There are about as many opinions about buying houses in this market as there housing experts. If you are someone looking for a new home for their family there are four really good reasons to consider Surprise. Check these answer to common questions.
1. If prices can still fall, why should I buy now? Most buyers want a great value in a home, but lets really look at value. Many buyers who are not investors are most likely going to be paying a mortgage. Right now it is hard to believe the interest rates are so low. So lets take an example: If homes have a current average purchase price of $120,000 and a 30 yr FHA loan at 4%, your principal and interest would be $553. Now lets say the market fluxates a little bit downward so the average home purchase price is $115,000, the payment would be $530. Ask youself is that enough of a change to miss out on the home? Lets throw another element in to the decision process. Last year at this time there were a little over 38,000 homes on the market. Now just a little over 18,000 available homes. There is a lot of competition for a nice home and buyers who wait are missing out.
2. When will my home begin appreciation if I buy now? A report from the Real Estate Department of Arizona State University just published a report that indicated overall the prices should be steady to a slight rise this year. As a general statement it feels good, but real estate is always a local affair. In Surprise, last year you could fine alot of homes under $80,000. Now is very difficult and when one does show up unless it is a wreck, there are multiple offers at list or above within days. So the price level is moving upward for the same home. There is also the Phoenix Valley geography. A major direction of growth for the valley is towards the NW. Finally, Surprise was a very small town in 2000 before the growth. Now it is over $100,000 so it's infrastructure is new, its retail centers are new it just feels good to see a bright new city. As Surprise continues to grow and houses sell, prices will continue to rise.
3. Does buying really make better sense than renting? Rents are on the rise, its a fact in the area as well as in Surprise. That average home we discussed earlier should rent for $1100 a month. With the principal and interest we talked about earlier, insurance, and taxes you can still be under rental. But lets look at the intangibles. Many people want a place where they have plenty of living space and to have control over that space. Renting a home or apartment you are typically still facing a lot of restrictions to what you can do with your home. You also have to deal with management companies that can be great or can be non-caring about your time in getting reparis done as an example. So it really comes down both financies and personal preference for the amount of control you want for you live and what your family can gain from home ownership.
4. Why Surprise? First of all it is a diverse city with retirement and family communities. When you live in Surprise, you can find people from all walks of life. The Surprise Recreational Campus has something for everyone. It is the spring training home to professional baseball. It has a regional library, aquatics center, community park and a tennis and racquet complex. One of the new additions is Dreamcatcher park which is the states first fully accessable multi-purpose athletic facility providing athletes with special needs a safe place to enjoy sports. A new entertainment community center has movies, bowling alley to come and plans for much more. Finally, Surprise is not content to be a bedroom city. With its industrial park and new companies building facilities, Surprise looks to bring jobs to the city. So there is a lot going on now and future plans are becoming a realty.
Why should you buy a home in Surprise? Its a great place to live. I know, I live here and experience it everyday. If you want to know more about homes in Surprise, I can help.
OK, so you have bad credit and you pay cash for everything. So who cares if your credit is bad? The fact is that your credit history not only may keep you from getting a loan for a car or maybe even impact your ability to get a job. Just look at some of these examples below and good credit begins to look like a requirement for the good life.
- Insurance premiums for your car, home, life and just about anything you can insure is impacted by your credit score. The worse your credit the more it costs. That means your working longer to get the same insurance value.
- How about saving money on interest? Oh your cash only. What happens if you have faithfully saved for a big purchase. The day after you have made that purchase your refrigerator or car or roof on your house breaks or is damaged. Not enough cash to go around means you need a loan. Bad credit means high interest rates. That great deal you got can be eaten up in interest.
- So now you have a credit card application. The higher the credit the higher the credit limit on your credit card.
- Do you need to have utilities in your name? Your credit score can mean a big deposit amount. After all a business would want to reduce it's exposure to poor credit risk, who knows they may walk from a big monthly bill.
- Looking at new homes? Many mortgage companies want credit scores of 640 minimum. The days of buying a house with credit scores of 600 or less are long gone.
