Did You Know:  Breaking ground in spring 2011, Avondale School District will be building a new 21,700 square foot District Office with a maintenance and transportation facility. It will feature covered bus parking with solar panels above it.  The plan is going to bring an element of the old in with the new and give a modern facility the community can utilize.

Did you Know:  Arizona Public Service is building a huge solar project at Luke Air Force Base 

Did you Know:   A new Police Precinct will be opening at 2111 S. 99^th Avenue, and will be known as the Estrella Mountain Precinct.  There will be 260 officers, as well as, two squads of detectives.   The new Precinct will be used to help keep neighborhoods safe. 

Did You Know:  Luke Air Force Base is one of the largest air base in the world.  Luck trains 75% of al F-16 pilots ad files more than 180 training sorties a day.  More than 7,000 airmen are station at Luke.  Thank you for your service to the 7,000 men and women that are currently stationed at Luke. 

Did you Know:  The face lift of Buckeye Elementary is nearly complete.   

Did you Know:  In Litchfield Park, there is a wildlife zoo called Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium. The Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium is home to Arizona’s largest collection of exotic animals.  Just a few friends you will see there are exotic birds, tigers, lions and the Aquarium is a must see.  The habitants at the Zoo are in an open natural environment.

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Canyon Trails is a community in Goodyear and is known for  hosting small town values and big city amenities.   This community is close to everything, sports, shopping, movies, restaurants, schools and golf courses, not to mention, it  is conveniently located to major highways – I10, Loop 101 and Loop 303.   The community center has a pool to cool those desert days as well as a recreation center, park and volleyball/basketball courts.   If an after dinner walk is something you enjoy, you will love the lighted walking trails.  Homes for sale currently range from $79,900 to $375,000.    If a new build is something that you have an interest to you, The Krone Team at Keller Williams has a relationship with the builders where we can get you more incentives and help you with all the negotations.

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1)      “Regular” sales or homeowners with equity in their home. Most of these are homes that were originally purchased before the housing boom and the seller is not upside down. “Flip” properties are also included in this category. Flips are properties purchased by investors, renovated, and then resold for a profit. These types of sales generally close within about 30 days of contract acceptance. There can be delays with some flip properties

2)      Short sales are properties where the owner is upside down and the bank must approve the sale “short” of what is owed. Short sales can take longer to close due to the banks approval process. All banks have different timeframes but the typical short sale will close between 45-90 days from contract acceptance. Exceptions can be found and a professional REALTOR is the best weapon in a home buyers arsenal.

3)      Bank owned, REO, and foreclosures are all the same thing. These are homes that the bank has taken back the property from the homeowner. In most situations foreclosures can be easier to deal with that short sales. Care should be taken when reviewing the banks policies and procedures. Many bank owned homes are “As-IS” and special attention should be given to the inspections. 

These are general numbers and timeframes. Each individual property is different. The best advice is to retain a professional buyer’s agent to help guide you through the process. The Krone Team has several dedicated Buyer Specialists to make your next home purchase as pleasurable as possible.

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Here are a few reasons why it is a GREAT time to buy, especially in the West Valley

Market…The West Valley includes Avondale, Goodyear, Buckeye, Litchfield Park, Surprise and Glendale, just to name a few and there are deals to be found in all of these markets.

Reason One:  RATES! Money has not been this affordable in most peoples home buying life!  You can get fixed rate loans under 5% – That is just CRAZY!

Reason Two: Inventory, currently just in the cities names above, there are currently 4,377 homes for sale ranging from $21,200 to $2,700,000.   There are A LOT of choices for home buyers.  Inventory is remaining high and the general feeling is that we will continue to have new homes coming on the market for sometime.

Reason Three:  Short sales just may be getting easier to close.  The newly introduced HAFA programs has many servicers actually processing short sales in a reasonable amount of time!    Why Short Sales?  Often they are still occupied and are in better condidtion than competing foreclosure properties.  The West Valley real estate market is settling in to this “new normal…more short sales and foreclosures than “regular” sales.

Reason Four:  Huge need for single family rentals!  If you are considering investing.,..now is the time!  With so many families being displaced due to losing their homes…there is a GREAT opportunity for investors to get into our market.  Many people can not live in apartments as they have pets and/or a need for a 3 car garage or RV parking.  With rates so low…even Investor rates are low…positive cash flow is attractive.

