The Bottom of the Market

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Continuing Education

There is a lot to know about real estate. A real estate sales person must take 90 hours of sales pre-license education in a classroom setting and pass several tests, in order to be an agent in Arizona. Once a person has a license, they must take an additional 24 hrs of credits in continuing education. I know when I went through real estate school, we had sold several houses of our own without a realtor. I know once I completed my schooling, I knew I would never sell another house on my own, without a realtor. If you only knew what all can go wrong. Here are some of the kinds of courses I have had to take to renew my license when it would expire next month.

What Continuing Education Credits do I need?
You must complete 24 hours of ADRE-approved Continuing Education (CE) courses every two years to renew a real estate license. Cemetery and membership camping licenses do not require continuing education credit for renewal.

Of the 24 hours required for renewal, you must obtain credit hours as indicated in EACH of the following subjects:

* Salesperson License:
Agency Law 3 hours
Contract Law 3 hours
Commissioner’s Standards 3 hours
Disclosure 3 hours
Fair Housing 3 hours
Real Estate Legal Issues 3 hours
General Real Estate 6 hours

* Broker License:
Agency Law 3 hours
Contract Law 3 hours
Broker Management Clinic * 3 hours
Disclosure 3 hours
Fair Housing ** 3 hours
Real Estate Legal Issues 3 hours
General Real Estate 6 hours

The 6 General Real Estate hours may be in any of the above categories OR General Real Estate or Business Brokerage.

If a renewal applicant is retaining the specialization in sales of businesses designation, the applicant is required to complete business brokerage courses for one-half of the credit hours prescribed by the Commissioner for license renewal.

Taken from the Arizona Department of Real Estate website.

Why do I need a realtor?

5 top blunders of Internet home buying
Here's some advice to help you avoid the common pitfalls of online real-estate searching.
By U.S. News & World Report


While the painful real-estate swoon appears likely to extend well into 2009 — at least — the number of Americans using the Internet to find the home of their dreams is poised to keep on climbing.

According to the 2008 National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 87% of homebuyers used the Internet to search for homes last year. That's up steadily from 84% in 2007 and 80% in 2006.

But despite its mounting popularity, the Internet home-buying process can present a host of pitfalls. To help make your online real-estate searching more effective, here's a look at the top five Internet home-buying blunders and what you can do to avoid them.

1. Assuming you can do it all yourself
The Internet allows users to handle for themselves many of the tasks that could once only be performed by real-estate agents. The NAR profile, for example, found that the number of homebuyers who first learned of their homes on the Internet has been rising in recent years, to 32% in 2008, up from a tiny 2% in 1997. Accordingly, the number of homebuyers who first learned of their homes through agents has been declining, to 34% in 2008, down from 50% in 1997.

But although the Internet can provide heaps of helpful tips and research, it would be a mistake to assume that the Web is all you need to buy a house — unless you are an experienced real-estate investor. Purchasing real estate can be extremely complicated from a legal standpoint, and it's easy to make a mistake if you don't have an expert advising you. And when it comes to something as expensive as real estate, those mistakes could cost you thousands of dollars.

"Doing all the paperwork yourself is a huge mistake," says Joshua Dorkin, chief executive officer of BiggerPockets.com, a real-estate networking and information site. "There are so many things you can miss on a contract."

What's your home worth?
2. Looking too narrowly
The sheer amount of information about the real-estate market online can be overwhelming. As a result, buyers can be tempted to stick to just one or two popular real-estate search engines, such as Realtor.com, for their research. The problem with doing that, however, is that you're missing out on the biggest advantages that the Internet offers. [Realtor.com is a partner of MSN Real Estate.]

First, you're closing yourself off to a smaller cross section of the homes that are out there. "A lot of the sites aren't comprehensive and don't have all of the new listings," says Pat Kitano, a co-founder of Domus Consulting Group, which works with real-estate brokerage firms on technology marketing strategies.

Don't assume that because a house is on one real-estate Web site, it is on all of them, says Greg Healy, vice president of operations at ForSaleByOwner.com. "It's still very fragmented," he says. Healy recommends using several Web sites to get a more complete picture.

Second, you miss all the breaking, up-to-the-minute information on the housing market that can make you a smarter consumer. Blogs have become a popular resource for real-estate agents and others to post information as it happens. "If consumers are interested in a local area, they should find local real-estate bloggers who know this breaking information," Kitano says.

