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Douglas Trudeau , Assoc. Broker
Prudential Foothills Real Estate
64 N. Harrison Road, Suite 160
Tucson , AZ 85748
Mobile: 520-954-2209
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Archive for the 'Real Estate News' Category

Has The Housing Market Begun To Correct Itself?

May 6th, 2008 categories: Real Estate News

Everybody wants to know when the housing market will bottom out so they can get the best price. The truth is by the time anyone figures out the puzzle recovery will have already begun. An interesting article from the Wall Street Journal The Housing Crisis Is Over suggests that we on our way to a better market.

While the article mentions an 11 month inventory nation wide, Tucson has just under 9 months of inventory. Sales for the month of April were higher than anyone anticipated. April had nearly a 7% increase over what I predicted in December; and not all the sales have been turned in.

Interest rates have stayed low for months. There are a lot of good deals for buyers in the Tucson real estate market. If the market has not already corrected itself, there are a lot of indicators to suggest it is at least on the edge.

Prices have stabilized,
Inventory is dropping,
Interest rates are low,
Sales are increasing.

What will be the risk to those who wait too long?

Authored by Doug Trudeau | Discussion: 2 Comments »

Seven Ways To Drive A Realtor Insane

January 25th, 2008 categories: Real Estate News

Having worked with a variety of home buyers over the past several years I have met some very nice people. Some I share a lot with, especially the passion for golf. Others have been very interesting and fun to work with. Each having their own special value. There are those few who just drive you insane. Which is what everyone is curious about, right?

As a Realtor it doesn’t matter if I work with someone for a day or over a period of years. I am in the middle of a sale right now that I have had the pleasure of communicating with my buyer for nearly two years. Once they were ready, I turned up the service from periodic e-mails, an occasional phone call, and just staying in touch to some serious searching, looking, kicking the tires and writing a contract. Its been a fun two years with them.

Working with a client for several months or a few years is easy. Knowing when to turn up the service is the key. Its the buyer who doesn’t know what they want and want me to find it for them that creates the real challenge. Sometimes to the point of insanity. Here’s some tips on how to drive Your Realtor totally insane:

Make sure you have two or three Realtors looking for you and don’t tell them the other Realtors are expecting to find you a home as well.
Start out in one part of town, bounce to another, then another and another to keep your Realtor guessing.
Have a lot of demands for the home you want that just does not exist in this universe.
Change the price of the homes you look at to higher than what you can afford.
Look at homes that are outside your stated criteria, and reject those that fall within your criteria.
Make an appointment with your Realtor to show homes, then don’t show up.
Make an offer for 20% below the asking price, especially when everything is selling within 5%.

Realtors work for a commission. No sale, no pay. If three are working hard to sell you a home, one will see the reward, the other two will end up wasting their time. Put yourself in their shoes, how would you feel spending time and money on gas driving someone around who has no intention to select you to represent them? Imagine putting in your full two weeks of work for your employer, only to be told that you won’t be paid for it.

The seven descriptions above happen every day to a variety of Realtors. Choosing a Realtor wisely and remaining loyal to him or her means a lot. After all, wouldn’t you prefer the your Realtor remain loyal to you?

Authored by Doug Trudeau | Discussion: No Comments »

What Is The Real Story About The Tucson Real Estate Market?

January 24th, 2008 categories: Real Estate News

Watching the news yesterday the average person would think that Tucson will turn into a ghost town. That real estate is on a decline. That buying or selling a home is hopeless. Not true. Reminds me of a professor who commented about the media be a great fertilizer. Lets see, the newspapers and the media depend on readers for sales and viewers to get higher ratings and sell more advertising space. Sensationalism is the key ingredient. Lets give the public what they want. Forget what damage it does to a vital part of our economical market.

True, there are way too many homes on the market. As of this writing there are 9,895 mobile homes, condos, town homes, and single family residences on the market through the MLS in the greater Tucson area. Consider the For Sale By Owners, and the number is higher. That is an impossible number to track though. Of those available homes 9,156 do not have an offer. Oops, 9,155 homes I had accepted offer for my Buyers yesterday that I have to turn in today. That means 701 homes are in various stages of process leading to the word all Sellers love, “Sold.”

