My Slice of Heaven Returns...

When I last left you I had threatened to head out for a fishing weekend. Well, my good friend fell ill on Friday night and canceled on me. He is going to be alright and there will be other weekends to snag a few fish so no worries.

With my fishing trip canceled it offered me the opportunity to head on down to Lake Havasu City on Saturday for the grand opening of a new facility to enjoy the recreation of hockey. The photos below are of the new digs. Some work still needs to be done but I am a mere few weeks away from returning to play the game that I love so dearly.

You won't find me in any of the pic's, but I did suit up as a goaltender (I was the only such person geared up for the job) and managed a few spurts of effort. I have not played since the last facility was closed down in May of 2005. Since then I've packed on about 20 pounds and barely fit into my equipment.

There were players of all ages that came out on Saturday to enjoy the new rink. There was never an organized effort to play a game because of the wide variance of age and skill, it was mostly just a time to skate around and shoot some pucks. Each time I headed out to hone my craft as a goalie most of the skaters took pleasure in showing off their slap-shots and wanna-be Wayne Gretzky moves. After nearly two years without playing experience many skaters probably felt a lot of confidence. Well once I get back into the swing of things I'll be sure to shut down the opposition like I used to be able to do (I took notes of who was scoring at will while I could barely breathe from exhaustion after about 30 or 40 shots.

I also managed to play goal for a group of kids probably in the 11 to 13 years old age group towards the end of the afternoon. They played a half-rink game and gave me their best shots... and scored some goals.

Adult leagues look to get started up again in a couple of weeks on Wednesday nights. If you are in the area and want a few laughs come out and see me. The rink is located at Sara Park and I hope to see you there.

My good friend Bill Beckman teaching his daughter how to skate.

This is where you'd find me if I wasn't trying to catch my breath on this fine day.

Photo of the floor (still needs to be sealed) and some play action. The kids are pretty good.

More play action, notice the goalie on the other side... he lasted all day but he also was velcro strapped to the pipes. Word is he was tougher to score on than I was.

REALTOR Day at the State Capitol..

Here are a few photo's from my visit to Phoenix yesterday for REALTOR Day at the Capitol.

Random photo of the setting

Our fearless leader of our local Association Rita Zumwalt and our President-Elect Becky Morgan.

Here is a state Senator receiving an award for protecting private property rights.

Photo of state capitol building.

Had lots of fun yesterday, I might have a roundup of events in a couple of days.

Today I'm monitoring a GRI class (all day), and hope to get out on the lake for some fishing this weekend. Hope to see you all well and soon.

At City Council last night...

There was an informal presentation made by the owners of about 200 acres of property right smack dab on the spot where the proposed Kingman Crossing interchange along Interstate 40 might go (hopefully in the very near future). Representatives from Vestar Development and Vanderbilt Farms introduced themselves to the council at 5:00pm before the scheduled city council meeting starting at 6:00pm.

Neither representative offered any specific developed plans to the public or the council, it was more of an introductory affair. The guests stated what their vision is for their property if the city manages to get the go ahead to build the new interchange. It would be a large commercial project for retail, business, dining and entertainment complex to the eventual tune of nearly 900,000 square feet of space.

David Larcher of Vestar did most of the presentation and answered a some questions from the council. The firms own about 200 acres on the north side of Interstate 40 and plan a multi-phase commercial development that could include retail offerings such as Costco or Sam's, a Target and Lowes type of store, plenty of dining, business office suites, and maybe even a multi-plex theater. <---- OH NELLY!!

I was mildly surprised by the anti-growth council members, including the mayor, for some of the things they shared. Surprised in a good way. I think they must see the value of a project like this coming our way. Of course they made sure to let these firms know that the city was dead broke and wouldn't be able to add one cent to the project and other things along those lines.

Councilman Deering tried to get a gauge on how long Vestar and Vanderbilt Farms would be willing to wait before they could get a start on this project, hoping (I'm sure) to hear them say that if the city didn't get the interchange done in some amount of time then the project would be kaput. Councilwoman Watson asked how big of an undertaking this particular situation would be as compared to the many other projects these firms have dealt with in the past. I don't know her real reaction when Mr. Larcher said (paraphrasing) that he has never been involved in an easy deal where a municipality fronts all the money and otherwise rolls out all the red carpet they could... but he is always looking for such a project (I laughed). Larcher also implied that the challenges that lie ahead for this project are not any more difficult than in most other project he has been involved in.

Once the presentation was complete, Beverly Liles from the Kingman Chamber of Commerce reported findings from a poll taken of chamber members to the council. There were four questions posed to the members that basically asked the opinion on such a project coming to the Kingman area. She reported that the solid majority of other business owners in the Kingman area that responded to the survey were in support of the entire undertaking. I think that 99% of the respondents wished to have the city see to it that the interchange be built. I'm hoping that some of this comes out in the media over the next few days and I'll link back to it (if they bother with these pro-growth facts at all).

I will be offering more information on the Kingman Crossing Interchange as it becomes available. This is simply the highest priority that faces the growing city today. The interchange will bring all kinds of opportunity to Kingman (and it will even create tax revenue for our dead beat broke city).

What a few Members are saying about WARDEX

All right boys and girls, how about a little insight into what is on the minds of the Members of WARDEX -- the newly formed regional data exchange (formerly known as MLS). I'm about to let you in on what the outside world cannot see. The new program that manages the data exchange has a small bulletin board where brokers and agents can post such information as price reductions, open house info, wants and needs related to clients... and as you will see is also being used to disparage the system itself. I'm removing the names of agents that may be included and any other product name mentioned... but I'm leaving the spelling and grammar.

Here we go...

We need to do something we as agents pay for the MLS and we are the ones loosing money. Someone start a petition and fax to all offices for signatures. I HATE WARDEX!!!!! Post a bullition if you agree!

Personally, I have had my own trial and tribulations with the new system. However I'm finding more and more of the time the troubles I experience are user error. When I've had the chance to sit down and mess with the system (one that allows for plenty of customization), I've come out actually impressed with the features.

Has anyone mentioned lately how much they hate this lousy system? How about loading pictures 43 trillion times before it works?

I'll admit that the way the system manages photo uploading is less than desirable. If I upload a photo right now, it is likely not to appear for at least 15 minutes to an hour. Some Members have told me that it is impossible to upload multiple photos at the same time. I haven't had the same problem but I suspect it is a real problem and the vendor needs to fix it.

If you hate Wardex TELL YOUR BOARD!!! Post a I hate wardex bulletin!!!

Tell the Board?? That would be a first. Every month there is an open meeting and last month was the first time we had attendance by any other Member than those who make up the Board of Directors. How about getting involved yourselves?? There are nine of us on the Board that are doing the heavy lifting... on a volunteer basis. You really want to know who is losing money?? Show up at a meeting and let your voices be heard, quit playing tough guy from behind your keyboard.

This program is NOT user frienly. Kicks you out in the middle of the continious listing input and ask you to log in again!!!There is no such thing as "Quick" anything when you are in a hurry to help a client.