LET US HELP YOU GET OFF THE FENCE

If you own real estate in the West Valley, that you are thinking of selling, we would be happy to provide you with a FREE Home Evaluation, commonly referred to as a CMA.

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The One Percent down program is designed to provide you up to 2 ½ percent of the down payment as a gift utilizing an FHA mortgage. The gift never has to be paid back and is not a silent second mortgage nor is it added to the loan whatsoever for your home purchase. You can get qualified to purchase your home in Goodyear, Litchfield Park, Avondale and Buckeye today. This is not a seller funded down payment. It has extremely competitive interest rates. This program is not just for first time home buyers and has flexible loan approval guidelines. To find out more information on how you can qualify for this incredible opportunity today contact: Mike@kroneteam.com.

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As a team we have made a commitment to do a community service once a month. Throughout our lives we have seen the difference that volunteering efforts can make in people’s lives. On July 27th the team met at the office at 8AM with several large coolers packed with bottle water & ice. We headed to downtown Phoenix where we stopped by a shelter and handed about 150 bottles of cold water to the homeless.

It wasn’t long before the word spread that we were there and you could see people walking down the street to approach us for a bottle of water. What a difference a simple cold bottle of water can make in someone’s day. The summer sun here is relentless and someone cared for them on this 27th day of July.

I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. – Mahatma Gandi

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In the future, I would recommend seeing the fireworks this way. The field is just east of the ballpark. Just stay on Bullard instead of coming in on Estrella. The Ballpark in Goodyear is a great place to watch fireworks! I also put a video to some of the grand finale.

 Video from Goodyear

Ballpark July 4th 2010

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Everyone is busy and has other things they could be doing but with a little effort it’s quite easy to build some new friendships and meet your neighbors in Goodyear AZ.

Doing some landscaping in your front yard, or just sitting on your front porch reading the newspaper is a great way to start some conversation with the neighbors passing by.

If your feeling really motivated, you can go for a walk and take the time out to talk to the other neighbors as your passing by.

Goodyear Neighborhood meetings are a great way to not only meet people but also allows you to get engaged with your community.  Most local Home Owners Associations have meetings every three months.

Yard sales are another great way to lure out your neighbors and have some fun.  You could contact them ahead of time and see if they may be interested in participating.

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We’ve all heard the stories. Buy a home in Buckeye for $90,000, $80,000, even $70,000! How easy is it? Well, that all depends. Usually cash offers for homes in Sundance always trumps any other type of offer. If you’re financing, that’s OK too. We just need to be conscious of the condition of the house. A house with a missing kitchen or other damage will most likely not appraise.

There are many types of homes on the market in Sundance including bank foreclosures, HUD homes and short sales. Occasionally you will see a “regular” equity sale, but very rarely. Homes under $100,000 are abundant in Sundance, but it can be tricky to get a really good one in good condition. The best homes at the best price always go first. I usually encourage my clients to look at homes that have been on the market 10 days or less. If a home priced under $100,000 sits for more then 10-14 days, it usually either has multiple offers on it, or it is completely trashed. A word of caution. The chances that there will be multiple offers are very high. It only makes sense that a lot of folks want homes that are priced for less than the building materials would cost. Sometimes, clients also have to put in multiple offers in order to land a great property. Our paperless system ensures that we can write up and submit an offer for you in a matter of minutes. No faxing paperwork back and forth just to submit an offer. It’s somewhat of a numbers game. I’ve seen clients bid $10,000 over for one of these homes & still not get it. I’ve also seen clients bid $5,000 under for a house and get it. There is no logic behind what these banks are doing. I think it depends on what type of month they are having and what their cash flow position is.

Foreclosures usually close within 30 days on a financing deal, and 2-3 weeks on a cash offer. When bidding on short sales however, be prepared to wait 3-6 months to get an answer back from the bank. You can pick up just as good as a deal on a foreclosure as you can on a short sale, without playing the waiting game. On a foreclosure, usually we know if we got the property 3-5 days after the bid is submitted.