True, current sales are not keeping up with the number of homes hitting the market. A healthy market based on the average number of monthly sales is somewhere between 7,000 to 8,000, depending on who you talk to. Until that time it will remain a Buyer’s market. When the number of available homes begin to drop or sales start shooting up, buyers will less opportunity to get great deals. When that happens, what will happen to interest rate?

True, interest rates are dropping again. The interest rates have dropped below 6%. Last time the greater Tucson real estate market experienced challenges similar to today’s interest rates were well over 8%. At one time as high as 18%. Now, that was a tough market for buyers, sellers and everybody tied into the real estate market. Once sales start picking up, anticipate that those rate will increase to over 6% again.

True, Tucson is a growing community. As more and more people move to Tucson the demand will increase. Builders have already stopped building spec homes, and sold off inventory at incredibly low prices. Forcing the new home inventory to drop. Working toward basic economics of reducing supply. Now we just have to work on the demand.

True, home buyer confidence is at an all time low. This is the key to the demand. Sellers have reduced prices, builders have reduced inventory, the Fed and lenders have reduced interest rates. Now is the time to take a serious look at the real estate market in greater Tucson and ask yourself, “Should I take advantage of the current situation and buy now, or should I risk waiting for it to get better?” Don’t get trapped into WSC (Woulda Should Coulda).

True, buying a home is a huge investment. That’s why buying what you can afford today and not what you think you can afford tomorrow is vital. Too many buyers anticipated increased value and higher pay. Too many bought on emotion without sitting down and counting the beans. Before buying, crunch the numbers. My suggestion, buy a little less than you can afford, stay in your home for at least five years, and thank God you have a roof over your head. For sellers, if you don’t have to sell, don’t sell. Level out the market so those who have to sell their homes can. Sellers don’t be greedy, sell for a win-win price. Investors, buy for five to seven year investments. Quit buying today to sell tomorrow. Draw your rents, maximize your write offs and do some long term planning.

The greater Tucson real estate market is not immune to what is happening nationally. However, we are not suffering as bad as many parts of our nation. With thousands moving to our community every year, its a matter of time for the market to level out and get healthy again. Ask yourself, “How many times have you let opportunity slip through your fingers, only to kick yourself later?”

Authored by Doug Trudeau | Discussion: No Comments »

Federal Market Committee Voted…

September 18th, 2007 categories: Real Estate News

by Wayne Novak, Premier Mortgage Resources

Tucson Real Estate - Bank2 As you probably know by now, the Federal Open Market Committee voted to cut the fed fund rate and the discount rate by 50 basis points each. The Fed said its decision to slash the key federal funds rate was aimed at preventing tighter credit conditions from taking a more severe toll on economy.

While the Fed’s super aggressive monetary policy decision has certainly spawned a handsome rally in the mortgage market — I think it is important to recognize two things; (1) the Fed has essentially abandoned its inflation fight in favor of stimulating economic growth, and (2) the Fed’s decision is driving the dollar dramatically lower on global currency exchanges. I have no intention of raining on anybody’s parade – and I certainly don’t advocate spending too much time looking a gift horse in the mouth. However, it is my job to add perspective to changes in the mortgage market for you, my client. Be aware that both of these conditions I’ve just described are absolutely not the “stuff” that dramatically lower mortgage interest rates are normally made of.

Hmm – anybody happen to notice that traders in the Treasury markets aren’t nearly as “stoked” about the Fed’s monetary policy decision as mortgage investors are.

Be patient – be disciplined – and play it by the numbers.

Authored by Doug Trudeau | Discussion: 4 Comments »

President Bush Addresses Fed Assistance For Subprime Homeowner

August 31st, 2007 categories: Real Estate News

Earlier today President Bush addressed the sub-prime crisis and what the Federal Government plans to do to help homeowners at risk of losing their homes.

The comments I liked were:

Bush said, “It’s anything but modest if you’re one of the families affected.

“I plan to help homeowners, the government’s got a role to play,” Bush said. “But it’s not the government’s job to bail out speculators or those who made the decision to buy a home they couldn’t afford.”

For some it will definitely be too late. However, for every home saved it is another American allowed to live the American Dream of owning a home. Not everybody will or should be helped. But, there are a lot who just got caught up in the current leading to Niagra Falls. This is a step in the right direction if planned and prepared correctly. My worry is the abuse that will occur from some less than honorable people that will deny some who deserve the help.