Occasionally, there comes a time when it becomes necessary to “move on” in order to “move up”. That time appears to have come in my professional life. After four very happy, very productive years with Country Ranch Real Estate, first as a GMAC and then as a Real Living franchise, the time has come to move on. Sadly, I will be leaving what once felt like Friends & Family. Unfortunately, after more than a year, the Real Living system has not, as yet, reached the “economy of scale” or name brand recognition that I had hoped for by now. However, as we all know, when one door closes another is likely to open. After considerable introspection and soul searching I have decided to hang my hat with the local Keller Williams office. With a true “nation-wide” brand name and much larger franchise network, Keller Williams – River Cities Specialists has consistently been the number 1 sales volume office in the Bullhead City, Fort Mohave, and Mohave Valley area. With a much larger support staff and colleague base, not to mention franchise system, I expect to be delivering the same, or higher, level of service and attention to Clients.

If you are looking to buy or sell real estate in the Bullhead City, Fort Mohave or Mohave Valley areas contact me!

As we approach year end for 2011 and anticipate 2012 the Bullhead City, Fort Mohave, Mohave Valley real estate market continues to set its own pace. Obviously, we all look for indications of improvement. Well, maybe it is already occurring? 2011 saw some interesting changes over 2010. Not the least of which is an increase in the Average Sold Price of a Single Family Home! Granted that that increase is only a modest 2% but, consider the fact that it occurred here at least 9 months ahead of national predictions!? On November 11, 2011 Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist for the National Association of Realtors (NAR), speaking at the NAR national convention, in Anaheim, California, predicted a “modest increase (2-3%)” in home prices during the 3rd quarter of 2012. Well, here are the facts for the Bullhead City Market. During November 2010 45 single family homes were sold with an Average price of $123,746. During November 2011 53 single family homes were sold with an Average price of $126,291. THAT is an increase, in average price, of a little better than 2 per cent (2.05%)! Interestingly, the increase in number of units sold (45 vs. 53) is a whopping 17.7%!! A similar comparison of Year to Date statistics yields very similar results. Between 01/01/2010 and 11/30/10 554 single family homes were sold with an Average sale price of $132,615. From 01/01/2011 through 11/30/2011 527 single family homes were sold with an Average sale price of $135,658. This shows an increase in Average sold price of 2.3%! While the decrease in units sold is bothersome (#554 vs. #527) the amount of inventory (number of homes for sale) is currently under 6 months!

Obviously, these are encouraging signs. Let’s hope that there are more to come? In the mean time, there is an amazing amount of opportunity in this market. Despite the doom & gloom tone of the major news reporting agencies. Interest rates are the lowest in 30+ years, home prices are at historic lows and home affordability is at an ALL TIME HIGH! Take for example, the young couple I wrote an offer for last week. They have been renting the home for 7 years. Now, the Landlord is faced with having to short sell the home. If we can get Lender approval and it looks likely, on this short sale this young couple will be able to reduce their housing costs by almost 40%!! This will, literally, Re-Set this couple’s life style!

If you’d like to know more about the opportunities available in today’s real estate market feel free to contact me.

Time flies as it was nearly one year ago that we announced Country Ranch GMAC was to be re-branded as Real Living Country Ranch. One year later, our new signs are all over town and everyone has become accustomed to our eye catching red and black signs. As the 2011 comes to a close, we are excited to announce that we are moving to the south end of Bullhead City to a more convenient location with yes, additional parking. Our new office is across the street from the Target/Kohl’s shopping center. We are currently open at both locations but expect to be fully moved to the new location, by the end of November. Stop in and join us at 3706 Highway 95 Suite 103, in Bullhead City, where we prepare to meet the real estate recovery!

The local real estate market in Bullhead City, Fort Mohave and Mohave Valley Arizona continues to bump along toward recovery. Looking back at the 2010 single family homes market we see an improvement during 2011. Average sales price has increased to $129,779 up from $125,209. Average days on the market have become shorter as the banks have been streamlining their short sale process. Foreclosures have taken a smaller percentage of the market this year with 53% of the sales being foreclosures compared with 2010 which reported 61%.

Homes under contract or pending continue to remain steady and it is very likely that we will sell as many homes during 2011 as we did in 2010. If sales continue to remain strong through the end of the year, we have a good chance of selling as many as 1000 homes this year. Year to date local realtors have closed 843 homes while during all of 2010, 872 single family homes were sold in Bullhead City, Fort Mohave and Mohave Valley. Buyers are experiencing more difficultly finding the right home as inventory has been shrinking this fall.

If you want additional information on any facet of our market feel free to email me!!

Bullhead City, Fort Mohave and Mohave Valley, Arizona real estate markets closed 101 single family homes for the month of June.  Median sales price slid back to $115000.  Since 73% of the homes sold in the month of June were under $150,000 this is not too surprising.  The market enjoyed two riverfront home closings in June, which Real Living Country Ranch agents brought the buyers, and an additional 7 homes selling for over $200,000. 

