Search the MLS almost like an agent! Do you, like many people, want to do your own home search? I am introducing a new website, Suncityhomes.listingbook.com. I will allow access, respect your privacy (no email spam from me), remove you from any and all mailings immediately upon your request with no argument or hassles. How much better can that be? Home Buyers, you get to control all of your initial property search. Who would know better than your what suits you? Home Sellers, you can get immediate information on properties that are in competition with yours. Make an informed decision with real-time facts, not the opinion of an agent, or worse yet, your neighbor. Prospective home buyers and sellers, get facts to help you decide is now the time to buy or sell, all in the privacy of your o... 01/25/2010

We had 2 days of liquid sunshine (rain) and looking for 2 more before the winter storm track changes. Obviously a rare occurrence in Sun City AZ, since we have 320 days of sun each year. Rain days in Sun City are almost local holidays. I told the buyers who were having a home inspection today that we arranged the rain to make them feel at home. We do aim to please here. I always encourage buyers to have a home inspection, and a rainy day is good. We know the roof works! 01/21/2010

Sun City AZ residents enjoy a community full of activities, clubs and amenities. Neighborhood pools, golf courses and bowling allies are just a few of the amenities appreciated by guests and homeowners alike in this age restricted area. To make this area even more appealing, Sun City is just east of the Agua Fria Highway, which connects this area with Valley-wide cultural and entertainment opportunities.  Golfers will love a single-family home in Sun City, since numerous golf courses and pro shops litter the area surrounding the community. Residents in this subdivision will find a quick golf game at Lakes West Golf Course, Sun City Lakes East or Palm Brook Country Club. Each of these beautifully manicured links is only two miles away from home. For more variety and less boredom, you wil... 01/19/2010

This post listing 5 Great Reasons to Buy a Home Today was just posted by Steve Harney. Steve is a great real estate trainer/analyst, and tells us why he is so happy that his son just bought a home. There is good information for all in this post. Read it Here. 01/13/2010

Here is the year end summary for the Sun City AZ real estate market. As you can see, homes and condos are selling, with an average time on the market of 167 Days on the Market (DOM). Looking deeper, you can see that houses sell faster than condos, 50 Days faster in fact. Houses also sell for $15 per square foot more. Obviously, the market is valuing houses much more than condos.   We are now going into our prime selling season, since Sun City is an active adult retirement community. As I posted yesterday, activity by buyers is increasing, and I am looking forward to a good first quarter 2010. Happy New Year All 01/02/2010

Happy New Year to all! Unllike many on this forum, I sit open houses. It is a tool that works in Sun City AZ, since the greatest percentage of our buyers are retired and almost retired. I am not a big football fan, but love the Rose Parade, so after the parade I decided to sit my listing at 17823 N. Del Webb Blvd. for a couple of hours. It was the best open house I have had this "snowbird" season. I was the only agent holding an open anywhere near and had a productive time. A great start to the new year.   01/01/2010

Prices have declined to 2003-2004 levels and are bottoming out. You don’t have to pay an over-inflated price. There is still a little room to negotiate with the sellers. Interest rates are a historic lows, but Treasury has already stated the interest subsidies will go away next spring. Tax credits of $6500 to $8000 are still available to many buyers of homes. There can be substantial tax benefits if you finance your purchase. I anticipate interest rates will  rise to 6% in the spring. Higher interest rates will lower buying power. Home prices in the Sun Cities/Phoenix area are now creeping up. You can now own a winter home as cheap or cheaper than you can rent. Inventory of homes for sale in the Sun City and Sun City West area is at its highest in January thru March. You will have the ... 12/19/2009

NEW LISTING!Sun City Duplex for Sale - Beautifully upgraded! Address: 10739 W Clair Dr, Sun City, AZ 85351Arizona Retirement Community: Sun City ArizonaSq.Ft.: 1430List Price: $109,000MLS # 4305218 Description: Del Webb Sun City Arizona home for sale.  Beautifully updated Sun City duplex. Must see! Private backyard. Tile in all but bedrooms. Maple cabinets and so much more. To see 36 pictures of this home go to 10739 W Clair Dr Click on the image below to see a Virtual Tour ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you are in the market to buy or sell a home in one of the Phoenix west valley active retirement golf communities, please call me or visit my website http://KathyAndersonRealtor.com. Here you will find information on homes for sale in Sun City Grand Surprise Arizona, resale... 12/18/2009