Haven't seen this one myself. But when the program was logging me off back in late October I came to find out that my browser wasn't 'optimized' -- whatever that means. Since that time I ran the diagnostics that optimized the browser and since haven't been logged off. Just sayin'.

Quit being SILENT if you hate Wardex. There must be SOMETHING we can do..... COMPLAIN, KICK & BITE - WE WANT THE (old vendor) MLS WE USED TO HAVE!!!!

Kick and bite?? Are we being physically threatened?? It has been said that I've shown that I have thick skin over the past year and a half since I've been working on this project... looks like I may actually need that thick skin.

I agree with _______'s and ________'s remarks concerning (the new vendor) and I totally agree with them. Is there any interest out there to call a membership meeting and take a vote to cancel it? We never realized how good we had it with (the old vendor).

I'll say it again, there are some challenges that remain with our new system. Some of it is on the new vendor, some of it is on what the Board of Directors settled on for the new data fields... and plenty of it is on each and every Member that puts in crappy data that is rendered practically unusable by the new system. Also keep in mind that we merged three different sets of data with three different set of rules into one new system. Many that I've talked to in data management said that conversions like this are never pretty, and from what I've seen nothing that we've done would appear in a sports magazine swimsuit edition.

I agree! Lets go back to the old MLS. Worked just fine for me. Worked great in the car. WE PAY WE SHOULD HAVE A SAY!!! Or just email out your buyers and details (to agents)and who ever has matching properties can respond until this is fixed. nOt

Who says you do not have a say?? And you are right -- you do pay. For this I can be sure, for what you have to say you surely will pay a much higher cost in order to cancel our existing contract and go back or settle on any other system. It also will likely cost some other Member plenty of business as well (as I know all too well), since it won't be me freely giving of my time to head back to the drawing board.

And also to be totally factual here, none of the Members of my local Association have paid one cent towards the cost of the new system. The annual bill does not get sent out until some time in April and is not due until the end of May of this year. This fact may not apply to Members of the other local Boards.

Now all I can offer to the wise and most humble of Members (sarcasm here) that took the time to utilize the bulletin board to complain about WARDEX is that much of what is written is already known and fellow Members are making every effort to correct the inefficiencies of the system... on a purely voluntary basis. Any offer to help by any other Member would gladly be appreciated by those that have been working to produce a reliable program for over a year now.

Keep in mind that while the three local Associations own WARDEX, it is actually controlled by the broker-Members. An agent that is having difficulty may want to see his or her broker and ask that the broker do something about the problems they may be facing.

As stated earlier, each time I use the new system I get a little better with it, it becomes more comfortable. I believe that I'll be checking out the next offering of training just to get some more tips to help my progress along.

To my clients and any potential clients... I know the new system well enough and am capable of correctly listing your property on the data exchange in a manner that is easily search able, even for these other Members that haven't quite grasped basic computer skills. You may want to ask your prospective agent or broker how well they utilize the new system before signing that six-month listing agreement.

Mohave County gets 'A' rating...

See the article here from the Mohave Daily News.

This is good news and should help pave the way toward more prosperity county wide.

Follow up to last week...

Last week I asked for help with a situation that I encountered for the first time in this business. Read here.

I just want to say thanks for all those that commented on the post or emailed. Thanks for all the heart felt feelings and great advice.

I'm not going to divulge details of everything out of respect for the family, but the situation is being handled in a proper fashion and I feel as positive as I can about all of this. I still miss the client that passed as he was great to work with and I'm going to see to it that everything possible will be done to finish what I started for him.

Thanks again to all.

Todd Tarson.... you're fired!!

It happens occasionally, and I expect it to happen a bit more perhaps with the slowing local housing market. I was 'fired' or replaced as a listing agent yesterday for a property I have been marketing since last summer.

Last year I had many other out of the normal activities that caused me to lose some focus on my business at hand (helping buyers and sellers transfer property from one party to another). It is not a valid excuse for some of the business that I took on, but my decision making wasn't the very best at times last year.

I took on a client that happened to walk in during my assigned 'floor duty' (floor duty is where I cover the office for any walk in or call in unrepresented potential clients). They had an older home on the side of a hill overlooking the city and an incredible view of the Hualapai Mountains. They came to me with about a week before they were to head to another state for the summer months. Their home was listed with another broker and their agreement had expired.

When it came time to discuss the asking price I did manage to get the clients to reduce their already high asking price to a different level of a high asking price. The clients were nice people and I did show them all the available comparisons of recently sold homes in the price range they demanded. All of those comparisons were for newer homes with many upgrades and more modern features. I showed the clients what they would be competing against at the price they wanted for the home and it was much the same as the sold comparison list.

Looking back I had no business taking on these clients, but they seemed in a rush to simply have their property on the market before they headed out of town. All of their belongings were packed up and they were going to leave shortly after signing all the listing docs. I did track the showings that were made, and there were probably about 4 a month. When I followed up with the other agents that showed the property the feedback was always the price was way too high according to their buying clients and that those clients settled on a newer property with more modern features at lower prices even.

To make matters worse, when the winter season came my clients left the state they lived in for the summer and headed to a warmer climate... and never gave me any contact information so I had no way to get in touch with them.

Yesterday, finally, they showed up at my office and demanded the keys to their home and let me know that they would be hiring another broker that would support an even higher asking price.

It finally felt good to be fired for a change.

These sellers have unrealistic expectations even with all the factual data that I had shared with them while I was in contact with them.

Allen Butler over at Bloodhound has a funny article about some of today's sellers. I thought the timing of his article was dandy with my recent events with my former clients. Mr. Butlers article should be a Carnival of Real Estate winner next week.

More for sellers...

I'm linking to Greg from BloodhoundBlog for his article that is seller-centric. It's good stuff.

Read right here.

I think this goes well with my sales report for January posted earlier.

Internet Marketing...

Since I started reading real estate blogs I've become interested in marketing my listings on the Internet. It is a harder task that I originally thought it would be. I still believe in the value of such attempts yet continue to run into some road blocks.

I'm simply not technically savvy enough at this point to make sure everything is done properly.

Please check out this discussion going on over at the Rain City Guide. Robbie is one of the contributors that I like to read because of his technical angle. He loses me sometimes, but when I get a few moments I check out what he has linked to in an effort to figure things out. Enjoy.

January Sales Report (2007)

Oh boy, the numbers for the Kingman market this last month are sobering. I hope it is just a hiccup. As always please read the disclaimer...

Disclaimer... all data compiled for this report comes from the WARDEX Data Exchange and does not include any sales activity from outside that resource. All research is done only on single family homes and there is no inclusion of modular homes, commercial properties, or vacant land. The geographical area researched includes; all areas within the boundaries of the city of Kingman, north Kingman, the Hualapai Mountain area, and the Valle Vista subdivisions. Click here to see maps of the included area's.

The only good news for a couple of my charts is that now I have compiled enough monthly data to use the last thirteen months of records to look back on for these reports. That means next month the first two charts you will see posted here will go back to February of 2006.