The month’s supply of single family housing inventory continues to drop.  During June 2010, the Bullhead City, Fort Mohave and Mohave Valley Arizona experienced 5.0 months of inventory, while this year our local market is at 3.2 months of inventory, the lowest in years.  The number of days on the market   dropped from 144 in May to 84 during June.  I believe this is due to the small number of short sale closing that occurred during the month.  Unlike the last two months where short sales claimed 10% of the sales, May short sale numbers dropped to 4% of the market.  (Short sales take longer to close than the standard sale) 

With the inventory dropping and the sales remaining strong it is clear for many, Bullhead City, Fort Mohave and Mohave Valley is the place to buy real estate.

The 4^th of July holiday weekend has started the month out strong.  Our phones are ringing at Real Living Country Ranch.  Multiple offers continue to reign supreme for properties that are priced right.    Our updated www.RealLivingCountryRanch.com website is seeing an increase in traffic and we have had many raving reviews from those that have been using it!  Thank you again for your continued support and referral customer you are sending our way.

The following is a market recap for January courtesy of our in house statistical guru, Petra Fahey;

The local real estate market in Bullhead City, Fort Mohave and Mohave Valley came out the gate strong.  The average sales price for homes was the highest since March 2010.  Two riverfront sales at 9853 Dike Road ($1,000,000) and 2649 Camino Del Rio ($727,500) did contribute to the increase in the average sales price.  Including these two sales, a total of 22 of the 78 sales were over $150,000.

The most promising news, were the number of homes that went under contract during January 2011. During the month, 105 homes went pending/under contract.  Our local real estate market has not seen this many homes under contract in a given month since March (111) and April (105) of last year.  Remember, these two months were the height of the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit.  Starting 2011 with such a strong number of homes under contract this early in the year is good news.  Even more encouraging, this up tick is without the aid of government tax credits.

Although the median sales price did make a comeback this past month, home sellers would like to see the sales prices continue to improve.  Over the last 12 months the median sales price has dipped 4.9%, while number of home sales have remained strong.  Looking back to the fourth quarter of 2007 the number of home sales are up over 117% along with the under contract up over 95%.

Our phones are ringing at Real Living Country Ranch with buyers asking questions about homes on the market in Bullhead City, Fort Mohave and Mohave Valley.  Our new Real Living sign has been installed this week and we expect to change yard signs as early as mid month.  As we are always looking for new ways to market our listings for sale and are in the process of kicking it up for 2011! 

We are working on adding video to our marketing efforts and hope to have the first video out of production by Monday.  With the help of a third party marketing company we are in the process of advertising our properties through our Real Living Country Ranch Facebook Fan page.  The www.RealLivingCountryRanch.com website is live and we are creating new content and pages daily.

Thank you for your continued support as we launch into the new year!

EXTREME SPORTS IN THE TRI-STATE AREA

Not quite up for the Boston Marathon or an Ironman Triathlon? Well now there’s another less strenuous yet still challenging choice in the Tri-State area. Bullhead City, AZ and Laughlin, Nevada is already blessed with a wealth of activities to choose from but now has yet another outdoor activity! Welcome to the first TOTAL BODY BOOTCAMP BI-ATHLON!

A couple years ago my good friends, and fitness inspirations, Christina Shetley and Kristin Karimi founded Total Body Boot Camp as an alternative to gym based fitness programs. Meeting in the morning (5:30 AM) five (5) days a week at Rotary Park Christina & Kristin provide a high intensity, high cardiovascular conditioning workout program. This quickly turned into one of the premier fitness choices in our area and a welcome change from the traditional indoor gym setting.

Now these two fitness powerhouses have come up with what could easily become a regional signature event for outdoor and fitness enthusiasts in the Southwest! On October 2, 2010 Total Body Bootcamp will host a Bi-Athlon comprising a 10K (6.2 mile) run from Rotary Park to Community Park and a return kayak trip back to Rotary Park. The kayak leg of the race will probably cover close to 9 miles.

Total Body Bootcamp Biathalon

AUGUST SALES REVIEW

As a usual feature each month here is the latest stistical report from our own in-house statistical guru Petra Fahey.

August left with a bang as Bullhead City Arizona welcomed the biggest storm in 5 years.  Residents in Bullhead City experienced buckets of rain, brilliant lightening and earth shaking thunder even hail was reported along with strong winds opened up Saturday the 28^th.  The storm opened up half way through the annual high school foot ball game.  Although the two local schools plan in different divisions River Valley High School, their yearly scrimmage is the most attended game of the season.  The storm was so quick and intense that the game was called.  With street lights out, and waters raging the excited youthful fans took shelter and enjoyed “Mother Nature’s” show.  The fans return to the Mohave High School stands the following night to watch the rest of the game under a gentle sky.  For those interested, the final score was Mohave High 27 River Valley 7.

Well the Bullhead City, Fort Mohave and Mohave Valley   Arizona real estate market is also weathering  its own storm rather well considering the monsoon of foreclosure that have been blowing into town.  Foreclosure sales increased during August to 65% of the market.  This is the second time this year the percentage has been this high.  August was better than July for homeowners trying to avoid foreclosure as short sales claimed 16% of the sales.  This is the highest amount of short sale closing we have seen this year.  This is directly related to the fact that the banks are now geared up to successfully process the transactions . 

