Elizabeth Newlin – Arizona Real Estate Agent

Well, the real estate market in Arizona has definitely gotten out of the fast lane and over to the far right with the snowbirds in Cadillacs and the driver’s ed cars. We’re still puttering along, but the ride’s not the high speed chase it once was.

It’s a new experience for me. When I got my license and started selling houses, there was very little effort involved in getting them to sell at whatever we asked in under a week. Now, my listings have been sitting for a month or two with no offers to speak of. I’ve spent the last month becoming educated on the ins and outs of getting houses sold. Obviously, I can’t work miracles, but there are techniques I hadn’t had the opportunity to learn last year what with the houses flying off the shelves, so to speak.

One of the most important things in getting a house to sell, is, of course, pricing it correctly. They say that anything will sell at the right price. And then, there is exposure. I’ve always done my best to get my listing descriptions worded the best they can be and of course order virtual tours. With one of my listings, however, we’ve decided to go the extra mile. Some of the other agents with listings in the neighborhood, and I have put together a neighborhood open house. We’re all going to hold our houses open at the same time next weekend and advertise in the paper as well as with a banner and balloons. The idea is to get as many bodies through as possible to hopefully find that perfect buyer.

Beyond pricing and exposure, there is just making the house look its best. I have a listing in Chandler that is currently vacant. The family has moved to Indiana and we are trying our best to get the sucker sold. In the last week we’ve had the carpets and the house cleaned and the landscaping trimmed and weeded. I’ve also had some negative feedback from the large cemented in planter in the living room:

Lots of potential buyers thought it was obtrusive and a little bit of an eye sore. So I hired a handyman to remove it and patch in the floor:

I’m thrilled that it was as easy as it ended up being. Unfortunately, now the walls need painting. I think, however, that paint will be the last step in this house. It should leave us with our best foot forward and a buyer in hand. Sometimes, you’ve just got to get a little creative.

This:

1. Check out the virtual tour on my cute East Mesa listing! Let me know if you’d like to see it in person.

2. My Chandler listing is officially on the market now and we have decided on a list price of $289,000, which is honestly a deal for such a nice house in a great neighborhood.

That:

I put a whole bunch of my favorite photos from the wedding I did a few weekends ago up on my flickr account last night. I recommend watching them in the slide show on 2.5 seconds. I’d love feedback if you have any!

Yep, I have a listing in Maricopa, that cute little new city you pass on your way to Rocky Point if you take the good short cut (don’t know it? oo, too bad, so sad). It’s a more budget friendly place for home buyers, but you’ll definitely have a bit of a commute if you work in Phoenix. Maricopa is off the I-10 freeway at Queen Creek, west about 16 miles.

However, if you’re looking for a newish home with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, nicely upgraded with 18-inch diagonally set tile in the kitchen and an extended covered patio out back with three ceiling fans and a built-in TV for under $250K, this is the place for you. It’s very close to the Bashas and there’s a bagel place, a subway and a Native New Yorker right there as well (hmm… maybe I need to move there, it’s got everything I need…). It was built in 2003 and has 9 foot ceilings, hardwood floors and granite counters in the bathroom. We are asking $230,000 and there is a one year home warranty thrown in with a successful close of escrow.

Check out the pictures:

And here is the link to the virtual tour.

Call me if you’re interested!

Well if you expected anything except utter chaos here, you obviously don’t know me very well. I’m currently in the raining and pouring stage of the year, apparently. Check out this basic run down of the week:

1. I made an offer on a condo for a client I’ve been working with for a month or so, last week. It was accepted and we are now in the inspection phase.

2. Gray had tubes put in his ears on Tuesday. We saw an ear, nose and throat specialist a couple of weeks ago about his chronic ear infections and the doctor did a test that determined there is fluid trapped behind his ear drums and that is why he keeps getting the ear infections. He will grow out of it eventually, but until then, we decided tubes are a better option than antibiotic after antibiotic. The surgery went really well and Gray was a peach. I was a little scared when they took him away to put him under, but it took literally less than 10 minutes and then we were back to see him and he was great. So I’m hoping the Newlin house is headed for healthiness.

3. I have two all-day showing appointments in the next two days. I have a client coming in from Chicago to look at second homes with a pool in Chandler and Gilbert tomorrow and another in from Indiana (job transfer) to look at houses with 3-car garages and good schools in Chandler and Gilbert. I’m excited for both appointments. The pictures of the listings we’ve narrowed the list down to are gorgeous. I will take some of my own to share here, too.

4. I took a new listing yesterday! Until Monday, it’s an exclusive. Monday (when the mom gets in from out of town) it will go up on the MLS. It’s in Chandler at Alma School and Warner and is just over 1700 square feet with 3 bedrooms, 2 and a half baths and a loft. It also comes with the fridge and a heated spa out back. Check out the pictures:

Contact me if you think you might be interested!

I am currently holding my East Mesa listing open right now. I have cookies and fliers and a super cute house to look at, so if you’re brave enough to make it through the rain and cold, get out here and see me!

In other news, I have been busy as usual. I have a new listing out in Maricopa that I am just waiting to post about until I have pictures that do it justice. It is very cute and nicely upgraded.

I also photographed a wedding last night. You didn’t know that I’m the multitasker extrodinare did you? It was a good time. I only do weddings on a strictly referral basis, but as my husband reminded me last night, it’s fun to meet families and see them so happy and beautiful and it keeps my skills sharp (it was that time of the night when I was 7 hours and 900 photos in to the wedding day and desperately wanting to crawl under the table with a cocktail and a pillow).

