Scottsdale Real Estate Blog - Home Selling

Real Estate and Reality TV

In 2009 I wrote an article based on an HGTV "reality" show about a real estate sale in Chicago - you can read it here.  Today I read an article from Inman News about real estate and reality TV.

When I write my own blog post in relation to a published article I usually go down the original list and write in my own thoughts.  I'm going to tackle it a bit differently today.

Editing and True Reality

Unless you've been interviewed for an article in a newspaper or magazine or have been on a television show, you don't realize how editing can skew your entire interview or the true happenings while filming a show/documentary.

I've been published many times in local newspapers and The Wall Street Journal Online even published a story about me losing…

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Is It Worth It To Remodel Your Scottsdale Home?

This is another Throwback Thursday post I wrote in December 6, 2005, that still holds true today.  The link to the Cost vs. Value Report is for 2014.

Cost vs. Value Report

One of the reports I really look forward to each year is the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) “Cost vs. Value Report“.  This report can help you make your own determination on whether a remodel project is worth it to you and gives you an idea of what you should be able to expect as a return on that investment.

If you’re thinking of doing a remodeling project for the sake of selling your Scottsdale home I would suggest speaking to an agent or home stager before doing anything.  I’ve noticed that sometimes sellers want to do too much or they want to fix and replace…

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Do You Like Being Cold Called?

This wasn't what I was planning to write about but I just heard, for the 2nd time, about a woman that was harassed by a barrage of agents cold calling her.  The first time I heard about it was from one of the agents that were part of a cold calling group that might have been part of this story.  He posted his story on a real estate group on Facebook.   A similar story was featured on the news in Colorado.  I'm not sure this is the same story, but to read a post from one agent on a real estate group on Facebook and to see the news story here, I'm thinking it might be one and the same.  I've been searching to find the original post on the Facebook group but haven't been successful.  I will state that in the video of the news feed on the above link a…

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I Saved My Scottsdale Townhouse Sellers Thousands

This is part 3 of the “Neighborhood Expert” series of posts.  I am an agent that lives and works in Scottsdale.  I’ve been selling real estate in the since 1983.  Below is one of my stories about out-of-area agents against a local Realtor®.  It is in response to an article in Inman News speaking against self-anointed “neighborhood experts.”

The Scottsdale Townhome Sellers That I Saved Thousands

I took a listing for a Scottsdale townhouse for sale.  It was a beautiful place with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths.  We got an agent from Gilbert that had an interested buyer.  In an era of technology, she insisted on presenting her offer at the table with my sellers. My sellers obliged (many won’t) and the agent proceeded to state that the townhouse would…

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Real Estate Neighborhood Expert Series Part 2

This is part 2 of the Real Estate Neighborhood Expert series – click the link to see what started these posts.  In a nutshell, this series began from an article I read in Inman News.  The author was blasting agents that call themselves area experts.  His thoughts were that these so-called experts would take high-priced listings because they weren’t keeping abreast of local market conditions.  I commented on his post and wrote my own response, which you can read using the above link.  That post is very long so I’m going to create some shorter posts to highlight specific things referred to in the Inman article.

You’re not an expert if you don’t know the current market value in your area

Personally, I don’t see many, if any, real estate agents…

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The Real Estate Neighborhood Expert Series Introduction

What Is a Real Estate Neighborhood Expert?

Searching Google, here is the definition of the word "expert" from the online Merriam-Webster dictionary:  "having or showing special skill or knowledge because of what you have been taught or what you have experienced."

Many Scottsdale real estate agents are trying to rein in the large areas they cover.  They want to establish themselves as a real estate "neighborhood expert," or the "local expert" in their community. Some consider themselves the local expert in their subdivision or condo/townhouse association. Agents reducing their area of expertise to this kind of extremely specific, smaller area are probably the closest you'll get to a true neighborhood expert.

There is an agent I've read about…

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Our Main Real Estate Service Areas

Our main cities are listed below. Click on the links to access each village's main page that offers a list of that town's single-family homes for sale along with current village real estate data such as the number of properties currently for sale and average, high and low prices.  You'll also get information about the towns with helpful links to local information.

• Carefree
• Cave Creek
• Fountain Hills
• North Phoenix
• North Scottsdale
• Paradise Valley
• Scottsdale

As a family team, we are able to go outside of these towns and cover almost any Greater Phoenix area, so please contact us if you're interested in a city not on this list.  Also check our full list of towns we work in by viewing the communities on the left navigation…

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Debunking 20/20 Investigation Into Real Estate Tricks of the Trade

I was laughing out loud at an article I read about an ABC News 20/20 interview with some real estate agents and their claim of "blowing the whistle on shady real estate tricks." I'm not saying this stuff is never done and there are bad apples in real estate like any other business.

Here is my personal response to some of the so-called tricks based on interviews with 2 reality TV real estate agents, Ryan Serhant, the star of a Bravo reality show and Sandra Rinomato, the former host of Property Virgins on HGTV:

Bait and Switch

Serhant, an agent in New York City (which I've heard does not utilize an MLS like we do in Arizona and most other areas in the United States), states that agents keep listings up long after they've been sold.

My…

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Real Estate is Back! - Infographic

Prices and sales have dropped substantially since the real estate bust. Some areas like much of Florida, Las Vegas, NV, and Phoenix, AZ were hit hard, with more than 50% decreases in home values.  The amount of annual sales has also decreased.

California showed decreases and popped back the quickest. Many areas in the state are back to a seller's market with decreased inventory and buyers wanting to still get a good price at low interest rates.

Low inventory across the nation is causing multiple offers on well-priced properties. Even in the Greater Phoenix area, we're seeing multiple offers in lower price ranges, and the best-priced homes in most any price range can sell quickly. Below is an infographic created by Active Rain (an online…

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Local HGTV Buy Me Show

I caught a great "Buy Me" show on HGTV today that was shot in Chicago.  It was very interesting because one of the owners was a long-time veteran real estate agent that had her REALTOR® son list the home.

It was a very unique, custom-styled 3-story and although the homeowners seemed to acknowledge that they were looking for that special (needle-in-a-haystack) buyer, they were not cooperating with their son about staging the home and pricing it correctly.  And it kind of bothered me that as a real estate agent, the wife was one of the most difficult to convince.

She had a difficult time de-cluttering and kept items that her son tried to get her to store away.  And she wanted to try a very high price even after her son showed her comparables and tried…

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