January was a very soft month for sales of single family homes (SFR's) in Kingman. However it was a very busy month for new listings as you will see. January looks very much like the months of June, July, and August of 2006. Perhaps the one saving grace is that there were more homes that entered contract in January than closed (but not by much 43 entered contract, while 40 units closed).

Click on chart for larger view...



112 more new listings than closed transactions is not a healthy indicator at all, but here is an even crazier set of stats... the average asking price rose a little over $9,000 while the closed transaction dropped over $12,000 from the previous month. In other words sellers continue to speak a different language than buyers.

The buyers I have been working with recently still do not feel any pressure to make an offer today. Instead they continue to search for the best priced property. Buyer can normally find up to five acceptable homes (minimum) on the current market and negotiate against each seller for the most favorable deal for the buyer. If the trends in these charts continues I see buyers with even more power and less chance for a balanced market.

Click on chart for larger view...



The following charts simply show where 2007 starts compared to the last three years. No need for further explanation and I will keep the data from the last three years on these charts until next year where I will drop 2004.

Click on charts for larger views...





Potential buyers, feel free to use these charts in your negotiations for this local market.

Potential sellers, pay particular attention to the average sale price in the coming months and adjust accordingly.

See you next month.

The Night on the Red Carpet...

Our Association held the annual awards banquet last night at the River Palms Hotel/Casino in Laughlin Nevada. Our Association has outgrown any one place in Kingman to hold such an event so the last two years we've been heading to Laughlin for these events. Bright lights, blackjack tables, and cocktail waitresses... oh my!!

It is tradition that this event is hosted by the outgoing Association president, which just happened to be me. I never knew how much time and effort went into planning such an event and now that it is all over I can tell you with a straight face that this is not something I'll be doing again anytime in the near to distant future.

I think it was a smashing time highlighted by a couple of events. First for the awards, I made it very apparent to everyone that the featured awards were going to those Members that gave of their time and effort to the Association at the expense of possible production of business. Of those awarded winners two really stood out from the rest and they were Sofia White and Wayne Wissenger.

Sofia was awarded the Affiliate Appreciation Award by the local Affiliated Members of the Association (think lenders, title companies, etc.). She was visibly moved by the recognition. I also awarded her with the first Rising Star award given to a newer Member that has always been willing to step up and be involved in Association matters. I think Sofia is in her second year of real estate and she has already Chaired the education committee, organized the Realtor picnic last year, and now has been elected to the Board of Directors. She also managed to qualify for a production award even with all the extra time she has given of herself to better the Membership.

Wayne was awarded with two awards. The first was the Presidents Award, another award that I basically created for our Association. I awarded it to him and it was an easy decision because of the high hundreds and perhaps thousands of hours he has put in helping Members throughout last year with our old MLS system and our new Data Exchange program that is hardly a finished product. Wayne runs a firm full of agents and could have easily just helped his own agents, but he stepped up and offered the same kinds of help to any agent and office. Frankly this was an easy decision and I doubt that anyone in our Association would argue that no one was more deserving of such recognition.

We also awarded a REALTOR of the Year for the first time in many years. I received 4 nominees for this one. I privately showed the nomination letters to some 20 plus brokers, agents, and affiliates. All four nominees were deserving but it became apparent towards the end of my search for counsel that the winner would again be Wayne Wissenger for this award.

The other highlight was our special 'guest star' that we had perform right before the awards were to be handed out. It is a shame that there is no video record of the performance. The property manager at my office has an alter ego named 'Irma Goldstien'. You'd really have to see it to appreciate it, but Irma had her chance to have some fun at many Members expense. Off color humor for sure at times, but all in good fun. It had been a few years since the last time the Association invited Irma to speak so she did have plenty to say. She brought the house down on many occasions. I will be 'efforting' to find some pictures of Irma to share with you.

I was basically stressed the entire day getting everything set up. So stressed that I realized I forgot things like my dress shoes, belt, and tie that was in my overnight bag that I left at home. With no time to head back to Kingman I had to power-shop in fast fashion at the local mall for those items. I managed to get my act together just in time for the beginning of the event. Now that everything is all over and I reflect on the event it was a great time. If you asked me what I thought last night I wouldn't have said so. The stress level is back to normal though.

In some weird and sad way, hosting that event was my last official duty as president of the Association. I've promised our new president that I would write some memoirs to share with her so she has a better understanding of what to expect throughout this year.

I'd also like to thank the Association for the gifts I was presented as a token of appreciation. The gifts were golf related and Crown Royal related, two things that I can enjoy more now that I'm not the man in charge.

Bad news today...

In my young career I've dealt with many unique situations when representing buyers and sellers. Today I was informed that one of my listing clients passed away suddenly. This is the first time I'm dealing with this type of situation, so any advice you might want to pass along could be helpful.

My client owns a truly nice home in an exclusive part of the area. He and his wife have been separated and to this point the only dealings I've had with my clients wife were on the phone. I am meeting with her for the first time tomorrow.

Again, if any of you have had to deal with this kind of thing before, please comment... I'd appreciate it.

Annual Sales Report (2006)

Gee, I'm finally getting to this in the second week of the second month of 2007. I have a series of three charts that I'm going to share with you with comments on each.

First the disclaimer...

Disclaimer... all data compiled for this report comes from the WARDEX Data Exchange and does not include any sales activity from outside that resource. All research is done only on single family homes and there is no inclusion of modular homes, commercial properties, or vacant land. The geographical area researched includes; all areas within the boundaries of the city of Kingman, north Kingman, the Hualapai Mountain area, and the Valle Vista subdivisions. Click here to see maps of the included area's.

As you will see below, a lesser number of SFR's sold in my research area than in the previous two years... yet sellers still managed to squeeze out a better average sale than in those years. The gain slowed somewhat but I was still surprised at the final number.

Here are the average sales price figures for the last three years...


As you can see the average sales price jumped up 17.4% from the previous year. If you compare the average value in 2004 to 2006 you will see a 52.6% gain. Wow...

Here is a look at the units sold...




Whoopsie... we lost 32% of the buyers we had in 2005 over the course of 2006. Gone are the great many of investor class buyers that we saw in 2004 and 2005. Gone also are the ultra liberal lending practices and the record low interest rates. Unfortunately I think the local buyers are now feeling the price pressure enough to stay out of the buying market until either prices start to come down to their level or until they can earn more money to afford a home at these prices.

Plenty of new residents move into the area all the time, but not enough to equal the kind of pressure on the market that we saw during the hot sellers market of 2004 and 2005. Clearly this is a buyers market and seller must do more to attract whatever buyers there may be out there lurking to buy a home. It is almost a broken record at this point since I've been saying much of the same things in my monthly sales reports.

Here is a look at the total dollar volume comparison...


In 2006 the total dollar volume dropped approximately 20% from the year before. I can confidently say that there are more SFR's in my research area today than there were in previous years because of many newly constructed homes. There are simply less sales and I believe that the current price point is the main culprit.

