With this surge in demand and a subsequent decrease in supply, rental values have not only held firm, but have noticeably increased in the markets I work.  From a purely anecdotal standpoint, I have been shocked by the level of competition for not only the properties I have had listed for lease recently, but for the tenants I have worked with to secure rental properties as well.  Mind you, I am not simply referring to the low end pricing (sub $1000/month) where heightened competition is always to be expected, but in more expensive price ranges to boot.  In particular, I am seeing a LOT of interest in properties that are renting in the $1400-1800 per month range.

Checking the latest statistics to see if what I have noticed is playing out on a larger scale, I see active Scottsdale rental listings are down to roughly 1800 units (as of ARMLS’s May figures).  This marks a steady decline from an inventory that reached a high point of 2568 in November of 2008 and did not dip under the 2000 unit threshold until January 2010.  The 5.19 months of rental housing supply (as determined by the current rate of absorption) is at its lowest point in years.  Interestingly, the overall average rental rate has not shown a noticeable jump, despite my recent personal observations.  Given the decrease in total inventory and increase in absorption (units leasing per month), however, I fully anticipate next month’s numbers to reflect a higher baseline average.

This shift in the rental market tells me two things:

1)  Before deciding to walk away from a house that appears irretrievably underwater in terms of negative equity, homeowners (and potential future renters) really need to study their options carefully.  If I had a nickel for every misguided homeowner who erroneously believed there was an unmitigated plethora of housing options, at bargain basement prices, waiting for them once they pulled the plug on the Bank of Extortion … er, I mean “America” … I could comfortably retire to my literary tinkerings.  The assumption that lower selling prices go arm in arm with lower rental rates is patently false.  Further, with all of the newfound competition for rental housing, your chewed up credit report will be scrutinized a bit more by potential landlords than most would expect.  Sure, a human landlord may be more understanding of the recent economic woes than some faceless underwriter, but as in any free market, it always comes back to options.  If there are renters out there with fewer credit issues and deeper pockets, you are going to get aced out.  Please consider where your escape pod is heading before abandoning ship and scuttling that home turned financial Death Star.  If there is no soft landing, how have you benefitted?

2.  Our market may have reached (or is close to reaching) that sweet spot in which it makes sense for the homeowner with designs on a move-up purchase to revisit the rental potential of his/her existing home.  While the notion of renting an existing house out (to offset the mortgage) to free oneself up to take advantage of the market conditions and purchase a considerably larger home for a fraction of its prior value is nothing new, the increasing strength in the rental market makes the strategy more feasible at present.  The biggest hurdle to this play, other than deciding whether one is really cut out to become a landlord, remains  the qualification process.  Unless you are one of the fortunate few who maintain at least 25% equity in your home, you will essentially have to qualify to carry both loans (the existing house as well as the new one you would purchase).  Even if you secure a tenant whose rent will cover the payment, you will be qualified for the new loan as if you were qualifying for both properties.  If you have the means to do so, the time could be right to finally leverage the conditions that seemingly everybody and their brother’s mail carrier have already managed to exploit.

Whatever your goals for the Scottsdale Real Estate market, drop us an email or give us a call with your specific needs / questions.  You might not be as trapped as you think.

(480) 220-2337 | paul@scottsdalepropertyshop.com

Before you place too much importance on these latest additions, make sure your virtual Captain Stubing has what it takes to avoid the icebergs of an honest to goodness Real Estate transaction.

The great equalizer, the cyber-world provides the blank slate upon which even the most novice agents can paint a colorful picture of expertise.  Years of experience trumped in the search engines by weeks of keyword optimized content.  Those with their hard hats on in this soft medium can easily be mistaken for proven veterans of the Real Estate world.  As such, even the most obstinate curmudgeons have yielded to the inertia of technology and joined the online fray in the ever-expanding global search for the next business prospect.

While we here at the Scottsdale Property Shop are ardent followers of the Internet prophets, we realize that this shiny new(er) medium is only the latest and greatest hat to hang on our business rack.  The fixation with getting to the top of the pagerank heap has distracted many agents and consumers alike from the actual job of selling Real Estate.  Think getting the most online exposure possible for your home is key to the probability of a sale?  Well, you’re right.  That said, raw exposure in the absence of ability is tantamount to brain surgery via an enthusiastic first year med student with a text book, albeit it one with exceptional illustration.

If you are reading this, you already know that we are adept at getting our services and our properties in front of a target audience.  What you may overlook, however, is the fact that this is but one minute portion of the job.  You must fully vet the agent(s) you choose to employ on all facets of the service, not simply the “Cool, my house will be on page 1!” factor.  Click through the articles, peruse our thoughts on the state of the market, review our credentials.  Only then, if you believe we’ve got the chops to handle the full responsibility of listing and selling your Scottsdale home, give us a call to move into stage 2 of the vetting process: a personal consultation.

