Flagstaff Blog - Real Estate and All Things Flagstaff: November 2007

A busy week in Flagstaff real estate and the Flagstaff community!

I was delighted to win the "Thanks" contest with the sponsored by the Active Rain ECO-All-Stars Group and to have my post of November 21 featured in that group.  I was even more delighted with the reaction I got from my clients and friends by doing what the post suggested -- send e-mail Thanksgiving greatings. By making the e-mail link to my public blog post on Thanksgiving, I drew more attention to my already successful blog. Many clients responded wishing me Thanksgiving greetings and thanking us for past service. So, I really did have something to be thankful for yesterday! Thanks to janeAnne "Green-O-Lina" for the group image shown here.

Participating in Active Rain has been a wonderful learning experience and I certainly plan to continue, but for those of you who can, I also strongly suggest developing a public blog with some other features. I've had great experiences with mine, and I hope, over time, to have it replace my montly print and mail newsletter, which will reduce costs and save trees. We need to gather e-mail addresses from all those who get the print newsletter first, however, and I think that will take a few years. Meanwhile, using the blog to keep in touch with my clients as I did over Thanksgiving, is well-worth the effort.

Who says the market slows down at the holidays? We wrote three purchase contracts this week! What a great team of Flagstaff real estate agents! More to be thankful for!

One of the comments that I received earlier this year from an Active Rain user and Phoenix valley resident was how wonderful it was that Flagstaff had so many summer events. As I responded at the time, we're a year-round community with lots to do all year. To prove that again, I've just posted an event list though the month of December. If you hop in the car right now, you can make the kickoff celebration tonight, including the lighting over over one million Christmas lights at Little America Hotel. Come on up Arizona!

Make it productive, so you have something to be thankful for tomorrow!

Of course, there may be those of you who will be productive with preparations for eating and entertaining tomorrow. That is important too. (As you know from prior posts, I believe in family time.) And there may be those of you who will be gathering food for the less fortunate and donating to food banks -- that's a good thing to do today and throughout the holidays. My office will be making donations and collecting donations for the Flagstaff Care and Share Foodbank and for Toys for Tots. Be thankful that you can give.

But if you are working in real estate today, make it productive. Call everyone of your clients who bought and sold this year and thank them for their business and wish them a happy Thanksgiving. Call your referral sources. Let them hear your voice, even if it is in a voice message. Remember, without others in the industry, we real estate agents would be NOTHING!

By making calls and doing e-mail instead of traditional mailings, you are saving our natural resources, and you're more likely to be noticed for it.

I'm making the calls, and I'm also sending personalized e-mails with a link to my Thanksgiving Message as a grateful Flagstaff Real Estate Agent.

Enjoy your day, and make it productive! Then give thanks tomorrow.

Best wishes,

Ann Heitland, Team Heitland at RE/MAX Peak Properties

P.S. Another thing for me to be thankful for: I earned my EcoBroker Certification® this year, and I've learned so much by using the EcoBroker® resources!

Cartoon image is licensed for use through CartoonStock.

Last week, I posted a blog about plans for six open houses in one Flagstaff neighborhood -- all by agents in my office. Open House Extravaganza -- We'll See. . ..  I said I'd report back.

 At my listing on the tour we had one couple accompanied by their own agent (probably would have come anyway, right?) and one other couple who refused to give the agent sitting the open house their names since they were "just starting the process" and didn't want to be followed. Other agents holding the other five homes open had similar results.

The discussion at this morning's office meeting was gave luke-warm reviews. Agents liked the ideas of having a barebones newspaper ad (bold face print of the addresses and times of the open house) was well-received. Less expense, no pictures of the houses (which all look the same in black and white anyway), no pictures of the agents (buyers don't care), cooperative expense. It was suggested that if we do this regularly and rotate neighborhoods we might develop some greater public interest.

So, I think the bottom line is still "we'll see...."

Is you need Flagstaff real estate agents, please contact us: Team Heitland at RE/MAX Peak Properties. 

Ok, I don't do open houses. I think they are a waste of time for me, my team, and my selling clients. I put that right in my listing presentation. The statistics and my years of experience support it.

