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

The Coconino County Fair in Flagstaff!  Come on up for a great weekend of fun. There will be music, dancing, people of stilts, horses, antiques, politics (oh yes!), and all sorts of fun (not to mention food). The list is way too long to go here, but you can read it officially from Coconino County using this link.

Of course, if you want to avoid the crowds, there is always the great outdoors. And it looks to be another beautiful weekend, with temps under 80 degrees and scattered showers.

When the fair closes Monday afternoon, the Flagstaff Symphony breaks out the jazz at Pine Mountain Amphitheatre for an evening of great vocal and instrumental entertainment. I don't want to miss this one since I did miss the earlier jazz extravaganza on July 3. I heard it was great.

For details more details on the Coconino County Fair and a few other things to do in Flagstaff this Labor Day weekend, come see What To Do This Labor Day Weekend in Flagstaff. 

If you insist on selling real estate this weekend, keep your ears out for people who want to escape to a wonderful, cool mountain community, and send them our way for Flagstaff real estate.

Wake up to the morning news of home sales from the National Association of Realtors^® ? Those of us on west coast and Arizona time did.  In spite of the hype, it's much the same as it has been for several months. (Maybe even the hype is at a lower pitch this morning?)

For a comparison to Flagstaff AZ statistics, take a look at Flagstaff Real Estate and Community News. You can also read my musings about the wonderful Flagstaff weekend. This a.m., the storms are rolling in already, but most of our weekend was sunny with a few scattered storms.

The Coconino County Fair is coming up this Labor Day weekend, so it might be a good time to make plans to come on up!  

Meanwhile, if you know of anyone who wants a home in cool Flagstaff, send them to us: Flagstaff real estate team.

Some of you Valley of the Sun Realtors^® have written to me asking that I continue to post about things to do in Flagstaff -- especially during these hot summer months.  Well, we have a load of things to do, and I haven't even included the new 2.5 mile forest trail that you could explore! There is an Irish movie concert Friday, a free movie on the square downtown, more music on both Saturday and Sunday, and some great horticulture tours.

And the weather is scheduled to be great.

 So, check out the post at my other blog on things to do in Flagstaff this weekend, and come on up to have fun!

If you run into someone who want to buy a Flagstaff home, refer them to us! ;)

Have a great weekend!

Here's our Flagstaff real estate team: Team Heitland at RE/MAX Peak Properties

Last night I attended a tour of a home under construction that has obtained a Platinum rating of the Leadership in Energy and Environment or LEED^®. The home is west of Flagstaff in a beautiful setting of Ponderosa Pines.  Solar panels and a wind turbine supply all the power for the home - indeed more power than is needed so power is sold back to "the grid" of Arizona Public Service (the local electric company). I've written more details of the home, its builder/architect/owner, and the occasion for last night's meeting and tour at my other blog: Flagstaff Real Estate and Community News.

Flagstaff is a wonderful community when it comes to environmental initiatives. If you're interested in LEED^®, you may want to visit the websites of the US Green Building Council and EcoBroker International. USGBC's annual convention this year is in Chicago in November. The Arizona Chapter hopes to bring the convention to Arizona in 2009.

Northern Arizona University in Flagtaff has one of the few Platinum rated commercial buildings in the U.S. - the Applied Research and Development Building.  Here's a picture of the NAU building:

For Flagstaff real estate, visit us.

A while back, I wrote a post about using Top Producer to advertise your listings: I scream, you scream. Of course, I send copies to all of my clients, and they love it.

I did another flyer by e-mail yesterday and am now headed to Starbucks to buy the contest winners coffee cards.  The agents who write back always have something good to say - it's kind of like having an MLS meeting online. The interesting thing to me is that the best and busiest agents are the ones who respond and seem to enjoy reading the flyer. Guess the other guys are just too busy griping that there are no buyers. Here is the latest flyer:

 My other blog: Flagstaff Real Estate and Community News

Flagstaff Real Estate and Community News Goes Live!

Hooray!  Thank you, Active Rain, for giving me the courage to blog, for teaching me the skills, and for linking me to such a great community of people who so generously provide advice, tips, and commiseration.

I'm not leaving the Rain, but I have started a new blog: Flagstaff Real Estate and Community News, with the help of RealEstateBlogSites.com.

 Take a look!

One of my Flagstaff mortgage originators told me on Friday that no second mortgages (as in 90-10-10) are available. They are doing PMI (private mortgage insurance) on the second 10%.  (I said, good thing Congress made PMI deductible!)

What do the Active Rain mortgage experts have to say - are there any piggybacks still available?