While the Internet is a valuable tool, there is no magic Real Estate bullet or panacea for an overpriced or under-represented property.  Your agent should know the community, the builders, the amenities, the home sales, the effective means of procuring a buyer, the nuance of negotiation, the ability to close and how to effectively navigate the escrow to the finish line.  Google and Facebook will do none of those things for you (him).  To add another clumsy metaphor, consider the various legs that prop up your home sale. If your agent does not have adequate experience with / knowledge of the product, the integrity is suspect.  If your agent cannot effectively close buyer leads, the integrity is suspect.  If your agent cannot, or does not know how to handle the various hurdles of the escrow process, the integrity is suspect.  And yes, if your agent does not leverage the proper media for attracting suitors for your property, the integrity is suspect. Ask any particular leg to support more than its burden, and watch the entire structure collapse.

While I know a few terrific agents who have been in the industry for relatively brief durations, I am aware of all too many Internet marketing wizards who lack the first clue about the process of selling a home.  It seems that the only thing taught in new agent training these days is how to leverage social media and/or drive traffic to one’s site.  Valuable tools, but am I crazy to posit that learning to actually do the job is every bit (or more) as valuable as tracking hits?

I see such agents in my keyword Google alerts often enough to know that they have the marketing portion of the job wired, but who exactly are they? For all of that search engine juice, I’ve never seen their names on a sign in the communities they target. I applaud the promotional efforts, but cringe for the consumer who hires the Internet warrior out of mistaken belief in his/her expertise. After all, are we Real Estate professionals who market on the Internet, or Internet professionals who occasionally dabble in Real Estate?

I can buy dominant online position for a particular neighborhood for about $20/month, but I can’t buy ability. Even in the 24/7 virtual “what have you done for me lately” world, a track record is always in vogue.

Consumers … choose your weapons wisely.

______________________________________________________

*Now, because I am a full-time Real Estate agent who moonlights as on online personality, you may follow me on the social network of your choice via the icons in the footer.  One more Twitter follower and I win a free chicken!

Subscribe to my blog or an angel loses its wings.

Shoot, I still generally decline a store clerk’s offer of assistance despite clearly having no idea which bottle of red to pair with the flank steak atop my cart’s haphazard grocery selection.  Just a knee-jerk reaction to get the salesperson out of my space.  I am perfectly capable of bungling the choice on my own, thank you very much.

Which leads to the thrust of today’s discussion of a well-traveled suburban myth:  The (presumed) advantage of listing agent attendance at all property showings.

Some agents, either out of deference to demanding sellers or as a standard business practice, require they be present at all showings.  They show up, open the door and then go in one of two directions.  They either stand aside and let the buyer’s agent handle the actual showing of the home, or they commandeer the next thirty minutes; leading buyer and cooperating agent on a room by room tour, pointing out each frivolous nuance in painstaking detail.  The buyer’s frozen smile masking (or revealing, if the blithe monologist would bother to notice the glazed over eyes) the fact that mental check-out occurred shortly after exiting the foyer.

You say there are TWO electrical outlet receptacles along this wall?  Both GFCI protected?  Get the *%&^ outta here!

There may be two schools of thought on listing agent presence at showings, but one is simply promoting the wrong curriculum.  When the listing agent inserts himself into the process, he lacks the rapport to understand which items are important to the buyer and the ability to sell the home’s strengths from a position of trust.  Further, much as if the seller were in attendance, a buyer is less comfortable exploring a stranger’s home in the company of a stand-in stranger.  The idea is to allow a buyer the breathing room to open cabinets and linen closet doors.  To stand in the family room in silence for a few minutes and decide which wall is best for the sectional.  To visualize his artwork hanging above the bed in the master, or the family gathered around the breakfast table on a lazy Sunday morning.  It doesn’t work if an interloping chatterbox squeezes the breathable air out of the house.

Thanks for the fifteen minute demonstration of the pool’s waterfall.  I wasn’t sure if I wanted the hassle of a house with a pool … now I’m sure I don’t.

Even if the agent hangs out of sight, the unnecessary presence can trigger an internal stopwatch within a buyer.  While he may not care about wasting his own agent’s time (as well he shouldn’t), the stranger factor tends to accelerate the showing.  Humans are much more apt to “put out” those with whom they are familiar than the guy off the street.  Whether borne of politeness, the discomfort of feeling watched or a hesitancy to reveal any indication of interest to a salesman, the end result is a showing that is less likely to live up to its full potential.

Is the other agent still in the living room?  I’d wouldn’t mind calling my wife to have her come see the house, but don’t want to keep him from other appointments …

Showing quality aside, the other big knock on mandatory appointments with the listing agent is showing quantity.  The anticipated control and added security over the showing comes at the steep price of deterrence.  Not only do properties that are more difficult to access get thrown to the bottom of the stack by many agents (if an agent is paring 10 potential properties down to 4 to show a buyer, guess which ones get the axe first?), but listing agents are not always available to show the home when it is convenient to the buyer.  The ease of access issues with such properties can prove insurmountable.  Say a relocating buyer is in town for the day, but your agent is unreachable or booked through tomorrow.  You just lost your shot at that buyer.  With the number of properties from which to choose currently, the very last thing you want to do is erect needless hurdles.