Storm clouds on the horizon unless some improvements are made to infrastructure around these parts. Making Kingman a convenient community would certainly help weather this storm that I am thinking of. I believe that people would rather pass on a home in a certain area of town because of the time it takes today to get to and from the neighborhood they would like to live in. This is one reason I believe the Kingman Crossing Interchange is vital to this community. It would open up different areas that would lead to more demand for property because of convenience.

Right now there aren't that many places in Kingman where someone would say, "I have to live there," where ever there is. We are not giving buyers an incentive to make a move on property and homes, so the buyers are responding by either not buying or settling on the lowest possible price. Settling on low prices or not buying bodes ill on a growing community like Kingman.

I don't like to make predictions but if I was pressed on a guess, if prices continue to go up less homes will sell. And if there are no real improvements made by the city then values will drop.

I'd prefer to see values hold steady and the sold units in 2007 gain on the 2005 number.

See you next year!!

Now for something completely different...

I'll admit it, I channel surf when I'm in front of the TV. This last week my darling wife was visiting the kids in New Mexico and left me behind. The remote was totally mine.

Honestly, the remote is mine most of the time but when the lovely wife is at home with me I usually will forfeit the remote to her. Why?? Because if I watched what I wanted all the time I'd never see her at home. Our TV viewing tastes are different, in my case I give up the remote because I know another sporting event will be on the next day... it has become no big deal. NFL football on Sunday's are the exception though and she does not even challenge me, but this is why I'm willing to yield the remote to her on nights when we are both home.

While my better half was gone I ran into a program on one of the movie channels. I just absolutely love this particular series of films. I even DVR'ed one about two months back that I'll check on when I can't find anything else on to waste my time. The films?? Warren Millers ski and snow board movies.

I lived in Sparks Nevada in my school years and into my early 20's before moving south to Las Vegas. During this time I did take full advantage of what was in my backyard, in every Truckee Meadows citizens backyard... Lake Tahoe in the winter. Specifically the endless slopes with plenty of the soft white frozen water on them. Now I was never a 'ski bum', nor could I be considered a great skier ever once in my life. Oh... but the freedom on those hills that one feels is not just for the extreme skier, the ski patrol, or the snow bunnies... it is there for everyone.

I didn't realize how much I missed that feeling until I started coming across these Warren Miller films on some movie channel.

Way back in the day I did attend original showings of these films when Warren Miller came to Reno as part of his tour. I can still hear the ooooo's and the ahhh's, the laughs, and the applause for those skiers featured in the show. Not only that, but the locations were always marvelous. When I watched these films I've felt as if I was on the mountain myself in far away locations. It is easy to get lost in the moment while taking in these movies. The locations are amazing, the skiers do things I'd never try, and the music helps tie it all together... as well as Mr. Millers narration.

Because of my renewed interest in his films, I started to do some searching on the Internet about Warren Miller. I've come to find out that he is no longer associated with the films since 2004. Apparently the rights to the films were sold, which he had every right to do. I have not come across the 2005 or 2006 show as of yet but it is my understanding that the new filmmakers still use Mr. Millers narration, but they take the narration from past films.

I also have found a website for the Warren Miller Company. On it he has set up a foundation that promotes entrepreneurship to young people. I don't like to opine about too many things outside of real estate related issues, but this foundation I support 100%. I've become an even bigger fan of Warren Miller since reading up on his site.

If you have the time, rent or buy his movies titled 'Journey' and 'Impact' as they are truly amazing works. If you watch 'Journey' pay particular attention towards the end of the man that jumps out of a helicopter... I've seen it some 100 times plus... and I'm still in awe.

Thank you Warren Miller for all of your films. You have become an inspiration to me and I hope your foundation inspires many younger people to follow in your footsteps in some form.

Hey Todd, you have a blog.... use it

I realize I've been lax lately keeping this thing going.

I've been spending extra time with clients and there was this little football game last weekend to watch. I'm also in the final days of putting together the annual awards banquet for the Association (never again, and I mean never!!).

I did buy a new digital camera over the weekend for photos of listings. This is the camera I bought. I love the wide angle effect, especially when I'm taking interior photos. I'll post some of the photos in a later post. I'll be heading back out to current my current listings to redo interior photos. I highly recommend a wide angle view. The camera I bought cost $200 (plus $20 for a memory card).

Below is a comparison photo of my office to the one on the previous post. This camera makes my office look a bit bigger. (Notice that I've cleared off some debris from my desk, a small miracle)

Blogger is difficult today...

I think the fine folks at Google are having issues with their Blogger arm of the company today. That is alright because as you can see...


My desk is a mess and there is more than enough for me to stay busy with. Just a note, the desk was clean and organized on Monday of this week. This is what happens when you are in the middle of working with clients, planning the annual Association banquet, blogging, and getting ready for an arbitration hearing panel today in Lake Havasu City.

I'll probably be out most of the day, but as long as Blogger allows you access to this site feel free to add to the conversation.

See you soon.

January listings report (2007)

Wow, that first month of the year really flew by. I blame my perception of how quickly January came and went on the NFL football playoffs, especially while my team was in it (the first two weeks). Now it is time for the Big Game this Sunday (I have no dog in the hunt, but I'd like to see the Colts win so that their QB gets the proverbial monkey off his back, man I'm fed up with all kinds of media these days... including the sports media) .

Now is also the time for the monthly listings report. Let us see what lessons the sellers have learned from last year.

Disclaimer: All data is compiled from the Data Exchange that I am a paying member of (WARDEX). All data is considered reliable but not guaranteed.

Listings:

Today total listings available for single family residence equals 679 (up from 634 on January 1). Looks like some extra sellers were waiting for the new year to hit so they could enter the market, I wish the number didn't climb as high as it did.

There were 152 new listings for the month of January (105 in December 2006). 11 homes have entered contract of these new listings, but none of these have closed yet. The average asking price for these new listings is $236,404 (that's up from $227,322 last month). The median asking price is $216,400 (not much change from $215,000 the previous month). Well I'll have some comments about this in the conclusion section below.

Units under contract:

43 homes entered into contracts in the month of January (up from 30 the previous month). The average asking price for homes that received contracts was $195,985 (down from $202,373 last month) and the median asking price for January was $189,900 (up from last months $180,500 figure).

Conclusions:

As far as new listing go, I was seeing some nice positives in the last quarter of last year. Total numbers of listings were falling and the number of new listings was also falling. I was hoping that trend would continue into the new year. Well that didn't happen.

Let's take a look at the 11 new listings from January that already are under contract in less than 30 days. The average price of those listings is $184,216 and the median is $189,900. Compare these numbers to the average and median prices for the all of the new listings last month.

There were 28 new listings that hit the market between $300k and $479k last month and 13 of them are priced at $160 a square foot or lower. To me that is the sweet spot based on all of the pending information I have looked at. Which tells me that just a little more than half of the new listings are overpriced for this market. Folks, it is simply not a sellers market.

