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Feb. 27, 2006 - Century 21 Convention Time!!!

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas? Not if you're talking about the learning opportunities at this year's CENTURY 21 convention at the MGM Grand!

Among the topics of the breakout sessions I'll be attending are:

   Online Media - Using the Internet as a Marketing Source

   Growing your Commercial Business

   Attracting Commercial Buyers

   Search Engine Optimization and Keyword Searches

   1031 Exchanges

   Reducing the Time on Market for your Listings

Not bad for three days ... throw in a keynote speach by noted motivational speaker Tony Robbins, and an entertainment evening featuring Hootie and the Blowfish and it looks like this will be three days well spent.

Now if only I could reverse my three-year losing streak at Vegas' craps tables ...

For more information about the Phoenix Arizona Real Estate market, visit me at www.DaltonsAzHomes.com!

Feb. 26, 2006 - Congratulations, Cactus High!

Congratulations to the Glendale Cactus High School girls' basketball team, who defeated Scottsdale Saguaro on Saturday for their second state title in three years!

I had the honor of announcing the girls' home playoff games and was delighted to watch such levels of teamwork and skill.

The girls' basketball title is Cactus' second championship this school year -- the football team won its first-ever state title in December. 

For more information about the Phoenix Arizona Real Estate market, visit me at www.DaltonsAzHomes.com!

Feb. 26, 2006 - Selling in a Buyers' Market

You've cleaned your carpets, stowed your extra items in the garage and braced yourself for a parade of visitors rummaging through your closets to determine if they want to buy your home ...

Except it appears the parade's already passed by. The record-setting sellers' market of a year ago is gone and, so it seems, are the buyers.

If this scenario sounds familiar, it should ... the local newspapers have been running stories along these lines weekly for months.

But allow me to let you in on a secret ... the buyers are still there. The difference, other than a drop in the number of investors trying to quickly buy and sell properties, is the number of homes on the market. Inventory has risen over a year ago, meaning buyers have a much greater selection from which to choose and can be more selective in their buying decision.

So how do you set yourself apart? Here are a few tips:

   1) Comprehensive marketing. Hire a REALTOR who has a varied and complete marketing plan for your home -- direct mail, Internet, automated feedback on your home, etc.

   2) Competitive pricing. The other homes for sale in your area aren't just comparables, they are your competition. Think about gas prices -- unless strictly loyal to one brand, are you going to pay $2.31 per gallon at one station when the station across the street is charging only $2.25 a gallon.

   3) Immaculate staging. Buyers visiting your home likely will be looking at several other homes, often on the same trip. Make sure yours is the home they remember as being "well-maintained" and "clean" and not the home that's "cluttered" and "messy."

   4) Good timing. This doesn't refer to timing the market, but timing your own needs. If you've bought another house, perhaps a new build, and have a move-in date of June, don't wait until May to put your home on the market. Start the exposure as early as you can. It's far better to shift a closing date or negotiate a lease-back than to find yourself accepting a far lower price because you're paying two mortgage payments.

Even in an unfavorable market, you can sell your home for a price that more than meets your needs. All it takes is planning and some professional guidance.

For additional information of what I do for my sellers, please visit:

   http://www.daltonsazhomes.com/index.cgi?page=sellers

Until later ...

For more information about the Phoenix Arizona Real Estate market, visit me at www.DaltonsAzHomes.com!

Feb. 25, 2006 - Surprise, Surprise

On Thursday, I had the opportunity to make a pair of trips to show properties in Surprise and visited homes in Legacy & Heritage at West Point, Mountain Vista Ranch and Sierra Montana.

Two things really struck me during the showings:

   1) Many of the lots in Legacy & Heritage at West Point are far larger than you would expect to see in Surprise. Most likely this is because Legacy & Heritage was the second major subdivision in the city and was built before builders began squeezing more and more homes onto smaller and smaller parcels.

   2) Sierra Montana provides an opportunity to escape the city yet remain close to many conveniences, though this almost certainly is going to change in the future once Loop 303 is finished. Still, it was nice to find a tremendous house on a large lot at a reasonable price and still be able to see the stars when the sun went down. These days, that happens far less often than you may think.

For more information about the Phoenix Arizona Real Estate market, visit me at www.DaltonsAzHomes.com!

Feb. 22, 2006 - Sorry, Mr. Shakespeare

Two cities alike in dignity

   in the Northwest Valley where we lay our scene

Surprise and El Mirage together

  with little difference in between

I'm not sure I nailed the iambic pentameter, but that's not really the point of this exercise. No, tonight I'm writing a brief history lesson which has become forgotten in the recent housing boom.

Go back to 1994, before developers (most notably Del Webb) had turned their attention to Surprise. Aside from a pair of rather small retirement communities, Sun Village and Happy Trails, and one newish subdivision, Kingswood Parke, Surprise really had not expanded beyond the "original square mile" bordered roughly by Bell and Greenway, Dysart and El Mirage, with Grand Avenue running down the middle. Even something as basic as a city sewer system was a new concept for the city.

El Mirage, similarly, had not grown beyond it's original borders and farmland dominated once you drove west of El Mirage Road and south of Thunderbird.

Then Del Webb came to Surprise with the plans for Sun City Grand, the company's third major retirement subdivision in the Phoenix area and its first in twenty years. And other developers quickly followed, laying plans for grand subdivisions with space set aside for schools, churches, greenbelts and commercial development.

In a blink (give or take a couple of years), Surprise was off and running. Commercial developments appeared all along Grand Avenue, with multiple big-box stores and numerous restaurant chains all opening their doors.

El Mirage, meanwhile, remained focused on its original residents and worked to improve the city's core. Development beyond that was a secondary concern. And so Surprise developed quickly and El Mirage, once its virtual sister city, became a forgotten cousin.

Even now, you will find buyers who will purchase a home in Surprise and not El Mirage when in some cases the cities are divided only by six lanes of asphalt. Case in point: Roseview and Rancho El Mirage both are south of Greenway along Dysart Road. Roseview is on the west in Surprise, Rancho El Mirage on the east in El Mirage. Yet many buyers I've encountered won't cross to the east despite one glaring fact:

With last year's market increases, the better buys often are found in El Mirage. Same money, more house and often no discernable difference in location aside from the postal address and zip code.

So what's the morale of this story? Sometimes, logic ought to override an emotional reaction, especially when you're considering what for most people is the largest investment of their life. If there's a better deal to be found 100 feet to the east, is it really worth missing that opportunity for a postal address?

For more information about the Phoenix Arizona Real Estate market, visit me at www.DaltonsAzHomes.com!