As to the safety issue, the integrity of your home’s security is always an issue when you open the doors to the general public.  That said, with the state of the art electronic lockboxes that are utilized these days (please tell me your agent is willing to pony up the $80 per box cost), a record is kept of all agents who access the premises with clients.  Each agent has an individual keypad with a unique code.  Every time the key is accessed, that code is stored and available to the listing agent.  Further, agent keypads crash unless they are updated every 24 hours.  Thus, the threat of the missing or stolen keypad is not the cause for panic that it once was.  Put the valuables away for safe keeping, but one licensed professional per showing provides adequate protection without diminishing the quality of the showing, or precluding it outright.

In our experience, the most advantageous means of ensuring high-quality and high-quantity showings is to dial phasers back to “stun” and stay the heck out of the way.  Market the property to the nines, accompany unrepresented buyers on tours of the home, but don’t micro-manage the sales force.  Draping oneself over a potentially hot showing like a wet sales blanket may appease a needy seller, but it does not serve the interest of the actual goal:  selling the house.

Fair housing doctrine is the result of a noble pursuit to ensure that all consumers enjoy shared basic rights and equal housing opportunity. The so-called protected classes against which housing discrimination is strictly prohibited include race, color, religion, gender, national origin, persons with disabilities and familial status (having children under 18 years of age).

(Note omissions such as job description and political affiliation from that grouping. Don’t like Realtors? Democrats?  You don’t have to sell your house to one. Of course, green is the only color that should matter to a home seller, and rejecting any potential suitor for a reason other than unacceptable contract terms is not only foolish, but an invitation for trouble.  Protected class or not, this is America.  You can sue or be sued for virtually anything.)

Now that we have established who cannot be barred from housing opportunities for no other reason than certain personal attributes, let’s take it a step further. A frequent criticism of Realtors is that we won’t answer your direct questions when you are trying to get the skinny on an area. Your pointed questions are met with milquetoast answers such as, “There are all types of people in this community,” or “You should go to the police department website to research that on your own.”

It’s not because we don’t want to be helpful. We do. Believe me. Many times, we are constrained by overbearing legalities that make it difficult to effectively advise our clients. While laudable, fair housing doctrine in practice can be maddeningly frustrating, too. I cannot tell you how many Christian families live in the neighborhood. I can’t tell you if a subdivision is kid friendly. I can’t tell you if an area you have inquired about is a “bad part of town” or not. I can’t give you the wink and a nudge as I drone on about not being permitted to discuss such matters.

When you, as an unknowing consumer, stray into the no-fly zone, the exchanges often go something like this.

Q: “Are there a lot of minorities in this area?”

A: “There are people of all kinds in this neighborhood. I am not at liberty to discuss such things. Please get out of my car you intolerant ape.”

Q: “Are there more families or singles that live in this neighborhood?”

A: “There are people of all kinds in this neighborhood. I am not at liberty to discuss such things. If you are trolling for a date, I suggest the local pub … maybe Facebook.”

Q: “Is there a lot of crime here?”

A: “That depends on whether you consider vice a victimless crime … er, I mean, you would need to check the local PD’s website to review those statistics.”

Q: “Are there any agnostic Madagascan women who walk with a limp and have six adopted Inuit kids nearby?”

A: “Security!”

The thing to remember is that we agents deal in properties, not people. Ask me about the community amenities, the builders, the values. Shoot, you can ask me for the square root of the Pythagorean Theorem for that matter (the answer is “F,” by the way). Just don’t ask me to lay out the area demographics for you. There are resources available to you should you wish to perform your own investigations, but as a licensed agent, I cannot steer you to or from a particular area based on criteria that either closely treads or firmly stomps on a protected class. 

Of course, it would be naive to assert that no agent has ever flaunted these guidelines to provide a client with the information sought.  Were it me in the consumer’s shoes, I’d worry where else said agent would be willing to bend the ethical spoon, but I digress.

Are there times when I feel constrained from fully doing my job and properly advising my clients about both the positives and negatives in a community? Absolutely. As a safeguard that prevents agents from feeding into arcane prejudices and stereotypes, however, it is necessary to ensure that we don’t artificially impact values or deny opportunities.  You can, and should, do all pertinent investigations regarding the property you aim to call home for the next who knows how many years.  You are not restricted from obtaining the information you seek.  Just know that your helpful agent will not be able to abet certain fact-finding missions.

You can ask me if the house is far enough away from the meth lab down the street to withstand the inevitable explosion (it’s not). Just don’t ask me to speculate whether the aspiring chemist within is here legally or not.