- Well don't buy a house rent an apartment or home. Most all rental properties want to have a prospective tenant to provide a credit check. High scores can help you qualify since a big number provides confidence to the owner.
- How about a new car? Is your credit so bad that you need a co-signer. Will just anyone co-sign for you? Remember a co-signer is saying they will pay the loan if you don't.
- Are you an entrepreneur? If you need cash for your new or old business, your bad credit may stand in the way of getting that loan that will save the business.
There are lots of good reasons to maintain your credit. Doing the most with what you have means keeping your credit in good condition.
Surprise – a growing city or stumbling subdivision?
The Surprise bond election on November 3rd will answer one of the most important questions we as a city have to decide. Will Surprise move on towards a fully integrated community where there are many types of businesses offering a full range of job opportunities providing diversity in families across the income and age spectrum? Where young and old can flourish together and where families can enjoy time together? Or will Surprise become a city where improvements and city amenities can only come from increasingly higher property and sales taxes on individual families?
The bond issue on November 3rd is critical in providing the additional infrastructure improvements needed to attract businesses and a wide range of residents. It is a step that will move our city towards a self sustaining and fully diversified city with all its benefits. With approval of the Surprise bond election we are making investments over the next few years that will position Surprise to attract medium to large business. These business can offer a full range of employment opportunities for Generation X,Y,Z and yes, Baby Boomers while providing a substantial tax base.
The four project areas supported by the bond election consist of transportation, economic development, parks and recreation and public safety. In my opinion, transportation and economic development are the most important project supported by the bond election. I travel around Surprise a great deal with clients who often ask “When will the roads be completed?” Or “Why didn’t the city finish the roads?” But more importantly we should put ourselves in the same frame of mind as someone scouting the area for a new business, headquarter, or manufacturing location. Having our road ways finished with consistent lanes, improved east/west travel, and safer intersections for the traffic levels will aid in encouraging those medium and large business to relocate to Surprise as well as attract new residents. New business means more city revenue and overall less of a burden on the individual tax payer.
Another critical element to our economic development is the kick start we can get towards obtaining the land for a rail station and parking for supporting commuter rail or light-rail. I like to think about a future when Surprise is connected to the down town and other west valley areas without driving through bumper to bumper high speed traffic. A time when we can take advantage of large entertainment events, airport access, museums and access to our state government facilities without a drive of more than an hour or two, expensive parking, traffic jams, sometimes maniac drivers after a long day at work or play. Buying land now is inexpensive compared to what we will have in another 10 years. In fact land has not been cheaper in a long time. Why not take advantage of a bargain?
When I talk to families (name your generation!) they are always interested in what do we have for entertainment. Some want to be close to desert getaways, or nearby lakes or mountains but all are impressed with the start Surprise has made with our new city center and recreational area. Improvements in parks, tennis facilities and areas specifically for kids are another set of amenities that not only help our existing residents but are a strong attraction for our future friends and neighbors.
Public Safety is an area where we should insure our firefighters and police have the excellent facilities and tools of the trade that keep us safe and confident of the support we will get from them. I am not advocating extravagance, but having the right radio equipment for our area, a fire station rather than a tin building and safety equipment like cardiac monitors will help keep us all safer and living secure. Cities that scrape by in short sited funding are not only uninviting for future residents and businesses, but when they fail because of our not supporting them we have only ourselves to blame. The best can only stay the best with the right support.
November 3rd is a critical day and important day for our cities future. No matter what your position is on the bond election, vote. I hope you will vote for the bond election, I believe it is the best for our city. Investing at the right time when prices are low and companies are aggressively bidding for work makes sense. Waiting for another time in the future is just expensive.
Just so you know, I am writing this as a concerned Surprise voter. If you can’t tell from my writing, well no one but me wrote this. I have no political affiliations in the city. I live and work in Surprise. I think it is a great little city with a great future.
Note that this information is outdated.
Mike Horton, Realtor with Century 21 Arizona Foothills, is ready to help homeowners with mortgage problems to short sale their home. This is a complex process that requries experience and knowledge about credit, taxes and lenders. Many Realtors have limited experience, go with a specialist whose knowledge and everyday work with lenders can help you through this difficult time.
