Supply of Sabino Mountain Homes is Vast

Gosh I can not remember a time when there were 15 homes for sale in Sabino Mountain. Homes are for sale from almost 300K – 1. 5 million.
Unfortunately most will not sell at the list prices they are offering. There are a few homes on Ocotillo Canyon in the lowest price- range that have a good chance of selling, but the rest are likely to lanquish on the market until their list prices drop. The two on Ocotillo Canyon that have competitive list prices would benefit from Open Houses. As mentioned in a previous post, I have sold 2 of the last 5 listings I have had at Sabino Mountain by personally holding them open. My in-depth knowledge of Sabino Mountain has helped sell my community homes for sale. All could benefit from brochure boxes since many folks move from one house to another in Sabino Mountain; some are renters; others are owners moving up or down. In this market, you need an aggressive agent, even if your house is priced right.

New Listing at Sabino Mountain

Yesterday a 3 bedroom, 2 and 1/2 bath house on 4379 N Ocotillo Canyon Drive was listed for sale at $389,900. This Pepper-Viner 2002 built one-story home is almost 1,900 square feet, has a 3 car garage, a fireplace, granite counters in the kitchen, and tile floors. Also it has new carpet in the bedrooms and is freshly painted. The exterior flagstone patio backs to the pristine Sonoran Desert open space.

If you know someone who may be interested in buying this home, give me a call at 520-615-2598 and I would be happy to show it to them.

Sabino Mountain Annual Meeting Tomorrow Night

Remember tomorrow night–Monday–at 6:30PM is the Sabino Mountain Annual Meeting at Fruchthendler Elementary School at 7470 East Cloud Rd. The Board will discuss miscellaneous issues to include proposed rules and regulations and summarize the Board’s 2010 accomplishments.

Anyone needing a ride, just call me at 615-2598. I have room in my car for two more people.

2010-First Home Closed Escrow in Sabino Mountain

4259 N Ocotillo Canyon Drive, a 2,236 square foot, one-story, Pepper-Viner built home closed escrow with a sales price of $375,000; it was listed at only $4,900 more–$379,900. It was only on the market 2 months and the price never had to be reduced.

Why did it sell fast? It was priced right! There are so many Sabino Mountain home sellers that are pure dreamers! And you know they can find very experienced realtors that will lead them down the path of “No Sale” or numerous price reductions until it does sell for a lot less than they would have gotten had they listed it right to begin with.

New Sabino Mountain Foreclosure Needs a Lot of Work

I previewed the new Sabino Mountain listing that is a foreclosure listing at 4048 N Sunset Cliff Place. I thought the $379,900 appeared to be an aggressive price until I went inside. The upstairs loft has so many outlets and phone lines; looks like the former owner had ran some kind of business out of there. The floorplan was a little funky, too; the fireplace in the family room was not centered. The pool equipment seemed in disarray and the pool filter appeared to be off. The pool and spa are stationed well in the back yard. Buyer beware; if I had an interested buyer I would ask the agent if I could have a home inspector inspect it before I put the offer in. If it were in good condition, this two-story, 2,372 square foot house with pool and spa and 3 car garage would go quickly. The way it looks to me, the price will likely have to be reduced before it will sell to one who wants to put a lot of $ in it to get it back into shape.

Forclosure Listing and Price Reduction in Sabino Mountain

4048 N Sunset Cliff Place which is this year’s first Sabino Mountain foreclosure listing went on the market on Sunday with a list price of $379,900. This floorplan is not common in Sabino Mountain, in fact, it may be the only one–it is a two-story home with almost 2,400 square feet–master bedroom and loft is upstairs. It does have a swimming pool and spa which is hard to find in the non-custom homes in Sabino Mountain.

4473 N Little Rock Drive with square feet of 1,583 is probably the smallest home in Sabino Mountain and after two or three price drops it is now priced below 300K at $299,000. It will likely sell now that the price is competitive. This home is model-perfect: the original owner has taken special care of it.

Coincidence–Maybe–Homes Open Today at Sabino Mountain

In a recent blog I mentioned that listing agents should hold their Sabino Mountain homes open at least once a month since I have sold 2 out of the last 5 listings with the buyers seeing the house for the first time at my Open House. For the last quarter few homes have been held open at Sabino Mountain and some of these homes have never been held open–but today you can visit the following from 1-4 PM:
4035 N Boulder Canyon list price$ 750-775K
4041 N Quail Canyon list price $1,169,000
4507 N Sabino Mt Drive list price $895,000

Remember it is not just the Open House that sells the house– if it is not priced right, today’s savvy buyers will not make an offer, and there certainly are some of the above-mentioned homes that need a price reduction.