  It gives me goose bumps to think that on January 1st, 2010, it will be 50 years since the opening of Sun City.  The theme for the year is "An Extraordinary Past----A Brilliant Future".  The goal is to recognize the year 2010 as the 50th Anniversary.  Having said that there will be year long events that will showcase Sun City.  These events will pay tribute to founder Del E. Webb, encourage Sun City resident participation and contribute to those dedicated to Sun City residents needs. Sun City was the first of it's kind and what a wonderful active retirment community it is.  It has served as a role model for those that followed, including Sun City West, Sun City Grand and Sun City Festival to name a few.  Today there are more than 50 communities in 20 states. I remember when I first dr... 12/15/2009

In the words of Bob Dylan, "the times, they are a changing". Sony created this you tube presentation about the rapid change in our world today. It is almost frightening in its scope. Little factoids such as CHINA is soon to have the largest ENGLISH speaking population in the world. INDIA has more honors students than the US has children. Technology is changing so fast that subject matter a college student learns as a freshman is OUTDATED by the time he is a junior. Does this apply to real estate? You bet. We no longer rely on the daily newspaper to market our listings, we MUST use the tech tools of WEB 2.0 and mobile technology. A home seller should now ask an agent to PROVE their tech marketing capabilities BEFORE signing a listing agreement. Why would you want to lock yourself into a ... 12/10/2009

Not my words, this is the headline from a Business Week writer, Marc Roth. His position, interest is at ~5% for a thirty year fixed loan. This is a historically low rate, the lowest in 40 years. You can read the original article HERE. In addition to the points Mr. Roth writes about, think of these. Inventory is at a healthy level(827 Active listings in Sun City alone) The average list price for a 1435 square foot home is $134,388. This is about $93.00 per square foot. Prices are at the 2002/2003 levels. 82 homes have sold in the last 30 days, a traditionally slow period. Lending guidelines are tightening for all types of home loans. All in All, good words if you are thinking about a new Sun City neighborhood home. 12/09/2009

The Arizona Commissioner of Real Estate has proposed some long needed changes. A new licensee will have to complete 15 hours of additional course work PLUS the increased 30 hours of continuing education within the 2 year period of their provisional license. (This is currently 24 hours) All licensees will be required to complete 30 hours of continuing, and increase of 6 hours from the current requirement. New categories will be added to the curriculum. Proposed categories include things like "Commissioner's Hot Topics, allowing the commissioner to react to changes. A good example of that would be Short Sales. Just 2 few short years ago, this was a non-issue, now a big one. I recently wrote an article about just one short sale issue. You can read it here. The current 4 year license renewa... 11/11/2009

HOME BUYER TAX CREDIT EXTENDED TO FIRST TIME HOME BUYERS AND EXISTING HOME OWNERS SUN CITY, ARIZONA President Obama signed into law the extension for first time home buyer and existing home owner tax credit. The National Association of Realtors and other leading organizations lobbied for this law to jump start the real estate industry after a heavy hit for the past two years. The real estate industry got us into this slump and it has to get us out of this rut. I know many people will be in position to purchase homes at the start of the year here in Sun City, Arizona. We are coming up to the busiest season in real estate and I am ready for it. A person is considered a first time home buyer when he/she has not owned a primary home in the past three years. They are eligible to receive up t... 11/10/2009

This notice was sent to all agents who subscribe to the Arizona Regional MLS. SCAM ALERT: Check Your Vacant Listings A recent scam reported to ARMLS® involves tenants moving into a pending short sale listing. The surprised listing agent contacted the owner who had not rented the property to anyone. The tenants (two women with two children) were physically moving in and had turned on utilities in their name. The sign and the lock box were removed, and all locks were re-keyed. The tenants responded to a For Rent sign in the yard. They gave someone $1,800 as rent and signed a lease. While the short sale was able to close, the unfortunate victims of this scam were out $1800 with no place to live. This down economy encourages some people to take advantage of others. Listing agents should che... 10/30/2009

