Edits
How to choose a Real Estate agent to help with a Home Purchase? Part 1
September 30th, 2009 categories: Buying, Edits, Phoenix real estate
I imagine how difficult task it might be, and knowing what I know, seeing it from this side of the fence, I wonder what would I do, if I was to move to another state.
And this is what I thought of: (and I guess this is a perspective of a total control freak) I would do a lot of work on my own before I could make a commitment to work with one person.
1. I would visit the town at least twice before. I would drive around as much as possible looking for “hints”
2. I would read online whatever possible about the best places to live there. Especially places that would allow me the lifestyle I want to have.
3. I would talk to people: (online friends, people in the town, strangers met randomly, bartenders, waiters…. Realtors too. : ) because the best place can really mean different things to everyone.
i.e. Gilbert was chosen once as one of the 3 best places to live in Metro Phoenix. (Phoenix Magazine)
However: Forbes magazine has chosen the city as one of the most boring in USA.
4. I would check criminal stats and compare them to other places in the town.
5. I would google everything.
6. I think I would rather rent for 3-6 months to get a better feel and in the meantime I would read the real estate contract and addenda and ask my agent for explanation of things that are not clear to me. A good agent should be very happy to explain everything in the details and make sure that there is not one thing that you don’t understand.
While interviewing an agent I would slice him and dice him and watch for red flags like:
“this is a safe area”, “there is no crime here”, “It is a quiet neighborhood” “trust me..”, ” trust me, everything will be all right, just sign the dotted line please” “maybe you want to check out the South part of town, there are many Polish people there” …nnnope… “this is a perfect time to buy a house” … I have developed an allergic reaction to such cliches; a perfect time to buy a house is when I want to buy a house. Except when I need to participate in a bidding war. As I recall “a perfect time to buy a house” was also in 2005.
7. I would talk to couple Realtors, I would give each of them a chance to impress me. I would look for honesty, modesty;
I could not stand if someone had a huge ego, (it rather hurts negotiations)
I would look for an ability to handle stressful situation , having things under control, and I would like to have a feeling that I am the most important person for her while she is working with me.
I would like her to LISTEN , really LISTEN to me, because there must be nothing more frustrating than someone trying to shape you according to their vision.
That is just like a hair stylist who will cut your hair according to what they like, not how you want it.
HOWEVER… HOWEVER.. as a Realtor I need to say- it happens to me ALL THE TIME: a new client says: I have to have such and such .. and they purchase a completely different property..
8. Definitely I would like the Realtor to show me few places before I would make the commitment.
I would like to check if they annoy me or answer all my questions in a satisfactory manner. If the agent opens a home for me, than walks in front of me “to show me the home” and talks all the time…
I would fire her this very minute.
I think people need to have a little more faith in the others intellectual capabilities: I don’t need anyone to show me: “…and here is the bathroom and here is the kitchen and here is the doggie door” …. believe me: I see it!!!!
Writing this I realized how much trust you must have in someone who represents you…
We need to eliminate the unnecessary stress from our lives.
I hear too often: I don’t like my Realtor.
Ok, than make the decision fast; work with someone whom – on top of all those other very important things- you like!
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What Is Freedom
July 4th, 2009 categories: Edits, Historic Neighborhoods
I thought for a moment that Freedom is an inborn quality:
Either you live with freedom or not.
Either you cling to things and people or you let them go.
Either you think independently or you follow the crowd.
Either you are a master of your energy or the energy is a master of you.
But now i think that freedom can be learned if this is our priority,
if we have the strong SENSE OF FREEDOM;
or we can become enslaved more and more by people and things and circumstances 
and our thinking narrows down. Some people like to be enslaved. It gives them a feeling they are needed.
I have never met a person who would be totally free.
There is always something somewhere keeping us from enjoying it.
The areas of life where we are not free are the very same places where the obstacles to harmony and happiness are.
It must be a lonely road to total freedom.
perhaps it is a goal impossible to reach.
perhaps we don’t really want total freedom,
Every time we are more free we gave up something else.
If ” freedom is just another word for having nothing to lose”
than being totally free would mean to be dead.
When we are alive we always have something to lose.
Maybe I never met anyone who is totally free because freedom is a process…
We encounter new situations and people every day -
are we free in relation to them or do they control us?
The road to freedom means to me :
letting go of one mind conditioning after another, one after another,
but i am creating also more conditioning in my mind along the way,
and each time it happens, I see that,
but it is so hard to let some of them go,
(those that make me me?)
it seems that i will give up myself if I do,
that I will feel bad- or is it the simple reason that I am not ready?
Freedom is a state of mind. Freedom is relative. But it is never total.
no matter what we do, there is usually a system we are entangled in.
Even if we think we have chosen an alternative route or live unconventional life.
After all don’t we search for more freedom when we think it will make us happier?
Not just for the sake of it?
