Real Estate Market Insights & Buying Tips | WiseAgent Scottsdale Update

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I post a ton of tips, FAQ, random knowledge, and real estate news you'll want to see. Please find me at Nancy Realtor or Nancy Wittenberg, Realtor.

Scottsdale:

This city sure knows how to attract tourism. The main entertainment corridor for the entire Metro is along the 101, from Casino Arizona at Salt River north to the Talking Stick Casino. What is your favorite thing to do there? Mine is indoor skydiving (I have tickets if you want to come with me), the helmet dive at the Ody sea, art shops around Downtown, and Medieval Times. If you want a tag-along, I'm game. REALLY!

As you can see from above, Scottsdale is in a weak Seller's Market. That means that Sellers should expect Buyers to want to negotiate on price, repair items, closing costs, and how much a Seller pays down their interest rate temporarily. (Also note, the market is in a similar place to where we were in 2017, 2018, and 2019.)

Fun, yet random, facts about Scottsdale that I learned from the Scottsdale Economic Development seminar:

• There are more jobs in the city than there are people who live there.

• 23% of AZ Headquarters are there.

• 59% of residents have a BA or higher.

• 1/3 of Scottsdale is a Preserve that can never be built on.

• Since the land is mostly developed, the powers that be are being picky about which industries they are incentivizing to move there.

  • They want more corporate headquarters

  • IT services and software

  • Financial and Insurance

  • Health Care

  • Logistics Management

  • Tourism

I have a bunch more notes from the class. If you would like to receive them, just reply to this email.

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All you need to do is reply to this email before supplies are gone!

Is now a good time to buy? I'm going to say yes, but you may disagree. History lesson from a rental perspective.

• Buying at the bottom of the market is the BEST time to buy. We can all agree with that.

• But, when is the bottom of the market? We will only know once we are already out of it and can see prices responding.

• Rents are a leading indicator of housing prices. From 2001 to 2006, there was massive overbuilding for our population size. Too many houses were built, coupled with shockingly predatory lending, greed with mortgage-backed securities, and KABAM entered the Great Recession.

• After all, if given a choice, most will buy a home instead of rent. That is a fact.

• Then, people who lost their homes and moved into rentals. The flailing economy kept rental rates pretty flat for several years. Why do you think rents started shooting up in 2014? (Reply back to me as this is a funky topic I'd love some feedback on.)

• As we all know, affordability is in the tank with housing prices, piled on with interest rates, adding together much faster than most wage increases.

• The minute interest rates went down to the low 6%, savvy Buyers jumped into the game. Now rates have been edging back up again, we'll see what happens. That is the biggest unpredictable variable. What is predictable is that our population continues to grow, every single day. Demand isn't disappearing, it's just holding its breath for a bit.

• Interest rates are holding Buyers back more than anything else. Since Sellers are willing to buy down the Buyer's rates right now, this is a great time to buy. Willing Sellers and few Buyers....it doesn't get any better than that for a long-time holding strategy.

If you would like chat about anything real estate, simply reply to this email or call/text me at 602-730-2143 for more details.

Supply is crazy low, again. (Although I tried to write less in the Buyer's section, I couldn't help myself.)

• Volumes remain much lower than a year ago, but they have recovered some ground. Monthly sales were down 29% compared with 2022, which is a major improvement on the 39% deficit last month.

• Great news for Sellers, we are starting to see alight uptick in the median sales price over last month. (Prices going up a little is a relief!)

• Even though buyers are scarce, homes for sale remain stubbornly hard to find. It is always good for sellers when they have less competition from other sellers. This means much less need to cut their asking price, especially if they are patient and present their property well.

• Look at that graph again. Supply is the 4th LOWEST it has been in the past 18 years. If you hear the sky is falling, ask them how that's possible.

If you are considering buying a new build, or a resale home, call/text me at 602-730-2143. I would love to be "Your Dedicated Home Advocate."

I'm so proud that my Seller's section. It was actually a bit shorter. YYYIIIPPPYYY!!!!

Quick overview. (Shorter this time, even though I really want to keep writing. Sigh.)

• Let's address the elephant in the room. Much of the news and YouTube channels get viewers to watch by being DRAMA. If you recognize the guy's face above, you'll know what I'm talking about (and I'm sorry to hear that you've seen him). As you know, I show graphs and provide real data. Guys like this one don't, yet they claim to be able to forecast doom.I suggest lowering your blood pressure by limiting the real estate input you receive to just my emails. If you come across something that makes you wonder, ask me. I'll be happy to show you stats and you can make up your own mind about what is right and what is drama BS.

• For a housing crash to happen we would need to have a wave of new supply creating problems for Sellers. While this is always a remote possibility, there is very little foreclosure activity and low levels of mortgage delinquency.

• Check out any of my social media channels for updates all across the Metro, buying and selling tips, and more timely housing market details. You can find me at either Nancy Realtor or Nancy Wittenberg, Realtor.

If you would like to chat about down payment assistance, credit, home warranty options or if now is a good time to buy for your situation,

please either reply to this email or call/text me at 602-730-2143.

Follow me on Tiktok, Instagram, and Facebook at "NancywRealtor" for all sorts of real estate content and some weird randomness thrown in for fun.

In fact, I've started doing different series specifically tailored to for Buyers, Sellers, and Renters, we'll cover topics such as negotiation techniques, home improvement, credit scores, escrow hurdles, market updates, recent news articles, and so much more.

Nancy Wittenberg