Short Sale is the sale of your home where you are unable to sell the home for the amount owed to the lenders on the home. Those are not words any of us like to hear. In Surprise Az we are beginning to see more of this activity all to frequently. And it's not happening to bad people, just everyday people who have been caught in a mortgage trap. The only way out of this trap for many is either foreclosure or selling the house with lender approval for less than it's mortgage. I have the experience to help out sellers, and an experience it is. Be sure the Realtor you pick has gone through this process or you could could have more problems and lost opportunities.
Homes can be purchased under short sale conditions by a savvy buyer. But not without a lot of work for the buyer, seller and myself as the listing agent. When a home is in a SHORT SALE status, that means the seller's lender is willing to accept offers and payoff at huge discounts from what is owed. That applies of couse to both the primary and secondary lenders on the home.
As a buyer you won't see a lot of difference in the contract, just the time to get everything done. Lenders are dealing with many short sales at the same time. So the buyer has to be patient just to find out if there offer is accepted. That can take as much as 6 weeks. As the selling agent, I have to develop a relationship with the lender so the deal does not end up on the bottom of the pile. One of the processors I worked with had 120 deals to consider sitting on their desk. You may be working with an initial contact person, processor and someone to coordinate the final closing. And don't be surprised if some of these people change in the middle of negotiations!
The lender will only take a certain amount for payoff and will include all expenses in that amount. So frequently the buyer has to pick up some expenses you might expect the seller to pick up normally. There is special paperwork that is required by the lender and they may required other actions over and above what we normally see. What all this means is that the selling agent must be attentive, the buyer must be patient and willing to negotiate to get to the price set by the lende.
The seller has to be willing to insure the property is ready to sell and responds quickly to lender information requirements. Good prices for homes can be obtained, but this is not for the impatient or the faint of heart. With my experience, I can help smooth the way on this very rough road. Either as the sellers or buyers agent, there is a lot of work, negotiation and perseverance that is needed to make these deals work. Oh, by the way, there is also significant tax ramifications to consider. but I will save that for another time.
With every new organization or body of people, growing up can be hard to do. The recent disclosure by the City Manager about how the City Council has been doing business is an excellent example of how messy things can be when growing up. The fact that their seems to be a lot of back door, Smokey room politics and arm twisting is not surprising. When people have been making decisions over coffee with their neighbors on the backyard fence for years, its tough to change. But change it must. The current city council has become more like a bloated group of corporate managers who have been in their jobs way to long. As often will happen, some of the good folks are going to get hurt as well as the ones that should have left a long time ago. Where's the corner chair and time out when you need it.
But growth can also be positive. I am speaking about the job the Economic Development Group is doing in reaching out for ideas and then providing feedback in terms of their newsletter. They are one example of what looks like a group of city employees that are trying their best to be proactive and help the city of Surprise grow up. Two stars for this group.
Its been my experience in business, that often the leadership team can only take you so far. Its time for a new team in Surprise with modern and open methods of providing guidance and receiving guidance from their customers (the citizens of Surprise). It is often not very easy, since alot of us (that includes me) often speak without having all the facts or insight we should have. Well its just human nature and the new city council needs to make above board communications and openess a key to their terms. The current council empowered a city manager who has built a good team, but now its time to take that retirement package and go enjoy it. Somewhere along the way they lost the map. Till the next time.
Often we hear real estate agents telling their new listings that the house needs to be cleaned up, remove clutter and provide a neutral palette for the buyer to put their touch on. It is tried and true advice that often works, but many people seem to just ignore it. They often give comments like "I will give a carpet allowance" or "I will offer a paint allowance" or "I don't have enough time or money". Well, I want to provide you with one real life experience that drives the point home. Let me explain.
I took over a listing on a home that had been on market for 6 months. The home was priced about 5% too high, but the owners had a great back yard (in Arizona, that often means grass and trees), the house was vacant, tile floors ( a good grade of tile) and carpet that was about 7 yrs old (still serviceable but looking tired). Sounds like the first thing to fix was price, so when I took the listing the price was reduced so it was only about 3% over comparable listings. Still no buyers but we had lookers.