Sundance is also in what’s called a “Community Facility District” or CFD. This basically means that there is an extra assessment on each house in Sundance for roads & infrastructure. This detail is often overlooked by agents who don’t know the area.

To get started in finding your perfect “steal” of a home, please visit our website at www.thekroneteam.com Simply go to the “Buyer” page & fill out the form at the bottom. One of our Buckeye Buyer’s Specialist will get right back with you & set up a time to meet.

http://www.thekroneteam.com

623-337-8277

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RED DAY 2010

The Krone Team participated on the Keller Williams annual Red Day event on May 13th. This event is held nationwide by Keller Williams Realty every year. This year we collected water bottles and sun tan lotion for heat relief at Sports Chalet in Goodyear. This heat relief isn’t only for homeless, but also crime victims and children of trauma. The event was a huge success! We collect over 20 cases of water as well as a lot of suntan lotion. A big thanks goes out to everyone who donated & participated. It was a great way to give back to our Goodyear & Buckeye real estate community!

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Check it out when you have time.

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I often get the, “Where is the best place to buy real estate in Goodyear Arizona” question from buyers considering a move to Arizona. That is a very general question that is best answered by another question, “What factors are most important to you? ” There are a number of factors that determine a great place to live. Most important on many people’s list are: crime rates, school rankings, subdivision rules and regulations, tax assessments, and potential resale value. There are many resources on the web with hard numbers and statistics for many of these questions. However, nothing can replace the experience and knowledge of a professional real estate agent. Every Buyer Specialist on the Krone Team calls the West Valley home and has extensive knowledge on all of these questions.

If you would like to do some research before contacting us, here are a few sites with information on the first factor above – crime statistics.

For information on crime and a number of different statistics such as school rankings, cost of living, and occupational outlook  click here http://www.cityrating.com/crimestatistics.asp .

Another resource for crime statistics is http://www.bestplaces.net/city/Goodyear-Arizona.aspx#

Finally http://www.homesurfer.com/crimereports/view/crime_report.cfm?state=AZ&area=Goodyear also includes statistics on the Goodyear economy and health quality.

Again, nothing compares to a one on one consultation with a professional Buyer Specialist. Please feel free to call, click, or come in if there is anything we can assist with. We are always available to help.

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    Whether your an avid fan or a first timer, there is nothing like sitting towards the bottom of turn four while forty three of the fastest cars in the business come flying around that corner straight at you going over 130 miles per hour.  Pick your favorite driver and have fun with all the other fans at Phoenix International Raceway.   It will be a great time and something different for the family!  Plan to get there early, it’s the biggest event that Avondale, AZ conducts throughout the year.

I’ll see you at the checkered flag! 

Please leave a reply or email Mike at:  mike@kroneteam.com

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If you’re reading this, you have found our brand new website. It’s packed with the latest features to help you in your home search or home selling process. The computer today has totally transformed the real estate industry. Clients now are doing half the work on the computer before they even meet with an agent. Sellers go to popular sites (I won’t mention which) and search their home’s value before even calling or emailing an agent. Buyers research areas & neighborhood prices before even heading out their front door. That’s why we believe it’s SO important to have a great website.

We’ve searched high and low for the best solution. We wanted a professional looking site, but one we could change and control. We got so tired of emailing our old webmaster, waiting 2 or 3 days for the changes, and then get billed $50 per hour for his trouble. It seemed like things we could do ourselves.

After calling many different companies and researching many different avenues, we ran across Israel Rothman with www.socialmediasystems.com He had a very unique and innovative idea. Why not build a great website, and then enable and empower the user to make changes & make it better themselves. It sounded like a perfect fit. I researched his system a little more, and found nothing but good things on the web about him and his service. Over the last 3 months he has taken the time to really understand what we want the website to do, and build around that. Now, 3 months later we are proud to introduce the very exciting and new www.thekroneteam.comWe hope you enjoy our new website. We’ve posted some videos through out the website, but we plan to do many more video including local area information and things to do, as well as delivering real estate market reports through video. Feel free to register on our site in order to give feedback to us. We want this site to be an interactive tool between us & our clients. Keep coming back because our website is only going to get better as we go along.

