That’s how it is. Either everyone is buying 10 homes each with high leverage in 2004-2007 or no one is buying homes like in 2008-2009 or everyone with cash on hand or any ability to get a loan is buying a house in 2011 and especially in 2012, after the market hit bottom. It’s been a long time since we had any balance between buyers and sellers.

So when you ask an agent, if they have any offers and they reply that they have 30 so far, or if a home is on the market 1-2 days and already the seller has decided that no more people can come in because they have had so many and there are already offers coming, you know you have a balance issue. 

Now the market is a seller’s market, even if those sellers are distressed. 

Interestingly I still get people asking to put in 20% below market price offers. Not I said below market price not asking price. Please get real. It’s not going to happen. If you’re not willing to pay ‘market price’ than someone else is.

Once again I stress, ‘market price’ since there are homes out there that warrant a 20% discount on the offer since they are over priced, but those are not really in the market despite being on the market. 

We’ve just added two very cool graphs to the site in the market trends section.

The graphs are:

Active properties in Greater Phoenix, though this is an interactive map so you can select the city, property type, status on whim and get ver detailed information like bank owned condos in Scottsdale or single family homes that are normal sales in zip code 85012. I think that’s pretty awesome and it puts a lot of information in front of your readers helping us get to our goal of keeping clients well informed with information to help make better decisions.

Notices of Trustee Sale is the second addition. This graph shows a monthly number of ‘notices of trustee sale’ These are notices that a home is pending a foreclosure. Many of these homes will go into foreclosure, but also many short sales are in this state and will likely close before going to the auction steps.

Are these graphs helpful? Let us know.

The very floor we walk on in our homes has changed drastically over the past few decades but, have your feet noticed? Your pocket might.

At one time it was most common to find ‘Lino’ in all wet rooms, but taste and technological improvements in the manufacture and production of materials has seen a growth in popularity of none-carpet flooring throughout the home.  Wood, stone or tile effects are now amongst the range of materials or vinyl patterns that you can purchase and in looks they often match the originals extremely effectively.   Possibly the most significant feature of carpeted alternatives is the cost.  For example; vinyl floors costs a fraction of the price of real wood or stone flooring and it is easy and cheap to install. With minimal fuss and cost you can very quickly transform the look of a room, so what are the other main advantages?  

Plus Points – The Hard Floor Facts

Unlike wood, vinyl is extremely comfortable underfoot.  Basically made of rubber based materials it has a ‘give’ in it when pressure is applied.  Depending on the thickness it also has excellent insulation qualities and is a good sound-reduction material.  This can make a vinyl laid floor a great choice in apartments or flats.

Vinyl floors are commonly found in medical practices and hospitals, where its sanitary qualities come to the fore.  Highly resistant to water, vinyl can be cleaned quickly and offers possibly the most easy-clean floor covering available.  Resistant to stains and marks, vinyl is a great floor covering for those with small children and pets – the fact that it offers a health-hazard free environment can be a strong factor in choosing it as a floor covering.

Installation is simple when it comes to vinyl.  Even those with limited DIY skills should be able to easily lay the flooring and underlay.  Easy to cut to size and fit into areas with awkward or difficult corners vinyl is the most flexible of materials to use in any room.  Thanks to the ease and simplicity of installation, if you don’t fancy doing the work yourself, the cost to have vinyl floors installed professionally will be a fraction of that of other types of flooring.  In addition it is also a quick process and is not normally disruptive.

Just Remember the Cost

As mentioned previously cost is often a factor in choosing vinyl over solid wood or laminate.  The main disadvantages to vinyl should be considered before purchasing.  Because of its nature vinyl is possibly more subject to chipping, scratching or other damage.  However, compared to other floor coverings, vinyl can be easily repaired, especially if tile panels are used initially.  If badly damaged – by fire or flooding – it may be necessary to replace a whole floor covering.  With vinyl this can be achieved quickly and painlessly.  Vinyl laid flooring is particularly suitable for those with smaller children, thanks to its hygienic and easy-clean qualities.  It can also be a great way to create a stylish look quickly on a budget and is a great way to getting a stunning look quickly and cheaply if you are planning to sell your property.

