Scottsdale Real Estate Blog - Judy Orr

Downsizing and Storage Needs

When looking for a new place, there are many variables to take into account when finding your new home. Price, location, the school district, and the neighborhood upkeep are just some of the few things that a prospective buyer is looking out for. If price is a big factor for you, consider downsizing when temporarily relocating.

The money you can save is definitely an attractive reason to downsize on your home in Scottsdale. Before settling, make sure that saving that money is worth it. Would you have to live in a neighborhood that you’re uncomfortable in? Are the people there friendly? There are some costs that outweigh the benefits that you may get from downsizing.

Doing research and actually looking at the location where your future home is…

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Hypermiling How To

What is Hypermiling?

There are many definitions of hypermiling and even distinctions on who can actually claim they are a hypermiler.  In easy terms, it is learning to drive in a new way to save as much gas usage as you can or to increase your MPG above the EPA as much as possible.  Fuel economy (FE) is the key.

I have read that some hypermilers get better gas mileage in their gas-guzzling SUV's than the guy down the street driving a Prius normally.  Hypermilers seem to be a new sub-culture with contests and hypermiler "rock stars."

With gas headed to $4.00/gallon this summer, the term hypermiling might become a household word.

You Have to Relearn How to Drive

The following are very simple hypermiling techniques:

• Drive slooooooow -…

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Happy Scottsdale Home Buyers

We found the buyers for a Scottsdale single-family home. They were first-time buyers and we worked hard to get them a great price on their Scottsdale home for sale. We saved them $22,400 off of the list price, and this was not a short sale or foreclosure. We go to bat for our buyers and we've saved buyers thousands of dollars over the years.

Buyers - if you're looking for a property in the Scottsdale area we're your team. Judy Orr has 29 years of experience and her husband, James Herter, is her teammate. We are full-time agents and we fully represent you and your best interests in what could be the biggest financial decision you've ever made. We educate first-time buyers and try to make purchasing a home as fun and stress-free as possible.

Sellers -…

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Average Earnest Money Amount

There are some great tools for webmasters to check what web surfers are really searching for.  With the busy spring season for Scottsdale real estate ahead of us, it seems like buyers and sellers are wondering what constitutes a low earnest money amount or if there is an average in the Valley area.

Because the Greater Phoenix area is so large there are really no earnest money rules.  Scottsdale real estate agents still write contracts with earnest money as low as $1,000.  This is usually for purchases in the $100,000's.  Once a buyer purchases a more expensive property, the expected earnest money is higher.

When I lived in Illinois, I was surprised to find out that the average Chicago earnest money amount was around ten percent of the contract…

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LOTS OF REAL ESTATE "NEWS" FOR 2012

For the first time in a while, I feel optimistic for the upcoming year. We are busier than normal at this time of year, so I feel 2012 will be even better and might show a quicker start to the selling season. We have some new things coming up and I'd like to briefly go over them here.

There's a new team in town

I have already introduced my husband Jimmy Herter and my son Matt Orr. Jimmy got licensed last year and is now a Broker. My son Matt has helped us out on and off over the years and he has committed to giving us more time. Matt is our "new" photographer with his new camera. Our photos have always received compliments from happy sellers, but we've now kicked them up a notch.

We have a new newsletter

Every year I start out writing my…

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Why Agents Need Advance Notice to Set Showing Appointments

Real estate agents know that it can be fun and exciting viewing potential homes that you might be interested in purchasing. When you find a home online, in an automated e-mail, or driving down the street, you might want to see it right now. However, even if it is a vacant home, we still need to make an appointment with the listing office.

If you want to view several Scottsdale homes for sale, we need time to set up a logical route, put a viewing time on each one and then call each individual listing office. We need to be in our offices to print up the listing sheets before we can even work on setting up the appointments. Although we can use our smart phone, tablet or laptop on the road if necessary, it isn't that easy if there are multiple properties…

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Keep Trying to Find That Sweet Spot When Selling Your Scottsdale Home

UPDATE - 11/2/2017 - This is an older post that was made in a declining market.  The market is definitely better today but we still get sellers that want to list their homes higher than market value.  Read the rest of this post to see why that's not a good idea. 

A seller gets the most interest in the first week or two of listing a property.  If they start out too high, buyers lose interest and move on to other Scottsdale homes for sale.  That first wave of buyers might have purchased already by the time sellers price their home correctly, so their final reduction won't hit as large of an audience.  I always remind sellers that unless they're lucky enough to find a cash buyer that falls in love with their home, it will have to appraise for any buyer…

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Buyers Losing Homes By Taking Too Long to Decide

A buyer recently sent me a list of Scottsdale homes for sale that she wanted to view. When I started setting up appointments I was told that one of the homes just accepted an offer and there would be no further showings. I relayed this to my buyer, who was very upset because it was the top choice on her list.

This is a buyer who has been viewing properties online for a long time. They just started actually going out and viewing homes in Scottsdale, although they are not in a hurry. I have seen this happening with buyers more this and last year than ever before. These buyers are looking for homes part-time. Some go out once a month, some a little more, and some even less.

When you're sporadically looking for homes you can miss the best deals. Even in…

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Why Don't Sellers Want to Accept Your Contingent on Sale Offer?

We are in the worst market I have experienced since I started in the business in 1983. My welcome to real estate was interest rates that shot up to 18% and even higher. There was a lot of creative financing out there, and homes were still being purchased. The good news is that those high rates didn't last very long, and the market got back to normal much quicker than what we are experiencing today.

There are way too many homes up for sale than buyers that can qualify for a mortgage. The lower-priced homes are in competition with a slew of foreclosures and short sales so it's very hard to compete. If those sellers cannot sell their Scottsdale homes then they can't move up to the next home. It is a vicious circle, where you have to be priced really well…

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Is Price Really King?

UPDATE 10/2017:  This is an older blog post written at the time prices were just starting to decline.  The main idea of this still holds true in any market.  I've included an updated video.

In reading other blogs and news items I am "hearing" other agents state that price is the most important thing to get a property sold in today's ever-declining Buyer's Market.  And I agree.

Price always was king, even in the booming Seller's Market we experienced with Scottsdale real estate.  There were still properties during that time that did not sell until they reduced price.  There were still some long market times with properties that the sellers thought they could ask whatever they wanted and someone would make an offer.  Houses were selling all…

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