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photo credit: SearchNetMedia

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There has been a lot of questions lately about the new tax credit that just passed into law. Basically, there are two types of buyers who qualify.

1. $6500 is now available for buyers who have lived in their home for 5 years – That’s right, the government has now extended the credit to existing homeowners. Check it out here: http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/faq2.php

2. $8,000 is still available for the first time homebuyer – The first-time homebuyers credit has now been extended until April 30th. That’s right, $8,000 for buying a first home! Check it out here: http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/faq1.php

As always, I’m here to help with any real estate need!

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We get a lot of questions about the neighborhood of Sundance in Buckeye. Sundance is a well kept golf course community which sits right off the I-10 between Watson & Miller roads. The houses vary in size from around 1200 sq/ft to over 3,000 sq/ft. Right now you can get a screaming deal in this area. The reason being is that there was an onslaught of foreclosures in this area. Sundance was very over valued at one time, and it caused the prices to really fall rapidly.

There is one thing to watch out for when purchasing in Sundance. That is the CFD, or community facility district assessment. This is an assessment put on each home in order to pay for roads and infrastructure. There are two type of CFD’s in Sundance. There is the special assessment lien bond and the general obligation bond. The special assessment lien bond is billed directly to the homeowner twice a year. The general obligation bond is billed through taxes. Let us know if you have any specific questions on these special assessments.

The golf course at Sundance is well-maintained. They have a great golf club as well.

Contact The Krone Team today for more information on this great neighborhood!

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You’ve seen the news spots. You’ve read the newspaper. But what’s REALLY going on in our west valley market today? The name of the game right now is short sales. I ran an MLS search last night & currently short sales are outnumbering foreclosures 2 to 1 in Goodyear and Buckeye. This can be frustrating to some, and a non-issue to others. True, you can find an OUTSTANDING deal on a short sale….if you have time to wait.

The Waiting Game Currently banks are taking anywhere from 45 to 90 days to respond to an offer on a short sale. Once they have responded, closing is still 30-45 days out from that time. 45 to 90 days doesn’t seem like a lot of time when you first hear it, but when you’re waiting on an answer for possibly the largest purchase of your life, it can be an eternity. Short sales are definitely out for a first time homebuyer trying to get in on the government’s tax credit. For a person who already has a place to live in the meantime, it’s not a bad deal. We’ve come up with a formula that seems to be working. We are asking our buyer’s to put down $1000 earnest money into title when submitting an offer to the bank. This money is non-refundable for the first 70 days. This shows the bank that we are a serious buyer, and not just putting in offers left and right. It seems to be working. After the 70 days has expired the buyer has the option to get their earnest money back or continue to hang in there.
Release the hounds….no release the foreclosures! You may have heard rumors that banks are not releasing foreclosures until toward the end of the year. There is really no way to prove this one way or another. But judging by the short sale to foreclosure ratio mentioned above, one can only hope.

Bidding Wars I hear it all of the time. “I don’t want to get into a bidding war.” It is true that nobody wants to pay too much for a home. But with homes at a 50% reduction from 4 years ago, paying a couple of extra thousand to get the house you really want doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. Our market in Phoenix has always typically cycled every 2-4 years, so it’s only natural that prices will eventually go back up. And the couple of extra thousand a person paid to get into a home will be well worth it once the home appreciates possibly $10,000 or more. We’re seeing multiple offer situations on foreclosures. In a short sale the bank will typically only work one offer at a time, so this really doesn’t come into play.

What about sellers? Unfortunately sellers have to contend with foreclosures and other short sales on the market right now. Reasons homeowners are selling now are financial burden or job relocation. Unless you paid cash for your home or put down a very large down payment, you may have to do a short sale. We have short sale specialists on our team who are very knowledgeable about how to get these put through. Please call me for more information.

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The time to buy Goodyear real estate or Buckeye real estate has never been better. Interest rates are at an all time low, and home prices are following suite. Belive it or not, we’re starting to see multiple offers again and houses going for over the asking price. We’re still seeing a lot of foreclosures still coming on the market, but the demand is rising. This will eventually lead to the demand meeting the supply and will balance out our market. We believe we’re “skipping along the bottom” right now. Call The Krone Team today at 623-337-8277 to get started!

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