For those of you Sabino Mountain owners who are thinking of selling, call me and I will give you an in-depth market analysis. I live at Sabino Mountain; I love it and work hard to sell our neighborhood. I am honest, motivated and work hard to sell the homes of the Sellers I represent.

Marketing Homes for Sale at Sabino Mountain

Many of you would be surprised how many people move from one Sabino Mountain home to another. Therefore, it makes a lot of sense to post a brochure box on your “For Sale” sign that gives detailed information on the price, and features of your home; if you have a floorplan that should be attached to the brochure. Good photos bring people in to see your home for sale; multiple listing service allows for more than 20 photos. It makes no sense to take photos that do not accentuate the positive features of the house. Most window treatments need to be open; few people want to buy a dark home and when there is a great view, it hardly makes sense to close the blinds. A good agent calls every agent that shows the house and gets feedback of not only the showing agent’s opinion, but the buyer’s opinion. The best way to handle this is not through email, unless after first try you can not get the agent via phone. Many times you can give the other agent positive information that they may have missed had you not spoken to the agent personally. The house needs to be very clean and smell good; Crabtree and Everyln have a vast varieity of great fragrances. If you have a good sound system, turn on the light classic or new-age music. Leave some lights on and better yet, put them all on. The listing agent needs to check a vacant house at least once a week to make sure all the doors are locked and nothing is amiss; when temperatures fall below freezing the house needs to be checked more. If there is too much furniture and accessories, you should rent a storage place and get some of your stuff out so the house shows more spaciously. Whenever a new listing comes on the market that is in competition with your home, your agent should pre-view it and tell you how it impacts the sale of your house at the price it is listed at. A good agent gives you a very detailed analysis of homes that have sold in the last three months before the home is listed. The list price is determined by what has sold. Typically a good list price is within 5% of the final sales price of the recently sold comparables. The house should be held open a minimum of once a month. Of the last 5 listings I have sold at Sabino Mountain, 2 were sold right after the buyers walked into my open houses. Of course, I am very knowledgeable of Sabino Mountain and no one can point out the features of the house better than the listing agent. Having the listing featured on the agent’s personal website brings many more buyers to the home. An agents’ blog reminding buyers of open houses helps, too. The house should be listed on Realtor.com with extended listing coverage (costs more than the standard listing and the listing stands out more), on Zillow.com and on Trulia.com. Long Realty and Tucson Board of Realtors have extended listing and Open House Information on their websites too. Long Realty offers a virtual tour on all its listings should the agent desire to utilize that feature. There is a long list of things listing agents should do to market homes; yet in many cases the agents are not utilizing” tried and true” methods to sell a home.

New Listing Priced Right at Sabino Mountain

It is apparent this Seller gets it and has priced his/her home right from the beginning. Yesterday 4199 N Ocotillo Canyon Drive was listed for sale for $389,900. This 2,236 square foot one-story Pepper-Viner resale has a three car garage, a gas fireplace, new quartz countertops in the Kitchen, and the homesite has no homes across the street–so it has a front view of the Rincons and a rear view of the pristine Sonoran Desert.

Sabino Mountain Homes for Sale

All the Sabino Mountain listings that were reasonably priced are under contract. I predicted every one that was priced to sell would do so, and they all did within a short period of time. However, the new listings are priced too high with a few sky high, with no likelihood of selling unless there is a serious downward price reduction. Right now it looks to me like all the active listings are overpriced so I can not predict if any of them will sell without a price reduction. That being said, from my experience, some need a 25K price adjustment (smaller non-custom homes) and others need a huge price adjustment. I am amazed that experienced real estate agents will take listings that are so over-priced. It does not work well for the Sellers who are forever chasing the market as the listing is perceived by the buyers and their agents as “stale”. No one else is going for it, so why should they? Homes sell for less the longer they are on the market. The only time this is not the case is when the house prices are clearly appreciating and this is not the case in the present day market. It is clear to me that the Sellers should either reduce the price, rent the home, or wait until the market improves to sell.