Once price complaints were mitigated, I needed something else to make the home more marketable. Oh I forgot to mention, it was neutral, everything except the beige carpets was white. The fact is the house had no character. It was just too neutral, it was bland, it was like taking a tranquilizer when you stepped in the door. So I discussed this with the owners and frankly it was not to appealing to them because I would not guarantee that paint and new carpet would work. But after reviewing the subdivision active listings, they finally made the commitment to paint and re-carpet.
I put them in contact with a great resource for painting, who did a fantastic job of painting the walls with a nice beige and providing a two tone look by painting the ceilings and trim an off white. The carpet was replaced with a nice but inexpensive speckled Frise carpet. Now when you walked into the house it was warm and inviting, even as a vacant home. Within one week we had a contract at above comparable listings, in fact we sold this house before another of the identical floor plan that had a pool with a very small price differential. Talk about a turn around. Nothing for 6 months and within a week of getting the house really ready to sell, it was gone. And that in a buyers market. This is real proof that preparing your house to sell works!
Finally, yes it did cost some hard earned dollars by the seller to do this professionally. But the result of near perfect paint job and carpet that was not only new but was a perfect fit with the new colors worked to get a good contract. Compare the cost of sitting on the market for possibly another 4 or 5 months and I think you will agree, its better to have your home ready to sell when you first get it on the market then waiting.
Over the last several weeks I have read several articles on how the City Council of Surprise continues to have a group that appears arrogant and self indulging. As I read the articles I wonder how this city ever hopes to grow and manage the growth in a responsible way that will benefit the citizens. I took this afternoon (a little time off on Thanksgiving Day) to catch up on my reading and look at some city plans for the Hwy 60 corridor. Granted it was to pick up more information for my real estate business, but non the less it was some fascinating reading. It is hard to believe (see earlier statement) but this stuff is good. I mean it has a lot of thought, it is detailed and as I look at it, many of the questions about how Surprise will grow is there and understandable.
The professionals who work for the City are doing a great job of making information available and understandable. Anyone who wants to open a business, buy land for investment or choose an area to live can get a pretty good idea of what the city and their choice of area will look like in 15 or 20 years. I have compared these plans to ones from surrounding areas. Some are better than others but none compare to Surprise. So when I think of the City Counsel, and all the bickering that goes on, I also have to complement them on the fact they do provide the leadership to City Government that enables an obviously talented group of professionals to do their job extremely well. Now if we can just keep that ugly stuff from becoming the main topic in newspapers about Surprise, people in other areas of the valley might quit laughing about the weird city out west.
Yep I am addressing the political campaign. It was pretty ugly in many areas. Frankly, I just got tired of the commercials on TV and Radio. But blasting the opponent unless you have a fantastic lead seems to be the American Way. After all this the most important point of it all is that we were able to select a government, by the people and for the people (sometimes I get the feeling I am not one those "for the people" I have to admit). I was not in the winning majority this time in the polls and there will be another day, just like the other guys said a few years ago. Now I get to whine about the majority not doing the right thing and using the political minority as a whipping post. Not much of a rant, but my wife won't listen so its good to get it down somewhere.
Just for the record, my biggest concerns deal with health care and the cost of health care. I recently had to change from one group policy to another since I am now a sole proprietorship. In looking at plans, they ran from $1500 per month to $560 per month for about the same family plan (just 2 of us) depending of course on the carrier. We ended up selecting a small business group plan at the lower end of the cost spectrum. As long as we don't have too many office visits when we are sick, the cost and deductible are not too bad. What the? (recent radio political ad). Health care costs are just too high and the system itself is out of wack, when you know the reason the doctor has to get you in and out so quick with not much more than a Hi-Bye is that the are not making as much money. Maybe the new congress can do something other than try and create a Canadian type medical system (remember the 90"s) that even the Canadians don't like. Will see if they can focus on that rather than more political games.
I am new at this Blog stuff so this is certainly not as good as a Mark Cuban blog, but you gotta start some where. I think my next entry will be about real estate, since that is how I am trying to add my value to society. If there any questions about that I am probably better able to answer those then political stuff.