How does someone run a business like this, he wondered.

A low, reverential whistle interrupted his silent consternation.

“Well, look at you,” the familiar voice gushed.  “I’m still paying for those shoes, you know.”

He felt a twinge of remorse as he looked down at the Italian leather loafers.  Whoever heard of tapping a line of credit for footwear?  The moment quickly passed.  The projection of success was a cornerstone principle to the manifestation of such.

“What price can you put on comfort,” he retorted.

“Sixteen hundred dollars and twenty eight cents.”

“Bah, it’s like walking on clouds.  Besides, how can you possibly remember the exact amount?”

“Come on back,” his counterpart responded by way of an invitation.

Settling into the chair opposite the desk in his host’s office, he considered the barren wall to his right.

“Where are the awards?”

“Packed them away last year.”

“Why?  I worked my butt off for those.”

“The game has changed, Junior.  In case you haven’t looked around lately, people are hurting.  Shoot, we’ve done our own share of hurting.  Nobody cares about your sales records.”

For the first time, he really studied the face in front of him.  The florescent lighting of the private office revealed deep creases that had remained hidden in the shadows of the dank reception area.  The urgency in the red-rimmed, greenish-brown eyes was as palpable as the fatigue.  There was an unmistakably hard edge to the countenance that seemed at odds with its hound dog expression.  He was looking into a face that had seen too much combat.

“You didn’t invite me here to talk about my shoes.”

“You’ve always had a good head underneath that fifty dollar haircut.  It’s time you started using it,” came the cryptic reply.

Sensing it was not his turn to speak, he let the silence expand before his counterpart continued.

“For starters, the cars, the vacations, the nights out … you’ve gotta knock all of that stuff off.  It’s time you started hanging on to the dough that earned you all of those plaques,” he said, motioning to the empty wall.

“But-”

“No buts.  Look around, Chief.  This is what’s waiting for you if you don’t get it together.”

He clamped his mouth shut, deciding to let the enigma in faded blue jeans say his piece.  The sooner he got out of here, the sooner he’d make it to the range.  He didn’t have the slightest idea where the slice in his fairway driver had come from, but he needed to get it ironed out before the charity tournament on Saturday.  Children’s Leukemia this time?  Diabetes Awareness?  He couldn’t remember.

“Moving on,” his appointed conscience interjected.  “The real reason I asked you here today is to clear the air about the message you are promoting.  Torpedo the kids’ college fund if you like, we’re resilient, but your clients deserve better from you.”

Kids, he thought as he folded his arms and sat back in the chair, bracing for the sanctimonious diatribe that was sure to follow.  As in plural?

“Bear with me one second.”

His host pulled a worn, blue notebook out of one of the desk drawers.

“Hey, I’ve been looking for that,” he objected.

“Confiscated for your own good.  Our own good.  Let’s take a look at what you have been telling consumers, shall we?”

A brief pause accompanied the turning of pages.

“July 7th, 2004.  You told Mr. Davis that if he didn’t buy now, he might soon be priced out of the market.”

“I was right!  By December, prices in the neighborhood he was looking in had risen an additional ten percent –”

“And now it’s down forty percent.  I know you thought you were looking out for his interests, but you only considered the short term prognosis.”

“That’s not possible!  Property values never decline in Scottsdale!  We’ve been historically undervalued, especially compared to California.  We’ve remained stable when other markets have tanked!”

“February 2, 2005.  You told Mr. & Mrs. Flemming that the forthcoming bubble was a media myth.”

“Maybe not a myth, but it’s definitely a media creation!  If the talking heads wouldn’t go on the news scaring the beejeezus out of buyers every night-”

“Right, Katie Couric created no-qual financing and the subsequent investor-driven spike of artificial demand that led to a massive housing glut and a skittish buyer pool.  God help us if Anderson Cooper ever goes on air to tell us about the Easter Bunny.”

“You’re telling me they’re right?”

“You don’t know the half of it,” his colleague responded with chagrin.

“Yeah, yeah, well hindsight being twenty twenty …”

“March 8, 2006.  You opined to Mrs. Sanjeve that the market still had some legs.”

“Things have slowed down, sure, but prices are still inching up,” he responded meekly.

“You had to know things were getting ready to go sideways.  Prices may have held steady before the coming plummet, but days on market were starting to pile up.  Homes that received five offers before the sign even got planted in the front yard were now taking thirty to sixty days to sell.  The writing was on the wall, you just couldn’t interpret the black and white truth through those rose-colored glasses of yours.  Heck, you nearly got caught holding an investment property yourself.”

“I believe in our market.  Scottsdale has always been the apex destination in Arizona.  Our values don’t decline.  Ever.”

“There’s that pre-bubble thinking again.  Watch that reliance on past performance, Champ.  Any market that relies on human buyers and sellers is subject to downs as well as up.  No more fortune telling, you understand me?  From now on, save the tea leaves for the missus’s iced chai lattes.”

