Flagstaff Blog - Real Estate and All Things Flagstaff: July 2008

In the last week, there have been 67 new listing in the greater-Flagstaff area. Fifteen homes went under contract and sales closed on 16 homes. This snapshot is according to the database maintained by the Northern Arizona Association of Realtors® Multiple Listing Service and reflects a search for all homes with Flagstaff mailing addresses, whether or not they are in the city limits of Flagstaff.

You can see our Featured Listings at our Flagstaff real estate website. One of these, so far, has the Seller Buy-Down offer so aptly explained by Mike Jones in commenting on my last post: Maximum Seller Buyer Down - What Does This Mean?  Thanks Mike!

You can also search for every home in Flagstaff on the Northern Arizona Multiple Listing Service by visting our website and clicking on the Search MLS link. Also, use the Flagstaff MLS Guide, which I wrote to help our clients and customers understand the arcane regions and areas of the Flagstaff MLS.

If you need to buy or sell real estate in Flagstaff, give us a call: Team Heitland at RE/MAX Peak Properties.

This week I received a flyer from one of the local Flagstaff lenders with whom I work -- another technique for her to drum up business, I thought. Then I took another look. It was really an old technique for selling homes, but maybe one I'd forgotten about.

The strategy, in this marketing pitch, is called Maximum Seller Buy-Down. The details of how this program works aren't really there, nor can I find them on the blog referred in the sales pitch. What I think it means is that the seller pays the buyer's points at closing to reduce the interest rate on the buyer's loan. (I'd appreciate a few comments from our mortgage experts on Active Rain to see if I've got this right.)  This can be a win-win because the seller saves money as compared to an equivalent (to the buyer) price reduction, but the buyer gets a lower mortgage interest rate so that the home comes within the buyer's monthly payment affordability range. (Right, mortgage experts?) 

I'd don't think that, as the marketing pitch suggests, that this technique alone will "turn around" our market, but isn't it worth pursuing in the interests of our seller clients?

In the current slow market, we've seen more and more offers asking not just for price concessions but also payment of buyer closing costs, and, indeed, for paying points to buy down the buyer's mortgage rate. So, why not turn that to a marketing advantage for the seller - make the offer to all buyers as part of your marketing remarks about the home?

I promise to pursue this possibility with more research off-line tomorrow, but I'll also check back for comments by the Active Rain experts.  I don't promise to write much in response because I'm headed on vacation later this week! Yahoo!

Want to buy or sell Flagstaff real estate? Contact my team: Team Heitland at RE/MAX Peak Properties!

There are always too many things for one person to do in Flagstaff during a weekend, but that means that there are things to do to appeal to nearly everyone. Come on up and enjoy summer in the cool mountains of Northern Arizona!

One of Flagstaff's great assets is Northern Arizona University and, for theatre lovers, another wonderful asset is the Theatrikos community theatre company. For three weeks this summer, the NAU drama department and Theatrikos have teamed up for a "town and gown" event that you won't want to miss. Stephen Sondheim's A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum is one of the classic comedy/tragedies of Broadway.  I remember laughing about it way back when, I won't tell how long back.

Directed in this production by NAU Professor Robert Yowell, the musical tells the bawdy story of a slave named Pseudolus and his attempts to win his freedom by helping his young master woo the girl next door. The plot displays many classic elements of farce, including puns, a two-tiered set with many doors, cases of mistaken identity (frequently involving characters disguising themselves as one another), and satirical comments on social class. Tickets available at the NAU Central Ticket Office or by calling 928-523-5661. Remaining performances tonight and on July 12, 17, 18, 19 at 8 p.m., and this Sunday at 2 p.m. Click here for details. 

For a HUGE list of other things to do in Flagstaff this weekend, visit today's post: Things to Do In Flagstaff This Weekend.

To buy or sell real estate in Flagstaff, call Team Heitland at RE/MAX Peak Properties.

Here's some data on the Flagstaff residential real estate market for the first ten days of July, based on downloads from the Northern Arizona Multiple Listing Service, which contains most, but not all, sales with the greater Flagstaff metropolitan area (Flagstaff and its surrounding unincorporated communities - anything with a Flagstaff mailing address): 

What does this mean for your financial and housing needs?

 Contact Team Heitland at RE/MAX Peak Properties to find out. 

Follow a variety of real estate, mortgage, homeownership tips, and Flagstaff neighborhood and community news on my other blog: Flagstaff Real Estate and Community News.

For the Flagstaff real estate market report as of June 30, 2008, click here.

One of Flagstaff's newer and well-planned neighborhoods, Ponderosa Trails,  will be holding its annual homeowners' party Saturday night.

The annual Ponderosa Trails Barbeque and Movie starts Saturday at 5:30 in Ponderosa Park, 3875 Wild West Trail, Flagstaff, AZ.

For details on this Flagstaff neighborhood event, click here: Ponderosa Trails Movie, Barbecue and Potluck in the Park!

If you'd like to buy or sell a home in Ponderosa Trails, contact Team Heitland at RE/MAX Peak Properties.

To learn more about Flagstaff's Ponderosa Trails neighborhood, click here:

Focus on Flagstaff's Ponderosa Trails Neighborhood

The Phoenix Real Estate Guy just pointed me to Monday's news release from PMI Group Inc.  TPREG has links to the summary report and to the appendix for 381 metro areas -- including little Flagstaff city up here in the Arizona mountains -- a much less risky place to buy real estate than Phoenix!

Check out the last paragraph of my Flagstaff real estate update to see what I did with this wealth of data in today's blog post -- you can do it for your market too!

Happy blogging!

If you know anyone who wants to buy or sell Flagstaff real estate. Team Heitland at RE/MAX Peak Properties consists of 4 licensed real estate agents ready to help.

There are over 100 entries in the Flagstaff Independence Day Parade -- who they are is a closely guarded secret, but I've uncovered some and have some intelligent guesses based on past experience with the last 15 years of this great Flagstaff event.

The parade steps off in downtown Flagstaff at 9 a.m. Since there will be over 10,000 people gathered for the event, I recommend getting there early. Then stay downtown for the First Friday Artwalk -- beginning right after the parade!

Here's the info I've put together, including post parade activities:

Celebrate Independence Day in Flagstaff

One of the things that I stumbled onto a few months ago was participating in surveys directed to real estate agents. If I participate in the survey, they send me the results. Then I can share the info with my clients. It creates a great opportunity to show yourself as a marketing expert. And, you actually learn something about market trends by studying the nearly 100 page survey results that you get each month as an Adobe Acrobat file.

Unfortunately, I can't remember how I was first invited to participate in what was then the Bank of American montly survey of real estate agents. It has since been taken over by Credit Suisse. I believe I may have signed up at a convention. If you have the chance, I recommend it.

Here is a link to my blog post about the May 2008 Credit Suisse Real Estate Agent Survey.

Here is a link to download the full report for May (published June 23): Credit Suisse survey download from Flagstaff real estate website.