A cost effective and easy-care choice modern vinyl flooring comes in a good range of designs that mimic wood, stone, tile and other materials, a simple and easy to fit material, vinyl flooring allows you to transform your home at minimal cost.

I’ll say it right out. It makes me nervous when investors come from out of town and want to invest in small multifamily properties like triplexes, fourplexes or even a little larger units with the intent of hiring a management company.

I cringe and almost feel like declining helping them, because I don’t want them to get into a situation that most out of town investors get into with hiring management companies.

However it is possible to do this thing, but…  First let me get into the common issues I’ve seen over and over for many years and I’ll follow up with some possible alternatives. 

Common Problems

The common problems you’ll notice come across is that the management companies have a different goal then you do and a different way to manage properties. Small multifamily properties are fickle beasts. They can and often are very lucrative, providing a very good return on the investment, even when you add in the friendly fire, but who will it be lucrative for: you or the management company? 

They are especially good investments if they are taken care of, well managed and held onto for a number of years. A stabilized property is the golden goose, but the goose needs to be fed, kept groomed and happy. If it is, it will provide a steady monthly supply of golden eggs. Left to fend for itself those eggs will be clumps of coal weighing down your portfolio and reaping havoc on your nervous system, literally.

A management company will never or rarely and I truly want to emphasis the word rarely care about the property, the long term viability, customer base and care of the property as much as you will. Further more, it is difficult and costly to turn a property around once it has a bad mix of customers, especially if a once nice property in a nice neighborhood has become not such a nice property in a no longer nice neighborhood: a reputation is easy to get and hard to shake off.

Management companies do not match their schedules with the needs of the prospective tenants. I lease out my own properties so I know how it is. One of the most common comments I hear, and I do ask, is that a management company has not returned a call or they are not available after 5 pm to show a property or on a weekend. Just think about the most common potential client for this type of property. They will have varied schedules and most will work common hours, hampering their ability to see a property between 9-5. That is unless you want unemployed or those self-employed persons who have a hard time making enough steady income.

Not only that, when you call you have to go through a maze of ‘select number ‘this’ for ‘this’ then another number and another number here’, only to end up in a voice mail box that will be mostly likely full and you can’t even leave a message. Sounds excessive, unlikey? This is the norm.

Some Alternatives

One of the alternatives is to manage the property yourself. I’m not saying it’s the best solution for everyone, but it is a good one if the property is stable and meets a number of criteria that will make this easier. If it does, then the end result is a truly smooth process. 

Some of the requirements are a stable property, one that is repaired with a good customers – tenants: an agent or someone that can help you lease the units – someone qualified and responsive: and a base of people to call when items need to be done.

If a property is stable then issues and repairs will be rare. If you have good customers they will also take care of the property and simply make the whole adventure more pleasant. 

I have properties that I check up on once a month and that is it. The tenants send in checks and I have people on call whom I call if an A/C needs to be serviced or a property readied for another tenant. 

Many of our clients live in other states and do the same thing. They just have someone locally who can lease the property for them. That is important, though and the agent will need to be vetted carefully.

Another solution and maybe the most viable one is to find a smaller company where you have one person assigned to you and that one person handles it all. That way you have one point of contact and one person to hold accountable as opposed to a moloh where you’re passed down from department to department and no one really is responsible: that’s where the failure is. If each person can blame someone else or hold anther person or department responsible than no one does anything right and you get stuck in what is really an epitome of inefficiency and bureaucracy. 

I want to be wary of this process and make sure you know what your in for. it’s lucrative, but not easy when you hand  it off to someone else who really does not have the same goals as you do.

When you break away from the mountain communities of Utah to Phoenix, it is like an escape to an entirely new world.  Phoenix is diverse and vibrant, the climate is warm, and the area offers exceptional things to do and see.  

Phoenix Things to Do

Just as Utah, Phoenix is filled with outdoor water recreation and the mountaineer will have no troubles getting their share of sun.   The Salt River offers great activities and a place where tourists can spend a day on the beach, picnic, stroll, canoe, fish or boat.  Throughout Phoenix, there are urban park lakes stocked with catfish and trout and other fish varieties.  