The U.S. Senate has TENATIVELY agreed to extend the home buyer tax credit. If the measure passes it will include a broader credit. More people will benefit. This measure, while hoped for, is NOT yet approved. Write your congressman folks. The House of Representatives in now looking at the Home Valuation Code of Conduct. This ill-conceived rule has been the cause of additional costs to home buyers, and inadequate appraisals. These have caused many sales to fail, costing sellers equity dollars. Another House committee is probing predatory practices used by some in the mortgage industry. The intent is to see if these practices contributed to the current housing crisis and its resulting economic meltdown. I, for one, hope this leads to a lot of "perp"walks at executive levels. Last, but not... 10/30/2009

I finally got around to evaluating the Sun City Market by housing type. ie Single Family vs Condominium. I used six weeks of MLS data for this. (9/1/09-10/14/09) I have long felt that the single family home is more desirable to most of the buyers who come to Sun City, but have never done the analysis required to prove it. As you can see from the following spreadsheet, homes sell one third faster than condos. The lesson, if you are a buyer, and want to buy a home, you must make up your mind quickly as more snowbirds will be here competing with you. If you are a seller, be patient. The market ratio is a new metric I am using. A ratio less than 20 indicates a buyers market. A ratio of 20-30 indicates a balanced market. 30 or more is a sellers market. As you can see, the single family home ... 10/29/2009

And, The Numbers For September Are: Active Listings as of 10/1/09  689 Average List Price $135,500 79 homes sold Absorption Rate 9 months Number of Single Family Homes for Sale 357 Number of Condos for Sale 332 Average Days on the Market 135 The Sales prices ranged from $46,900 to $470,000 with an average of $125,484. This represents an average price per square foot of $81.98. The Year to Date Sales Are: Total Number of Homes Sold 1/1/09-10/1/09 799 Number of Single Family Homes Sold 1/1/09-10/1/09 457 List Price/Sold Price  of Single Family Homes $148,913/$138,454 Number of Condo Style Homes Sold 1/1/09-10/1/09 342 List Price/Sold Price of Condo Style Homes $102,448/$98,718 Overall, we have survive the summer relatively well. Buyers are now showing up at open houses. This is the beginn... 10/29/2009

Yesterday was "REALTOR'S Helping Seniors Day" in Sun City, Sun City West & Youngtown, AZ.  It was a wonderful day filled with many volunteer REALTORS, Affiliates, spouses and friends coming together to help some of our most forgotten citizens.  Seniors who are below poverty level.  Yes, they are home owners, most who purchased their homes when there were two retirement incomes and many of them with those  incomes  frozen at the retirement income level of the 1960's, 70' & 80's.  Spouse has now  died, income cut in half, Dr. medicine, and food has escalated but not their incomes.  Age keeps them from being able to physically do the things many of us take for granted.  Like washing their windows, inside and out, hard to do when you are using a walker.  Or the 92 year old former cabbie who... 10/25/2009

Yesterday, I finally got around to evaluating the Sun City Market by housing type. ie Single Family vs Condominium. I used the last six weeks of MLS data for this. (9/1/09-10/14/09) I have long felt that the single family home is more desirable to most of the buyers who come to Sun City, but have never done the analysis required to prove it. As you can see from the following spreadsheet, homes sell one third faster than condos. The lesson, if you are a buyer, and want to buy a home, you must make up your mind quickly as more snowbirds will be here competing with you. If you are a seller, be patient. The market ratio is a new metric I am using. A ratio less than 20 indicates a buyers market. A ratio of 20-30 indicates a balanced market. 30 or more is a sellers market. As you can see, the... 10/14/2009

And, The Numbers For September Are: Active Listings as of 10/1/09  689 Average List Price $135,500 79 homes sold Absorption Rate 9 months Number of Single Family Homes for Sale 357 Number of Condos for Sale 332 Average Days on the Market 135 The Sales prices ranged from $46,900 to $470,000 with an average of $125,484. This represents an average price per square foot of $81.98. The Year to Date Sales Are: Total Number of Homes Sold 1/1/09-10/1/09 799 Number of Single Family Homes Sold 1/1/09-10/1/09 457 List Price/Sold Price  of Single Family Homes $148,913/$138,454 Number of Condo Style Homes Sold 1/1/09-10/1/09 342 List Price/Sold Price of Condo Style Homes $102,448/$98,718 Overall, we have survive the summer relatively well. Buyers are now showing up at open houses. This is the beginn... 10/12/2009