Blog
N. Mark Kramoltz, JD, GRI, CIPS writes blog articles on the metro Phoenix, Arizona, national and global real estate markets. Written from his perspective as a designated broker and real estate attorney, his articles avoid the inaccuracies and vacuous industry propaganda common to most real estate writings. He also blogs about animals (mostly dogs in the military) due to his love of pets and military history.
Canadian Resources for you, eh?
Are you a Canuck living in the United States? Are you from the U.S. and thinking of going to Canada for the Olympics or for a vacation? Are you a Canadian visiting on an extended basis here (are you a snowbird?) Or do you have dual Canada-United States citizenship...
Lenders Aren’t Moving REOs.
In Are Lenders Holding Back REOs, I wrote about the inability of lenders that had completed foreclosures to timely put those homes back on the market. Under ordinary circumstances, a bank will put a “real estate owned” (or REO) home back on the market as soon as...
New Real Estate Facts and Figures.
Year end facts and figures concerning Arizona real estate: Existing home sales showed a healthy gain in November - sales were the highest for that month since 2004! Experts say that was the result of a rush to close before the then expected end of the month expiration...
Are Lenders Holding Back REOs?
In normal market situations, a bank will repossess a home and usually get it to a Realtor for listing in the local Multiple Listing Service in as short as 30 days. Therefore, in a relatively short period of time, virtually every marketable lender owned property (a...
The New Tax Credit – Not Limited to First Time Buyers.
The $8,000 tax credit scheduled to expire November 30, 2009 has been extended. Now a purchase agreement can be entered into up to May 1, 2010, as long as the transaction closes no later than July 1, 2010. It continues to cover first time home buyers, but has also been...
Questions a Buyer should ask before Closing.
When you buy a house, there are a lot of things to think about. One item that should be on every buyers to do list is to obtain as much information about the property as possible. Before closing, an opportunity exists to learn important things about the home from the...
Foreclosures and Equity in Arizona – How do we Rate?
The West has been a leader in the number of foreclosures in the United States in first half of 2009. But have things changed? What about the amount of equity in homes? How much have Arizona homeowners lost, and how does that compare to our neighbors? First, in...
Canada’s Economy is Going South, Part 2.
In Part 1, I detailed that Canada recorded its first ever surplus in bilateral direct investment with the U.S. last year. Direct Canadian investment in the United States was $17.1 billion greater last year than U.S. direct investment in Canada in 2008. This amount...
The Rules have Changed – Frustration in a Buyers’ Market (Part 1).
Arizona’s residential real estate market is schizophrenic right now - a dichotomy of healthy sales in some segments versus years on the market in others. The good news is that lower sale prices overall have allowed buyers once priced out of the market to enter the...