“She doesn’t drink chai,” he answered.

“She will.”

“Okay.”

“August 18, 2007.  Right before their portfolio took an irreparable beating with the jumbo loan market disintegration, you advised the Echols that they act now before interest rates rise.”

“Wait a minute, 2007?  That one’s not on me!”

“Oh, you’re right.  My apologies.  Forgot which market I plucked you out of.  Do me a favor and send in 2007-2008 on your way out, would you?  He should be here by now.  Looks a lot like you, just a little stressed out.”

He chuckled.

There was a knock at the door.

“That must be us now.”

Instead of the expected visitor, however, a young woman poked her head into the room.

“Okay, your hour’s up.  I’m sorry, but I really need the room back now,” she said.

He looked at his younger self and gave an embarrassed shrug of his shoulders before nodding in the direction of the new arrival.

“Tracey here just got her license in the fall.”

A rueful shake of the head accompanied another pause. He glanced down at the neatly packed duffel of personal affects at his feet, wondering for the umpteenth time if the makeshift home office would hold it all. He raised his head and found the eyes of his disbelieving doppelganger.

“Last piece of advice.  Spare yourself the martyr act and list some freaking REOs.”

________________________________________________

*PLEASE NOTE NO CAREERS WERE HARMED DURING THE WRITING OF THIS FICTION*

Just stretching my creative legs a bit, people

These days, I consider myself lucky if a closing isn’t delayed two weeks and my clients draw anyone other than Sparky, the one brain-celled signing agent.

With new disclosure regulations, a completely different settlement statement and a host of new concerns with the transfer of clear title due to the pervasiveness of foreclosure and short sale properties in our midst, an accomplished escrow officer has never been more vital to the process of a home sale.  Unfortunately, many of the good ones were forced out of the industry when the market hit the skids in 2007.  When sales finally began to rebound, the major title/escrow companies restocked their ghost offices.  As the predominance of these properties were distressed, however, it was the REO (bank foreclosures) and short sale divisions that welcomed new staff.  The resale divisions remain largely undermanned.

The REO division of a title company is an entirely different universe.  Like that of a REALTOR who specializes in listing bank property, transactional volume is ludicrously high.  Too many files on too few desks.  You can imagine how this translates to the urgency with which your file gets treated.  Another component that is not necessarily to the buyer’s benefit is the relationship between the bank and the title company they have procured.  Supposedly a neutral third party whose purpose is to convey the property from the current owner to the buyer, the myth of its transactional Switzerland is a tale taller than the Alps.  If the sheer dollars involved in a title company’s relationship with a bank (or the bank’s asset management affiliate) does not dictate outright obedience to the demands/whims of one party over the other, it sure does influence behavior.  I have been nonplussed during the course of bank property transactions (the buyer MUST use the bank-selected title company if his/her offer is to be accepted) in which the title company is the one contacting me with seller demands, essentially performing the role of the listing agent by proxy.

It is expected that one will have to tolerate a third party that is subservient to its master in a bank property sale (and not overly concerned with getting the file closed in a timely fashion to boot), but problems are now creeping into “normal” resale transactions between living, breathing human buyers and sellers.  For starters, with many resale divisions depleted of adequate staff, it is not an unlikely scenario to get stuck with an escrow officer who primarily handles REO accounts.  Flip a coin between whether said officer is overworked or under-experienced, but too often lately a less than exemplary job is being done.  Documents are not being requested/delivered on time, assistants are left to answer questions they are not ready to field, communication between the officer and the buyer’s lender is nonexistent … I’ve even encountered “signing agents” at closing who are neither the selected escrow officer, nor capable of explaining the documents upon which they want your signatures.  One clown literally tossed the paperwork in my lap and told me to explain it all to my clients.  Had I not been rendered utterly speechless, I would have ordered the hall monitor to escort the fresh lad to detention.

Mind you, these are not mom & pop style title companies, but reputable names that do a very high volume (perhaps too high?) of business.

The moral of the story?  Unless you are purchasing a bank property, and thereby resigned to the amusement of escrow fate, you have a choice in the matter.  As the buyer, you get first crack at naming the title company in your initial offer.  Sellers (upon direction from their chosen representatives most often) may list their own preferred company amongst the terms that are countered, but don’t cave.  Unless your agent can point to specific, positive dealings with said officer/company in the past, I urge you to stick to your guns.  Going back four or five years, a title company was largely a disposable part of the negotiation.  As long as you got your price, you let the other party get the perceived “win” of naming the company.  The recent changes to the escrow landscape make such a laissez faire approach to the title work fraught with peril.  Make this term non-negotiable.  More often than not, the other party will buckle rather than lose a sale over what many still consider a minor point.

