV lanes in both directions to Loop 101 from Tatum Boulevard to Princess Drive in Scottsdale, moved ... 12/16/2006

Learn how we exceed your expectations when it comes to marketing your home by using the best in today's technology. We utilize full color advertising, premium virtual tours, and listings in the top Internet sites including Realtor.com®, AOL®, HomeSeekers®, Yahoo!RealEstate®, duPontRegistry®, HomeDebut®, TourFactory®, and many more. We're also Realtor.com® Showcase Agents, assuring your property is enhanced with eye-catching features such as scrolling banners, enhanced description text, links, upgraded PicturePath® virtual tour linking, maximum images with captions, and all of our contact information is conveniently visible to assure buyers receive prompt contact when inquiring about your home's features. These features also ensure your listing appears at the TOP of the search results!Ad... 12/15/2006

The Median Price in the recently-released October ARMLS resale sales reports is $250,000 which is an increase of $100 since the September reports.  The Average Price also increased this month, from $324,400 to $331,200.  The graph below displays both the monthly Average Price and Median Price of resale homes sold in MLS from January 2002 through October 2006.The average price is calculated by dividing the sum of the sales prices by the number of homes sold.  The median price is determined by finding the price where the quantity of homes sold for less than that price is equal to the quantity of homes sold for more than that price.  The median is a better indicator of the overall market.  Note the similar pattern of both measures. Source: In-depth Analysis 12/14/2006

The Valley of the Sun- Phoenix Sports - This is the 3rd part of a series on the Phoenix/Scottsdale metro area.  Today we'll cover the many sports options available to our residents.  Phoenix is home to the four major sports, Baseball, Football, Basketball and Hockey.  In addition, there are many other fan opportunities!  The Arizona Diamondbacks were the quickest expansion team to ever win the World Series.  Other teams have come close to titles, but we're still waiting.  This year is the year!  College Football's BCS Championship game will be played in January at the new Univ. of Phoenix Stadium (Cardinals Stadium). The 2008 Super Bowl will be played there as well! The Arizona Diamondbacks played their first game in 1998.  Earlier in the 1990's, MLB granted a group led by Jerry Colange... 12/13/2006

This is the second in a series of blogs about the Phoenix Metro area.  The previous blog, "Intro to the Valley of the Sun", provided a sketch of things to come.  Today we will cover History and Famous People. The Hohokam Indians settled in the Salt River Valley around 300 BCE in an area that now includes Phoenix and Scottsdale.  Not a lot is known about this tribe, including why they vanished around 1400 CE.  It is thought to be due to prolonged drought.  The Hohokam were excellent engineers, constructing irrigation canals to support their life.  Much of the existing canal network utilized by the Salt River Project to bring water to the valley are laid out along the lines of these historic canals.  Not much is written in history between the Hohokams' disappearance and the 1800's, when s... 12/11/2006

I (Adam) was very impressed by Jeff Belonger's series of blogs touting the great city of Philadelphia.  It was of particular interest to me, as I was born and grew up in Philadelphia.  He did a great job on that series.  We have posted some general information on Scottsdale, but now we hope to do for Phoenix and Scottsdale what Jeff did for Philly.   This series of blogs will be a bit different though.  Phoenix is a relatively new city from the historical standpoint.  The Phoenix metropolitan area, or Valley of the Sun, is comprised of many cities with Phoenix at its core. In addition to Phoenix, there is Scottsdale, Mesa, Tempe, Gilbert, Chandler, Paradise Valley, Peoria, Glendale, Cave Creek and Carefree.  Lest we not upset others in the area, we must point out that over the past deca... 12/10/2006

According to this news article in the Phoenix Business Journal the bottom could be near for the real estate market in Phoenix. They cite a rather bullish recent report from Metrostudy: "Cutbacks in new production, aggressive incentives by sellers, the exit of the majority of investors and the fundamental demographic support for housing demand are positive indicators for a housing turnaround by mid-2007," said Mike Inselmann, president of the Richmond, Texas, company. "The Federal Reserve has ended its series of rate increases, and mortgage rates have dropped notably in the last few months," he added.  Phoenix continues to have one of the nation's strongest economies, said Ben Sage, director of Metrostudy's Arizona division." From what I've seen out there, the key phrase in this brief ar... 12/07/2006

I am looking for a better way to market to the Latino community. Besides working with the 1st and 2nd generation buyer and seller I want to make sure and include the aculturated client.  Any thoughts and ideas? 12/05/2006

Phoenix, ArizonaLong before Columbus "discovered" America, a thriving civilization existed on the land we know today as Phoenix, Arizona.  The ruins of the Pueblo Grande are evidence of the people referred to as the "Ho Ho Kam" or Hohokam - "the people who have gone".  While no one knows for certain why this society vanished, the most commonly accepted theory is that it was destroyed by drought.Fast forward to 1867 and Jack Swilling of Wickenburg sees potential in the valley, if he can find the water to irrigate it.  He formed the Swilling Irrigation Canal Company, and began diverting the Salt River via canals. A year later and the first crops were being harvested in the Valley.Many pioneers followed and in 1874 the Phoenix Townsite of 320 acres was created at a value of $550!  Six year... 12/02/2006

Many people across the country (and around the world) know about the Phoenix and Scottsdale area mainly as a tourist destination.  Today we are going to fill you in on the things in Northeast Phoenix that make it a great tourist destination, and a great place to live. The Phoenix area is known for it's resorts.  One of the jewels is located in Northeast Phoenix at the JW Marriott at Desert Ridge.  When built just a few years ago, this resort had the most guest rooms in the west (outside of Las Vegas's mega hotels of course).  The Desert Ridge Marriott features beautiful grounds with a vast pool complex including a lazy river and serpentine slide.  The accommodations are all that you would expect from a top notch resort.  The spa features a wide array of services.  There are two on site ... 11/14/2006