3. Ignoring the independents
One area that major real-estate search engines often overlook is the market for homes sold by the owners. "A lot of people forget to think how many homes are sold without agents," Healy says. The current estimate is that 20% to 25% of homes are listed by owner, he says.

Your dream house could easily fall into that 20% to 25%. So how do you bring homes sold independently into your online searches? "Craigslist is one of the best resources," Dorkin says.


4. Falling for fake listings
Remember, the Internet is a giant playground for scammers, and unfortunately they have penetrated the world of online home buying as well. Combine big dollars for online advertising and a lot of people searching for homes, and the result is a proliferation of fake home listings. There are a number of red flags to look out for.

"If there are no photos [of the house], that's a big warning sign. That's just people trying to collect page views," Healy says.

But even if the listing has photos, it's not guaranteed to be legitimate. Legitimate Web sites will put watermarks on their home photos to brand those photos as their own. If a home's photos have several different watermarks on it, then you can guess you are looking at the work of a scammer.

5. Putting too much stock in home-valuation Web sites
Sites such as Zillow.com and Cyberhomes.com have changed the way people buy homes by putting pricing information at buyers' fingertips. But they're not infallible.

Don't assume to know what the value of a home should be based on what these sites tell you about the neighborhood. There are many elements of a home's value that home-valuation sites cannot incorporate.

"Take their values with a grain of salt," Dorkin says. He recommends using this information merely as a range. Conduct other research to narrow that range. For example, walkscore.com can tell you the number of amenities within walking distance of a location — those are some of the factors that can raise or lower the value of a home.

By Matthew Bandyk, U.S. News & World Report

My life as a realtor

I am grateful for my great clients who make the ones that don't turn out worth it. Wanna know what the life a realtor is like? Exactly like below. Hilarious. Merry Christmas!

Our local economy--still growing

Industrial park could create economic opportunities
By Diane Saunders
Staff Writer
http://www.eacourier.com/articles/2008/12/14/news/doc4942ff1015759541787907.prt A proposed light-industrial park on Safford’s east side will allow the city to market itself across the United States and will create opportunities for local companies to expand, Safford Community and Economic Development Director Pete Stasiak said.

In a Dec. 5 interview with the Courier, Stasiak said the proposed industrial park will be built by Langlely Holdings on 95 acres of land.
“Langley has been a tremendous partner with the city on these projects,” Stasiak said. “They listen to our needs and work with us.”

He added that city officials have been focusing on the future for two years.

While focusing on the future could reap economic development rewards for the city, the community is also looking at the impact of a state and national economic downturn.

In 2007, the city issued building permits for 208 new homes and commercial development for a total value of $37 million.
In comparison, only 37 permits for new homes and commercial development were issued in 2008. The total value was about $15 million, Stasiak said.

Even with the reduction in the number of permits, Stasiak remains optimistic.

“Five years ago, the city issued one building permit, so the city is still growing,” Stasiak said, adding that the city is “way ahead” in the number of jobs when compared to three years ago.

Several residential subdivisions have been placed on hold until there is a need for more housing, and construction of the 64-unit Casa Dorado apartments is delayed until financing is worked out, Stasiak said.

He also discussed commercial development in Safford. Those developments and their status follow:

• Vining Mortuary on 20th Avenue south of 18th Street: A building permit has been issued, and construction is expected to begin soon.

• Holiday Inn Express and Motel 6 on Highway 70: The city is awaiting further information from the developer.

• Hampton Inn on Highway 70 at Fifth Street: City officials recently received plans for the building.

• Copper Steer Steak House on Highway 70: Located on the east side of Safford, this restaurant is scheduled to open in January.

• NAPA Auto Center on Highway 70: expected to open in January.

According to Stasiak, commercial diversification helps keep the local economy healthy; however, he did not play down the importance of mining.

“Freeport is an absolute blessing to this Valley,” Stasiak said.

Sheldon Miller, director of the Graham County Chamber of Commerce, said he also sees the economy as healthy.

“We have a very solid economy here, and the mine pushed it to another level,” Miller said.

He added that the chamber is planning an economic workshop for business owners in February. The date and time will be announced later.

What to do about High property taxes

Thanks to Genavee for this info.