I'm not saying that everyone should lower their prices, but I think sellers need to be more aware of the price point that is actually attracting buyers in today's market.

The total amount of pending transactions are up from last month, but I'm not tracking any significant closed transaction increases (report on that later this month). I fear that those sellers in the market may be heading for some of the same mistakes as last year. I guess we will have to stay tuned in the coming months to see if this was just a hiccup because of the new year.

Overall, bad news for new sellers on the market unless they are priced in the sweet spot of $120 to $160 a square foot in general.

See you all again next month...

uh... say again??

Hmm... I'm leaving names out because I have no bone to pick with any particular person, but a recent article in local news rag (sorry no link available -- Hey Kingman Daily Miner step into the age of the Internet will ya??) had a very interesting passage about the reason for the local real estate market has softened. It follows...

It was the flood of inexperienced Realtors, (this person) said, who caused the market to drop. When the influx of people started to slow, Realtors urged sellers to lower asking prices.

Whoah. The gal to the right would say the following... WHAT - WHAT -WHAT!! (Southpark TV show reference).

I've not really seen this reason given before by someone in the real estate business. Seen something very similar on many real estate bubble blogs (where pretty much anything bad that has happened in the world will likely be blamed on Realtors in general... not just inexperienced Realtors).

Kingman is a smallish town, the local fish rag is popular, and people talk about what is written in that fish rag like it is gospel (for some outrageous reason). In my view the local rag hates anything growth related, and over the years it is my perception that if the local rag can shine negative light on anything Realtor related -- they will. Which is why I'm giving a liberal benefit of the doubt to the fellow Realtor that was interviewed in the article.

Still it remains that this article was published and it is being talked about throughout town right now (I've taken multiple phone calls from fellow Realtors AND from others who are not in any way shape or form in the real estate business). So I'm going to break it down my way.

First... what is an inexperienced Realtor?? Last year I finished my fifth year as a Realtor. I think of myself as experienced enough to not be called inexperienced by now. However my perceptions may be tricky on this because of my involvement over the years in various forms of Association leadership, both local and state. I find myself surrounded at all kinds of Association meetings by fellow Members who have been in the biz for 10, 20, and even 30 years or more. I don't pretend to put myself up there with the likes of those folks... so I often feel inexperienced when I am in the presence of greatness.

Getting back to it though, so I'm in my sixth year... and do consider myself an experienced real estate agent. At this time of year our own Association is gearing up for our annual awards banquet and I just happen to be in charge of all things related to this event. We give out top production awards to Members... and I have the list... and five of the top ten producers are Realtors with less experience than I have. Are these the inexperienced Realtors that caused the market to drop??

Of course not is the answer. Neither are the great many other Realtors that are newer to the same profession that I have more experience than. I think the correct reasons to the market change have been well documented throughout this blog. Heck I started the blog while the scales were tipping at full tilt away from the white hot market. I've provided plenty of monthly listing and sales reports for any and all to see (including the media folks at the local fish rag... in fact they used my charts a couple of months ago [with permission]).

It is true that the majority of the total Membership of our local Association is 'inexperienced'... meaning most of them have less time in this biz than I have. When I started there were just over 100 Members in the Association, now there are over 450 (the number was as high as 530 late last year). The Kingman area is growing rather rapidly and business was incredibly brisk over the years since I began as a Realtor. Generally people flock to where the opportunities are, and the opportunities certainly were there... and I believe they still are there in many ways. The market will 'thin the heard' if need be.

Blame is a sign of weakness in my opinion. There is no need to place blame on any one person or group of people for the market change... certainly not Realtors, 'inexperienced' or otherwise. I can guarantee that if nobody ever thought up the idea of paying for the service of representing human beings' interest in a real estate transaction... thereby no such thing as a Realtor... the market would have changed anyway.

I express shame towards the quote from the newspaper above. Not towards the fellow Member that may have said it or the journalist that may have manipulated it... I'm leaving people out of it... the shame is simply for the quote.

Hoover Dam Bypass completion delayed..

Do you want to know how I feel about this??

Click here.

Things to consider interviewing Realtors

I belong to a message board community that mostly has discussions revolving around my favorite NHL hockey team. I've been posting on message boards like these since I first started using the Internet many years ago. Each member usually becomes goes by a 'handle' rather than using our own names.

Through the endless debates about the merits of coaches, players, general managers of the my favorite hockey team, discussion can lead to other subjects such as politics, personal interest (off topic discussions), and other weird things. Through the thousands of posts that I've written and probably the hundreds of thousands I've read over the years it becomes easy to get to know some of these fellow members even though I've never actually met them. Over the years I have let it slip that I am in the real estate biz when off topic discussion have arose on the real estate subject.

Today I received the following private message from a fellow discussion forum member.

We're interviewing Realtors over the next couple of days to sell our house. Any advice on questions we should ask?

I have answered this members request for information. It was a lengthy response and I figured it would be a good blog post so I'm sorta killing two birds with one stone.

Here is my response...

Find out what they do for marketing, and make sure they are willing to market on the web at places like googlebase, trulia.com, craigslist, etc.

Find out if they are willing to send you proofs on any print advertising they may offer before such ads are run. See if they are willing to let you have some input.

Make sure they are one way or the other internet savvy. Email, web pages, maybe even a blog. Digital cameras are a must for an agent, and agents need to take really nice photo's. Photo's on the Internet are the main reason a potential buyer will have interest in your home.

The sales market is slower than it was a couple of years ago and marketing must be the number one key in hiring an agent right now.

Don't let the agent give you a run down on the brokerage they work in. Find out what THE agent does for you. Big firms like Century 21 and RE/MAX are good, but the quality of the agent is still the most important factor. Plenty of duds hang their license in these big shops. I'm in a RE/MAX office myself but I don't consider the other agents in my office to be part of my team. I hope you are understanding what I'm trying to say here.

You obviously want your listing to appear in the local MLS... it is still the best marketing tool to sell homes (for now). Find out if the local MLS has a data feed to the broker site (if the broker has one). Also find out if there is a data feed from the MLS to Realtor.com, it normally does. Also see if the feed may go to places such as I listed above (google base, etc.). If the agent has their own site ask them about web traffic. Agent web sites aren't all that great for the most part, but anywhere you can have your property listed on the Internet is a plus. Thousands of more people that want to move to Kingman Arizona visit Google Base to search for homes than my sales site, it's good for me personally to have my site but it's better for the sellers that their listing appears where millions of people search the Internet every single day.

Make sure the agent discloses to you what you are paying for out of your proceeds. Meaning if you agree to list your home for the standard 6%, ensure that half that is offered to any cooperating agent in the MLS. Then try to find out what the advertising budget will be monthly for your listing. I typically spend about $200 a month on each single family home listing. My market may be waaaayyy different than your market is though so don't be married to that dollar figure (on certain properties I have spent over a thousand dollars a month on average). It is important to find out where the money goes. It is a perception that if you have a $400,000 home listed for 6% of the sales price that $24,000 ends up in the agents pocket at the close of escrow when in reality they may end up, after all expenses to market and sell the property, with just a few thousand dollars for many months of work.