When selecting a company, your chosen agent is the best source of advice.  We have favorites for a reason, and it is not monetary.  Through trial and error, we find excellence in all of our affiliates.  When we find a diligent service provider, we are loyal.  In this day and age, though, a little prevent defense is still warranted.  Ask your agent who underwrites the title policies of his recommended escrow company (title and escrow are not necessarily synonymous) before satisfying yourself as to its viability.

I happen to use Jenny Werner with First Arizona Title.  Her policies are underwritten by the big boys at First American.  She chaperones her files quite adeptly to prevent avoidable delays and miscues, and is very responsive to consumer questions/concerns.  Whether you employ me to assist you in the purchase of a home or not, I highly recommend you write Jenny’s services into the agreement.  Your movers and peace of mind will thank you for it.  Eventually, the other party will as well.

________________________________

Jenny Werner, First Arizona Title

11333 N. Scottsdale Road
Suite 160
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
Phone: (480) 385-6500
Fax: (480) 385-6800

________________________________

Stop the game already, their eyes plead. In their weakened states, they are satisfied with a draw. Nil-nil. No glory, but no shame either. Just end this madness and take away the pain.

Not me. I play this game to win. Always. Fighting through elbows and spikes-up challenges all afternoon, I await my chance. That one bounce of the ball that will loose me. A coiled spring, all I need is one step and I’m gone. The jamoke trying to defend me does not have a prayer. Just let the ball squirt free along this right sideline. Just once.

And then it happens.

A poor touch by the center midfielder and the shining sphere of possibility bounces my way. Twenty yards in front of me with no defender in sight, the ball urges speed into my heavy legs. My shadow senses the moment, too. It’s a footrace.

Not feeling the handful of jersey being tugged from behind, ignoring the attempts to ensnare my feet, I rocket past my rival. He might as well be dipped in lead and cast in stone. Are my feet even touching the ground?

By the time I reach my quarry, I’ve built a full head of steam. The sweeper is running headlong towards me, but his is a fool’s errand. Lothar Matteus himself stands no chance at this very moment. A quick juke to the left followed by a step-over to the right, and his legs are agape. A deft touch of the ball through his wickets and I blow past his shoulder to recollect what is mine.

I see the referee out of the corner of my eye, surprised into action. He’s glancing at his watch, but he knows there will be resolution before putting lips to whistle. The linesman is galloping up his sideline in vain attempt to follow the action. Forget it, old boy. You will be a distant spectator to this penultimate play.

It’s just me and the keeper.

Having utterly stonewalled my mates thus far, my foe is formidable. Six foot four and full of muscles.

I choose my angle of attack and approach at 3/4 speed. All the while, competing voices in my head are shouting instructions:



“Deke it past him low and hard! ”

“Wait for him to go into his slide, then lift the ball over him!”

“Blow right past him and dribble the ball into the net!”

“Blast it into the upper 90!”

I ignore them all. I have been here before, and my body knows what to do. Years of practice guide me through the next three seconds. The crowd disappears. The field becomes the neighborhood park where I spent the weekends of my youth. I see the orange cones staggered over the next ten yards and navigate them flawlessly. Drawing my right leg back powerfully, I don’t even look at the hard-charging goalie.

BOOM.

All of my remaining energy and force are transferred into the ball. I know I’ve caught it well because I don’t feel a thing as I strike through it. Utterly drained and yielding to momentum, I fall forward with the shot. I hear the shrill hiss as the ball charts a path to destiny. Lifting my face from the ground to track its flight, I see it just nick the goalkeper’s outstretched fingertip. Enough to alter its path? Hard to say.

And so I watch.  And I wait.

Sure, consumers think to seek the names of local contractors and professionals from their respective agents, but what of the out of area service providers?  Whether the client is relocating or seeking assistance for a friend or family member in another location, they often take to the internet or phone book to find assistance.  Little do many know that the very best resource for an out of area referral is none other than their own local agent.

In years past, we agents were often very brand loyal in the placement of our referrals.  Whether due to a conscious effort to keep things “in-house,” a matter of convenience, or a case of hoping the same corporate shingle would translate to a similar work ethic/methodology, we were limited by available resources.  These days, however, the explosion of Real Estate driven websites, blogging platforms and social media has helped connect forward-thinking agents in unprecedented fashion.  Through said arenas, we are able to far surpass the dark age reliance on blind selection from an incomplete list or static resume.  In the vibrant, transparent Web 2.0 world, true professionalism and terrifying idiocy are both quick to reveal themselves.  Through years of interaction with agents across these forums, I have cobbled together a relocation team by happenstance.  No longer do I have to cross my fingers when making a referral to another agent, as I have trusted professionals in countless nooks and crannies throughout the country.

Going back to Cali and need an agent to help you discover Topanga Canyon?  I’ve got you covered.

Topanga a little spendy for your budget?  Perhaps this Ventura County Realtor can find something more your speed.