But this week, I succumbed to pressure and agreed. Five other agents in my office are doing open houses on their listings in the Flagstaff Country Club neighborhood, and one of the agents asked me to have my listing join in. So, I agreed to call my client and ask.

I started the conversation this way: "Howard, you know I don't do open houses. But this week other agents in my office are doing 5 others on Sunday in your area from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and if we include yours on the list, that would make six, and advertising six houses in one area may bring some traffic. Will you agree?" My client is a man of few word. He said, "do it". Here's the problem -- one of my buyers' agents is on vacation, one is showing ready, willing, and able buyers around Sunday afternoon, and I'm committed to a training meeting from 2-4 p.m. at the NAU campus. Luckily, we're in a large office with some good agents. One of them is sitting in the open house. I hope she gets some traffic and some buyer leads.

I'll look forward to the report on Monday of how much good this does for any of these six listings. Mine is the best priced, so maybe it will sell! That would be great!

For a list of the addresses for the six, single level open houses in Flagstaff's Country Club area on Sunday from 1 p.m - 3 p.m., click here: Flagstaff Open House Extravaganza This Sunday.

Here's my listing: www.1460FoxHill.com

Have a great weekend!

Flagstaff Real Estate

Can rates go lower? I know that mortgage rates tend to move more in correlation with bond prices (opposite correlation) than they do with Fed Rates. This week's news seemed to signal that the Fed Rates will not be cut again even though the economic news indicates a slight slowing in economic growth in future months. The Fed seems to think it has already reduced its rate enough to counter the slow-down without triggering inflation.

So where are bond prices going, and where will mortgage rates go? Rates are already about as low as they ever are (except in that crazy period of 2 years ago). So, what do the mortgage gurus of Active Rain think now?

Here's what I'm telling my clients about mortgage rates this week.

Thanks all!

Ann Heitland, Team Heitland, RE/MAX Peak Properties

Flagstaff is not immune from what is happening in the national market. "Somewhat insulated" is a better phrase, in my mind. Still we are seeing home sales prices drop a bit in Flagstaff. Inventory continues to build in many neighborhoods as sellers stick to their prices and refuse to sell. Ultimately, the laws of supply and demand will rule even in Flagstaff and prices will drop further. Right now, the supply of homes is higher than the national average with 15 months supply of single family homes with Flagstaff mailing addresses based on the October rate of sales. (When townhomes and condos are factored into the mix, the supply is reduced to 10 months, which is equal to the current national rate.)

Here is a recent post about the real estate market in Flagstaff as of the end of October.

Wall Street Journal columnist Jonathan Clements had some interesting, if harsh, advice for home sellers in a column published last week. I've given it a Flagstaff market perspective in this post: How to Sell Your Flagstaff Home in Today's Tough Market.

It's good to be back at work in Flagstaff real estate after a very nice and relaxing vacation during the first part of November.

Please contact me and the rest of Team Heitland at RE/MAX Peak Properties for anything related to Flagstaff real estate.

Ok, I did do a bit of work last night: Creating the October Flagstaff Real Estate newsletter on line and doing a preliminary blog post on my other blog for the October real estate statistics. But I haven't been doing much!

Since Oct. 31st, I've been on vacation and will continue to "vacate" until November 13. We're traveling in Florida, celebrating a 60th birthday today with my partner's sister, spending "together time" with their 91-year-old mom, and taking leisurely bike rides. Later this week we'll travel to Naples, FL to celebrate my favorite cousin's 70th birthday (how is that possible? -- well, he IS a lot older than I am).  So don't look for much in this blog.

Of course, I do have my laptop, cell phone and my team is back home in Flagstaff selling real estate. (Yes, there have been some contracts while I'm away!). So, if you need anything related to real estate in Flagstaff, contact Team Heitland at RE/MAX Peak Properties. Mostly, Tina, Kody, and Patty are handling everything without me -- I have "held a few hands" via short e-mail messages, mostly via my Treo.

I did take a bit of time to run the statistics for the Flagstaff real estate market as of the end of October. Not much change there. Flagstaff home prices are holding steady. Given the rising inventory, I'm not sure how long that can hold. If you're interested in the Flagstaff real estate stats for October, follow this link.

Here it is in newsletter format as it will be e-mailed to several hundred prospects tomorrow.