Is Your Property Tax Bill Too High?
Income tax, sales tax, estate tax, excise tax, alternative minimum tax...and just when you thought you'd paid them all...along comes your property tax bill as a homeowner. But did you know that the National Taxpayers Union estimates that as many as 60% of homes are assessed for too high of a value, resulting in an incorrectly larger property tax bill? Chances are good you might be in that group of people paying too much, so taking the time to review your property tax bill could save you a nice chunk of change.
The good news is that it's easy.
First, contact your local tax assessor's office and ask for someone in the reassessment area. Find out when appeals are heard, and how the process for submitting a property tax appeal works. Additionally, ask for a copy of your property card. Review the card and confirm that the basic information about your property is correct. For example, is the square footage and number of rooms for your home accurate? If the number is incorrect, the county may change the assessment without a formal appeal. If everything on the property card is correct but the assessed value still seems too high, your next step is to gather the following documentation to support an appeal. And don't be surprised if the assessed value is lower than what you think the market value for your home is--many counties use a formula which uses a percentage of market value to determine assessed value. Ask what the formula is, because an assessment which is less than market value still might be too high.
If you have a current appraisal that supports the value being lower using recent market-value information, many counties will accept a copy of the appraisal with the appeal. If the appraisal is outdated, you can order a new one--just call me for a referral to a great appraiser. You can also visit the local assessor's office or search online, and look through the public records for other homes that have similar features to yours, but have lower assessments. Additionally, contact me to get in touch with a great Realtor who knows your area. They will be able to give you current market information for your neighborhood, and help you see how your market value and assessed value stacks up against your neighbors'.
Submitting an appeal is generally a fairly simple process, but make sure to take the time to fill out all forms in advance and be prepared with your documentation if there is an in-person hearing that needs to take place.
More good news - according to the National Taxpayers Union, about 33% of property tax appeals succeed! Taking the time to review the accuracy of a tax bill could easily save you hundreds of dollars per year, adding up to thousands of dollars during the time you own your home.

Daylight savings

Thanks to Genavee

Turning Back the Hands of Time

The sun is about to set on another season of Daylight Saving Time. In case you hadn't noticed, Daylight Saving Time (DST) began earlier last spring and ran longer into this fall. But, alas, all good things must come to an end...and this year Daylight Saving Time ends Sunday, November 2nd.

The extra month that we enjoyed was actually the result of the Energy Policy Act, which was enacted by Congress back in 2005 and first went into effect last year. Originally, the bill was written to extend Daylight Saving by two months, but some very verbal opponents fought the change. Farmers say that DST has a negative impact on their livestock in general--as it is tough for them to adapt to the time change, and they consequently produce less milk, eggs, etc. Because DST is not followed uniformly around the world, airlines claim that it might mean many missed international flight connections. Additionally, TV and Cable stations argued that they would lose viewers and advertising revenue, simply due to less time spent in front of the television because of more time spent outdoors in daylight.

So a compromise of one additional month of DST was reached. However, Congress did retain the right to revert back to the old dates if the change proves to be widely unpopular, or if the energy savings aren't significant.

Why is Daylight Saving Time Longer?

Despite the concerns listed above, Americans overwhelmingly like Daylight Saving Time. There is simply more sunlight in the evenings to enjoy the outdoors and get things done. Additionally, there may be emotional benefits, as we typically feel better with more daylight.

Plus, additional hours of daylight can help save energy on a national scale. Less electricity is needed, as fewer lights are turned on as early in the evening...and with energy costs so high, even a small amount of savings is very welcome.

And brighter is safer - studies have shown that the DST shift reduces traffic accidents. An increase in accidents in the dark mornings is more than offset by the evening decrease in accidents, due to the increased visibility gained with more sunlight. Halloween is also arguably safer. Child pedestrian deaths are four times higher on Halloween than any other night of the year. By extending Daylight Saving Time, however, trick-or-treaters are able to spend an extra hour gathering treats while it's still light out. Candy manufacturers are happy too, as they've lobbied for years to have DST extended through Halloween.

A study by the US Law Enforcement Admin also determined that crime is consistently lower during DST, with violent crimes down as much as 10% to 13%. For many crimes, like mugging, darkness is a factor--so more light in the evening hours reduces these types of crimes.

Falling Back... Manually

Since DST has been extended, you'll want to double-check all of your electronic devices and confirm that the time is correct. Although you may be accustomed to your computer and maybe even your digital clock in your car automatically updating, the recent change of dates for Daylight Saving Time may require that these devices be manually changed, as they now may NOT be ready to update to the correct time on the correct date!

So keep an eye on your electronic devices and remember to change your clocks on Sunday, November 2nd as we turn back the hands of time once again!