The reason that online advertising is so important is because it is really inexpensive. It is definitely a better bang for your buck. If my clients and I agree that I don't have to do print ads I will charge a lesser fee to my client. You may just want to see how flexible the agents you are interviewing are on fees. In today's slower market I am NOT discounting listing fees as much because I am spending more money on marketing. When homes were selling in a matter of days I was offering deep discounts to clients because my costs were lower per listing. It wouldn't hurt to have this kind of discussion with agents.

Also have the agents disclose to you how they may handle a situation if they represent the buyer as well as you in a transaction. I'm not as comfortable representing both parties in a transaction, I prefer to firmly negotiate for MY client. When I'm representing both sides, my loyalties are to the contract. Working both sides can be done and there are plenty of capable agents that can pull this off, but sometimes there can be conflicts of interest. When I'm listing a home and a buyer comes to me most of the time I refer out the buying client to another agent either in house or to another broker. But... that is just me.

Now I'll say that I am not a 'typical' agent by any stretch. I'm basically a maverick and I'm on a mission to change my profession. You may get a lot of weird looks from more 'typical' agents if you bring up some of this information above. That is okay, if you are interviewing a very successful agent he/she got there by doing successful things. Bottom line is to sell your home.

Be realistic on setting the price on your home. If your sales market is anything close to mine... the price point is the biggest determining factor in the success of the sale. There is simply a lot more inventory on the market right now to expect a premium price. You are competing against a much larger field than ever most likely, other sellers on that list have really nice properties as well, some better than yours. Trust me. Be sure to check the comps that are offered and pay particular attention to any sales in the last few months at the most. I'll bet the prices are stable at best and could be slipping at worst.

If the agent is really pushing a higher price than comps show be careful. You will end up getting frustrated with the process of reducing price to meet the market. Your neighbors may not appreciate a lower priced home in the neighborhood, but you want to sell the home there, not protect the value of the area. Again, base what I've just said on YOUR market as it might be quite different than what I know here in Arizona.

Sorry this was so long, I'll be happy to answer any questions or feel free to run anything by me before you make a decision on who to hire. I'll do my best to help.

Todd Tarson

Alert: Mortgage Fraud Scheme

A huge topic of conversation in yesterday's Professional Standards Committee Workshop in Phoenix was an inflated price scheme, basically mortgage fraud. Each month in Arizona our state Association publishes a magazine and in this month's issue this mortgage fraud scheme was the front page article.

While I couldn't find a way to link to the Arizona Realtor Digest (membership required), the article used in the Digest came from the California Association of Realtors. I found this link to that article, please read it.

In recent days the print media in Phoenix has been running articles that I'll link here.

The reason it was discussed at length in the workshop I attended yesterday is because more and more of these types of transactions were happening. Overall though, I'm willing to bet that the actual percentage of transactions held this way are minuscule but all efforts must be made to end each and every transaction of this type.

The bottom line, ANYONE involved in this type of scheme in a transaction can be found guilty of fraud. This means the Realtor, the lender, the appraiser.... and the buyer and seller of the property. This is why so much attention is being brought to this issue right now. Not everyone is aware of the legal implications.

Buyers should be aware of large sums of cash back offered by a lender and even a seller.

Sellers may like the increased offering price on paper. For example say if the property listed was on the market for $200,000 and the offer comes in at $260,000, looks good right?? There will likely be a 'secret' addendum asking the seller to refund the $60,000 back to the buyer at closing though, ending any perceived gain. If a seller was to close on such a deal and they had an agreement to pay the listing broker a percentage of the final sales price it would mean that more proceeds would go to the broker out of the transactions while not receiving the actual benefit of the higher sales price. And that ain't too groovy.

Realtors should be aware that if a situation appears to be 'too good to be true' that is probably means that it is. The first thing an agent should do when presented this kind of 'opportunity' is to talk to your broker. I know the state Association will be looking to throw the book at members who have complaints filed against them that are involved in such a scheme. Major brokers in Phoenix are severing agents that are involved in these transactions. Not only that, but these brokers are also turning over agents to legal authorities as well.

Personally I have never been approached to be involved in this type of scam. In fact I'm not aware of this practice in my area (that is not to say it can't happen or hasn't happened).

If you are a buyer or a seller and suspect this may be happening in a current transaction, contact an attorney right away. As I said earlier, it is possible that ANY party to this kind of fraudulent transaction could be guilty of mortgage fraud. Anyone, especially Realtors, that suspect mortgage fraud should contact the Department of Financial Institutions at 800-544-0708 or on the web at www.azdfi.gov.

Off for a day...

I'll be in Phoenix Wednesday for my annual Professional Standards Committee Workshop. Fun is not really the word I'd use here, but I will get the chance to catch up to some people I haven't seen in awhile.

As a member of the pro standards committee, it allows me to sit on hearing panels when a complaint is made against a fellow Realtor in regards to our code of ethics. I take a lot of pride of being a member of this committee. I believe it is very important work to be involved in.

I sure do learn from the panels I have sat on over the last couple of years. The things I've learned have helped me be a better representative to my clients. So it is more than worth it to head down to Phoenix for an all day workshop once a year to maintain my eligibility.

Two thumbs up..

I remember back in the day when I though how great it might be to be a movie critic for a living, to make it a career. These were also the days when I though about getting into journalism and radio. Sadly, or luckily (really depends these days on how I look at it) I never followed through with those early career thoughts.

Anyway, the movie critic thingy?? Well I'm not going to do that as there is plenty of movie reviews on the Internet that can be easily found, but I do want to share the following. On recommendation from Helena, my office neighbor next door and company property manager, I rented 'Thank You For Smoking'.

Wow, what a surprising movie. Surprising to the good. This may have been a timely movie because of my involvement in local politics on behalf of the Realtor Association, but I'm sure I would have enjoyed it anyway.

To me the movie is a huge slap in the face to political correctness and that alone was worth the price of the rental. It was also about spin, as in political spin. About winning arguments without being right.

So much of my job as a Realtor is the very opposite of spin when dealing with my clients. I must deal in facts and I have no problem with this one bit. Being a fast talker is really the last thing you want to be when representing a client, you must deal in facts. Like when there is a hole in the roof... all it means is there is a hole in the roof... no spinning the facts to make that fact anything else. It is what it is. But compared to a Hollywood movie it can appear boring.

What appealed to me in this movie was the was the way the main character always... and I mean always appealed to whatever audience he had. He wasn't necessarily 'right' with what he had to say, he just wasn't wrong. The character really stuck it to many others along this film's journey.

If you get a chance, check this one out. It's also great for some intelligent laughs.

Locally... it has been cold

Consider this a public service announcement.