Is the Pacific Northwest calling your name (or tapping it out via Morse raindrop code, as it were)?  You will be in good hands with the best Salem, Oregon Real Estate agent (and part-time Paul tormentor) that I know.

From the stockyards of Fort Worth, Texas to the West Bank of New Orleans, my network is comprised of not only outstanding agents, but truly exceptional people.

Do your folks back East want to join you here in Scottsdale?  I don’t blame them.  Make sure they speak to this Colts Neck, New Jersey Real Estate agent.  Whatever he tells them about me is a lie.

And your cousin needs an agent in Pennsylvania?  Tell this West Chester, PA Realtor that Dimples says hello.

Tired of the rat race of the lower 48 and eager to get your Jack London on?  Give my best to the Spouses Selling Houses in Fairbanks, Alaska when they find you the ideal wilderness retreat.

The online Real Estate community continues to prove a boon for consumers and agents alike.  While information is readily available for most any need, information alone cannot supplant the first-hand experience gained through established relationships.  Take advantage of the unexpected connections your chosen representative has forged during the growth of his/her online presence.  If I don’t personally know an agent in a particular market, you can rest assured that a member of my relocation network will.  Six degrees of Real Estate separation?  Hardly.  At most, I’ll require two.

Oh, and I also know to whom I wouldn’t send a client for all the consonants in Poland.  Consult your Realtor if for no other purpose than to ensure that no Gorgons make an appearance on the short list of candidates.

My reputation is on the line when I trust another agent with my clients’ business.  It is a responsibility I take seriously.  No matter where your Real Estate need arises, contact me before going it alone.  Chances are I am exactly one phone call away from ensuring that you or your loved one enjoy the Real Estate experience you deserve.  It’s the next best thing to packing up your agent and taking him with you.

Of course, if you are moving to Bora Bora, I’m willing to commute.

The phrase alone inspires a host of reactions that run the full gamut between antipathy and, well, slightly lesser antipathy, depending on the audience.

As any semi-interested news watcher and industry blog reader can attest, the Real Estate investor is the greatest scourge to befall our fragile ecosystem since polybutylene plumbing. What, with the housing supply lines ill-equipped to handle the artificial demand, our flimsy pipes swell and burst when the pump and dump investment surge strikes a hapless market. Aside from the banks who flooded Wall Street with dubious mortgage backed securities that were chopped and reconstituted in more numerous and indiscernible ways than Joan Rivers’ alleged face, the fount of no-money-down investors is the most vocally derided catalyst of the Great Real Estate Bubble of 2005 ©.

Well, guess what?  The investor is back … and that’s a good thing.

Hold your rotten tomatoes and easy with the pitchforks, if you will. How can I possibly opine that the reemergence of the buyer subset that sent values through the roof, only to crash them through the basement when they left a valley of foreclosed “investments” in their wake is a good thing? Is the demand any less artificial now than it was when the previous incarnation of ne’er do wells spiked our collective punchbowl?

In a word, yes.

The 2010 investor is not the fly-by-night operator who purchased the nearest home for sale at the conclusion of a four hour seminar on how to get rich in Real Estate investing with no money down. Shoot, who needed money down when you barely needed a pulse and a job to buy a house back then? No, today’s investor, by and large, is showing up at trustee sales and plunking down cash on a barrel. He has the skin in the game that his counterpart of yesteryear did not. He is investing in a very real sense of the word.

In addition to securing an interest in the property with his own bankroll (thus making the prospects of simply walking away from a property that doesn’t return as hoped less palatable), the other crucial dynamic at play is the return of sanity to the overall investment arena. When investors were driving Scottsdale and Phoenix property values into the stratosphere back in 2005, there was little regard to the initial purchase price. Our entire market temporarily forgot that you make your money on the purchase. Buy a property right, and the return will be there when it’s time to sell. In the throes of insanity, investors were climbing over themselves and each other to purchase property, any property, for 50k over whatever ludicrous price was being sought by an apoplectic seller. Investors were betting on the come. Pay whatever now, and the joint will be worth 100k more in two months whether a hammer is ever swung in renovation or not. With the year long fervor, they got away with it … for awhile.

Today’s investor is not settling for just any property he can get his hands on, but is showing up at the courthouse and robbing the bank blind. Paying pennies on the dollar and rehabbing a previously dismantled home, his margin is large enough to bring the distressed apple of his eye to market at a price actually supported by recent sales comps.

The coup de grace? Today’s investor fills a need that the banks won’t. He is essentially financing the fix-up costs that many banks have abandoned in self-defense. Against a backdrop of tight lending purse strings, consider the difficulty many people have just in coming up with 3.5% or 20% down payments, let alone remodeling capital. With home equity lines all but vanished from the marketplace, that stripped bank-owned home bargain isn’t all that realistic for the buyer who doesn’t have the available cash to put it back together, regardless of how appealing the price tag. When you could tap a line of credit to finance improvements, it wasn’t that big of a deal to throw in some new carpet, counter tops and appliances after closing. Now, you have few options other than reaching into your own pockets. Thus, there is a sizable buyer pool for a move-in ready home. The well heeled investor who assumes the risk and fills that need is not to be derided.