Joanna Zajusz
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“Concentrated Wisdom” just a click away :)
July 21st, 2008 categories: Edits, Responsible Living
Another of Brian Johnson’s brilliant ideas has been recently realized in a form of : “PhilosophersNotes”.
Perhaps you see “free time” as luxury, but your main focus is always to move FORWARD in all areas of your life. Looking at a long shelve with self-development books, you just know, it will take too long to read all books you crave.
Brian thought of people like you:
“In less than 15 minutes a week, we’ll get you thru the Big Ideas of 25 of the best self-development books ever written—you’ll get a 6-page PDF and ~20-minute MP3 for each title so you can decide if you’d prefer to read over a cup of tea or listen on your way to work, on a hike, at the gym, doing errands or whatever’s best for you!”
And he continues:
“We’ll gain mastery in spiritual economics (we MUST learn how to integrate our spirituality/self-actualizing with our bank accounts, no?), health and fitness (how can we possibly live at our highest potential if we have a hard time getting out of bed?), and relationship skills (love, love, love!!). We’ll learn a bunch of ways to discover our purpose/dharma, how to follow our bliss, how to feel the fear… and do it anyway and how to live the 7 habits of highly effective people. And, we’ll study the science of getting rich and the magic of thinking big. And all kinds of other goodness.”
I have to say: I do like it.
In some cases- before you finish a second cup of morning coffee (or green tea : ) you read one Summary, (sometimes it takes longer) you mood is set, you are energized – that is how Brian writes, and you just learned something very practical that you will be able to apply immediately to many situations throughout the day.
Click on the icon here in the post, and start reading and enjoying!
(What I have read this morning: a Summary of ” Self -Actualizing People” A. Maslow)
Get a 6-page PDF and >< 20-Minute Mp3 for each title. Click on the icon or here.
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Phoenix Homes Misrepresented.
June 23rd, 2008 categories: Edits, Phoenix real estate
That will be important for buyers who are looking on their own, with or without Realtor’s representation. There are currently ads on Craigslist. com now, put up by agent advertising homes for sale, stating, that the address of the property will be released to you after the advertiser received from you a signed “loyalty agreement”. “No Buyer Realtors allowed!” Nice, isn’t it. So in order to get details about the property you have to first sign a “loyalty agreement” this is most likely buyer broker agreement. That’s fine to en extent, but even with this there are issues. These could be exclusive listings, but the are not. It all goes bad from here.
For any Realtor, it will take just a minute, maximum, to identify the property on MLS, who its listed by, is it exclusive or not and its entire history, but a buyer shopper does not have that luxury. So here is the deal with these listing. They are being advertised by agents who are not the listing agent of the properties being advertised. Not only that but the listing agent do not know about this and did not authorize it. It’s wrong to advertise someone’s else listing as yours especially if you are forcing a prospective buyer to sign away to see details readily available else where. This is not like other sites where you see lots of properties form multiple agents; these disclose who the broker is.
This argues with standard of practice 12-10 of NAR’s code of ethics.
What is a “nice” way to share listings? IDX search. You may find it on many Realtors websites and I see more and more people using i.e http://realestateconfluence.com/phoenix-home-search
The IDX Program permits MLS Participants to grant and receive permission to display each other’s active listings on certain public Internet websites. Unless they opt out.
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DIY TV series – not for everybody
June 22nd, 2008 categories: Edits
A client was really excited to see the house close to Kierland Commons in North Scottsdale with a huge lot and a fabulous garden; it had an elegant interior as well, all looked spectacular on the pictures…
I looked at the pricing archives of the property and found out that the price was already reduced $150k since 2007 and the home has been on the market for more than 300 days. In such an attractive area, this was suspicious; even in this market.
A clarification to our question was revealed as soon as we opened the door…
The first thing you could see in the immense space filled with soft light filtered through a row of windows just under the ceiling, was the travertine floor where every other tile had high corners. In other words the person whom put down the tile did not keep them level. See the picture below.
Though everybody sees what is wrong, the reaction is: “what is that??” asking one through another.
Next comes the kitchen… here a number of ‘onmygoshings’ did not indicate any feelings of desire toward this new and shinny kitchen.
The details of the do-it-yourself job stood out as would a polar bear on Phoenix. Really good quality cabinets were put in by someone who never saw a level in their life. These are not mistakes you have too look for; there are obvious gaps between cabinets. Who ever worked on this kitchen, did not have a possibility of noticing even 5 mm deficiency. The black granite counter top had rough cuts in the places where you would never expect to see roughness, like the joints. So lets call it a “misunderstanding”.
Next is the fireplace, made of faux rough stone. In this case the picture is truly all that is needed.
The result: the buyer, like most buyers, do not want to do a remodeling. They want a move in ready home.
The Reaction: thought this is a remodeled home with good materials like travertine floors and granite counter tops and wood kitchen cabinets it has the opposite effect that it should. The finish will leave a buyer in awe at the truly bad installation job. The cabinets can be corrected. That’s not a big cost. The granite counter top must go. Then the travertine floor must go as well. In total this will be very expensive to repair and it’s probably one of the main reason this home has been lingering on the market.
