I fell in love with ARMs again, after a five month hiatus. Hey! It’s Valentine’s Day so I can tell you a love story. This love affair has been going on since I was in my 20s. The sexy allure of adjustable-rate mortgages were replaced by the stability of that old battle-axe, the fixed rate loan. The culprit was the flat yield curve. I dig curves so my eyes popped out of my head when I opened my e-mail this morning.

Adjustable-rate mortgages walked into my life like a wild-eyed, long-haired, bombshell on a Harley, toting a bottle of tequila. Normally, I balance her beauty with the risk she presents but I promise you, she’s a changed woman. This time, she promises to stay put for a ten-year period. Frankly, ten years is plenty of time for me to outlast a few bumps in the economic road; it’s a relationship worth having.

I’m talking about the spread between a 30 year, fixed rate loan and an ARM with a ten-year fixed period. The 30 year mortgage is around 6.0% while the ten-year fixed rate ARM is offered at 5.25%. Ten years is a LONG time, regardless of the economy, so I’m recommending that over the fixed rate loan. Let me illustrate how long ten years is for you. In 1998:

1- Smoking was banned in all California bars and restaurants
2- Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris’ single season home run record
3- The Belfast agreement for peace in Northern Ireland was signed.
4- The Padres were in the World Series.
5- Apple Computer unveiled the iMac
6- Microsoft was convicted of monopoly.
7- Monica Lewinsky redefined the phrase “sexual relations”
8- Google was started.
9- Jesse Ventura was elected Governor of Minnesota
10- The movie Titanic won the Academy Awards.

Do you see where I’m headed with all of this? Ten years is a long time. Forget 30 year fixed rate loans if you think you might move, retire, refinance, or send a kid to college between today and 2018.

The ten year loan at 5.25% (5.51% apr) is just too damned sexy!

Please contact me:

Call me at 858-777-9751

E-mail me at brian (at) californialoanconnection (dot) com

Apply for a loan online at http://www.californialoanconnection.com/apply

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All of the below answers are to questions spotted on Trulia Voices for Arizona today (or at least regurgitated thanks to a brand new answer to a month-old question).

1) “No, I cannot recommend any areas to you or tell you what areas to avoid. Small thing called the Fair Housing Act prohibits me from doing so.”

2) “How do you compete with a foreclosure two doors down? You don’t. And if you have to sell, then price your home competitively with what likely will become a comp.”

3) “If you’re thinking of buying a bank-owned home, check the maps on the links in our left sidebar. You’ll need to e-mail me for a password, but I think it’s worth it.”

4) “My opinion of Estrella in Goodyear? If you like mountain views and a small-town feel not too far from the rest of the city, not a bad choice. Pretty decent incentives from the builders.”

5) “Maybe.”

6) “Best bet is to open a nice bottle of Gewurtzraminer and settle in for a long wait.”

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Let me preface this by saying that I’m not a big fan of Valentine’s Day. I believe it to be an overwrought concept that Hallmark blew up and every woman in the world decided could be held over their man’s head … “The sword of Damacles is hanging over my head … that ain’t no lie!”

For my loyal readers, all four of you there may be, I’ll warn you this post has nothing to do with real estate. Except that it does in as much as real estate is the dominant function in my life. As I complain about new build agents who don’t seem particularly inclined to come to the office on their day off to write a contract, I secretly miss those times when there was such a thing as a “day off.” Instead, I work a grab-bag of hours usually adding up to well over 40 but spread across seven days and varying degrees of sun and moonlight.

Somehow, my wife Kathie puts up with this. And she’s done so since I left Charles Schwab (not necessarily of my own doing but with enough effort put into the departure) and went into the real estate trade. She even puts up with my occasional bouts of sobriety.

She also put up with our “honeymoon” being a trip to Las Vegas for a Jimmy Buffett concert. But she got a gondola ride at The Venetian out of it and a trip to a Cirque du Soleil something or another show.

Kathie fell in love with me for my writing. Most of you who glance at this blog probably can’t figure out how. Somehow I convinced her I was a pleasant individual with a great sense of humor. Which, of course, I am. At least some of the time. I’m staring at a card that says I’m a “happy ending” kind of guy, which probably is true though not in the way that the card intends. And “happy ending kind of guy” does sound better than curmudgeon, ogre or miserable prick.

It is Kathie who somehow got me to wear an “I’m With Cupid” T-shirt out in public last year. It made her happy and so I did it. Truthfully, I’d much rather spend my time trying to make her happy than working the real estate business but we’re in a market where it’s very difficult not to devote the bulk of your time working for more business.

Yes, I wish she’d stop sitting in my office staring at me like I’m a hippopotamus on display. “Watch out, kids! His ears are wiggling!” Yes, I wish she had not gotten me hooked on VH1’s “Rock of Love” and “The Bachelor” (though the latter’s much better after a couple of beers.) Yes, I wish her cat would stop meowing in the middle of the night to say hello.

But no, I wouldn’t have the slightest idea what to do if she were not with me.

There’ll be a time when the market turns when Valentine’s Day will be spent with her chasing Peter Pan at Disneyland, knocking children to the ground to get her picture taken with a petrified 17-year-old in green tights … um, not that that’s ever happened.

Until then, I hope this rambling homage will suffice for saying I love you.

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Received an e-mail this morning from the Allison Condominiums in North Scottsdale. Everyone I talk to asks about Scottsdale and I patiently explain that city is home to some of the most expensive real estate in the Valley.

So when I saw an e-mail flyer for condos priced from $160,000 to $270,000 for one- to two-bedroom units … still a little more expensive than what you can find elsewhere in the Valley but with some of the upgrades included and amenities that match much of what many of my Canadian buyers have been seeking, it’s worth a mention.

Want more information? Call, e-mail and Meebo me (if I’m online) and I’ll pass it along.

Technorati Tags: Canadian buyers Arizona real estate, Scottsdale real estate

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All of my sites offer property searches. Some have parameters you need to enter, others have pre-set parameters for the communities in question.

For those where you need to enter the parameters, may I offer a suggestion that will save you a lot of time in the long run?

Go to my Point-2-Agent site, www.glendalearizonamls.com and sign up via the Dream Home Finder. You enter all of your criteria and you’ll receive automated listings.

Or send me an e-mail with your particulars and I’ll set up a personalized web site with the homes that match your criteria. Best of all, you can mark a home as “rejected” and it will not show up on your search again. No more having to look at the same home without any curb appeal search after search after search.

Save some time and make your online home shopping that much more effective.

Our Valentine’s Day present to you - the gift of time.

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