Another slight increase in inventory this week - a net gain of approximately 400 homes across the Valley - paired with slower holiday and January sales have moved the local absorption rate for single-family homes into double-digit territory.
For those needing to sell, it’s well worth taking a second look at your local market and pricing realistically on the leading edge of the market. Pricing at the market averages may not lead to a quicker sale in much of the Valley.

Data provided by ARMLS. Data deemed reliable but not guaranteed

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Much credit goes to Tino’s 2000 Bloggers post, a meme of epic proportions that provided many, many Technorati links to many, many bloggers. Nevertheless, we’re now ahead of where we were on the old blog.

SERP up. Technorati Rank up. All is good on this Sunday evening.

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Once upon a time, when I first started in real estate, I advertised my phone number as my “24-hour cell number.” Another agent in my office used the terminology and I thought it sounded impressive - 24/7/365, I’m here to fulfill your real estate needs!

In time, though, I realized I’m not a McDonalds drive-thru. Twenty-four hour service was not only unnecessary, it was downright silly for one person to claim to deliver. (When I was at Charles Schwab, the active trader division came to the same realization.)

Anyway, inspired in part by the example of Tutas Towne Realty in Florida, I set business hours for myself. Call me between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. any day of the week and if I don’t answer, you will hear back from me within 59 minutes. It’s a policy that both sounds good and seemed to meet the needs of the vast majority of real estate sellers and buyers.

Apparently not. I was fired by a seller this morning. My crime? Going to a Phoenix Coyotes game and not answering my phone after 7 p.m.

I’ll tell you a secret. Most of the time, I’ll check my messages after 7 p.m. and often return calls the same evening. I don’t guarantee this because I can’t, but I try. Last night, I never heard the phone ring at the game. And answering messages wouldn’t have worked.

An agent called and left a message that he would be at one of my listings in 15-20 minutes. Agent arrives and since it was after dark and not expecting the visit, seller decline to show the house. Agent is angry even though the notice was ridiculous. Seller is angry, even though they would also have been upset about a Saturday night showing with nearly no notice. And I’m to feel guilty that 11 hours of guaranteed daily availabiliy is insufficient.

Except I don’t. I’m not a 24-hour drive-thru. I have carved time into my schedule to spend with my family and otherwise to recharge. That time comes after 7 p.m., a time when there are virtually no showings scheduled and little work to be done.

In any event, whoever takes the listing next will be the sellers’ fifth agent in just over a year. And despite being fired, I wish the seller well. If I find a prospective buyer, I’ll still show the house. And I’ll do it before 7:20 p.m. on a Saturday night.

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Where’s Dave in Tucson with that nifty border creating software that he used for my boss and my marketing photo? Maybe someone can find me a border collie who can do the same thing.

Yes, my human readers, when you spend enough time around someone like my boss you’re doomed to a corrupted sense of humor punctuated by puns and deadpan sarcasm. Do I look like I’m a sarcastic animal? Heck, no. I’m a sweetheart. In fact, I’m the main reason Boss has been successful to date. Look at his punim. Look at mine. Any other questions?

I have to give Boss and his family credit. If you haven’t ready my bio (readily available on my boss’ main website), you ought to know I came from Arizona Beagle Rescue. Yep, I did hard time until AZBR saved me and put me in a foster home. And then I met the Daltons, started eating all of their cats’ food as well of mine and ballooned.

Boss’ wife and the kids are pushing for another beagle. I’m kinda enjoying life as an only beagle but that may change in time. But I want to make sure you know there’s something you can do to help other lovable (and dare I say - sexy) beagles like myself.

Go to Arizona Beagle Rescue’s website. You can sponsor a beagle for as little as $100 (and truth be told, they’ll take any donation.) Or you can look at the beagles in need of a permanent home and pick out your own best friend. Or marketing fop. Whatever you may need. We’re a flexible breed.

There are a few things you’ve got to know about us and the site gives you the scoop. (Take it from me … when they say we’re runners, they’re right. Of course, I’ve got the routine down. I either run across the street to my girlfriend’s house or head down to the townhouses two blocks away and wait to be picked up. Works every time.)

Speaking of scoops (and scoopers), Beaglefest 2007 is around the corner (the link is from last year but you’ll get the idea and I’ll be back with more info later on). Boss and I missed it last year but we’re hoping to put in an appearance. You know - places to see, nether quarters to sniff. If you’re not used to the rooooooooing (and we don’t howl, we bay. Or roooooo. In fact, say roooooo. Louder. Okay, I’m now rooing with you. Really. Maybe we’ll make my roo a podcast) you may want to start slow, like with a play date at the local dog park.

Did I mention the best part about Beagle Rescue? Aside from making sure my fellow beagles don’t take the one-way walk about which we’d rather not speak, the foster families take copious notes so you know what you’re in for when you adopt us. And unlike most significant others, we won’t change once we trot in the front door and get used to the place.

One final note … Boss always has said he’d make a donation to AZBR if a client came to us after seeing us on the group’s website or otherwise made the request. It just hasn’t happened to date. So at the end of 2007, he and I are going to donate at least 1% of his net commissions for the year to AZBR.

After all, every beagle deserves a good home.

Did I mention we roooooo when we see roof rats? Call it an early warning system.

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David Reed, a veteran mortgage banker and also an author, wrote a column today that says blogs don’t work anymore. His basic premise … if you don’t have a blog already and someone is telling you that you need one, it’s probably too late.

In some ways this dovetails nicely into my earlier post about the rush for “Real Estate 2.0″ and all that it entails. But I do disagree only in as much as having a blog and having a blog with the slightest utility are two very different things. For all of the discussion of blogging, I still can count the real estate bloggers of any influence here in the Phoenix area on one hand.

Unlike compiling a real estate website (a phenomenon still beyond the reach of many agents), a blog requires a modicum of actual skill … if you can’t write, if you can’t communicate, it’s highly unlikely your blog will be of any worth.
Like almost anything Internet related, there is a process of separating the wheat from the chafe. We certainly hope we fall into the former and not the latter - we’re fairly certain that we do. Those who do so and agree with our assessment may end up as our future clients; those who do not probably weren’t a good match yesterday.

In any event, Tobey takes over for the day tomorrow … just another dog with a blog.

Technorati tags: real estate 2.0, blogging

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