Greater Phoenix Area Real Estate Podcast with Rafael Almazan

What Are the Most Common Buyer Mistakes?

rafael@thealmazanteam.com (Rafael Almazan) — Fri, 25 Sep 2015 09:39:00 -0700

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Today we will be talking about some common mistakes that we often see buyers making. Hopefully, by alerting you to these potential downfalls, you can avoid them yourself when it comes time to buy. Here are the 5 most common mistakes we’ve been seeing:

1. Not getting pre-approved

Getting pre-approved by turning in all of your financial documents to a lender is essential. Without one, your offer won’t be as good in the seller’s eyes, and you really have no idea what kind of home you can actually afford. A pre-approval gives you a great view of your financial picture.

2. Bidding aggressively on the perfect home

If you find the perfect home, that is not the time to bid aggressively. If the home is in good condition and appears to be priced correctly, bid closer to that price. Look to your Realtor for pricing guidelines.

3. Not bidding on the perfect home when they have the chance

If you have the chance to make an offer on your dream home, do it. You’ve got 10 days to do your due diligence on the home to make sure it actually is the perfect one for you. If it’s not, oh well. At least by making an offer, you have a chance to get the home. If you don’t make the offer, you may miss out on it, which has happened to a lot of our clients.

4. Expecting the home to be perfect

Understand that the home is complex. People have lived in it and there is always going to be a little wear and tear on any home. Usually it’s nothing major, just little cosmetic things. If you’ve ever watched HGTV before, you know that cosmetic issues are easily fixed. The important thing is making sure the home is structurally sound.

5. Not understanding their mortgage

Sometimes buyers don’t realize how much money they actually need until the last minute. Unfortunately, most loan officers are in a hurry to take loan applications and don’t always make sure their customers understand everything about the transaction. A loan officer should go over the actual costs with you so you know exactly what you are going to have to have on hand as far as cash goes.

If you have any questions for us about this topic, or if you are thinking of buying a home yourself, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to speaking with you!

Are Phoenix Home Prices on the Move?

rafael@thealmazanteam.com (Rafael Almazan) — Wed, 2 Sep 2015 09:25:00 -0700

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full Home Search
Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation
Call us at (808) 426-7211 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation

Today we are here to discuss the current market conditions for the Phoenix area with you. Over the last 3 months, we have seen a trend of price increases in some more popular areas of town.

We are in a seller’s market, and there simply aren’t enough homes available for the buyers looking for homes. We do expect the number of homes on the market to increase soon because most of the sellers we have spoken with lately are just waiting for the weather to cool down a bit.

Our inventory is sitting at around a 2.4 month supply, where it’s been hovering throughout the year. If no new homes came on the market, we would sell all of our inventory off in 2.4 months.

Home owners looking to sell are still going to have plenty of buyers looking. As long as the home is priced correctly, buyers are savvy these days and will hold off on offers if a place is priced too high.

As for mortgage rates, they are holding steady at 4%, which is still historically low. This is giving plenty of buyers opportunities to purchase. A word of caution here, as the FED has announced they plan to increase rates after their September meeting. By how much, we do not know.

If you have any questions for us, feel free to reach out to us via phone or email. We look forward to hearing from you!

How Should You Deal With Multiple Offers in Phoenix?

rafael@thealmazanteam.com (Rafael Almazan) — Thu, 6 Aug 2015 11:28:00 -0700

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full Home Search
Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation
Call us at (808) 426-7211 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation

Today we are excited to talk about multiple offers, from both a buyer’s and a seller’s perspective. Currently, we are seeing a lot of multiple offer situations in the Phoenix area. Some of this is due to our inventory, which is extremely low at just 2.5 months.

When you are buying and looking to make the best offer possible on a home, offering the most money may seem like the only way to go. While it’s true that a higher figure will get your offer more attention, it’s the terms and details where an offer is really decided. Things like closing dates and inspections all need to be figured out by the buyer to see what will make the deal work.

Cash can or cannot be king, depending on whether you are a buyer or not. If you are a buyer, obviously you want to emphasize the fact that you have a cash offer and can close quickly, without any lender contingencies. As a seller, you sometimes have to look past a cash offer to look at the terms. The key is to talk to the seller’s agent to find out what they want in the contract and what’s important to them.

We do recommend writing a personal letter to the seller. As a listing agent, we have received multiple offers plenty times before, and sometimes all it takes is that little extra push to get your offer accepted.

You may remember a time when rates were around 7 or 8%. Right now, we are more in the 3-4% range, making homes more affordable than ever. Before you start looking for a home, though it’s important for you to get pre-approved by a reputable lender.

If you have any questions for us, we would be more than happy to answer them. Just give us a call or send us an email!

Greater Phoenix Area Market Update

rafael@thealmazanteam.com (Rafael Almazan) — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 14:10:00 -0700

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full Home Search
Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation
Call us at (808) 426-7211 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation

If you're curious about what's happening in the Phoenix area market, you've come to the right place!

Although market conditions are dependent on the area you live in, it looks like a seller's market here in Phoenix. The inventory of available homes is only at 2.2 months, which means if no homes come onto the market, we'll sell every home in our market in a little over two months. Given that we have such a tight inventory right now, you can expect a slight rise in home prices moving forward. On the other hand, rates are still very low, so buying a home is still very affordable.

For buyers, it's important to take advantage of your increased purchasing power while rates are low. If you're looking to sell, now is the time to get a great value for your home and sell quickly!

If you have any questions about current market conditions, or if you would like real estate assistance of any kind, give us a call or shoot us a quick email. We would love to help make your real estate dreams a reality!