Some background for those not familiar with the term "piggyback" loan: Just a few years ago, lenders began marketing piggyback mortgages aggressively.  Before that, private mortgage insurance was needed for any loan on a home purchase without an 80% down payment. A piggyback loan works this way: You get two home loans -- a primary mortgage for 80 percent of the purchase price, and a higher-rate secondary mortgage (the piggyback loan) for the rest of the borrowed amount. Piggybacks appeal to homeowners because the combined monthly payments usually add up to less than the monthly payments on a single loan with mortgage insurance.

Flagstaff homes are more expensive than the national average, so we see many newcomers who have homes to sell elsewhere - even with good equity ratios in their old homes - in need of 90% financing. Since PMI is now a deductible expense, will it matter much to these people that there is not a second mortgage? Will there also be an interest rate differential?

One advantage of the 90/10/10 format was that homeowners could concentrate their savings plans on paying down that higher priced second mortgage. Will there now be a disincentive to pay down the mortgage as part of an overall savings or financial plan - at least a psychological one?

Thanks for your Flagstaff real estate referrals.

It's going to be another active summer weekend at Heritage Square in Downtown Flagstaff.

All events are free and in the open air.

Friday, August 17
At Sunset, Movies on the Square Presents:  Night at the Museum.  Here is the Yahoo synopsis: A good-hearted but bumbling security guard at the Museum of Natural History accidentally trips an ancient curse which causes the animals and gigantic insects on display to come to life, causing havoc in the city.

Saturday afternoon, August 18th: 2-4 pm
Heritage Square Trust's Summer Concert Series Presents: Traditional Blend, featuring traditional dance music on fiddle and guitar from Ireland, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, the southwestern prairies of Louisiana, the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina, USA and traditional song ballads from England and Scotland.

Sunday afternoon, August 19th: 2-4 pm
Heritage Square Trust's Summer Concert Series Presents: The Gypsy Chicks & Friends, not to be confused with the Dixie Chicks, but still a good sound.

Meanwhile, at the NAU Campus, the Cardinals continue their pre-season workouts.  Also, free and open to the public. Here's the schedule.

And there are other events as well -- click here to link to the Arizona Daily Sun's Community Calendar.

Have a great weekend in Flagstaff!

Team Heitland at RE/MAX Peak Properties

For Flagstaff homes, click here.

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See yesterday's post on speculation about what the Fed might do in light of the latest numbers on the economy: More Musings on Interest Rates. This continues the thoughts commenting on today's news.

The consumer price index (the most important measure of inflation concerns) rose less in July than it had in June, and both increases where modest.  The "core" price index rose a bit more quickly than the overall index -- matching June's increase.  Since the Fed read the June tea leaves as not requiring a rate cut, it seems unlikely that they would read these as requiring them to cut rates to give the economy a boost.

As an aside, it's hard to figure out why gas prices are falling in the middle of the summer. We could bring out the conspiracy theorists on this, but I won't.

For a "on the one hand -- on the other hand" analysis of what all this means for the overall economy, check out this mornings news from the Wall Street Journal. 

My suggestion:  If you need housing, want to move up, or want a second home, now is a good time to buy. You'll have a selection of homes at prices you have not seen in years and rates are reasonable.

Follow this link for Flagstaff real estate

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If anyone is still holding out hope that the Federal Reserve will reduce interest rates anytime soon, that hope should have suffered a blow today as the government announced that producer prices rose 4% over the past year, exceeding expectations. That was so-called "total producer prices."  Meanwhile, the "core rate of producer inflation" rose by 0.1%, matching expectations. Today's surprising rise in overall producer inflation could keep rate watchers on edge while waiting for tomorrow's more significant release on consumer inflation. Consumer inflation has been trending downward in recent months, but the question is will it be low enough by the time of the Fed's next meeting to convince them that lowering rates will not ignite a price rise binge. Watch for tomorrow's release to get a hint at where the Fed is headed. But only a hint.

Of course, mortgage interest rates do not automatically track the Fed rate of interest. Mortgage rates more closely track the 10-year U.S. Treasury note rates.  But, it's all connected....

Moreover, the rates can be affected by overall economic outlook. Lately, that's been pessimistic. For more on the pessimism, check out the Wall Street Journal piece "Business Mood May Give the Fed Leeway to Cut."  I'd emphasize the may in that title. The Fed always errs on the conservative side when it comes to inflation. "Mood" is not something that Ben Bernanke and his compatriots care much about.

What I'm getting at is this:  If you need a home, don't wait for interest rates to fall.

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