It has been exceptionally cold so far this winter in the Kingman area. It has caused some problems for housing that you should be aware of. Many are experiencing broken water pipes throughout the area. Sometimes it's the landscaping sprinkler system, I've been told of a sprinkler system that popped that spouted water up onto a roof of a home that caused a large series of icicles formed at the roof's edge. Wish I had a photo of that.

I currently have a buyer client that is purchasing a vacant home in Kingman. Last month we offered a contract and it was accepted. We then had 20 days to do the inspections which we did (we asked for some repairs and the sellers agreed). Last week, before closing as the sellers were finishing replacing sliding glass doors, they found a the carpet in the hallway wet (and I mean wet).

What happened was the evaporative cooler water line in the attic burst causing a leak. Now the leak wasn't visible anywhere in the ceiling. I know because I looked for what had to be an hour in a small 1200 square foot home. Turns out the leak fed into the house within the walls in the hallway (according to the inspector that the buyer re-hired to assess the situation).

The shame of it is the sellers had the water shut off at the main while the home was being shown waiting for a contract. It was only when my buyer needed to do the inspection was the water main turned back on. It was also left on so that the dishwasher could be repaired. Then on one of the many particularly cold winter nights in the last couple of weeks the pipe to the cooler snapped in the attic and the water leaked into the home.

If you happen to be an owner of a vacant home during this colder winter, you may want to check on the water and any pipe system to make sure something like this does not happen to you.

My buyer still wishes to purchase the home, we are giving the seller the time to assess and disclose the extent of the damages and let us know what they are willing to do to correct whatever damage there may be.

Kingman Crossing.... again

I was at the public meeting on January 10th and knew the local paper was there to cover it and was wondering when they'd finally get around to publishing an article on the meeting.

Here it is finally.

First I have to admit something. I have a very difficult time hearing people in a large room such as the school's multi-purpose room (where the meeting was held). I couldn't hear what the people there were saying, but I figured it wasn't good (for the city). I wanted to follow up on that meeting on this blog but I was waiting for the above article.

I think I understand what some of the folks were against, such as increased traffic in neighborhoods near the proposed interchange. Well folks, sorry to have to break this to you but Kingman is a growing city. That most likely means more traffic in all of our neighborhoods.

On my government affairs committee agenda is this citizens group calling itself RAID (Residents Against Irresponsible Development) and what needs to be done to combat them. RAID already has the ear of the local media... in fact they are a media darling by now. They are a dangerous groups to more citizens than they think they are protecting.

One of the benefits of the proposed interchange would be better access to emergency services. The Rancho Sante Fe subdivision sits southeast of the proposed interchange. The Interstate is visible from many properties in the subdivision. Yet there is no access. One has to travel west and then north along the busiest street in Kingman (Stockton Hill) to access the Interstate (or heaven forbids the hospital). What could be a few moments to interstate access is actually close to a 15 minute ordeal (if you catch a few green lights).

The proposed Kingman Crossing interchange would also offer tax revenue to the city. Tax revenue that could be used for further infrastructure needs this growing area desperately needs. There are excellent commercial opportunities slated to go up near the proposed interchange, but these commercial opportunities want interstate frontage... and I don't blame them. The reason this particular area is so important is because that area is in the city limits, meaning city sales tax revenue. The talk of moving the interchange further east puts those sales tax revenues in jeopardy which equals no infrastructure improvements.

RAID is dangerous and need to be confronted on the real issues that face this city. They at least to tell the fine citizens what is so irresponsible about improving traffic flow that could save human lives and increasing the city sales tax revenues. And I'm sure they don't really have an answer.

I have an idea for RAID, put up a billboard somewhere on the way into Kingman and just tell would be great neighbors that they are not welcome to live here.

The slow pace...

I've not been posting as much over the last few weeks. Nothing is wrong. I'm not burned out. I think I've just been distracted.

My thought was that when the year ended I'd have even more time for blogging, but sheesh I was wrong. More client activity happening right now (which is great), and still plenty to finish up on with my duties to the local Association has caused me to kick the blog priority down a notch.

Please be patient as I know I'll be back in the saddle once again in no time. Meanwhile, please check out any of the blogs on the blogroll. I have been reading plenty of RE blogs and there is tons of good stuff out there right now.

December Sales Report (2006)

Hard to believe that this is the last installment of the sales reports for the 2006 year. Where did the time actually go??

Disclaimer... all data compiled for this report comes from the WARDEX Data Exchange and does not include any sales activity from outside that resource. All research is done only on single family homes and there is no inclusion of modular homes, commercial properties, or vacant land. The geographical area researched includes; all areas within the boundaries of the city of Kingman, north Kingman, the Hualapai Mountain area, and the Valle Vista subdivisions. Click here to see maps of the included area's.

Unit sales were steady in December and I was surprised to see the numbers actually. I thought we might end up in the same place we were in October. Somehow, even with the holidays, 64 single family homes sold in December. The other bright spot I noticed was the average days on market (DOM) for these sales was down to 57 days. Earlier in the year the average DOM had been as high as 147 days.

Click on graph for larger image



The average sales price dropped slightly again but remained over $200,000. The average has been fairly steady all year long, dropping below $220K only once over the last 12 months. There still hasn't been a single family home on the Data Exchange that has sold for more than $400,000 since October though. It appears buyers are buying what they can afford and sellers are lowering prices to meet that point. The clear trend is that listing prices are coming down, while the average price sold is flat.

Click on graph for larger image



Unit sales compared to the years 2004 and 2005 are not nice. Again, I don't have a way to get the records for 2003, but my gut says that 2006 was better for sales in this area than 2003 was. So this year wasn't a record, but sometimes you have to be pleased with a bronze medal (if I was an Olympian I would be).

Click on graph for larger image



December 2006 had a lower sales average than did the month of December in 2005. It was close though. The boom, no the record boom in rising property values is clearly over... for now at least. The hope is that the market can recover and somehow it finds a healthy balance.

Click on graph for larger image



I wouldn't be surprised to see some of these price numbers ease downward a bit into 2007. The key number is the unit sales in my opinion. While it was slower this year than in the previous 2 years, the area continues to grow. New neighbors move into the area every day. The hope is that these new neighbors find reasonable prices on homes that they can afford.

Stay tuned all through 2007 to find out. Also, I still plan on rolling out a year end report in the days ahead so please check back for that.

Now it's time to head for the gym to get in a good workout before the Philadelphia Eagles play in their playoff game tonight. I'm extremely nervous as my team takes on a tough New Orleans Saints team that has most of this country pulling on it's heart-strings with all that has happened to that region. I visited NO in November of last year. I love the people of NO and wish them the best... not so much for their football team though... at least not tonight.

E-A-G-L-E-S.... EAGLES!!

Snowing in Kingman

Look closely at the photo below. You may notice a weather phenomena rarely seen in this part of the Arizona desert. Catch a glimpse while you can as it may be gone by the time I'm done writing this blog post.


I know this won't be a big deal to most of the rest of the country, but it is news here. It may snow a couple of times a year on our valley floor and rarely does it accumulate. Normal accumulation happens overnight and we wake to a snowy winter-land only to see it disappear by the early afternoon time.