Single family home sales were down slightly with the local MLS reporting 79 closing for August 2010. Traditionally the 3^rd quarter has the most home sales.  Following in line with the news reports, the tax credit is the main reason that the sales are showing short.  With the number of sales winding down,  the first quarter for 2010 will likely be the winner for most home sales. 

As always we are focused on your real estate success.

3rd Qtr 2010 graph

RIVERFRONT OPEN HOUSE

Beautiful riverfront home available for viewing this Saturday Aug. 7 from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. This gorgeous 3 bed room 2 bath home has lots of terraced deck overlooking the river and is sited on one of the deepest stretches of the river. A great open floor plan with lots of windows to bring the outdoors in. A modern kitchen with stainless steel appliances rounds out the interior. There is even a boat deep garage featuring 10 foot high doors!! Come on by and take a look, 1049 Riverfront Dr. in Bullhead City. Take Ramar Rd. to Marina Parkway turn north and go to Riverfront Dr.

Curb View

Riverside View

MONTHLY MARKET UPDATE

 If you don’t read anything else all month long on this Blog, you really should read this monthly recap of the previous month’s sales statistics. It is generated the first of each month by our own Statistical Guru Petra Fahey.

As the temperature increased during July, the cities along the banks of the Colorado River, the real estate market saw the numbers of single family homes increase over June 2010.  Bullhead City, Fort Mohave and Mohave Valley local MLS reported 90 single family homes sales for the month of July 2010.  We have not seen that many sales since April, reported 91 sales with many of those buyers eyeing for the original tax credit deadline. 

Encouraging, the median and average sales prices were higher in July when compared to April.  Median sales price during July increased to $118,250.  Foreclosures home sales continue to remain center stage claiming 63% of the market in Bullhead City, Fort Mohave and Mohave Valley Arizona.  July was a good month for homeowners trying to avoid foreclosure as short sales claimed 10% of the sales.  This was the highest amount of short sale closing so far this year.

July 2010 saw the highest sales price for a single family home this year.  A beautiful custom pool 4600+ sq ft home, with monster garage and spectacular views took the award for 2010 highest sale at $765,250.  I’m sure the neighbors in Arroyo Vista Estates are celebrating the price of this home!  This luxury home sale price helped increase the average sales price in Bullhead City, Fort Mohave and Mohave Valley up to $125,491. 

Keeping in step with last month our market saw 71% of the homes selling for under $150,000 with six of the sales over $200,000.  Homes on the market came down to 445 along with only 168 homes under contract. 

Year over year comparisons, the Bullhead City, Fort Mohave and Mohave Valley real estate market continues to bump along in the right direction.  Sales are up 4%; homes under contract are up 9% and the inventory of existing homes is down 18%.  

Although the national media predicts a slow during the 4^th quarter in real estate sales, Bullhead City’ real estate market could likely continue in an upward tick.  We remain hopeful that with all of this is good news for our local real estate market; we may have a brighter future than our neighbors in Las Vegas and Phoenix.

As always we are focused on your real estate success.

Local Real Estate Market Chart

ARE ALL REAL ESTATE MARKETS EQUAL?
Just what IS the Real Estate Market you might ask? Well….that is going to depend entirely on WHERE you are talking about!

Geez Pete! That sounds like a lot of double speak doesn’t it? Well… not really. You see not all Real Estate Markets are created equal. It has been recognized, but NOT widely published until recently, that “the Real Estate Market” that you read about in the newspaper or on-line or hear about on the evening news is NOT a single “one size fits all” national market. Real Estate Markets are individual and unique in each and every area of the nation.  Yep!! That means that Bullhead City’s Real Estate Market is entirely different from Las Vegas, Phoenix and Southern California. It’s even different, significantly, from neighboring towns like Lake Havasu City or Kingman! If nothing else, we have the Colorado River running through town!? For example, national reporting most often deals with metropolitan markets like Los Angeles, Phoenix or even Las Vegas. In this case the latest statistics for those cities does not paint a very bright picture. However, statistics for a much smaller, somewhat rural market like Bullhead City shows substantial improvements regarding demand and inventory (I’ll deal more specifically with numbers soon in a following blog).

What this should mean to a consumer is that the only way to really get a handle on “a real estate market” is to consult with someone  knowledgeable and experienced with what’s going on in that market. What’s happened in a particular market in the last 30 days? 90 days? How do current sales statistics stack up to statistics for the same time a year ago? These are all questions that can only be answered by someone working, full time, in THAT market over a period of time. Sure, you can get information, of sorts, on line a numerous websites such as Zillow, Trulia or Yahoo but, these are just automated “Data Miners” that really can’t interpret information. For the detailed information it takes to make informed decisions you need to consult with a local Realtor®.

With nearly nine years of full time experience in our local market, call me and let me provide the information you need to make wise decisions.