This was the bride:

Her name is Elizabeth, also, but it was OK, because her family and close friends call her Buffy, and my family and close friends call me Mini, so instead of Elizabeth and Elizabeth we were Buffy and Mini (yes, yes, you can feel sorry for those of us given long names at birth, we are destined to live our lives answering to names usually reserved for poodles).

Anyway, the weather held, the wedding was beautiful and kids in dressy outfits kill me, so it was enjoyable night all around. Check these two out:

He is the five year old nephew of the groom and she is the three year old niece (they’re kissing cousins). She was not thrilled about being forced to wear a dress and tights and parade around on the orders of grownups everywhere, so this was almost the only moment she wasn’t throwing a fit the whole night. Except, of course, for this point:

Can’t say I blame her.

As I mentioned, I took a new listing out in East Mesa this weekend. I went back yesterday and took rain-free photos:

It’s a home perfect for a young family. It has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and is close to great schools. It’s on Signal Butte and Southern and has several upgrades including tile in the kitchen and entry way, ceiling fans in all of the rooms and new vertical blinds. We are asking $225,000 and offering a 1 year home warranty with successful close of escrow. Please contact me if you’re interested in seeing it!

I have a new listing. It’s not one of my normal cute houses, though. It’s raw land up in the North Country. It’s just over 37 acres in Seligman, Arizona, which is part of Yavapai County. It’s currently owned by a California resident who bought the parcel several years ago with the plan of eventually building his dream ranch and retiring on it. He has since decided against this idea, for whatever reason, and thus a listing is born. We are asking $89,000. Contact me for more details, I’d be happy to email you the listing.

This is the county map of the piece of land. As you can see, it’s pie shaped and has a wash running through. The owner says it is a beautiful wooded area with nothing but gorgeous scenery as far as the eye can see. It’s in a subdivision called Sierra Verde Ranch. Here you can find a little bit more about the town of Seligman, which is, according to the Arizona Department of Commerce, the birthplace of the historic route 66.

So if you’ve ever thought about building a dream ranch and retiring up North, this might not be a bad place to start.

Whew, it was a full weekend and I have tons of stories. First of all, I attended a house warming party for one of my clients, who is also a good friend. Ryan and Amanda sold their old house with me back in October and we bought them a newer, larger house with a much better layout for them. I hadn’t been in it since they had moved all of their stuff into it and done quite a bit of repainting. Even though it was a really nice house to begin with, it was a major transformation. The master bedroom has been a sickly mint green before. I think the new toffee color was an excellent choice:

It was really fun for me to get to see them enjoying their house and to know I was a part of the process. I am so glad that it has turned out to be everything they wanted.

In addition, it was a totally fun party.

There was tons of yummy food. I made stuffed mushrooms that I had been determined to get a picture of, but completely forgot, again. Regardless, here is the quick recipe (I got it from my mother in law and this was the first time I had tried it, but believe me, I will make them again):

Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients -

20ish mushrooms
8 oz. cream cheese
3/4 jar of Hormel bacon bits
2 tablespoons diced chives
Butter to grease dish

Preparation –

Wash mushrooms and pull out stems to create cavity in center. Place mushrooms in buttered baking dish. Soften cream cheese in microwave. Mix cream cheese, bacon bits and chives. Spoon cream cheese mixture into mushrooms and bake at 350 degree for 15 minutes or until mushrooms are brown.

So over all, it was a great time. My favorite part of this business is being positively involved in people’s lives.

And there were even cute babies at the party! How’s this for a parting shot:

Check back this week for updates on my Willow District open house, a haunted house story and even a new listing or two!

I have mentioned my loved of the Historic District in Phoenix before. In Phoenix, nothing is really that old; at least nothing like back East in the towns that have houses that are literally hundreds of years old. So the 1940s and 50s are about the oldest houses we have, but I love them. I love that they are unique, with interesting little details and surprises inside and out. I also love that they are often remodeled using high end materials. I have to say, I abhor standard builder materials. The off-white counter tops with built-in sinks that you see so many bathrooms of houses built since 1980 make me cringe. So when I walk into a fully remodeled, custom house (because they were all custom back then), I get excited and inspired by the choices in flooring, cabinets, counter tops and decor. I would love to some day own one of those unique homes downtown.

Knowing all of that, you can understand that when my Daily Request email (it’s a company email that allows all of the agents put out requests for other agents to hold open houses, to advertise new listings, or anything else they want let other agents know real-estate wise) came out last Wednesday and an agent up in one of our new Surprise offices was requesting for someone to hold open his listing in the Willow Historic District downtown, I jumped at the chance.

The point is, I’m holding open an adorable house tomorrow in Phoenix that I want to invite everyone to. The address is: 550 W. Vernon Ave., Phoenix, 85003. It’s off of 7th Avenue and Thomas and I will have it open from 11AM to 3PM. It was built in 1940 and has been completely remodeled with saltillo tile, granite counter tops and beautiful maple cabinets. It’s little (3 bed/1 bath, 1191 square feet) and the price reflects that: $369,500. It’s difficult to get into the Willow District for under about half a million, so this would be a perfect and economical buy for a single professional. It’s right downtown (so close to great shopping and food, not to mention the office) and totally adorable.

Come out and see me, even if it’s just because you’ve always wanted to see the Phoenix Historic District!

After all of that trouble and hassle we went through to get a Montage condo, I just got a call that they have some available. I believe what happened is they got their Public Report earlier than expected and several investors weren’t ready to put the cash down to buy and pulled out. If you are at all interested in a condo up in the North Scottsdale/Phoenix area, contact me ASAP! These babies are flipping for $50 to $70 thousand more than they can currently be purchased for. The location is ideal. They are just south of the 101 on Scottsdale, right across from the Princess Resort and Golf Course. There is a huge mall planned right there just North of the 101. In theory, these will skyrocket in value. Call me!