Hiking and biking: Phoenix is considered ideal hiking with its many trails in the Sonoran Desert, mountains and lakes.  South Mountain, the nation largest city park, is a wonderful area with some exquisite trails for hiking.  McDowell Mountains, Piestewa Peak, and Camelback Mountain also offer great hiking and backpacking opportunities. 

This is also a prime destination for the golf enthusiast with over 200 golf courses in the Greater Phoenix area.  Local events include the Fiesta Bow Tempe New Year’s Eve Block, Renaissance Festival, Fiesta Bowl, Insight Bowl, 

and Parada del Sol Parade and Rodeo.  Biking, horseback riding, trail rides, tours and guides, museums, are also things to enjoy while in Phoenix.  And, of course, no vacation would be complete without a bit of the excitement of the casinos, which Phoenix also has seven of to offer.

Phoenix is a wonderful escape that offers an unforgettable vacation with luxury accommodations, fantastic amenities, and some of the best recreation and events in the nation. Truly a getaway for the mountaineer that would like to continue the adventure of the great outdoors.

40% of single family and condo sales in Greater Phoenix in January 2012 were cash purchases. 

It means people smart enough to accumulate that much cash have a lot of confidence in what they are doing, which bodes well for the market. 

It does somewhat make it more difficult for people with a loan to buy a home, especially a loan that is weak and more prone to falling apart, but 60% of sales are with some type of financing so it’s very do-able.

40% of single family and condo sales in Greater Phoenix in January 2012 were cash purchases. 

It means people smart enough to accumulate that much cash have a lot of confidence in what they are doing, which bodes well for the market. 

It does somewhat make it more difficult for people with a loan to buy a home, especially a loan that is weak and more prone to falling apart, but 60% of sales are with some type of financing so it’s very do-able.

It’s almost time again for Fat Thursday – Tlusty Czwartek – a big day in the Polish community, and stuffing yourself silly with those Polish pastires called Paczki. So where can you find these: check out the listings at the bottom.  They are worh the extra few calories.

The Polish community in Phoenix which seems to be growing exponentially as people flee the cold of New Jersey, Connecticut and Chicago, to new plush homes, plenty of parking and of course the warm weather, has brought with it the paczki and every year we have several thousand people find this site because of this post. The Paczek is the king/queen of Fat Thursday. This fried dough filled with jam symbolizes this day and there are more places to get them now then ever before in Phoenix.

A pączek is a deep-fried piece of dough shaped into a flattened sphere and filled with confiture or other sweet filling. Pączki are usually covered with powdered sugar, icing or bits of dried orange zest. A small amount of grain alcohol (traditionally, Spiritus) is added to the dough before cooking; as it evaporates, it prevents the absorption of oil deep into the dough. 

→ From Paczki on Wikipedia.

How to say it?

PACZEK-say (PAWn-checK) singular

(PAWn-chkee) plural

Photo: Artur Ciesielski

My parents in law who still live in Poland speak often of this day when they hand make dozens of Paczki and eat all of them themselves: gobs of fresh made ones from local ingredients.  While dough is always specific to a location, i.e where the ingredients come from, a well crafted soft ball of filled dough will delight and thrill a prove to be extremely satisfying.

It does not sound like anything, but eating these is as unhealthy as it’s delicious.  Just thinking of fresh paczki wets my appetite. It may look like a doughnut with no hole or a doughnut filled with something, but it’s not.  It’s crispy and much different with the traditional filling, that you must try them.

The best place I know of to get paczki in Central Phoenix is Europa Pastry Cafe in North Central Phoenix at 6522 N. 16th St. just North of Maryland on 16th St or Jana’s in North Phoenix, but check out other locations in Greater Phoenix below.

My favorite have the “powidla” (made from plums) filling.  But usually this time of year they have more flavors than normal.

Below is a list of several Polish bakeries where you can buy these pastries. I’ve also included Yasha from Russia, because it’s cool, but they may not have Paczki, but it depends on who the baker right now. They do have very good Pierogi.

By the way the listing below are from the local Phoenix directory to which you can also ad your business: learn more about that option.

#polish-style-bakeries#