We are expecting a winter storm today and it is finally here. I doubt I'll be building a snow man or anything like that but it is great to see the snow flurries fall.

I hope to make this meeting...

I think the number one issue facing Kingman right now is the proposed Kingman Crossing interchange on Interstate 40. Getting the proposal approved should mean more sales tax revenue (good for the city) and it should also mean easing traffic snarls on Stockton Hill Road.

I've written about this last summer. See here for more details.

There is a meeting tonight open to the public for discussions on this project. Read more about it right here.

I'm attending a WARDEX meeting in Bullhead City today at 2:00pm that should go till about 6:00pm. I will be breaking speed limits to get back to Kingman to attend this meeting. I hope to see you there.

Anti-growth group in Kingman...

I'm really not in a position to do a write up on this group as of yet, but there is a local group of citizens that are out to put a halt to growth in the Kingman area -- it seems.

Here is a link to an article that I wanted to share (before the link is gone forever. The local fishrag doesn't like to play nice with their web content... here today, gone forever the next day... if updated).

I got a call from another agent in my Association about this group last month and was asked to look into perhaps using Association resources to fight back against this group. After reading this article I'm thinking that something has to be done, however I need to look into this particular issue some more.

I'm all for citizens groups rising up to affect the change they want to see, but I won't sit by and let an anti-growth group bully the city council and the city P&Z this way. The most politically active group in Kingman just happens to be anti-growth types at the moment. I want to use this blog and local Realtor resources to fight these groups. I'll be on this one and report on this at a later time.

No P&Z appoinment for me...

The city council approved two people for city planning and zoning commission on Tuesday night. I had applied for this position and was one of the finalists.

Read here on who the council chose.

I congratulate both Mike and Dorian for their appointments (basically re-appointments). I know both of them and they are fine folks who take this task seriously.

I will continue to apply for this commission and become more active on city matters going forward.

December listings report (2006)

Not only has another month gone by, but so has another year. I'll be doing a wrap up report of last years listings and sales towards the end of this month. For now though enjoy the monthly listings report.

Disclaimer: All data is compiled from the Data Exchange that I am a paying member of (WARDEX). All data is considered reliable but not guaranteed.

Listings:

Today total listings available for single family residence equals 634 (down from 684 on December 1). The good news is that the number is coming down, the bad news is that probably a third of the reduction is from expired listings.

There were 105 new listings for the month of December (113 in November). 2 home have entered contract of these new listings, and 1 home has already closed. The average asking price for these new listings is $227,322 (that's down from $242,571 last month). The median asking price is $215,000 (not much change from $215,950 the previous month). Good to see the average and median numbers slipping somewhat, the new listing prices are entering the market much more competitively than they were earlier in the year.

Units under contract:

30 homes entered into contracts in the month of December (down from 37 the previous month). The average asking price for homes that received contracts was $202,373 (up from $190,127 last month) and the median asking price for December was $180,500 (up from last months $169,900 figure).

Conclusions:

It is normally a slow month in December with the holiday season and I think it could have been worse than it appears. With the low total of units over the last few months the numbers seem to be going up and down to the point that I think an overall look at the last quarter would offer a better look at the state of the listings market. Still, the pricing trends are heading down slightly and I believe we are now seeing a clearer picture of the sellers that really NEED to sell and separating themselves from the sellers that simply WANT to sell (to capture equity, etc.)

There remains a market imbalanced in my opinion in favor of buyers. Buyers are coming out now more than they did a few months ago. The phones are ringing and buyers are on the other side more often than sellers are. I'm even getting hits on my sales web site at a decent clip asking for info on properties, best it has been in the last year by far.

Now I'm not going down the road saying that this is the best time to buy property, but if a buyer is in the market for a home... the fruit is ripe for the picking. Plenty to choose from and the competition from sellers on price continues to pick up.

If you are a buyer and would like to perhaps save even more on your next home purchase, please ask me how my flat fee buyers program can make it possible to save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Look for the December sales report in a couple of weeks and be sure to check back for an annual wrap up report on the year that was 2006.

The year that was 2006

I’m tired,
sick and tired of love,
I’ve had my fill of love,
from below and above,
tired,
tired of being admired,
tired of love uninspired,
let’s face it, I’m tired!

--Lili Von Shtupp of Blazing Saddles



Yes, Lili... I hear you. Loud and clear in fact. 2006 marked a long year for me personally. Rewarding and yet frustrating. Some goals were met, while others were missed by miles. I made great efforts to each goal though. "Failure is success... if we learn from it," a wise person once said. I'm looking for the success part in the new year and hope to have learned from prior failings.

While I may be 'tired' from all the events of 2006, I also want to hand out several shouts of appreciation to the following...

To my clients of 2006, thank you very much for the opportunity to serve you. Thank you for the smiles when the transactions were finished as those smiles are as important to me personally as the fees that are collected for the service you paid for. I hope to see more smiles in the coming year.

A hearty thank you goes out to my fellow Realtors in my local Association. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to serve as president for 2006. What a year it was... right up to the end. I gladly take the highs as well as the lows from the entire experience. You trusted me with an enormous responsibility, one that wasn't taken lightly... not one single day. Often I felt like a teenager that was left in charge of the house while the parents went away on a vacation. Well I may have partied a little or even had a few friends over, but never touched the booze locker and didn't burn the house down.

I especially want to thank anyone and everyone in the real estate 'blogosphere'. Thanks to the many fine folks who have inspired me to create and publish my own blog. Blogging has been a great experience for me this year. It has helped me in so many ways from education, expertise, using new technology, grammar, sentence structure, and critical thinking. Blogging has expanded my confidence and my resolve in this business in a very short time as compared to the day to day experience or any continuing real estate education classes ever could.

I won't bother to link to the many names that have helped my blogging over the last year. I'll simply forget someone and I'll hate myself for it. Feel free to click on any of links to other blogs on the right for a good start on the list of folks I need to thank.

Lastly, I want to thank my wife Gail for supporting my quest for 2006 every step of the way. Without her love and support I simply would not be where I am right now. She is a perfect partner for me in every way. It is cliche, but she does 'complete' me. Thank you for everything sweet baby!!

So it is now 2007 and while I remain 'tired' I am looking forward to what 2007 has to bring. I'm looking forward to continued momentum from the previous year. Looking forward to capturing new business with my flat fee buyers program. Looking forward to serving on two state level committee's (Governmental and Professional Standards), serving as Committee Chair for the KGVAR Government Affairs Committee, local RPAC Chair for 2007, and one more year serving on the Board of Directors as immediate past president.

Of course I am looking forward to what the real estate 'blogosphere' has in store for me, as well as continuing to meet incredible people via the Internet who make a big difference in my career as I move along, and desire to offer as much relevant information to the readers of this blog as I can on all things real estate related local and otherwise.

Wow... looking at this post again... I'm pretty sure that Ms. Von Shtupp will be visiting again next year 'round this time. Thank you to all!!