The other thing is, potential buyers will question themselves, “what else has been remodeled in such a shoddy way, maybe the electrical work, maybe plumbing?”
At a distance this is a wonderful home and it presents itself well, until you get closer, walk up the crooked pavers and enter the door and see the rest of the bad details inside.
This is still a great house to buy, for someone who wants to do some remodeling to a newly remodeled home but remember corrections are often more difficult and expensive then doing it right in the beginning.
Maybe, in some cases, the DIY TV series are not that helpful after all!
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Second Day of Summer or Is It.
June 22nd, 2008 categories: Edits, Local Color
Today (yesterday was the 1st day actually but I started to write yesterday) is the official start of the summer season but is sure started earlier for many people, school kids amongst them, for whom summer is the the end of school. Often it’s the warmer temperatures that signal the summer. This is how I remember the starts of summer when I lived in the higher latitudes; warm weather equals summer. But of course this was a long time and go.
I have been in Arizona for over 20 years and summer here starts when the temperatures go above 85. which is basically the bulk of the year. Then there are just greater and lesser summers. If you think about when were in the midst of the summer here its like the winters in many other places. Extreme weather, lack of mobility due to atmospheric condition, it’s bloody blazing hot when it’s 115 like it was yesterday and will be many more times this year.
It’s the kind of heat that hurts so it’s extreme and dangerous. Even the water in the pools is starting to get too warm for comfort. A splash in the pool should be a relief. Each year I try to prepare for the summer but its always difficult just as harsh winters are elsewhere. So when you see a photo of a young couple having a picnic under a lush green tree on a flower covered meadow, to represent summer days, this does not apply to Phoenix. Here is a list of things you can do during the Phoenix summer heat.
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Who Has Faith In Downtown Phoenix!
June 8th, 2008 categories: Downtown Phoenix, Edits
On another real estate portal a website visitor asked if Downtown Phoenix will get cleaned up since despite the attractive condo and loft projects there are slums surrounding them.
I think it best to speak with the people already living there, how they feel about the lifestyle and how they are affected by the present, but disappearing slums. The thing is, you can actually meet residents in the streets, in the cafes and parks unlike in suburbia where you’re more likely to get honked at by your neighbor or maybe you’ll meet them sometime while both of you are getting the mail.
Faith? I don’t think you need faith to see what downtown Phoenix will become. The money is coming and more is on its way. Remember that the downtown renaissance is in its infancy. Each time I go there, there are more places to eat and to be with friends and I have no fear walking the streets at nights in most areas. Even 10 years ago and less I had no reason to go there. It was an office wasteland, but now its drawing me in, so much so that we’re moving to Midtown soon.
We have been investing in real estate in downtown/midtown and so have many of our clients. Add to this the rising cost of energy and the increasing distaste for suburbia then follow the money, follow it to downtown and midtown Phoenix. I encourage you to take a bike and ride the streets on a weekend morning then go at night to all those old little houses, many of which now are galleries or places to have a good beer.
Its also not a gamble as some propose to live and invest in Downtown Phoenix. I really don’t think downtown Phoenix is a gamble but a rational decision and plan, that will take time to fully mature. The planning has been going on for a long time. Take a look at what a light rail type system did in other major cities similar to Phoenix, sprawling cities like Phoenix, and the gamble becomes an educated guess, then look at what the population is doing and it becomes a natural progression.
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Real Estate Confluence Redirected.
May 27th, 2008 categories: Edits
The focus but not the intent of real estate confluence is changing before it really started. We have been working out a few technical kinks. Furthermore we felt that the way we had started real estate confluence would be too close of a match for Phoenix Market 
Trends.
We have been exploring Phoenix quite a bit lately and these explorations are more and more pulling us toward Phoenix Downtown, Midtown and Uptown.
It’s this pull that will mould Real Estate Confluence into a blog-site that focuses on what is emerging into a vibrant, exciting and authentic part of Phoenix.
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Crisis in the Phoenix real estate market.
May 10th, 2008 categories: Edits
I was reading a book by Dr. Robert Anthony and in one of the chapters he states, “All problems are really opportunities in disguise. The Chinese realized this. Their symbol for crisis is made up of two symbols: one for problem, and one for opportunity.
Can you see how this relates to real estate and the current market?
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What is real estate investing about?
April 24th, 2008 categories: Edits
This picture exemplifies the benefits of real estate investing. The key word is cash flow. It is cash flow that will allow you to be just like Rupik, this mad minded lazy and food picky smooth fox terrier. 
Cash flow will give you the freedom to do what you want, whether it’s travel, good cars, bigger donations to NPR or lazying on a Sunday afternoon. Learn more about cash flow strategies in Phoenix real estate at PhoenixMarketTrends.com our more serious blog.
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