Take the mom & pop homeowners who are unable to price their homes competitively due to high loan balances, mix with the interminable wait of short sales, fold in the distressed condition of much of the bank-owned inventory and bake at four hundred degrees to create a casserole of supreme frustration for many disenchanted home shoppers. A rehabbed home at an affordable price, if not the outright theft that was envisioned at the outset of their house hunt, begins to look more and more appealing to many buyers after getting an up close look at what the reputed bargains actually look like live and in color. In essence, by purchasing a property from an investor, a buyer has found an end-around to financing renovation costs.

If your last nickel is earmarked for your down payment, and you can purchase a renovated home at a fair market value that you can afford, don’t begrudge the man his margin. While the stereotype of the lecherous vulture remains, we would be remiss not to acknowledge the good he can, and does, bring to a market like ours.

Investors: they’re not just for nuclear Real Estate holocausts anymore.

My choice?  I choose anti-branding as my brand.  In disavowing the frivolous and the cheesy, I opt for a quality over quantity approach to client acquisition and retention.  In short, I hope for my service to speak in place of the glamor headshot on a bus stop bench.

Some chase the ambulance.  Some let the ambulance chase them.

As such, I have assembled a loose collection of industry pet peeves which may help you determine whether or not my substance over style approach to the industry will mesh with both your disposition and expectations for your choice in representation.

I do not wear a nametag. This should be reserved for Walmart employees, mechanics and the truly forgetful.

I do not carry a clipboard.  If you believe you require a prop to look more professional, odds are high you are right.

I do not wear a suit and tie.  Nothing wrong with dressing for success, but a guy in a tie wants to sell you something.  I want clients and customers to feel comfortable around me.

I do not have pictures of my pets on my business cards.  “When the time comes to sell your most valuable asset, you can trust Paul Slaybaugh … and his kitty cats!”

I do not press said business card into the hand of every neighbor on my block.  Probably a bad business decision on my part, but I never liked the idea of my neighbors ducking inside their homes to avoid “that guy” when they see me walking down the street.

I do not inform buyers, “This is the kitchen!” when showing a house.  You’ve seen this agent on House Hunters.  She doesn’t trust your ability to bridge the convection oven + refrigerator = kitchen divide.

I do not sell insurance or loans.  Or pomegranate juice.  Or encyclopedias.  I sell houses.  That’s it.  If I’m good enough at it, there is no need to branch out into repping energy elixers on the side.

I do not work a good ‘ole boys referral network.  I refer my clients to the best service providers I know with expectation of neither reciprocation, nor compensation.  Too many great guys, but bad practitioners out there to gamble my client’s best interests with a “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” relationship.  If I provide an affiliate’s name, it’s a name worth knowing.

I do not turn off my cell phone. I’m not always available to field a call, but the phone stays on.  Some emergencies can’t wait for normal business hours.

I do not introduce myself at parties as “Paul Slaybaugh, Realtor.” Rest assured, you can let your guard down when we are off the clock without fear of a never-ending solicitation.  I am a whole person.  Real Estate is what I do, but not the entirety of who I am.

I do not sell houses. I help houses sell themselves.  I can sell you a pen if you already have four, but I cannot sell you a house that you don’t want.  Many agents put on a show for their clients in an effort to demonstrate just how salesy they can be when promoting their home.  It’s a mistake.

I do not treat lenders, title officers, stagers or contractors as if they work for me.  We’re all a team, with the client as captain.  It is my goal to create an atmosphere in which all professionals involved will be eager to work with me again upon the successful conclusion of a transaction.  It doesn’t serve my clients’ purposes to have the network of providers I rely upon cringe when my number flashes across their caller ID.

I do not put balloons on my open house signs.  I don’t juggle or have pie-eating contests either.  We are selling a HOUSE here people, not a set of Goodyears.

I do not drop client names around the office.  Or around other clients, for that matter, in an attempt to convince them of my importance.  Aside from valuing your privacy in this modern TMZ world, who really cares?  “Famous by association” is entirely overrated.  I’d rather attain my promised 15 minutes through merit.

I do not attend tour groups for the scones and gossip alone.  I’m there to work.  The scones are great, though.

I do not advertise sales, incentives or gimmicks for the use of my services.  I offer competitive fees, but I will not trick you into working with me.  If you select your professional representative based on the allure of a complimentary fruit basket or shoulder massage, God speed.

And I do not have a magnet on my car.

If you think we would make a good professional match, drop me a line.  It would be my privilege to represent you in the purchase or sale of your Scottsdale home.

*ACT NOW!*

Be first to “Like” this post and receive the half-eaten remnants of a bologna sandwich!